This research team is exploring the lives and times, ancestry and descendents of all early colonial American Harris families. English ancestors were quite influential, while American descendents have played prominent roles in colonial and revolutionary America.

Serjeant John Harris, for example, is one such early American colonist. John was a shareholder of the Virginia (London) Company who arrived in Virginia to grow tobacco. Tobacco was discovered at Roanoke island by Sir Walter Raleigh, followed by a dramatically successful crop at Jamestown. As a younger son, Serjeant John Harris bravely sought his own riches and was willing to risk the dangers of the Atlantic crossing and the New World.

Based on research conducted at CrispinCousins, we know that many Harris cousins derive their surname from Har-hris, a composite of two Old Norse words. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crispincousins/. Har means "bristling" and Hris means "thorny hedge." The Hawthorn bush was planted atop tall, earthen ramparts (ditch plus bank) encircling Hedeby as an extra measure of defense. The Harris family is named for Hedeby and this outer defense, as Harris derives from the meaning of "bristling thorny hedge."

The I1a Harris families descend from the ruling family of Hedeby that also controlled the region of Angle and Frisia among other locations. Closely related haplotype I1a1 families of common paternal origin with names that mean "thorny hedge" include Bruce (Anglo-Fr. bruce "brushwood"), Scruggs (Scottish), and Ross/ Roose/ Rose (ON. hris). Other close DNA cousins include Warren, Stone, Bailey, Beaumont, Montgomery, Frame Group B, Douglas and Hamilton Group B among many others. We might note that the current Duke Hamilton is a close genetic cousin of several Harris families due to common descent from Torf "the Rich," son of Bernard "the Dane."