Harrison
County Sligo
The Way West
here are Harrison families in Ireland from the time of the English Plantations, but they seem all, in England, to be Protestant. O'Hart, however, says this:
"Henry: the name "Henry" is derived from the Irish An Righ, [an ree] "the king." ... As MacHenry and FitzHenry signify, the "sons or descendants of Henry", and that Harry is the common name for "Henry," some are of the opinion MacHenry is another name for Harrison, which would mean, "the son of Harry" and that Harris and Fitzharris are branches of the "Clan Henry." It is well known that some of the original English Plantation families lost their Englishness and intermarried with and became " more Irish than the Irish themselves". Possibly a change of religion went along with this for at least some of the Harrisons.
A recent visit to Easky and Kilglass in County Sligo uncovered no Harrisons. Church records, however, indicate there were several families in the 19th century and before.
Source:
O'Hart, John, Irish Pedigrees. Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, 1999,(1882)