Josiah Benton (abt. 1705 - abt. 1752)

Born about 16 Jun 1705 in Glastonbury, Hartford, Connecticut [uncertain]

Ancestors

Husband of Hannah House — married 5 Feb 1736 in Glastonbury, Hartford, Connecticut Colony

Descendants

Died about 1752 at about age 46 in Connecticut [uncertain]

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Whitney Rapp [send private message]

NOTE

This profile has some highly questionable aspects that do not accord fully with records found. Do not accept any statements in this profile as wholly accurate or definitive except those documented as confirmed in the Biography section. See Research Notes below.

Note #2: There is much confusion regarding brothers Josiah and Ephraim Benton who both married spouses named Hannah House. The clearest complete record of these two families is: Donald Lines Jacobus and Edgar Francis Waterman, "Hale, House and Related Families: Mostly of the Connecticut River Valley" (Hartford, Conn.: Connecticut Historical Society, 1952) [1] which agrees with original documentation available.

Furthermore, this profile was passed through many managers and editors over the years, including two managers who are no longer living, so it has plenty of issues.

Good Luck!

Biography

Confirmed and Documented

• Marriage to Hannah House, dau. of William, 5 Feb 1736 (1735/6)^[1]

• Birth and baptism of daughter Prudence.^[2]

• Birth and baptism of daughter Mary.^[3]

• Birth and baptism of son Edward.^[4]

• Birth and baptism of son Josiah.^[5]

Research Notes

According to The Benton Family Josiah's parents were Edward Benton and Mary Hale, who married in 1702.^[6] They did indeed have a son named Josiah, born on the date and in the place noted in this profile.

There is a marriage record between Hannah House and Josiah Benton, not Ephraim as the name that was originally given in this profile. The name in this profile has been changed to Josiah to fit the marriage record.

This person may be the Josiah Benton who died in 1752 in Connecticut.^[7] The death and burial record lists the deceased's parents as Josiah Benton and Ruth ____, which is in contrast to the record in The Benton Family. The exact date and place of death are not indexed in this death record. However, a death year of 1752 accords with his widow Hannah House remarrying in time to bear a child to her second husband, Doroteus Treat, in 1754.

Various records indicate that the Josiah Benton who was the son of Edward Benton and Mary Hale was the Josiah born on 16 Jun 1705 in Glastonbury^[8] and the juxtaposition in the Barbour Collection implies that he was the Josiah Benton who married Hannah House, as that is stated on the next line. On the next page of the same source is the Glastonbury death record for Josiah Benton, who died 1783.^[9][10] His age at death, while difficult to read, indicates he was in his 70s when he died, so he would have been born about 1705.

This would raise the question as to whether Josiah Benton and Hannah House were, perhaps, divorced. Against that interpretation, the same Barbour collection records clearly state that it was Hannah, the widow Benton, who married Dorotheus Treat, though no date is given, in Glastonbury. Dorotheus died in 1755 and they had a child in 1754, so the marriage year must be before that. It seems inconceivable that the church authorities would have recorded that Hannah Benton was a widow unless she truly was, as this was in the same town in which she had married Josiah Benton and born him four children.

Josiah Benton. ^[11]

Sources

1. ↑ Connecticut Town Birth Records, pre-1870 (Barbour Collection); Glastonbury Vital Records 1690-1854, page 180 (Ancestry.com)
2. ↑ Connecticut Town Birth Records, pre-1870 (Barbour Collection); Glastonbury Vital Records 1690-1854, page 108, original record Vol. 1 page 87 (Ancestry.com)
3. ↑ Connecticut Town Birth Records, pre-1870 (Barbour Collection); Glastonbury Vital Records 1690-1854, page 108. (Ancestry.com)
4. ↑ Connecticut Town Birth Records, pre-1870 (Barbour Collection); Glastonbury Vital Records 1690-1854, page 107 (Ancestry.com)
5. ↑ Connecticut Town Birth Records, pre-1870 (Barbour Collection); Glastonbury Vital Records 1690-1854, page 107. (Ancestry.com)
6. ↑ North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000; The Benton family (Ancestry.com)
7. ↑ Connecticut, Deaths and Burials Index, 1650-1934; FHL Film Number: 1376026 (Ancestry.com)
8. ↑ Connecticut Town Birth Records, pre-1870 (Barbour Collection); Glastonbury Vital Records 1690-1854, page 107 (Ancestry.com)
9. ↑ Connecticut, Deaths and Burials Index, 1650-1934; FHL Film Number: 3089 (Ancestry.com)
10. ↑ Connecticut, Hale Collection of Cemetery Inscriptions and Newspaper Notices, 1629-1934; Connecticut Headstone Inscriptions Vol 16 (Ancestry.com)
11. ↑ Source: #S2 page 62

• Source: S2 The Goodrich Family in America. A Genealogy of the Descendants of John and William Goodrich of Wethersfield, Conn., Richard Goodrich of Guilford, Conn., and William Goodridge of Watertown, Mass. Lafayette Wallace Case M.D., Author Role: Editor Publication: Fergus Printing Company, Chicago, Illinois, 1889, Second Date, 1984
• Smyth, R. D., Edward Benton of Guilford (Conn.) and His Descendants, The New England Historical & Genealogical Register (NEHGS, Boston, Mass., 1900) Vol. 54, Page 176.