Rosamond Press

Benton Genealogy

at Thomas Hart Benton Home and Studio State Historic Site

The Bentons were originally established in Lincolnshire England. A branch of the family went to South Wales. In 1731, three brothers, Benton, came from Wales to America. They intended to settle on Chesapeake Bay, but contrary winds drove the ship south, and the brothers landed on Albermarle Sound, North Carolina, whence they went to the uplands and settled at Hillsboro, Orange County, N.C. These brothers were Samuel, Abner, and Jesse. The latter never married. Abner married in Wales, Samuel in North Carolina. This sketch has to do with Abner Benton and heirs. To him was born Jesse B. and Catherine. The latter never married, both born in North Carolina U.S.A. Jesse B. Benton was sent to England and educated. On his return from England, he was appointed (by the Crown), Secretary to the Lord Tryon, Governor of the Province. Afterwards an ugly British General in the Revolutionary War, Jesse B. Benton broke with his chief in the War for American Independence, and was an officer in the American Patriot Army. He, Jesse B. Benton, was married during the War for Independence to Ann Gooch, the daughter of a disreputable English officer under Lord Tryon. Her mother was named Hart and was American born, and Ann Gooch always said, “I came from a family of Harts.” Her cousin Col. Nathaniel Hart was killed at the “River Raisin”, in a battle with British and Indians, during the War of 1812. To the union between Jesse B. Benton and Ann Gooch, there was born Thomas Hart [the Senator], Jesse, Samuel, Nathaniel, Susan, and Catherine Benton. Susan and Catherine never married. In 1793, at the age of 46, Jesse B. Benton died at Hillsboro, N.C.

In 1796, the year Tennessee was admitted to the Union, Jesse B. Benton’s widow Ann, with her family, moved to Tennessee, and settled some forty miles south of Nashville, on land provided by her husband during his life. In 1800 Ann Benton’s sons Thomas H. and Nathaniel returned to North Carolina and entered the State school at Chapel Hill. Neither of them graduated. Of the four brothers Thomas H., Jesse, Samuel, and Nathaniel, the following facts are worthy of record: Samuel married in 1808, a Miss Grundy, and raised six children all born in Carroll County, West Tennessee. Four of these were boys, Nathaniel, Abner, Thomas H., and Samuel (the latter twins) and Catherine and Sarah. Catherine never married. The elder, Nat, went to California and reared a family. Abner died in youth. Thomas H. settled in Iowa, was a Democrat, was a Colonel and Brig. General in the U.S. Army during the Civil War. Was father of Maria Benton, a brilliant woman who married Ben Cable of Illinois and is living. Samuel settled in Holly Springs, Mississippi, reared a family, was twice a Whig Candidate for Congress, was a Confederate Colonel and brevet Brigadier General, was wounded at Resaca, Ga., and died in 1864. Sarah married a Brandt, reared a family and lived and died in St. Louis. Jesse, son of Jesse B. and Ann Benton, married in middle Tennessee, Mary (Polly) Childress, both of whom in old age died near Nashville without children. Thomas Hart, the eldest son was a member of the Tennessee Legislature, a lawyer and a Lieut. Colonel in the War of 1812. An unfortunate break between Generals Jackson, Carroll and Coffee, and Thos. H., Jesse and Nathaniel Benton brothers, resulted in a street duel in Nashville, in September 1813, in which General Jackson and General Carroll were both shot. In 1814 Thos. H. and Nathaniel moved to the Territory of Missouri. Thos. Hart Benton was elected one of the two first United States Senators for Missouri, and served thirty consecutive years, followed by two years in the lower House of Congress. After becoming a Senator he married a daughter of Governor McDowell of Virginia. To this union were born: Sarah, Mary, Jesse Ann, Elizabeth, and Randolph Benton. The latter died in his minority. Sarah married Baron Bolieau, French Minister to the U.S. in the forties, and was the mother of the celebrated artist Philip Bolieau later of New York, now deceased. Mary married a Mr. Jacobs of Jefferson County, Kentucky, an extensive Planter. Jesse Ann married Jon C Fremont, a U.S. Lieutenant of French descent, and afterwards the California Pathfinder, and later in 1856 the first Republican Candidate for President, against James Buchanan, and was not supported by Col. Benton, his father-in-law. Fremont was a Major General U.S.A. in the Civil War. Fremont and Jesse Ann Benton, had born to them John C. (who was a U.S. Naval Captain), and Lilly, who never married but lived to be sixty years old. John C. Jr., died a Captain and has a son John C. now a Captain in the U.S. Navy, and two girls not married. Elizabeth married Commodore Jones, U.S.N. and died in Florence, Italy in 1903.

