Harrison was born around 1756 at now-historic
Berkeley Plantation in
Charles City County, Virginia (also known as "Harrison's Landing"), the second surviving son of Elizabeth Bassett and
Benjamin Harrison V from the
Harrison family of Virginia.
Robert ("King") Carter I the most powerful and wealthy Virginian of his day, as well as the grandfather of several Virginia governors, including this boy's father. Complicating matters somewhat (and necessitating the middle name use), his uncle
Carter Henry Harrison I (1736–1793) also served in the Virginia House of Delegates, but represented
Cumberland County (and two descendants with that middle name became powerful politicians, including mayors of Chicago). In any event, before becoming
Virginia's governor as the American Revolutionary War ended, this boy's father signed the
American Declaration of Independence, and later become speaker of the House of Delegates (and represented Charles City County therein) as well as a member of the
Continental Congress. The middle of three sons, Carter Bassett Harrison also had four sisters (three of them older than he). His elder brother
Benjamin Harrison VI (1755–1799), trained as a merchant in Philadelphia with the firm of
Willing and
Morris and returned from Europe to become Deputy Paymaster of the Continental Army. Although he like this man served in the Virginia House of Delegates, the family historian considered him self-indulgent and troubled after his wife's death. Their youngest brother,
William Henry Harrison (1773–1841), born shortly before the war began, would become one of the family's most distinguished members, serving as congressional delegate for the
Northwest Territory, and governor of the
Indiana Territory before
election as President of the United States (albeit dying after about a month in that office). Their eldest sister, Lucy Bassett Harrison (1749–1809), married the namesake son of founding father Peyton Randolph (1738–1784)). However, possibly because of their father's financial difficulties following the American Revolutionary War, the other three sisters would marry outside the First Families of Virginia. Elizabeth Harrison (1751–1791) married physician
William Rickman (c. 1731–1783)); Anne Bassett Harrison (1753–1821) married David Coupland (1749–1822), and Sarah Harrison (1770–1812), married John Minge (1770–1829). This Carter Harrison received a private education appropriate to his class before attending the
College of William & Mary. ==Revolutionary war==