William H Harrison arrived in America in 1820. A ships passenger list includes a William Harrison, 21, male, carpenter for the quarter ending June 30, 1820 aboard the ship Alexander Mansfield, H Beales (Captain). His death certificate in January 1881 indicates he lived in New York for 59 years, which puts his arrival pretty close to 1820. He was born in Lincolnshire, England January 1800, which is about the right age in June of 1820....Before 1855, there was no immigrant processing center. The shipping company presented a passenger list to the Collector of Customs, and the immigrants made whatever Customs declaration was necessary and went on their way. 

On July 30, 1825 William married Rebecca Fox in New York by the Rev. Henry Chase. Though Rev. Chase was a Methodist minister, his Mariner's Church on Roosevelt Street was a non-denominational congregation. The New York City Directory for 1850-51 lists William as a Sexton, 5 Bayard, and as an Undertaker, 16 Bayard. A Sexton is a Church official that takes care of Church property and grounds, and sometimes digs graves. Bayard St. is near Bowery and Canal Streets on the lower East side of Manhattan, near what is now Chinatown. 5 and 16 were near the East River and no longer there, although the  part of Bayard St. west of the Bowery is still there. Canal Street was extended past Bowery and connected to the Manhattan Bridge, which demolished Bayard Street east of the Bowery.  In documents contained in his son Edwin’s United States pension application files, he stated he was born on Hamilton St. between Catherine and Market Streets, which in 1840-50 was one block directly east of Bayard St. And Edwin was married in a Baptist Church at 136 Madison St., in the same neighborhood. This makes me certain that the Directory listing is about the correct William.  Maps of NYC in 1850 show the streets very clearly, even Hamilton St. , which is no longer there at all, having been built over with large housing projects. Nearby to Hamilton St. in 1850 were a Judson St., a Hester Street, and an Oliver Street.

According to the 1850 census, he resided in New York City and was 50 years old. His occupation was Undertaker.  His wife, Rebecca (Fox) was 43. They were both born in England. He had two boys and seven girls. Direct ancestor Edwin Oliver, was the second son, born in 1840. William was the first son and oldest child. He was born in NY in 1826.  The girls in 1850 were Henrietta-17, Ann Matilda-15, Sarah-13, Rebecca J-9, Priscilla-7, Selina-5, Mary E-1, and granddaughter Hester, 7mos. It has been determined that Hester was the daughter of son William and wife Sarah (Stillwell). They had another daughter, Ann Isabelle that also lived with her grandparents and appears on the 1870 census.

On November 8, 1848 he made his intention to become a citizen of the United States and renounced all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign Prince, Potentate, State, or Sovereignty, whatsoever, and particularly to Victoria, the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Four years later, on October 12, 1852, he became a Citizen in the Common Pleas Court of New York.

On the 1860 census, he resided in Stamford, CT. and was 60 years old. William H. (Jr), Henrietta, Ann Matilda, and Sarah do not appear on the 1860 census with him and are presumed to be married. Ann Matilda died at the age of 30 in Stamford during 1865. She was married to Henry Hubbard. Her obituary appeared in the New York Post. She is buried in New Woodland Cemetery, Stamford, with her husband and children. William Jr. married Sarah Stillwell in 1848 and lived in Brooklyn. Henrietta married Samuel G Gardiner, a Sea Captain, as was his father before him who was lost at sea. Samuel G Gardiner was a descendant of Lion Gardiner, first proprietor of Gardiner's Island.  Sarah married Albert Bradley Wadhams of the the Wadhams family of Wethersfield and Goshen, Connecticut and they lived in NY

I don’t know exactly when William and Rebecca moved to Stamford from New York, or why, but it was after 1855/56. However they moved back to New York City abt 1862. By then, son Edwin was married to Harriet Ketcham and had a son Edwin Judson, and was also enlisted in the Union Army (B Co., 17th Reg. CT. Volunteer Infantry).