Nathaniel Benton (our direct ancestor), was born in February 1788, in Hillsboro, Orange County, North Carolina, moved with his mother and family to middle Tennessee in 1796, spent afterwards two years in the North Carolina University and in 1810 married Dorothy Myra Branch, daughter of Governor Branch of North Carolina. To this union were born Nathaniel in 1811, Alfred in 1814, Columbus in 1819, Abner in 1816, Susan in 1822, Thomas Hart in 1825, Rufus in 1829, and Maecenas in 1831. Nathaniel and Alfred were born in middle Tennessee; Abner, Columbus and Susan were born in Jefferson County, Missouri; Thomas Hart, Rufus and Maecenas were born in Dyer County, Tennessee. The elder of this family Nat Benton, spent two years at West Point Military Academy, resigned, and with his mother’s family (his father Nat Benton having died in 1833) moved to Texas in October 1835, and settled on the Brazos, near Waco. In February 1836, Nat Benton together with his brother Alfred joined the army of General Sam Houston for the liberation of Texas from Mexican domination. Nat Benton however, accidentally shot himself in the foot, and came near passing away. Alfred Benton and Ben McCulloch were with Houston at San Jacinto and helped in Texas Independence in 1836. Nat Benton in 1837 returned to Tennessee and married Harriet, the sister of Henry and Ben McCulloch. To this union was born Benjamine Eustace Benton. Nat Benton’s wife died in 1845. In 1853 Nat Benton and son left Dyersburg, Tennessee and went to Texas. Both he and his son Eustace were in the Texas Rangers, and while so engaged Eustace was badly wounded, losing one eye. Captain Nat Benton married again during the’50s to a Miss Harris and children were born to this marriage, but the family history to which I had access did not state how many children, nor where the second Mrs. Benton died.

Nat Benton was a soldier in the Confederate army attaining the rank of Colonel, and was badly wounded at Port Hudson. He returned to Sequing Texas, and lived there till his death which occurred in 1873. His son Capt. Ben Eustace Benton married during the Civil War on April 15 1863, Miss Margaret C. Walker, daughter of General B.W. Walker, and to this union was born Miss Eulalia Benton now living in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Capt Ben E. Benton died at Pine Bluff, Arkansas June 13 1914.

Alfred Benton, second son of Nat and Dorothy M. Benton, after serving in the war for Texas Independence, died in Texas in 1838. Abner the third son, married Mary Ann Wardlaw of Ripley, Lauderdale County, Tenn., and to this union were born eleven children. Fannie, the eldest, married Tom W. Neal at Dyersburg, had two children. Ella N. Crook, now of Little Rock, Arkansas, and Lillian Simpson, and died in 1880. Alfred lives in Louisville, Ky., Ed at Trenton, Tennessee, Hattie at Memphis, Annie at Dyersburg, Tenn., and Minne at Memphis, others all dead. Columbus Benton died in infancy. Susan married one Boggess, had eleven children, none of whom are living to my knowledge, and she died in June 1885.

Thos H. Benton Jr, son of Nat and Dollie Benton, married Mary Ellen Eason, whose father was Carter T. Eason, and mother Ellen, daughter of Gen. Daniel Morgan who defeated Tarleton at the “Cow Pens”. To this union were born Maecenas E., Mary Ellen, Nat (both the latter died in infancy), Jesse Ann, Thomas H. (both of whom died when about grown), Dollie who married Frank E. Miller and had one child named Mary Ruth Miller. Dollie Benton Miller died May 1895. Samuel Abner born in 1863 died in 1894, and Fannie May, who married E.L. Logan and has had two children, Sam Benton and Ernestine. They live in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Maecenas E. Benton, the eldest of this family is a lawyer, born in Obion County, Tennessee, removed to Missouri in 1869. Was two terms State’s attorney, one term as State Representative, one term United States Attorney, and five terms a member of Congress. He was married in 1888 to Elizabeth Wise of Waxahachie, Texas and of Kentucky parentage. To whom were born Thomas Hart [the artist], Mary Elizabeth, Nathaniel Wise, and Mildred Benton, all now grown.

