Thomas Harrison wives - Alston, Cumberland

[lbj]

I have gotten mixed information about the wives of Thomas Harrison who was born in 1730, Allendale, Alston, Cumberland and had 16 children from 1754 to 1781.  The IGI lists the children as belonging to BOTH Jane Tingate (marr 3 or 31 May 1753) and either Mrs. Frances Harrison (marr 31 May 1753) or Frances Tingate (marr 3 May 1753).  Another wife, Sarah Kirk (marr 27 Oct 1788) is also listed with no children.  I think the first wife died (probably worn out from bearing all those children) and he remarried someone to finish raising them.  It is also possible that he married both Jane Tingate and a Frances ? and some of the children belong to one and some to the other.

Any woman who has 16 children at the very least deserves credit for it and I'd like to straighten out this confusion.   Does anyone have access to those parish records to figure this out?   

[madpants]

Looking at the submitted entry on the IGI the Frances he is supposed to have married is a Francis (male spelling) and supposed to have died June 1808, on the Alston bishops transcripts it says

1808
Francis Harrison,  Nenthead Merchant  Died June 6th  Buried June 8th age 63

which to me indicates a man!  it would say widow of or wife of if it was a woman.

The other submitted entry with Sarah Kirk as wife gives Thomas, Francis' date of death!

I would take any submitted entry on this family with a large helping of salt

[madpants]

If you look at the Cumberland board there is someone offering the inscriptions from Alston including some Harrison's that might help. 

[lbj]

Thanks for you replies.  I tried looking at Alston microfilms and couldn't find anything relevant to Thomas Harrison.  I'll check out the Cumberland board. 

[Samuel family desc]

Hi

My Harrisons are from Alston, but I am not as far back as you, so haven't tackled this Thomas mystery yet. 

My line is John Harrison born 1825 Alston, a son of John Harrison and Jane Havelock - does this connect with your family?

Regards, Amanda

[lbj]

We are probably related somewhere down the line--most likely as cousins.  There was no Isaac on the list of children from "my" Thomas.  The research on this line beyond my g-grandparents was done by someone years ago, before the internet.  As the earlier poster indicated it is somewhat suspect (though not necessarily incorrect) because it is not sourced.  I thought it would be an easy job to look through the parish records for the area and verify and source the info, but I couldn't find any of the family there and now need to check neighboring parish records.  My time was limited during my last foray into the microfilms, and I need to tackle it again.

Have you looked at parish records at an LDS Family History Library?  You can check the online catalog at familysearch.org and then order films from a local library to view for a few weeks on loan.  Good luck.