Person:Andrew Benton (5)

Origin

"John Benton, of the parish of Epping, co. Essex, England, and Mary Southernwood, were married at Epping, May 25, 1618. (For an account of the family in England, see Charles E. Benton's "Caleb Benton and Sarah Bishop, their Ancestors and their Descendants," Poughkeepsie, N. Y., 1906). Their children were:

Andrew, bapt. Oct. 15, 1620.

Thomas, bapt. Aug. 25, 1622.

Marie, bapt. June 29, 1625.

Elizabeth, bapt. Aug. 31, 1628.

[Here occurs a register hiatus of 8 years.]

John, bapt. Mar. 10. 1639.

The register shows the burial of a John Benton. Feb. 12, 1662, and of "the widdow Benton," June 5, 1665, but there is uncertainty as to their identity.

That the above record of Andrew, baptized Oct. 15, 1620, relates to Andrew Benton the emigrant is deduced from the facts that his tombstone in Hartford (whither he removed from Milford) shows he was "aged 63 yrs." at his death, July 31, 1683, thus agreeing with the probable time of birth, and that the name of John (his father) was given to three of his children, two of whom died in infancy, and the name of Mary (his mother) was given his second daughter.

That he was nearly related to Edward Benton the emigrant may be inferred from their coming together to America; and a coincidence of Christian names and other data suggests that John the father of Andrew the emigrant was probably a son of Andrew and Maria Benton, parents of Edward the emigrant; and if so, he was an older son whose birth failed of registration in the Epping parish records, or, possibly he was a son of the John Benton, baptized Apr. 14, 1588, whose father, Andrew Benton, born in 1548, inherited by will, in 1569, the manor of Shingle Hall, at Epping. of which his father, John Benton, became the owner in 1552.

In view, therefore, of the uncertainty as to an earlier ancestry, I [John H. Benton] choose to begin the ancestral line with John and Mary (Southernwood.)"^[1]

Life in New England

"Andrew Benton was allotted parcel No. 64 at the apportionment in Nov., 1639, of the land at Milford, Conn., bought from the Indians in Feb. of that year. It contained three acres, and was situated on the west side of Half Mile Brook, near the crossing of what is now Spring and Hill streets, and to this were added several other parcels of ground. He married first, probably in 1649, Hannah, daughter of George Stocking of Hartford, a first settler there in 1636. They united with the church at Milford, he on Mar. 5, 1648, and she on Oct. 13, 1650, and were dismissed to Hartford, Mar., 1666, whither they had removed as early as 1662. Here he was a fenceviewer in 1663 and '64, a juror in 1664 and '67, was a freeman in May, 1665, and a suppressor of "disorders during public worship" (during the Hartford Controversy) and collector of minister's rates in 1667. He separated to the Second Church in Feb., 1670, with his wife, daughter Hannah, and his fathers-in-law, Stocking and Cole. He married second, probably in 1673, Anne, daughter of John Cole, "a godly man of some public trust." She was the "bewitched maid" on whose account, mainly, Nathaniel Greensmith and his wife were hanged for witchcraft, Jan. 25, 1663. Goffe, the regicide, then in hiding at Milford, writes in his diary, Feb. 24, that after the hanging "the maid was well"; and Cotton Mather's Magnalia, in 1684, says of her that "she is restored to health, united with the church, and living in good repute." She died testate, Apr. 19, 1685, leaving an estate of £60.12.6, to be divided among her three surviving children, of whom Ebenezer was given a double portion because of "impotency." Hannah, his first wife, died probably in 1672. He was buried in Center Church Cemetery, and his gravestone, near the rear wall of the church, reads : "ANDREW BENTON AGED 63 YEARS HE DYED IVLY 31 ANO 1683." His estate, appraised at £345.17.19, was administered by his son Joseph, and distributed, Dec. 18, 1683, to his widow, and children, Andrew Samuel, Joseph, Mary, and Dorothy, by his first wife, and Ebenezer, Lydia, and Hannah, by his second wife.

The homestead, formerly owned by Nathaniel Greensmith, was at the junction of the roads leading to Wethersfield and Farmington, and on the west side of the present Wethersfield Avenue. At the death of the widow, it became the property of his son Joseph Benton, who sold it in June, 1693, He owned several other parcels of land, one of which in the 'Five Mile Lay Out,' in East Hartford, was distributed to his eight surviving children, Mar. 24, 1689."^[1]

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5} Benton, John H. Andrew Benton of Milford and Hartford, Conn., and His Descendants. New England Historical and Genealogical Register. (New England Historic Genealogical Society, Jul, Oct 1906)
   60:300-01.

   The evidence connecting Andrew Benton of Milford and Hartford to the Andrew Benton baptized 15 October 1620 is circumstantial. The relationship is apparently not proved.

2. ↑ Andrew Benton, in Find A Grave.
3. ↑ ^3.0 3.1 Benton, Andrew, Hartford, in Manwaring, Charles W. A Digest of the Early Connecticut Probate Records. (Hartford, Conn.: R. S. Peck & Co., 1904-06)
   1:283.

   "Probate Records. Vol. IV, 1677 to 1687. Page 156.
   
   Benton, Andrew, Hartford. Invt. £345-17-09. Taken 4 September, 1683, by James Steele sen., John Merrells. The children: Andrew, Samuel, Joseph, Mary and Dorothy, by his First wife (a daughter of George Stocking). By his second wife (Ann Cole): Ebenezer, 9 or 10 years of age, Lydia 7, Hannah, 5 years of age.
   
   Court Record, Page 77—18 December, 1683: Adms. to Joseph Benton. Order to Distribute to the Widow £40; to Andrew, Eldest son, £54; to Joseph, £34; to Samuel, £34; to Mary, £33; to Dorothy, £33; to Ebenezer, because of his impotency, £49; to Lidia, £33; to Hanna, £33: Stephen Hosmer & John Morrice, Overseers."