Rufus and Maecenas, the youngest of the children of Nat and Dorothy Benton and brothers of Nat, Abner, and Thomas H., died in youth.

This statement covers the direct line from Abner Benton the Englishman who came to America in 1731, down to and including all of the present generation of whom the writer has any knowledge.

Compiled by Maecenas E Benton of Neosho, Missouri from old family records, from Dorothy Myra Benton’s family bible and from his personal knowledge.

Dated July 22, 1915 (signed) ME Benton

•Name: Jesse Benton 1
•Sex: M
•Reference Number: 35995
•Birth: in North Carolina 1
•Death: 1793 in Hillsborough, Orange County, North Carolina 1
•Note:
Redden, Alma Cheek. A Chronicle of Two Pioneer Families, the Bentons and the Taylors, of the North Carolina Back Country. Greensboro (North Carolina): Acme Printing and Typesetting Co., 1969.

Part II

Jesse Benton and Nancy Ann Gooch Benton

The Eldest Son

Jesse Benton, the eldest son, was the only child of Samuel’s first marriage of whom any records have been found. It has been observed that because of the lack of marriage bonds or other church and family records, neither the name of Jesse’s mother nor the place and exact date of his birth are known.

The Granville County tax lists of 1764 and 1765, prepared by Jesse’s father, appear to fix 1744 as the year in which Jesse was born, that year being twenty-one years before he attained his majority and became a taxpayer in 1765.

On February 28, 1767, Samuel Benton of Granville County, North Carolina, sold to Jesse Benton of Granville County and “son of aforesaid Samuel Benton . . . out of the natural love and affection he hath for his son Jesse Benton and for . . . sum of Ten Shillings Sterling . . . [a tract of land in Johnston County] on Smith’s Creek . . beginning at a white oak on the west Prong of said Creek . . thence cast along Hardy’s Line . . . crossing Creek to west Prong 500 acres,” this deed being witnessed by Ben Hardy and Nathaniel Kimbrough”

Additional testimony that Jesse was the son of Samuel Benton was furnished in his Last Will and Testament in which he names “my Son Jesse” both as a legatee and as an executor. As the eldest son, he had been charged with the responsibility of being the principal executor, a duty administered with fidelity and integrity.

Jesse was also appointed as guardian for his youngest brother, Augustine, on February 21, 1772. Bond was set at 500 pounds and Jesse was held responsible for Augustine and his property until he, Augustine, had reached his twenty-first birthday.34

Further incontrovertible evidence as to Jessee’s status as the eldest son and the child of Samuel Benton’s first marriage lies not only in the date of his birth as compared to that of Frances Benton, Samuel’s second wife, but also in her sworn statement in the Answer to the Bill of Complaint brought by John Taylor, Jr., in which she names her children by Samuel in the order of their birth: Betty, Lam, Penny, Patty, Samuel, John, and Augustine.

The emphasis placed upon the documented knowledge of Jesse’s life and that of his family is necessary in order to separate the reality of fact from the fantasy of legend.

Nancy Ann Gooch Benton

In 1777, Jesse Benton married Nancy Ann Gooch, the daughter of William Gooch of Caswell County, North Carolina, and his first wife, Ann Hart Gooch. Nancy was nineteen in 1777, having been born in 1758.

The parents of Ann Hart and her five brothers: Thomas Hart III, John, David, Benjamin, and Nathaniel, were Colonel Thomas Hart II and Susannah Rice Hart, both of whom were born in Hanover County, Virginia. Colonel Hart died in Hanover County, being buried there in 1755, but Susannah died in Orange County, North Carolina, after migrating thence with the Gooch, Hart, and Rice families.”

To Jesse and Nancy Benton were born eight children: (1) Peggy, born circa 1779, died near Nashville, Tennessee, (2) Mary, born circa 1780, died near Nashville, (3) Thomas Hart, born March 14, 1782, died April 10, 1858, Washington, D. C., (4) Jesse, born circa 1783, died 1843 in Tennessee, (5) Nancy, born circa 1784, died in Tennessee, (6) Samuel, born circa 1786, died 1846 in San Augustine, Texas, (7) Nathaniel, born February, 1788, died 1833, and (8) Susannah, born circa 1789, died 1806 in Tennessee.

