Isaiah1 Harrison, Sr., the Enigmatic Blacksmith of Long Island, Appendices A and C[1]
a Supplement to Scudder Family Historical & Biographical Journal, volume 4, no. 1, (2022).
by © Margery Boyden, Scudder Association Foundation Historian, with permission, v. 4, no. 2, (December 2022).
Rather than trying to insert Isaiah1 Harrison, Sr. into some other family’s history without any historical record evidence, we approach Isaiah1’s origins and relationships from the factual basis of Isaiah1’s own Long Island records that begin in 1684, not 1687. New York records dispute old traditions and relationship errors that appear in J. Houston Harrison’s, Settlers by the Long Grey Trail[3] and in copycats. Since speculative scenarios about Isaiah1, Sr.’s “father[s]” were based on traditions and coats-of-arms that lack complete pedigree documentation and are without any historical record support, modern proof standards call for reexamination. Helpful clarifications came from Francis Burton Harrison in a later series of articles about Harrison families published in The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography and from historical sources for two different men, both of whom have been alleged to be Isaiah1, Sr.’s father in traditions had among Isaiah1, Sr.’s descendants. These two “father” scenarios both entail very colorful stories that take us into the intrigues of the Puritan movement in America and England in the 17th century and into the inner circle of the family of Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland during the Interregnum. Neither man’s history mentions Isaiah1, and they were worlds away from the blacksmith of Long Island in several respects. We also review claims about Isaiah1’s alleged Harrison “cousins” in America at odds with history and Y DNA.
In an effort to encourage Isaiah1, Sr.’s descendants to seek for truth, rather than to regurgitate unproven traditions, we consider documented records and flag with skepticism what is only speculative in nature. Effort has been made to add important context gleaned from intensive study of extended family members of his first in-law family, especially those found in his New York records. More has come to light in the nearly one hundred years since certain scenarios were proposed that directly bears on relationship errors about Isaiah1. New York records are where his verified history begins. Painstaking effort documents Isaiah1, Sr.’s life in the context of his proven in-law family relationships that seem most relevant to Isaiah1’s history in New York and Delaware.
To assist in separating fact from fiction about scenarios that have no historical justification, and to expose myths, these two “father’s” histories and Y DNA comparisons from the “Harrison DNA Project” are given in this supplement to the articles in volume 4, no. 1, (Spring 2022).
This 300-page report published in these two issues of the 2022 Scudder Journal were prepared from a twenty-year effort to verify for accuracy and factuality those “claims” about Isaiah1, Sr.’s roots and relationships that were not built on a credible foundation. This in-depth look is to encourage us to detect and separate record facts from fiction in versions of his history.
Appendix A.
Isaiah1 Harrison, Sr.’s Long Island Timeline with Research Notes
Appendix C. Part 1.
Who Was the Father of Isaiah1 Harrison, the Enigmatic Blacksmith of Long Island? [4]
Was It Rev. Thomas Harrison, a Minister at Virginia, England and Ireland, d. Dublin 1682?
Or Thomas Harrison, a Leader of the Bare Bones Parliament and a Regicide Executed in 1660?
Or the More Important Question for Stickler Historians: Who Did Isaiah1 Harrison Think His Father Was?
Comparing Traditions Based on Coats of Arms with Data Based on History and Y DNA
Appendix C. Part 2.
Myths about Rev. Thomas Harrison and His So-Called Siblings and Supposed Parents.
The “4” or “14” Brothers Myths and Isaiah1 Harrison’s Mythical “Cousins” in America,
Comparing Traditions Based on Coats of Arms with Data Based on History and Y DNA
- [1] Appendices to Scudder Family Historical & Biographical Journal, volume 4, no. 1, (Spring 2022) and A Guidebook to the Records for Samuel and Lydia (Harrison) Stewart: New Perspectives from New Data and from Reviewing 100 Years of Collaborative Research, Part 1, Long Island Roots and Relationships, (Electronic version, Scudder Family Store, https://scudder.org/product-category/books/.)
- [2] Edwin Henry Landseer, “Shoeing,” 1844, public domain, https://wikioo.org/paintings.php?refarticle=AQRJAC&titlepainting=Shoeing&artistname=Edwin+Henry+Landseer ↑
- [3] J. Houston Harrison, Settlers by the Long Grey Trail, (Dayton, Va.: 1935), and subsequent printings.
- [4] Chapter One, “Isaiah Harrison, Sr., the Enigmatic Blacksmith, and His Long Island Roots: Why Was He at Smithtown in 1684, with Scudders from Huntington, Long Island, Three Years before His Supposed Arrival in America at Oyster Bay?” Scudder Family Historical & Biographical Journal, Scudder Association Foundation, volume 4, no. 1, (Spring 2022). Excerpt from Boyden, A Guidebook to the Records for Samuel and Lydia (Harrison) Stewart: New Perspectives from New Data and from Reviewing 100 Years of Collaborative Research, Part I, Long Island Roots and Relationships.
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