COL Benjamin Harrison V (1730-1791) - Find a Grave Memorial

Declaration of Independence Signer. Born in Charles City County, Virginia, he attended the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, but left the college before graduating, returning home to manage his family estate after his father was killed by lightning. At age 23 he was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses, where he served for the next twenty-five years. Elected to the First Continental Congress in 1774, he shared a house in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with fellow Virginian George Washington. Benjamin Harrison would serve in the First and Second Continental Congresses, from 1774 to 1777. A large man at 6 feet 4 inches and 240 pounds, Harrison once picked up the much smaller John Hancock and set him on the President's chair, quipping "We will show Mother Britain how little we care for her by making a Massachusetts man our president." As Chairman of the Committee for the Whole, he presided over the debates that resulted in the Declaration of Independence. While in Congress, he helped establish the three major governmental departments of War, the Navy, and the State Department. Leaving Congress in the fall of 1777, he returned to Virginia, where he served as Governor from 1781 to 1784. Near the end of the war, he had to flee to the interior of Virginia to avoid being captured by the British Army. Leaving behind politics, he returned to his family's estate and died there in 1791 at the age of 60. He was the father of 9th United States President William Henry Harrison and the Great-Grandfather of 23rd United States President Benjamin Harrison.

Bio by: Kit and Morgan Benson

Inscription

In This Graveyard Is Buried
Col. BENJAMIN HARRISON, V
Signer of the
Declaration of Independence
Member of
Virginia House of Burgesses
Continental Congress
Federal Constitutional Convention
Thrice Governor of Virginia
Father and Great-Grandfather of Two
Presidents of the United States

Erected 1972 by
Virginia Society
Daughters of the American Colonists