Thomas Harrison (?-1782)
MSA SC 3520-610
Biography:
BORN in Great Britain, of age by 1742.
IMMIGRATED: in 1742 as a free adult.
RESIDED: in Baltimore Town.
CHILDREN. Died without progeny.
PRIVATE CAREER.
EDUCATION: literate.
SOCIAL STATUS AND ACTIVITIES: Gent., 1782.
OCCUPATIONAL PROFILE: a merchant; owned the firm named Thomas Harrison & Co., Baltimore Town.
PUBLIC CAREER.
LEGISLATIVE SERVICE: Conventions, Baltimore County, 4th, 1775, 5th, 1775.
LOCAL OFFICES: commissioner, Baltimore Town, 1745-1782; Committee of Observation, Baltimore Town, elected 1774.
WEALTH DURING LIFETIME.
LAND AT FIRST ELECTION: at least 13,587 acres in Baltimore, Anne Arundel, and Harford counties, plus 6 lots in Baltimore Town under development and leased out (all through personal acquisition).
SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN LAND BETWEEN FIRST ELECTION AND DEATH: sold much of his Baltimore County land, but continued to concentrate on the development of lots in Baltimore Town.
WEALTH AT DEATH.
DIED: on October 14, 1782, in Baltimore Town after an illness lasting about three weeks.
PERSONAL PROPERTY: TEV, £5,216.1.3 current money (including 31 slaves); FB, estate overpaid £8,910.19.10.
LAND: 7,926 acres in Baltimore, Harford, and Anne Arundel counties, plus 18 acres and 35 lots in Baltimore Town. His real and personal property was estimated to be worth more than £150,000 current money.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: his income at death from ground rents in Baltimore Town amounted to £385.0.0 current money per annum. His principal heirs were his nephew John Harrison, of Lincolnshire, England, his niece Elizabeth Irvine, of County Sligo, Ireland, and his executors, William West (1739-1791), Daniel Bowley (1745-1807), and Richard Ridgely (1755-1824). A dispute arose after Harrison's death over whether or not his estate left to his British heirs should be confiscated. Luther Martin (1744-1826), attorney general, argued for the commissioners of confiscated British property that Harrison had intended to devise the bulk of his property to his executors in trust for his British relatives and therefore the property should be confiscated. West, Bowley, and Ridgely denied any such trust arrangement and claimed the property as their own. Although the chancellor's decree was in favor of the commissioners, an Act of Assembly passed in 1790 removed the matter from the Chancery Court and negated the state's claim to Harrison's estate.
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