Person:Ezra Benson (5)

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Ezra apparently never married Mary Jane Street.

Ezra, formerly of Bruceton Mills, served as a Justice of the Peace for Portland District in 1871, 1872, 1874, 1876, 1880, 1885, and 1888. He also was a magistrate in 1882 for Pleasant District. (Wiley)

He also served in the Civil War, as a Private in H Company, 3rd Regiment, Federal Service. (Morton, page 490) He enlisted on 6/28/1861 at Clarksburg. He was a "designated sharpshooter" during the summer of 1862. Following Battles at Bull Pasture Mountain and Cedar Mountain, on 8/9/1862, he collapsed from sunstroke. George Goff remembers the day "Benson was struck down with sunstroke and lay there for some time, same as a dead man." He later was forced to march for the next seven days to Bull Run, and required assistance several times due to fatigue. Three weeks later he was listed as AWOL from his regiment. He lost his rank as Sergeant, and was demoted to the rank of Private. He was listed as a patient in the Carver Hospital, Washington, D.C., on 9/24/1862 and was returned to duty on 11/25/1862. He re-enlisted as a Veteran Volunteer in Martinsburg on 3/27/1864, and was sent to Beverly for duty with Company H, 6th Regiment of the WV Cavalry. At the time of re-enlistment, he was noted to be 27 years old, 5 foot 10 inches tall, had hazel eyes, dark hair and fair complexion. He took a furlough in May 1864 to marry Eva Ella Deets. He also took a furlough in October of that year to testify in court for his father.

Along with the rest of his unit, he was shipped west to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas to help "guard the western frontier." He was on the train that wrecked near Carlisle, Illinois. He apparently deserted from Fort Kearney, Nebraska Territory (N.T.) on 8/12/1865 and later his charge of desertion was dropped and he was honorably discharged. (Dorothy Bonafield Snyder) He apparently was in ill health for several years following his Civil War service.

Advertisement for his gunshop first appeared 7/10/1866 in the Preston County Journal. In 1867, he opened a gun and silversmith establishment in Portland District (Wiley, page 413) In October of that year, he was awarded the Highest Premium at the Greene County Agricultural Fair for the "best and neatest rifle." (PC Journal: 10/26/1867) He lived in the Bruceton area until 1869, when he moved to Cranberry (Terra Alta). Two of his rifles are presently at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, PA.Well-known advertising slogans for his rifles were: "Ask the man who has one." "The Benson hits point center." "When better guns are made, Benson will make them." Benson is best." (Preston Names of Note, PCJ, 1/1973)

1. ↑ Ancestry.com. Public Member Trees: (Note: not considered a reliable primary source)
   Ancestry Family Tree.
2. ↑ Dorothy Bonafield Snyder.