The five oldest children were born at “Meadow Place,” a plantation located near the present small town of Efland, North Carolina, while the three youngest children were born at “Hartford,” a farm situated near Hillsborough that was Jesse Benton’s last home and final resting place as well.

When Jesse died in 1791, he left Nancy with eight young children, the oldest being but twelve years of age, and far-flung landholdings, heavily encumbered by debt. Nancy Benton was a remarkable person. That she succeeded in settling Jesse’s rather complicated affairs, at the same time providing her large brood with adequate care, testifies to her courage, perseverance, and intelligence.

“Hartford” was the last property sold by Nancy Benton before she and her family departed for Tennessee, being conveyed to Samuel Benton II, Jesse’s brother, in a deed signed on March 16, 1802, by Nancy and “the children of Jesse.”36

It is interesting to note that Nancy Benton “of Orange” and all eight of her children, the eldest, Peggy, then twenty-three years old, and the youngest, Susannah, thirteen years of age, signed the deed.

Nancy and her family settled near Nashville, Tennessee, on property that had been acquired by Jesse before his death. She not only survived her husband by forty-six years, but all four of her daughters, and her son Nathaniel as well. Her death occurred in Saint Louis, Missouri, in January, 1837, at eighty years of age.”

Civic Affairs

Jesse Benton succeeded his father as Public Register of Granville County, holding that office from 1770 to 1774.38 His name did not appear again, either as Register or in the Court Minutes, until his admission in 1784 as an attorney licensed to practice in the Granville County Court.

It has been noted that in December, 1770, Jesse and his brother, Lemuel, were ardent supporters of the existing order, and as such, joined in signing the “Protest against Regulators.” But as the breach between the colonies and the mother country widened and the differences of opinions became irreconcilable, both Jesse and Lemuel were converted to the colonial cause.

Jesse participated in an expedition against the Indians in the Colony of Transylvania, now the State of Kentucky, in 1776. His commanding officer, Colonel Williams, in a letter written on January 3, 1776, from Boonesborough reported: “. . . on Thursday a ranging party of fifteen men under the command of Jesse Benton, was dispatched to scour the woods, 20 to 30 miles . . . “39

In April, 1777, Jesse was recorded as having enlisted as a private in Colonel William’s Company, Fourth Regiment, North Carolina militia, this period of active service continuing until February, 1778.40

Jesse Benton was elected to the State Assembly, being recorded as a member on June 24, 1781.41 He was appointed to serve on at least one committee, but his legislative career was brief in duration and routine in performance.

He was named Clerk of Court of Orange County on May 28, 1781, and continued in that capacity until November 24, 1784, when his brother, Samuel II, succeeded him.

The establishment of a school in Hillsboro elicited his interest and active support. An article by one of the state newspapers concerning the schools of this historic community reported: – “In November, 1783, the Episcopal School or Hillsboro Academy was founded, the Trustees, James Hogg, Chairman; William Hooper [a signer of the Declaration of Independence], William Johnston, Jesse Benton, Secretary and Treasurer to the Board of Trustees; and William Watters, Secretary.”42

Jesse made a reference to the school in a letter to Thomas Hart III on April 3, 1786: “The Academy which was attempted in your time, I think is now happily established in Hillsborough. Two Gentlemen of extensive learning late from Connecticut are now teaching many branches of useful education, and more tutors are to be employed when necessary. This we esteem as an inestimable acquisition for the Neighborhood of Hillsborough.”43

A further manifestation of Jesse’s high regard for the value of education was shown by the excellent library which he managed to collect, and which provided an invaluable supplement to the limited formal education available to his children. This heritage exerted a vital influence upon his son, Thomas Hart Benton, whose desire for and attainment of an education was one of his most valuable assets in achieving recognition as one of the greatest statesmen of his time. His honorable and courageous adherence to his convictions as a United States Senator and Congressman from Missouri, a career that spanned more than thirty years, caused John F. Kennedy to select Thomas Hart Benton as one worthy to be included in the Pulitzer prize winning biography, PROFILES OF COURAGE.

