"In 1717, as Lieutenant Benajmin Melvin, he was recorded as one of the proprietors of Ashford, Windham county, Connecticut. April 19, 1718 Anthony and David Stoddard, of Boston, as attorneys, sold for twenty seven pounds eight shillings, to Benjamin Melvin, blacksmith of Ashford, one hundred and thirty seven acres of land in Ashford. June 7, 1718, Benjamin Melvin sold to his father, John Melvin, of Concord, four acres of land in Concord. April 5, 1725, he, then of Ashford, sold for ninety one pounds, the tract of one hundred and thirty seven acres. In a deed dated January 10, 1726, he is described as now of Concord, Massachusetts. In 1726, Benjamin Melvin was one of the petitioners for the separation of the Carlisle, or north part of Concord, from the older part of the town, that the inhabitants might set up their own town meetings. July 23, 1740, "Benjamin Melvin, born in Charlestown, a blacksmith, aged forty five years," volunteered for the Spanish war in the West Indies, under Captain John Prescott. In all probabilitv this enlistment was from Concord where his last registration is found, and he must have been among those eighteen or more men who marched from that town of whom only a very few ever returned. He probably died while away, as no further record of him appears. The Ashford town books record that Benjamin Melvin and his wife Hannah had children born there: Lydia, and a daughter (Mary?) It is almost certain that he was the father of Benjamin..."
