Benjamin French
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Benjamin French (1764 - 1847)

Benjamin French
Born in Culpeper County, Colony of Virginiamap [uncertain]
Ancestors ancestors
Husband of — married 10 Nov 1784 in Caswell County, North Carolina, USAmap
Descendants descendants
Died at age 82 in Rogersville, Lauderdale, Alabama, United Statesmap
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Profile last modified | Created 4 Feb 2015
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Biography

  • Taken from family search:

Benjamin FRENCH(11) (12) was born on 28 Nov 1764 in Caswell Co., NC. He died on21 Mar 1847 in Lauderdale Co., AL.

My paternal great-great-great-great-great grandfather bearing the name French was born November 28, 1764. He lived in Virginia, probably Culpepper County. At the age of fifteen he enlisted in the army and participated in the Revolutionary War.

He enlisted between the middle and19th of September, 1780, being mustered in service under Captain Valentine Harrison, and was in Col. John Green's Virginia Continental Regiment. Private Benjamin French took part in four major battles and a number of skirmishes.

When applying for government assistance as a veteran of the Revolution, he listed thefollowing as the battles in which he took part: 1) the Battle of Guilford; 2) the Battle of Camden; 3) the siege of Ninty-Six; 4) and the Battle of Eutaw Springs.

Benjamin was discharged January 22, 1782, having served slightly more than sixteen months, at Saulsbury, North Carolina. His pension enrollment began October 17, 1818 and was for $96.00 per annum.

After the Revolutionary War, Benjamin was married in Caswell County, North Carolina, to Sally Turner on November 10, 1784. James Turner was a witness.

Henry Turner had moved with his family from Culpepper County, Virginia, to Caswell County, North Carolina, about 1775. He had twelve children. The North Carolina State Census for 1786 lists a Banjamin French and a Samuel French as heads of households in Caswell County. It appears that he and his family left North Carolina before the federal census of 1790.

By 1800 he is listed in Barren County, Kentucky. Later he moved to the neighboring county of Warren. Warren County, Kentucky was created out of Logan County on December 19, 1796. Bowling Green was established as the county seat. It was from Warren county that Benjamin French, with his large family, removed to what afterward became Limestone County, Alabama. The area was then a part of Mississippi Territory.

According to records in the Department of Archives and History at Raleigh, North Carolina, the power of attorney for Benjamin French of Madison County, Mississippi Territory, was given to James Kimbrow of Giles County, Tennessee, to recover all sums of money due him, as of September 5, 1814, and was registered in Caswell County, North Carolina, July Court, 1817. This establishes that the Benjamin French who was in Caswell County, North Carolina, in 1786, was the same Benjamin French who came to north Alabama when it was still Mississippi Territory.

Benjamin and his family settled on Limestone Creek, nine miles east of Athens, in 1808. That was eleven years before Alabama becamea state and ten years before Athens was incorporated as a town. Limestone was Chickasaw country in those days. White settlers were intruders. The federal government sent soldiers again and again to remove the settlers. The issue of intruders on Chickasaw lands reached a boiling point in 1810 and the War Departmentsent notice in July that all white settlers were to be remove by December 15. A petition, signed by 400 white settlers, including Benjamin French and his son Amos, was sent to President James Madison and neither Indians nor soldiers were successful in removing the settlers. The Chickasaws ceded their lands in the Limestone area to the federal government in 1816.

In 1808, Benjamin estabished his pioneer home home on Limestone Creek, but soon removed to the future site of Cotton Port, an early landing on the Tennessee River, just south of Mooresville. A short while later, the first cotton was shipped from there to New Orleans, making it a very important port.

His nest settlement was west of Dr. Blair's plantation on Elk River, where in 1830 he built a log house consisting of a single room with a shed room attached to the rear. The structure was destroyed by fire in 1970.

Benjamin and his second wife, Catherine Shumaker, moved to Lauderdale County about ten years before his death.