The Land Speculator

Jesse, as has already been reported, after reaching his majority and becoming a taxpayer in Granville County in 1765, became the owner of 500 acres in Johnston County, North Carolina, when his father, Samuel Benton, sold this land to him for “natural love and affection he hath for his son Jesse Benton and for . . . sum of Ten Shillings Sterling.”44

Jesse had disposed of all his property in Granville County by the close of 1777, that being the last year in which he was listed as a taxpayer in that county.

In 1779, Jesse Benton was a land owner in Orange County, and was fined for non-attendance as a juror in the February Court of that year.

Orange County deeds do not show that Jesse sold any of the many acres he either bought or that were granted to him by the State of North Carolina.

The Court Minutes of Caswell County state that Jesse paid taxes for more than 600 acres of land located on Hogan’s Creek. However, sometime prior to April 3, 1786, Jesse had disposed of this land. In a letter of that date written to Colonel Thomas Hart III, Jesse declared: “I have exchanged the remains of my Caswell Lands which I had of Capt. Nat. Hart, with John Kitzmiller for the plantation you sold him, which I call a good bargain.”45

In this same letter, Jesse tells Hart that “I have entered and paid for near Twenty thousand Acres of Land on the Cumberland Waters, which I think a Capital stroke.”46

Jesse’s far-flung holdings were heavily mortgaged to Thomas Hart III, the uncle of his wife and believed to be the namesake of Jesse’s eldest son. This debt was of particular concern to Jesse and he expressed both his anxiety and his desire to close the account in a letter: “In order toe discharge [the] accumulating Debt which I am owing You, and to remove the uneasiness which bears upon my mind, as well as yours, on that account, I now propose, and hope it may prove advantageous to your Family & Posterity, for You to receive as much of my property, either in this Neighbourhood or the Western Country, or both, at your own rates, as will free me & and my Family from Debt.”47

This proposal failed of execution and the debt was not finally paid until March 16, 1802, or almost eleven years after Jesse’s death, when Nancy Ann Benton sold “Meadow Place” to Thomas Hart: “for sum of 200 pounds, tract on McGowin’s Creek adjacent Sam. McCracken’s . . . same land Jesse bought of John Kitzmiller also negro-slaves . . . 16 in number . . . which said tracts (and family) sold by virtue of execution from Superior Court for Hillsborough District against Nancy Benton, [Executrix], Jesse Benton [deceased] purchased by Joseph Taylor, Agent for said Hart to satisfy a debt due by said Jesse to Thomas Hart.”48

The judgment rendered by the Hillsborough Superior Court two years before in favor of “Thomas Hart of County of Fayette in Kentucky” had already resulted in action against Nancy for recovery of the “sum of 3 622 pounds to be discharged by payment of 1831 pounds; the Sheriff sold 3 tracts in Orange for sum of 1481 pounds.”49

Jesse Benton, Thomas Hart, and others were associated in many complicated land transactions and litigations, including a few with Richard Henderson, whose land speculators in Kentucky occasioned a great teal of controversy, with disastrous consequences for many investors. Jesse had bought 6,250 acres of Richard Henderson’s grant from Colonel David Hart of Caswell County, and in turn, had sold it to Captain Nathaniel Hart, the transaction finally being completed in Jesse Benton’s Last Will and Testament, At least this seems to have been Jesse’s intention when he wrote his will.

But even though Jesse had confessed to extreme anxiety over his heavily encumbered landholdings in the letter to [Thomas Hart, his fever for land speculation did not abate. On December 6, 1789, he bought several thousand acres in the Western District [Tennessee] from John McGee “for sum of 43 S pounds . . . two tracts -one tract in Davidson County on Watters of the main W. Fork of Harpeth River on a branch known as Leepers fork [of] 2,560 acres . . . One tract in Western District in N. C. side Loose Hatchie River about one mile from River, adjacent Wm. Alston and Robert Goodloe [containing] 1,500 acres. Also [two-thirds] of tract of 1,035 acres granted to John McGee . adjacent John Rice’s corner [containing] 690 acres.”50 This deed was witnessed by S. Benton, Sterling Harris, and A. Benton.

Death came prematurely to Jesse in 1791, cutting short an active and productive life of slightly more than forty-six years.

