"The vital statistics In Middletown Land Records, 1:45, give the family record of Benjamin Hands who married 14 June 1688 Sarah Ward. He died 8 Jan. 1739/40, and his widow Sarah died 27 Apr. 1744. They had four children: Ann, b. 13 Jan. 1689/90, d. 23 June 1760; Sarah, b. 29 July 1697, d. 6 Aug. 1719; Phebe, b. l4 July 1702; and Benjamin, b. 4 Oct. 1706.
No probate is found for Benjamin Hands or his widow, but the daughter Ann Hands made a will 20 Oct. 1747, proved 15 July 1760, in which she gave her estate to her sister Phebe Rockwell and made her 'Loveing brother in Law John Rockwell and his wife my sd. Sister Phebe Rockwell' executors [Middletown Probate District, File 1664].
Benjamin Hands always spelled his name with the final 's' and had no connection with the Hand family of Long Island and Guilford, Conn. William Cheney of Middletown in a will dated 1699 but not accepted for probate mentioned his [second] wife Hope, and Anne, daughter of his 'cousin' Benjamin Hand: a later will, made 17 Sept. 1704, gave some land to his 'kinsman' Benjamin Hand [Manwaring's Digest, 2:39; 3:xii; the spelling of the surname herein has not been verified]. His precise relationship to Cheney is revealed in a deed. On 14 Aug. 1669, William Cheny of Middletown "for the loue and good will and affection that I bare to Benjamin hands nephew to Ann my wife Lately deceased,' conveyed lands to him [Middletown Deeds, 2:30].
His origin and parentage are stated on his tombstone in Middletown, and the epitaph was printed in l86l in the New England Hist, and Gen. Register, 15:165: 'Here lies Interrd the Body of Mr Benjamin Hands, son of Mr Benjamin Hands in Great Britain. He was born in the County of Oxford and in the Parish of Cropody, and lived in Middletown 58 years, who died January the 8th, 1740, in the 82nd year of his Age.' Perhaps the date of the deed was misread and should be 1689 instead of 1669, which would be more in harmony with the other dates."