Modified 26 August 2013 by dlleavitt

Sources

  • "The French Family: A Personal History" by Irvin Himmel, pp. 1-12.
  • 1830, 1840 U.S. Census
  • Alabama Department of Archives and History. Revolutionary Soldiers in Alabama. Montgomery, AL, USA: The Brown Printing Co., 1911.
  • Alabama Department of Archives and History, comp. Public information subject files—Card index of personal and corporate names and of subjects, ca. 1920–1960. Alabama Department of Archives and History, Montgomery, Alabama.
  • Alabama Department of Archives and History; Montgomery, AL; Alabama Surname Files; Box or Film Number: M84-4567
  • Clift, G. Glenn. Second Census of Kentucky, 1800. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2005.
  • Jackson, Ron V., Accelerated Indexing Systems, comp.. Mississippi Census, 1805-1890.
  • Jackson, Ron V., Accelerated Indexing Systems, comp.. North Carolina Census, 1790-1890.
  • Ancestry.com. North Carolina, Marriage Index, 1741-2004 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.
  • State of North Carolina. An Index to Marriage Bonds Filed in the North Carolina State Archives. Raleigh, NC, USA: North Carolina Division of Archives and History, 1977.
  • North Carolina County Registers of Deeds. Microfilm. Record Group 048. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC.
  • Register, Alvaretta K. State Census of North Carolina, 1784-1787. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2001.
  • Yates Publishing. U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.
  • Barren County Tax Book, 1800, part 1; Call Number: FHL Film 7865; Page Number: 5; Family Number: 35
  • United States. Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records. Automated Records Project; Federal Land Patents, State Volumes. http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/. Springfield, Virginia: Bureau of Land Management, Eastern States, 2007.
  • Find a Grave. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10984885
  • Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files (NARA microfilm publication M804, 2,670 rolls). Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Record Group 15. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
  • The National Archives; Washington, D.C.; Ledgers of Payments, 1818-1872, to U.S. Pensioners Under Acts of 1818 Through 1858 From Records of the Office of the Third Auditor of the Treasury; Record Group Title: Records of the Accounting Officers of the Department of the Treasury; Record Group Number: 217; Series Number: T718; Roll Number: 14
  • HMCPL Obituary Index. Huntsville-Madison County Public Library. http://obits.hmcpl.org/: accessed 7 June 2012. http://obits.hmcpl.org/index/mr-benjamin-french-1847
  • French Family Association. http://www.frenchfamilyassoc.com/FFA/CHARTS/Chart146/#_First_Generation

Notes

  • The following informtion is from Eunice Pace: "Benjamin is buried behind a barn in the area of Lexington, AL and the grave was marked by the DAR, however, I have reliable information that says the grave is NOT where the marker is displayed, but is nearby........behind the old barn."

An interesting note found in the AL State Archives in Montgomery states that Benjamin "made the best peach brandy in the community". Most of Benjamin's sons fought in the War of 1812, the Battle of New Orleans in 1815 under "Old Hickory", and in the Mexican War in the 1830's. The following information was taken from "Valley Leaves Lauderdale County, June 1982", pages 168-169: Will of Benjamin French 15 December 1839 "Weak in body" To my beloved wife, Katharine French, for her lifetime. At her death to dispose of all my estate, livestock, household and kitchen furniture among her own children or as she is otherwise disposed to do. At her death, my landed estate of my home plantation, to be divided equally "among my own children, lawful heirs, eleven in number, and for Yancy Shoemaker to have an equal portion with my own lawful heirs". "The 80 Acres of land which I entered (I think in the 25th Section) for which Yancy Shoemaker hold my bond for one forty Acres of said entry the other 40 Acres of said entry, I give and bequeath to my beloved daughter Ann French" and her heirs. Witnesses: Samuel Lentz, Bennett Rose, Zacariah Tooten. Proven by Samuel Lentz and Bennett Rose before Wm. B. Wood, Judge, 21 Nov 1848. Recorded: 22 May 1850. Benjamin French of Lauderdale County, AL purchased 79.51 acres of land in Section 39 of T2-R7W on August 1, 1839. Citation ancestry.com http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/2075643/person/53112056/storyx/db0bd09a-e514-46ae-aac7-c13d45e223df?src=search





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DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Benjamin by comparing test results with other carriers of his Y-chromosome or his mother's mitochondrial DNA. However, there are no known yDNA or mtDNA test-takers in his direct paternal or maternal line. It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with Benjamin:

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Rejected matches › Benjamin French (abt.1744-)

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