Family Legends

If the biographer lacks access to primary source materials, it is not surprising that family histories are frequently not only incomplete and incorrect, but occasionally are more legendary, than factual.

As a case in point, the early history of the Benton family in North Carolina as related by Maecenas E. Benton of Jefferson City, Missouri, though quite entertaining, cannot be substantiated by authentic documentary evidence.

This legendary account of the origin of the Benton family was contained in the first six paragraphs of a brief family history transmitted in a letter to Abner Benton of Memphis, Tennessee, dated June 8, 1923.

The Bentons were originally established in Lincolnshire, England. In the early part of the eighteenth century a branch of the family went to South Wales. In 1731 three brothers named Benton came from Wales to America. They intended to settle on Chesapeake Bay, but contrary winds drove the ship south and the brothers landed on Albemarle Sound, North Carolina, whence they went to the uplands and settled at Hillsboro, Orange County, North Carolina.

These brothers were Abner, Samuel and Jesse. The latter never married. Abner married in Wales, Samuel in N. C. This sketch has to do with Abner Benton and his heirs

To Abner was born Jesse B. and Catherine. The latter never married. They were both born in N. C., U.S.A. Jesse B. Benton was sent to England and educated. On his return from England he was appointed (by the Crown) Secretary to the Lord Tryon, Governor of the Province of North Carolina. This man Tryon was afterwards a very ugly British General in the Revolutionary War. Jesse B. Benton broke with his Chief in the war for American Independence and was an officer in the American Patriot Army.

Jesse B. Benton was married during the war for American Independence to Ann Gooch, a daughter of an English officer under Lord Tryon. Her mother was named Hart and was American born. Ann Gooch’s sympathies were with the American branch of the family. Her cousin, Col. Nathaniel Hart, was killed at the “River Raisin” in a battle with British and Indians in the War of 812.

To the union between Jesse and Ann Gooch (Nancy) there was born Thos. Hart, Jesse, Samuel, Nathaniel, Susan and Catherine Benton. Susan and Catherine never married. In 1793, at the age of forty-six, Jesse B. Benton died at Hillsboro, N. C. In 1796, the year Tennessee was admitted to the Union, the widow of Jesse B. Benton, Ann, with her family, moved to Tennessee and settled some forty miles south of Nashville, on land provided by her husband during his life.

In 1800, Ann Benton’s sons, Thos. Hart and Nathaniel, returned to North Carolina and entered the State school at Chapel Hill, neither of them, however, graduated.

The assertions contained in the first two paragraphs are not supported by North Carolina colonial records, or by any other authenticated documents. The statement that the brothers “went to the uplands and settled at Hillsboro, Orange County, North Carolina.” is incorrect. Samuel is the only one of the Benton brothers mentioned for whom records exist, these already having been cited, and they are quite conclusive that Samuel never lived in Hillsborough, although he did introduce the bill in the Colonial Assembly which established the town.

As to the third paragraph, no records have as yet been found thee prove the existence of Abner Benton and his two children, Jesse B. and Catherine, in colonial North Carolina. Furthermore, though the records of Governor Tryon’s associates and activities are fairly extensive, there is no record of any secretary named Jesse Benton. The father of Thomas Hart Benton was named Jesse, but he was Samuel’s eldest son based upon the incontrovertible evidence already cited in this chronicle. Jesse served in the Revolutionary War as a private and not as an officer, another fact that is documented.

The fourth paragraph is partially correct in reporting that Jesse married a girl whose last name was Gooch. Nancy Ann Gooch’s father was a farmer of Caswell County, North Carolina.51 If he served as an English officer under Tryon, no document is available to substantiate that statement. Existing records indicate that the Gooch, Hart, and Rice families had lived in Hanover County, Virginia, before migrating to North Carolina.

Nathaniel Hart was already dead in 1790 according to Jesse Benton’s Last Will and Testament, although it is possible that the one Maecenas refers to was a member of a later generation.

As to the fifth paragraph, it appears to contain only one statement that is correct: that Nancy and her family settled in Tennessee south of Nashville, but the year was 1802 rather than 1796, as proven by records of deeds in Orange County. As has been thoroughly documented, Jesse and Nancy Ann Gooch had eight children: Peggy, Mary, Thomas Hart, Jesse, Nancy, Samuel, Nathaniel, and Susannah. Jesse Benton departed this life, not in 1793, but in 1791, as evidenced by the probate of his will in August of that year.

