William Henry Harrison

Early Life and Family

What was his educational background?

He learned under private tutors at Berkeley Plantation and then at Richmond, Virginia, after his father became governor. He then attended Hampden-Sydney College, focusing his studies on history and literature. However, since a young age he had aspired to a career in medicine. With his father’s blessing, he went to Richmond to study medicine and then moved to Pennsylvania to study under Dr. Benjamin Rush, a prominent physician and, like Harrison’s father, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Presidential portrait of William Henry Harrison by artist James Reid Lambden.