William and Rebecca lived at 353 East 82nd Street in NYC when they returned from Stamford, and he was a member of the East 86th Street ME Church until he died in 1881. Rebecca died in 1886. His funeral service was at that Church.

I looked up churches near East 86th Street and called one, The Park Ave. Methodist Church and spoke to the Minster there on December 3 of 1996. I asked him about the ME Church, and he told me his was THAT church, and I asked him if he had any printed history on the Church, and he did, and it was right on his desk, and he began reading me the members list from 1877, and there was William and Rebecca right there, on his desk, right at the time I called. 

I first came across William H Harrison in the New York City Public Library at Park and 42nd Street. I was searching the census of 1850 for Edwin O Harrison, his son, and I was fortunate to find the whole family.  Until then, I had no idea who Edwin's Mother and Father was, or if he had any brothers and sisters, turns out he had one brother and 7 sisters.  They lived in lower Manhattan east side, near what is today the Manhattan Bridge. then searching for information on William, I found him in the New York City Directory 1850-51, listed as an undertaker and sexton.  I searched the Ships Passenger lists prior to 1826, the first son was born in New York City around then, according to the census.  I found a 21 year old William, a carpenter, arriving in New York in July 1820, the age, occupation, and the number of years in the United States as per the death certificate tying to this person fairly accurately. Even without the Ships Passenger list, the death certificate reflects his arrival in the United States about 1820.
 
I searched for the resting place of this ancestor many years before I found him in Woodlawn Cemetery.  I knew about when he was born from census records, but was finally able to obtain a death certificate with exact dates after I located him in Woodlawn Cemetery, as a result of a last ditch chance phone call to the cemetery one day in 1995. I didn't even look for this ancestor in New York at all, as my last information on him until then was the census of 1860, in Stamford Connecticut.

I had driven to Stamford and Fairfield County looking in cemeteries all over the place, had researchers looking for him, called many cemeteries on the phone, and finally figured out that he just wasn't in Connecticut. I reasoned he might be in New York, which has a zillion cemeteries, and I wasn't looking forward to calling all of them to find him, when I thought to call the only one I knew about, Woodlawn, and then the search ended with that one phone call....for Rebecca Harrison, as it less frequently occurs than the name William, and Woodlawn Cemetery told me yes, they have two Rebeccas, both in the same plot.  And that was that.  

Woodlawn Cemetery, even though it is in the Bronx, is a beautiful garden and a certified arboretum, containing trees of nearly every species native to that part of North America. Many famous persons are buried there including famous retailers like Sears and J C Penny, Soldiers like Admiral Farragut, financiers, moguls, tycoons. I have a map of the cemetery and it lists all the famous people buried there.  I would recommend a trip there to anyone, even though it sounds like a place you don't want to go, it is beautiful and safe.  In another section of Woodlawn, Holly Plot, Edwin Judson ( the one born in Stamford) his family and his wife's family, including many of his children are situated and in the Rutgers section lies William Jr. and his wife Srah, near the Wadhams relations of Albert Wadhams, husband of Sarah Harrison. I have visited this cemetery several times. It is one of the best I have ever seen, and the staff there is extremely helpful and courteous.

William H Harrison was born in Lincolnshire, a county in eastern England located on the North Sea, the River Humber estuary, and The Wash. It has an area of 5,918 sq km (2,285 sq mi), and the population is 573,900 (1991). The county town is LINCOLN. An important agricultural region, Lincolnshire generally consists of fertile lowlands (including The FENS) that produce grains and vegetables. Industries in the area produce heavy metals, chemicals, and agricultural equipment. Fishing is also important. Prehistoric relics found in the area indicate that settlement occurred as early as the Lower Paleolithic, or Old Stone Age. Lincolnshire was settled by the Romans and, during the Anglo-Saxon period, was under the control at different times of Mercia and Northumbria. Heavy Danish settlement took place in the area in the 9th century.