The statements in the sixth paragraph as to the attendance of Thomas Hart and Nathaniel at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are in error. The unpleasant truth, and one which burdened him all of his life, was that Thomas Hart Benton was expelled from the University in 1799 after being accused of stealing money from his college roommates, while there is no record of Nathaniel’s attendance at the University. As Nathaniel would have been only twelve years old in 1800, it would have been rather unlikely that he could have qualified for admission.

Deeds, wills, and letters, written by and about the persons concerned while they were still alive, are among the authenticated documents that were not available to Maecenas that have been cited as necessary to correct the misunderstandings that have been engendered by the acceptance and retelling of family myths.

Last Will and Testament

Sometime between October 21, 1790, when he filed his will, and the August term of Court in 1791 when the will was probated, death came to Jesse Benton.

He was buried at Hartford, “the Pleasantest & most beautiful situation in Orange, a high place with a clean pretty soil for a yard & garden.”52 As the burial site was neglected and, in time, forgotten, no one now is aware of the location.

In his Last Will and Testament, Jesse endeavored to arrange for the orderly settlement of all his outstanding indebtedness, adequate provision for the support of his wife and their family, and an equitable division of his property among his children when “they shall marry or come of age.” He named Nancy, his wife, as Executrix.

Jesse was deeply concerned over the education of his eight young children: “It is also my Will and desire thee my said children may all receive reasonable education at the expence of my Estate, and that my Sons may at all events be taught the English language as perfectly as may be found necessary.”

His brothers, Samuel, Jr., and Augustine, witnessed the will, and his nephew, Abner Benton Bruce, was responsible for its final certification in his capacity as Clerk of Court.

BENTON. The name has been conspicuous in American history from the early settlement of he New England colonies, and was intimately associated with leading events in the pioneer days of Jefferson County. It has furnished a United States Senator, prominent in the national councils during several decades, a most useful and respected citizen. The annals of every walk of life have been honored by this name and those who represent it to-day move among the best circles of social and business activity.

(I) the town of Guilford, Connecticut, was settled in 1639, by a colony from the vicinity of Guilford, England. It included two brothers, Edward and Andrew Benton, both of whom were influential members of the colony, Puritans who left civilization to found homes ina savage wilderness in order that they might enjoy freedom of conscience. Andrew Benton moved to Hartford about 1660, and died there in 1683. By his first wife he was the father of Andrew, Samuel, James, Mary and Dorothy. His second wife bore him Ann, who died in 1686, Ebenezer, Lydia, and Hannah.

(II) James, third son of Andrew Benton, resided in Hartford, where he married, February 10, 1698, Sarah, daughter of Bevil Waters, of that city.

(III) James (2), son of James (1) and Sarah (Waters) Benton, was born 1699 in Hartford, and moved to Guilford, where he died August 30, 1785, aged eighty-six years. he married, March 1, 1719, Experience, daughter of Edward Stocking, of Lyme, Connecticut.

(IV) James (3), son of James (2) and Experience (Stocking) Benton, was born in 1720, died June 22, 1801, in Guilford. He married, September 27, 1736, in Guilford, Margaret Naughtye, of that town, in which they resided. They had two sons (possibly others), Bethel and Beza, the latter born January 18, 1753.

(V) Bethel, son of James (3) and Margaret (Naughtye) Benton, was born De-

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cember 14, 1750, in Guilford, and removed to Ashfield, Massachusetts, 1767. The name of his brother, Beza, is found ina list of inhabitants of Ashfield between 1773 and 1798, and on a list of voters in the last named year. In that year Bethel Benton removed from Ashfield to Seneca, Ontario county, New York, where he continued to reside until his death at the age of ninety-six years. When over ninety he walked to Geneva to purchase a present for his granddaughter on the occasion of her birthday. He was a soldier of the Revolution, enlisting from Ashfield at three different times. He first enlisted for a period of eight months in May, 1775, as a private in Captain Murray’s Company of colonel Woodbridge’s Regiment of Massachusetts troops; again in January, 1776, for one month, under Captain Barns, of Colonel Sargent’s Regiment; lastly, at the expiration of that term, for twelve months, in Captain Israel Chapin’s Company of Colonel Porter’s Regiment. He participated in the battle of Bunker Hill, and was granted a pension August 28, 1832.

