Benjamin Exum Sr. (abt. 1725 - abt. 1789)

Born about 1725 in Isle of Wight County, Virginia

Ancestors

Descendants

Died about 1789 at about age 64 in Edgecombe, Pender County, North Carolina, United States

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Benjamin Exum Sr. was born in Virginia.

Biography

Colonel Benjamin Exum Sr. served with Dobbs County Regiment, North Carolina Militia during the American Revolution.

Benjamin Exum, Revolutionary patriot and legislator, was born about 1725 in Isle of Wight County, Virginia, the son of John and Elizabeth (T. Kinchen) Exum.

In 1750 he moved with his father to Edgecombe County, North Carolina, but later settled in Dobbs County. His land fell in the new county of Wayne when it was formed in 1779 from the western portion of Dobbs.

With the outbreak of the American Revolution, Exum was one of the most active patriots in Dobbs County. On 18 Oct. 1775, he was certified as a lieutenant of the Second Company of Minutemen. On 6 May 1776 he was on a committee to extract sulfur for ammunition in Dobbs County, and he represented the county at the Provincial Congress at Halifax in November 1776. In 1777, he was a member of the state senate for Dobbs County. (The Benjamin Exum of Dobbs who was clerk of the House of Commons for the same session was probably the son of the senator.) Again a member of the senate in 1778 and 1779, the elder Exum was also treasurer of the New Bern District in 1779.

Early in 1780, after he was made commander of the Wayne County militia, Col. Exum and his regiment were ordered to join General Horatio Gates in South Carolina. Here, in the following August, the regiment took part in the disastrous Battle of Camden and suffered heavy losses. In 1781, Colonel Exum was made commander of the Second Regiment of North Carolina militia.

Col. Exum was again elected treasurer of the New Bern District in 1784. Subsequently, he and some of his associates in office became involved in financial difficulties. A committee was appointed by the House of Commons to investigate, but no action was taken and the matter was dropped.

On 21 Feb. 1780, he and his wife Martha, surname Kinchen, deeded to Hugh Shaw a tract of land on the north side of the Neuse River lying partly in Wake and partly in Johnston counties. In 1788, he deeded his Wayne County lands to his sons William and Mathew. Exum died shortly afterwards as his name does not appear in the census of 1790.

Benjamin and Martha Exum were the parents of three sons, Benjamin, William, and Mathew, and two daughters, Martha and Tabitha. Tabitha married Benjamin Smith of Wayne County, North Carolina.

Children listed in DAR record

1. TABITHA m. BENJAMIN SMITH
2. BENJAMIN m. MARY TURNER
3. MATTHEW m. UNKNOWN

All known Children

1. Benjamin Exum Jr,
2. William Exum
3. Mathew Exum
4. Martha Exum
5. Tabitha Exum

Sources

References:

John B. Boddie, Seventeenth Century Isle of Wight County, Virginia (1938). (see below also for 1973 reprint)

John L. Cheney, Jr., North Carolina Government, 1585–1974 (1975).

Walter Clark, ed., State Records of North Carolina, vols. 14–16 (1896–99).

Dictionary of North Carolina Biography: https://www.ncpedia.org/category/entry-source/dictionary-no

• DAR record https://services.dar.org/Public/DAR_Research/search_adb/?action=full&p_id=A038136

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Exum

• https://www.geni.com/people/Benjamin-Exum/6000000043715112894

• http://familytrees.genopro.com/612629/DaneseScommegna/default.htm?page=Exum-Benjamin-I01669.htm

• Boddie, John Bennett. 1973. Seventeenth century Isle of Wight County, Virginia: a history of the county of Isle of Wight, Virginia, during the seventeenth century, including abstracts of the county records. Baltimore, Md: Genealogical Pub. Co. Accessed online : 2019

• "North Carolina Revolutionary Pay Vouchers, 1779-1782," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2WT-P561 : accessed 15 July 2019), Benjamin Exum, 08 Aug 1783; citing New Bern, Craven, North Carolina, United States, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh.

• SAUNDERS, COL RECS OF NC, VOL 10, PP 284, 914; CLARK, STATE RECS OF NC, VOL 12, P 1; VOL 15, P 235; VOL 17, P 1057