Joseph Bingham Sr (1709 - 1787)

Born 4 Jun 1709 in Norwich, Connecticut

Ancestors

Husband of Ruth (Post) Bingham — married about 21 Nov 1731 in Norwich, New London, Connecticut

Descendants

Died 4 Nov 1787 at age 78 in Bennington, Vermont, United States

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Biography

Deacon Joseph Bingham Sr performed Patriotic Service in Vermont Republic in the American Revolution.

Joseph was born in 1709. Joseph was the child of Thomas Bingham and Hannah Backus. Joseph passed away in 1787.

According to Bingham genealogy written in pencil on 'Young Men's Association. Bennington, Vt. ______ 189__' lined stationery he 'was an officer in the war of 1757, serviing at Ticonderoga and other points. He was an athelete and guarded the rights of his men, protecting them from the insolence of British officers who looked with contempt on the provincials beneath them' . 'Joseph Bingham & his wife Ruth settled in Charlemont Mass & afterward moved to Bennington where they died'

"History of the Bingham Family ..." by Mary Bingham Kinsley (ca. 1889) '... he married Ruth Post & resided in Norwich, (where his children were all born) until shortly after the close of "the old French War", when he removed with his family to Charlemont Mass, a town among the spurs of the Green Mountains thirty or more miles south east of Bennington Vt. About the year 1773 or '74, his two younger sons, Jeremiah & Calvin, after residing in Charlemont several years, went to Bennington, & purchased a farm partly cleared on which was the frame of a house partly finished, and soon after removed their parents thither.

'When a young man Dea. Bingham possessed uncommon muscular strength and was remarkably quick motioned. He was six feet and two inches in height, was spare built, with keen penetrating eyes, and an indomitable will, by which he made everything serve the accomplishment of his purposes.

He served as Lieutenant in the "French & Indian War" being in command of a company at Ticonderoga. Here he came in collision with a British officer who was abusing a sick soldier of the American troops, and caused him to "skedadle" in great haste, without however, using any other weapon than his tongue.

An anecdote illustrating his great strength and agility is shown in an encounter with an Indian at Norwich: the Mohican Indians in the vicinity of that town were a tall powerful race of men proud of their strength and very fond of athletic sports, and mingling with the white settlers familiarly, were often obtrusively and offensively boastful. On one occasion at some public gathering, a big brave who had been victorious in many wrestling matches approached Joseph Bingham and bantered him to wrestle with him, but Mr. Bingham declined. Emboldened by this refusal he continued his banter, becoming more and more insolent, until he roused Mr B. so that he consented to give him a trial, giving the Indian the choice of "holds". The "square hold" was the one chosen, and they "clinched and squared" for the match. "Are you ready?" said Mr. B. "Yes" replied the Indian, and the word had hardly passed his lips when he found himself upon the ground with a broken collar bone. No Indian after that asked for a trial of strength with Joseph Bingham.

While he was a man of great firmness and decision, he was at the same time a thoroughly Christian man, of eminent piety and benevolence. He was a member of the first church of Bennington and served as a deacon for many years, and in this department and in his social relations was a fine specimen of patriarchal wisdom and symplicity. He was a man of prayer, and in the public exercise of this pleasurable duty often by his earnestness and pathos melted the hearts of his hearers; and he had great faith in the efficacy of the fervent prayer of faithful believers. To sum up his character & life it may be said that while he had no remarkable endowments by nature or acquisements by education yet as a Christian he exerted an extensive influence upon his own generation, and also on his descendents a large proportion of whom for at least three generations haved followed him, as he followed the "Master, even Christ".

Lieutenant in the French and Indian War, deacon, Bennington, Vermont, Congregational Church. Buried in the first row of the cemetery adjoining the church. His headstone reads: --Tempus verax mortalium -- Sacred to the memory of Deac Joseph Bingham, who departed this life Nov. 4, 1787, in the 79th year of his age. He left the church militant to join the church triumphant above. "Why do we mourn departed friends?"

Sources

• DAR Ancestor #: A010248 [1]

• A GENEALOGICAL MEMOIR OF THE LO-LATHROP FAMILY-1884, PAGE 56-57

• Descendants of Rev John Lothropp of 1584. Author: Lathrop, Fred. Summary: John Lothropp, son of Thomas Lothrop and Elizabeth Clark, married Hannah Howse (1594-1633) in 1611. They had nine children. He died in 1653 in Barmstable, Massachusetts. Language: English;English;English. Provenance: Owning Institution:Family History Library, FamilySearch International; http://www.familysearch.org/ Patron Usage Instructions: https://www.familysearch.org/terms Access Rights: Public Title Number: 1975119_03

• "Connecticut Births and Christenings, 1649-1906," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/F74K-9P1 : 3 December 2014), Joseph Bingham, 04 Jun 1709; citing ; FHL microfilm unknown.
• Find A Grave

• BIRTH: "Genealogy of the Bingham Family in the United States Especially of the State of Connecticut" by Theodore A. Bingham, 1898; #20, pages 9 & 23. Also, 1988 IGI, State of Connecticut, page 1748 (gives birth place as Windham, Windham, Connecticut).

• BURIAL: "History of the Bingham Family ..." by Mary Bingham Kinsley (ca. 1889); "The Bingham Family in the United States: The descendants of Thomas Bingham ...", 1996.

• LDS Ancestral File record No. B17L-P7.

• Census: 1800, Norwalk, Fairfireld Co, CT

• Biography excerpts from The Bingham Genealogy Project, Doug K. Bingham
• Genealogy of the Bingham family in the United States : especially of the state of Connecticut... p. 23.

Memorials of a Century: Early history of Bennington, Vermont and its First Church. pp. 289-290

• SAR Application for Joseph Bingham, Ancestry.com. U.S., Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data:Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970. Louisville, Kentucky: National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. Microfilm, 508 rolls. (Ancestry.com membership required)