(VI) DR. Abner, son of Bethel Benton, was born May 16, 1786, in Ashfield, Massachusetts, and was six years old when his parents moved to Seneca, this state. He was educated at Fairfield Seminary for a physician, studied under Dr. Anable, of Cayuga County, and began his professional career at Fabius, this state. Dr. Benton married, Janaury 29, 1807, Hannah, fourth daughter and fifth child of John and Susanna (Howell) Cooper. About 1818 they moved to the village of Ox Bow, town of Antwerp, where Mrs. Benton’s brother was a leading citizen. Dr. Benton at once took a leading part in the progress of affairs, for which he was amply fitted by nature and education. He was the first postmaster at Ox Bow, appointed in 1818, upon the establishment of an office there, and continued to fill that position for several years. Like his ancestors and some of his descendants he was a man of large frame and great muscular power, standing six feet in height and weighing two hundred pounds. He was the leading physician of his section, and was widely known as both citizen and professional man. His death occurred February 6, 1845, from the rupture of a blood vessel, caused by lifting. He became impatient with some men who were planning to unload a barrel of cider at his door, and lifted it along by chains with his fingers. His wife was born November 5, 1788, and survived him nearly twenty-seven years, passing away April 19, 1875, at Ox Bow. They were the parents of four sons and two daughters. Zebulon Howell, the eldest, was a prominent mining promoter of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and died at the age of ninety years, May 16, 1893, at Ox Bow. He married Joseph Bonaparte’s only daughter. Charlotte, the second, married Henry Howell, and resided at Sag Harbor, Long Island. Erasmus Darwin, married Cornelia B. Hinchman. Sophie died unmarried at Ox Bow. John H., born February 8, 1823, was successful physician and practiced thirty-one years at Ogdensburg, where he died August 31, 1885.

(VII) Dr. Charles Carroll, fourth son of Dr. Abner and Hannah (Cooper) Benton, was born August 20, 1828, in Ox Bow, New York, died October 3, 1890, at Ogdensburg. When a young man he studied medicine, about three years, in Watertown, New York, and also spent four years in study of that science under Professor Gibson, of the same city. He became a graduate physician in 1850 and in 1854 made an extended tour of Europe, in which trip he spent some time visiting the famous hospitals of Paris, London, and Edinburgh. Upon his return, late in 1854, he settled at Ox Bow, Jefferson County, New York, and there practiced his profession until 1875, when he removed to Ogdensburg and practiced there until a short time before his death. He was an able physician and won a high pace in his profession. He belonged to the state and local medical societies, and was a member of the Masonic fraternity at Ogdensburg. Dr.

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Benton married, 1854, Sarah, born Philadelphia, 1833, died Ogdensburg, 1891, daughter of John and Euphemia West, both natives of England. Children: 1. Mary Euphemia, born 1862, Ox Bow, New York; married Frank Huntress, 1885; died in the same year, leaving one son, Carroll Benton. 2. John West, M. D.

(VIII) Dr. John West, only son of Dr. Charles Carroll and Sarah (West) Benton, was born November 15, 1864, Ox Bow, New York, and received his early education in Ogdensburg. Later he graduated from the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, and immediately thereafter, 1886, commenced the practice of his profession at Ogdensburg, where he has since remained. He is one of the leading physicians of the city, and has built up a large and lucrative practice. Dr. Benton stands high in his profession, and is highly esteemed and respected by all classes. He is benevolent and charitable, and is fairly well known in social circles. Dr. Benton takes a commendable interest in public affairs, and politically is an adherent of the Democratic party. He is a city health officer, and belongs to the Democratic and Ogdensburg clubs. He is of the Catholic faith. He is member of St. Lawrence County Medical and State Medical associations. DR. Benton is pleasing and courteous of manner, and has a host of friends; his culture and refinement are apparent, and he is well informed on the leading questions of the day.

Dr. Benton married, 1903, Harriet E., daughter of Charles G. and Mary (Perkins) Egert; children: 1. Edward Perkins, born September 2, 1903. 2. John W., June 25, 1905. 3. Louis Joseph, October 2, 1906. 4. Philip Eglin, July 20, 1908.