Person:Dennis Bement (1)

CAPTAIN DENNIS BEMENT gained distinction in his native town of Enfield, and was much esteemed in his day. His first office, in 1741, was as usual, the constableship and this was followed, some ten years later, by that of selectman, which he filled acceptably for seventeen years, meanwhile holding other town offices and serving on important committees. About the middle of the eighteenth century Enfield directed considerable attention to her schools and selected Lt. Bement, and several others, to establish where the several schools would be built.

In matters of militant Mr. Bement also bore a conspicuous part. At the October session, 1751, the General Court of the Colony "confirmed Mr. Dennis Bement to be lieutenant of the South Company or train band in Enfield, and ordered that he be commissioned accordingly." (Source: Connecticut Colonial Records, Vol. x, 53; Vol. xi, 561.) He was in active service in the French and Indian Wars as lieutenant of the Fourth Company, Third Regiment of Connecticut troops. (Source: Connecticut Historical Society Collections, French and Indian War Rolls, Vol. 1). He took part from 30 Aug to 8 Dec 1755 in the campaign planned against Fort William Henry, Fort Edward and Crown Point, and the had the good fortune to be with General Phineas Lyman at the victory of Lake George, 8 Sep 1755, by which almost the entire French regular force was broken up. In the expedition of 1760 for the general reduction of Canada, he was engaged from 24 Mar to 25 Nov of that year, as lieutenant in the ninth company, First Regiment Connecticut militia, David Parsons of Enfield, Captain; Major General Phineas Lyman commanding. It was in recognition of this service, no doubt, that Lieutenant Bement attained a captaincy. In May 1761 he was chosen Captain, being the seventh to hold that office.

At the time of the passage of the Stamp Act by the British Parliament and the protest threat by the Connecticut General Assembly, Captain Bement was serving Enfield as selectman, which town, in common with all Connecticut, shared largely in the intense feeling engendered by this and the subsequent rapid march of events: the Boston Tea Party, the Boston Port Bill, the Massachusetts Act and the preparations of Massachusetts for active resistance. The spirt of Enfield, which was the Bement spirit too, rose in loyalty to Colonist interest and hatred of British oppression. Meetings of indignation were held, and news of Lexington reached the town by mounted messenger while the people were assembled at the regular Thursday weekday lecture. At the next meeting, seventy-four men, fully equipped, commenced their march for Boston, Major, afterward Colonel Nathaniel Terry commanding, and among them marched Captain Bement's youngest son, Edmund Bement, then in his twenty-sixth year, and his son-in-law, Lieutenant, later Captain Richard Abbe.

Captain Bement survived all the vicissitudes of the long struggle, then at its birth, contributing of the best and in various ways to its successful consummation. The main theatre of the war was, from the beginning, outside of Connecticut boundary, though her coast towns were at intervals attacked by the enemy, and Stonington, Danbury, New Haven, Fairfield and New London suffered seriously. Those of her sons who were kept from the seat of the war found at home ample opportunity for labor and loyalty. Each town was a miniature Commonwealth whose business, for the moment, was to fill its quota of troops for the field and to provide for their maintenance. Inheriting a portion of his father's lands, Captain Bement kept one of those inns of refreshment, which were not only the traveler's joy of those older days, but the great centers of the revolutionary movement and sentiment, arsenal, and even hospital combined.

From there it was, that Captain Bement, rich in years and experience, followed the wife of his youth to rest on burial hill, while all around, equally at rest were the playmates of his youth and friends of riper years.

Chronicles of the Bement Family in America; 1928, pp. 55-63.

1. ↑ Allen, Francis Olcott. The History of Enfield Connecticut: Compiled from all the Public Records of the Town Known to Exist, Covering from the Beginning to 1850 …; Together with the Graveyard Inscriptions and those Hartford, Northampton and Springfield Records which Refer to the People of Enfield. (Lancaster, Pennsylvania: Wickersham Printing, 1900)
   Vol. II p. 1596.

   1710/1 Dennes bement the son of Edmen bement & prissilah his wife was borne ye twenty eight day of genewry: 1710/11

2. ↑ Allen, Francis Olcott. The History of Enfield Connecticut: Compiled from all the Public Records of the Town Known to Exist, Covering from the Beginning to 1850 …; Together with the Graveyard Inscriptions and those Hartford, Northampton and Springfield Records which Refer to the People of Enfield. (Lancaster, Pennsylvania: Wickersham Printing, 1900)
   Vol. II p. 1878.

   Cap^t Dennis Bement died Nov^r 16^th 1789 in the 79^th year of his age.