Family of General William Selby Harney

Descendants of Thomas Harney III                    Additional information & charts - Click here.

Thomas HARNEY (III) was born 18 April 1752/62, Dover, Delaware (records vary), the son of Thomas HARNEY(II) and Hannah MILLS.  Thomas III took part in the Revolutionary War at a young age, and attained the rank of Major at its close.  In 1784 he received a land grant of 640 acres in recognition of this service in the war.  The tract is located a few miles from what is now Nashville, Tennessee, on the  Cumberland River.  There he settled with his family, and engaged in business as a merchant, and later in land surveying.  He married Margaret HUDSON (1769-1833) from an "Irish family of distinction and merit", and had eight children, listed below.  Thomas is listed as an officer in the Freemasons at the Harmony Lodge No. 1 (formerly St. Tammany Lodge No. 1) in 1805.  He made his own Masonic apron, which he passed on to his son James.   Thomas HARNEY died 16 July 1813, as a result of a bite from a mad dog (per article in The Clarton & Tennessee Gazette).  Family tradition states that at the end he had to be tied to a bed in the yard due to the rabies he contacted from the dog.

Children:
1.  Benjamin F. HARNEY - Surgeon General, U.S. Army.  No issue.

2. John Milton HARNEY - Physician, and poet. One daughter.
Born 9 March 1789, Sussex County, Delaware, the son of Thomas HARNEY III and Margaret HUDSON.  His family moved to Tennessee shortly after his birth, and later moved to Louisiana.  John Milton studied medicine in Philadelphia, and then settled at Bardstown, Kentucky, where he practices that profession.  In 1814 he married Eliza Cooper ROWAN, the daughter of Judge John ROWAN.  She was a cousin of Stephen FOSTER, who wrote "My Old Kentucky Home" about her family home.  John Milton HARNEY devoted much of his time to literature.  At his wife's encouragement, he published "Crystalina: A Fairy Tale", a poem he had written as a younth.  Because of shyness he had kept it in manuscript until his wife prevailed upon him to print it.   Although a work of considerable merit, he was so wounded by some unfavorable criticism that he suppressed nearly all the copies.  About the same time, his wife died giving birth to their only child, Eliza, in 1815.  The daughter was reared by her grandmother, Mrs. John ROWAN.  In 1816, John Milton visited the eastern states, where he was on the editorial staff of the New York Enquirer.  One souce indicates he then traveled in Great Britain, Ireland, France, and Spain, and spent several years in the naval service of Buenos Ayres.  On returning to the United States he resided in Savannah, Georgia, where he conducted a political newspaper, called the Savannah Georgian.   After severe exertion at a disastrous fire, he developed a violent fever which left him in poor health.  He returned to Kentucky, where he sought solace in the Catholic religion.  He joined the Dominican order at St. Rose Priory, Springfield, Kentucky.   Before ordination, to be a Dominican monk, he died, 15 January 1825, while visiting the Rowans in Bardstown, Kentucky.  He is buried in their private cemeterary at Federal Hill.

Two of John Milton HARNEY's works were published posthumously: "The Fever Dream" written at Savannah after he had suffered from the disease he described, and "Echo and the Lover".  The latter had a wide audience, at home and abroad. (Copy of the latter available on request).

Eliza C. R. HARNEY, the only daughter of John Milton HARNEY and Eliza Cooper ROWAN, was born 6 January 1815, in Kentucky.  She married William BOONE of Louisiana, and their children were: John R.; Anna M.; Samuel; and Harney BOONE.   Eliza C.R. (HARNEY) BOONE died 11 May 1895, Kentucky.     References: Spalding, Mat, Bardstown Portraits; and Bardstown, Town of Tradition;   Who's Who in America, Historical Volume (1607-1896), published 1963; National Cyclopedia of American Biography, 10.

3. James Thompson HARNEY - Lawyer.
James T. was born 14 Oct 1790.  He was in the mercantile business at Haysborough, Tennessee.  He later moved near Bowling Green, Kentucky, where it is said he became a lawyer. He served as the personal lawyer of his family's friend, Andrew JACKSON, for many years. James T. handled the affairs at "The Hermitage" while Jackson was President and living in the White House.  James T. was with Jackson when he fought Dickerson in a duel for slandering Jackson's wife.  Dickerson was wounded and died shortly thereafter.

James Thopmson HARNEY married on 27 June 1811 to Mary FRAILEY (1795-1847), the granddaughter of James RUMSEY, one of the first inventors of the steamboat.  James T. and Mary are thought to have had twelve children, listed below.  James T. died 26 Nov 1874, at the home of his daughter, Harriett, at Franklin, KY. He was buried with Masonic honors, by Harney Lodge, Simpson Benevolent Lodge, and the Royal Arch Chapters of Bowling Green and Franklin, KY.  He was a Mason and had in his possession his father's handmade Mason Apron.  (Also see "Harney Update" newsletter, Issue 26, April 1993, includes photo).      Children:
Susan R. REYNOLDS; James Egbert; Julia Margaret SCANLAN; Elizabeth CRAIG; Mary Ann; Charles; Harriett BLAKEY; Adeline GRAVES; Robert B.; Jane A. HARGIS; Lucy Mildred BENEDICT; and Edward R. HARNEY.  Mary Ann and Charles died in infancy.  Robert B. and Edward R. remained unmarried.

4. Robert Burns HARNEY
Born 20 February 1793, near Haysborough, Tennessee, the son of Thomas HARNEY and Margaret HUDSON.  He enlisted in military service as an ensign with the 39th Infantry, on 21 June 1814.  He became 3d lieutenant on 1 Oct 1814, and received an honorable discharge 15 June 1815.  He married Mary Elizabeth MILLER, 14 February 1831.   They had two sons: Auretius Lee HARNEY (b.ca. 1833); and Elvin Erskine HARNEY (b.ca. 1835).  Robert B. HARNEY is mentioned in the abstraacts to Giles County, TN, Court Minute Book "S" between 1847 and 1850, as appointed commissioner to contract and superintend the building of a bridge across Richard Creek.   Robert Burns HARNEY died 16 March 1856, in Elkhorn, Giles Co., TN.     References:  Historical Register of U.S. Army 1789-1803, Vol. 1; 1850 Federal Census, TN, Giles County, 9th district, p.457; 1860 Census, Giles Co. TN, South subdivision, p.155, Erskin & Aurelius Harney; Marriage record of Robert Harney to Miss Mary E. Miller, 14 Feb 1831; Will of Elvin Erskin Harney, 1851, TN.

5. Thomas H. HARNEY - died young. No children.

6. Eliza HARNEY - remained single. No children.

7. Margaret HARNEY - married Dr. Benjamin MILLS, one child, John MILLS, died in infancy.

8. William Selby HARNEY - Chart

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