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This "raiders" division of
the Gaspee. Info website is
devoted to information about the Raiders as individuals.
In this section of
Gaspee Raiders
 
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Go to
Gaspee History
for history, overall
facts, background, results,
and analysis of the 1772 attack itself.
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Books: American Colonial and
Revolutionary War history or the people involved. We have suggestions
for you.
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Copyrighted.
© 2005
to
03/17/2010
Leonard H. Bucklin.
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The
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This is a history education and
research web site of the
Joseph Bucklin Society.
 References
in brackets [ ] or in curly brackets { } on any page in
this website are to books, or other materials, listed in the Joseph
Bucklin Society Gaspee Bibliography, or to materials held by the Joseph
Bucklin Society.
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 Joseph Harris
Harris later became a ship captain, as did many of the Gaspee Raiders who
were about 20 years old at the time of the 1772 attack.
Williams, Catherine, in 1839, wrote and self- published Biography of
Revolutionary Heroes: Containing the Life of Brigadier Gen. William Barton and
also of Captain Stephen Olney. Providence. At page 21 she lists the
names of Gaspee raiders, and she included "Captain Harris".
All she says about sources is "The names of those brave and resolute
citizens, as far as they have come to our knowledge, are as follows."
Since she had available to her persons who were alive at the time or the
children of persons alive in 1772, she had the advantage of being able to record
her information from persons likely to know. She lists the first names of
five other ship captains, but only lists "Captain Sheppard" and Captain Harris".
This
suggests that some person with knowledge was trying to tell her the names of the
eight ship captains to the best of their knowledge of memory.
We doubt that Joseph Harris was a ship captain at the time of the 1772 Gaspee
attack. He just was not of the right age or experience for the job of
command, and was attending Providence College. More likely, he became a
ship captain later in his life, after 1772.
Transactions of The Rhode Island Society for the Encouragement of Domestic
Industry in the Year 1864 (Providence: Knowles, Anthony & Co. 1865), at page 108
has a biography on a William Harris which says:
" He [William] was the son of Joseph and Hephzibah Harris, and a
descendant of the fifth generation from Thomas Harris, one of the early
settlers of Providence. His father, Joseph Harris, was a native of
Providence, Rhode Island, and a graduate of Providence College (now Brown
University) in the year 1772. He was a prominent citizen and a true patriot,
having assisted, in 1772, at the capture and subsequent burning of the Gaspee,
in the Providence river. His mother was a daughter of Paul Bunker, Esq., a
merchant of Nantucket." [Emphasis supplied.]
Captain Joseph Harris was, about 1800, a master on a vessel owned by
Tillinghast, Gorton, & Tillinghast, c1800. (From genealogical researcher Wayne
Tillinghast.) This firm was owned by Gaspee raider Captain Joseph
Tillinghast.
Joseph Harris was born 26 Dec1752 and died on 22-25 FEB 1823. He married
1779, Hepzebeth Bunker in Nantucket, MA, born in 1752, and died 26 SEP
1846. Father: David Harris b: 7 JAN 1714 in Providence, RI Mother: Martha
Jenckes b: 22 JAN 1724/1725 in Providence, RI, (daughter of Nathaniel Jenckes b:
1686)
Joseph Harris' brother, Stephen Harris, b 1753 married Hannah Mawney, the
sister of fellow Gaspee raider, Dr. John Mawney. Joseph's older sister, Sarah,
married an Ephraim Potter, and his younger sister, Amey, married a Caleb Greene.
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