Her Book

First and Second Generations

Tradition says that the name of the father of James Harland was William
(1st generation). Of him we know very little.

JAMES HARLAND   1625-x   Yeoman* & member of the Episcopal Church
(2nd generation)

1625- was born about the year 1625 "in Bishoprick, nigh Durham, England" and is the earliest paternal ancestor known to the family in America being called "Harlan." He lived and died an Englishman and was buried on English soil.

We have no record giving the name of his mother nor his wife but there is no doubt that he was married according to the usages of the Established Church.

That his children were baptized and recorded therein is fully established by the fact that the earliest record we have of his son, George, is that he was "Baptized at the Monastery of Monkwearmouth in Oald England."

As far as is known, James Harland was the father of three sons:

              Thomas   x - x ; m. 1680 Katherine Bullock; m.2 - 1702 Alice Foster
              George   1650-1714;   m. Elizabeth Duck
              Michael   1660-1729;   m. Dinah Dixon



A note about the Monkwearmouth Monastery. It was founded by Benedict Biscop in the year A. D. 672. It is situated in a town of the same name in the east division of Chester, County Durham, and one half mile north of Sunderland. It received its name from its location near the mouth of the river Wear. Burned and plundered time and again, only the tower and some detached parts of the church remain of the once celebrated monastery. In 1790, the parish registers, with the exception of some of the later records, were destroyed by fire, and it is very probable that information of untold value to us perished in the flames.



*YEOMAN is defined as one who owns and farms a small estate and is next in line under a gentleman. So the Harlans were farmers from the very beginning.