Benjamin Harrison VI

Benjamin Harrison VI (1755–1799) was an American merchant, planter, politician, and revolutionary. He was the son of Founding Father Benjamin Harrison V, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Harrison was a close friend of financier Robert Morris, a relationship that he would keep until his death. He was the older brother of President William Henry Harrison and the great-uncle of President Benjamin Harrison. Life Benjamin Harrison VI was born at Berkeley Plantation, the ancestral home of the Harrison family of Virginia, in 1755. His family, the Harrison family of Virginia, was one of the First Families of Virginia, and were among the most wealthy and prosperous people in the state. Benjamin Harrison VI's father was Benjamin Harrison V, a wealthy planter and slave owner, who would later become one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America. His mother, Elizabeth Basset (13 December 1730 – 1792), was a descendant of Captain William Bassett II, who was an officer in the King's Army, during the English Civil War. When Harrison VI became a young adult, his father lost a considerable amount of property, supposedly due to his lack of mercantile skills, and sent his son away to the Philadelphia-based firm Willing and Morris, where he earned an exceptional mercantile education, and befriended Robert Morris and Thomas Willing, the firm's owners. Their friendships would continue to hold strong throughout their lives. After his education concluded, Harrison traveled to Europe, and began building mercantile connections, as well as his fortune. However, the American Revolutionary War prompted him to return home to Virginia, as he strongly wanted to aid his father and the Patriot cause. From 1774 to 1775, he was a member of the Charles City County Committee, as well as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates. During the war, he became the Deputy Paymaster General of the Continental Army, helping finance and pay the Continental Army during the Southern theater.