Benjamin Ogden (abt. 1765 - 1837)

Benjamin Ogden was born between 1765 and 1770, but neither the identities of his parents nor the specific location of his birth are known. In 1790, he lived in Hillsborough District, Wake County in a household with three females, probably his mother and sisters. ^[1] By 1795, he had married Susannah Moore, ^[2] and they settled in Montgomery County by the latter 1790s, remaining there until shortly after 1810. ^[3]

Soon after 1810, Benjamin and Susan Ogden moved west to Tennessee, settling in Stewart County on the Kentucky border. In 1815, Benjamin received two grants of land from the State of Tennessee, ^[4] and he purchased a 24-acre tract adjoining his property from William Andrews. On 3 October 1816, as a resident of Stewart County Tennessee, Benjamin Ogden sold his 59-acre farm on Standing Rock Creek to William Norred for $259. ^[5]

Soon after selling his Tennessee farm, Benjamin Ogden moved his family to the west side of the Mississippi River. By 1816 or 1817, the Ogdens had arrived in what was then southwestern Missouri Territory, an area put into Hempstead County, Arkansaw Territory in 1819. On 28 June 1819, at the first sitting of the Hempstead County Court of Common Pleas, the Court ordered that Benjamin Ogden serve on the county's first grand jury. ^[6] Benjamin Ogden settled in what was then the southeastern portion of Hempstead County, the region put into Union County in 1829. His farm lay on public land about two miles east of present-day El Dorado, in Union County, south of Highway 15, an isolated and remote area in those days. An early historian recorded that "Rev. Ogden" was "Among the earliest to make settlement here" (Union County), in the days when ^[7]

"The woods were full of game: bears and wild cats were frequently met, and deer were thicker than domestic cattle are in the bottoms now."

Sometime prior to his arrival in southwestern Arkansas, Benjamin Ogden became a licensed preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church. Methodists in that region first organized themselves into a conference in 1822, holding their first meeting on September 6th:

"Ebenezer Camp-Ground, Ebenezer Prairie Circuit...This day brings the day appointed for the first sitting of the Arkansas District Conference. Those who had attended, agreeably to appointment, convened at a place near the camp-ground, when the business of the Conference being opened by singing and prayer, it was found that the following persons were members: Licensed Preachers - Benjamin Ogden..."

The District Conference held their next annual meeting at the same place, beginning on Thursday, 11 September 1823. Benjamin Ogden was again listed among the licensed preachers in attendance. Then in Hempstead County, Arkansaw Territory, the Ebenezer Campground has been in continual use as a Methodist summer meeting site, today listed on the National Register of Historic places. It is the oldest surviving religious campground in Arkansas, now located about three miles north of Center Point, now in Howard County. ^[8]

Benjamin Ogden and his two sons, Isaac and Stanley, all paid their taxes as residents of Hempstead County in 1828 and 1829, ^[9] but with the creation of Union County in 1829, they resided there in 1830. ^[10] The newly-created Union County covered a vast region, and it took several years for citizens to create a proper governmental structure. Rev. Benjamin Ogden helped to determine the location of the "Seat of Justice," or county seat, for on Monday, 20 January 1834, ^[11]

"John H. Cornish this Day Presented the account of Benjamin Ogden against the County of Union for Services Rendered by him as commissioner in Locating the Seat of Justice at Cote a fabre which account is Seven Dollars..."

The location that Ogden and the other commissioners selected was "Ecore Fabre," or Town of the Bluffs, the highest bluffs on the Ouachita River in the region. This is the site of modern Camden, Arkansas, now in Ouachita County. On 27 May 1835, Benjamin Ogden, his eldest son, Isaac, and Union County Sheriff John H. Cornish, all witnessed the will of James Holmes of Franklin Township, the geographical subdivision of Union County in which the Ogdens lived. Later that year, following Holmes' death, his widow, Mary Holmes, requested that Benjamin Ogden appear before Justice of the Peace Thomas Franklin to make an affidavit stating that he saw James Holmes sign the paper said to be his last will and testament. ^[12]

About 1822, Rev. Benjamin Ogden acquired ownership of a male slave, Lewis, the only slave he ever possessed. The circumstances of how he came to own Lewis remain unclear, but Lewis lived in Ogden's household in 1830. On 27 June 1837, just six months prior to his death, Rev. Benjamin Ogden emancipated Lewis: ^[13]

"Know all men by these Presents that I Benjamin Ogden have this day Emmancipated [sic] my Negro Man Slave Lewis Which Slave I have oned [sic] 15 years and I Benjamin Ogden do By these presents declare that I no longer hold the right of property of said Lewis Neither for myself nor my heirs but that he is no longer a bound Slave but his own free agent Subject only to the Laws of the Country and God."

Lewis remained closely associated with Benjamin's widow, son and grandson for the remainder of his life. Lewis chose to use his former owner's surname, thereafter known as "Lewis Ogden." He lived near Susan Ogden in 1840, ^[14] having by then purchased a female slave, Lucinda, shortly following his own emancipation. Lucinda was undoubtedly Lewis Ogden's wife, and in order to obtain sufficient supplies from a local merchant to enable him to plant his 1841 crops, on 18 March 1841, "Lewis Ogden (a free colored man)" had to mortgage Lucinda to secure supplies valued at $500 given to him by Hill & Sargent. ^[15] Lewis and Lucy Ogden appear to have had several children, and after the War, they followed Benjamin Ogden's grandson, Robert Ogden, to Brazos County Texas, where Lucy and her children lived in 1870.

In November 1837, Rev. Ogden became ill with "Billeaus feavre," a malady that led to his death on December 9th. His obituary stated that he bore his ^[16]

"long and painfull illness...with Christian fortitude to the last moments of his life, and died apparently in that faith which bears a Christian triumphant to a happy eternity."

Benjamin Ogden is believed to be buried on his old farm near El Dorado, in the Ogden Family Cemetery. ^[17]

Several months after Rev. Ogden's death, his son, Isaac, wrote a letter to his sister and brother-in-law, Susan and Benjamin Burke, who had moved to Texas in the 1820s. Preserved by the Burke's descendants, the letter provides insight to the circumstances of Benjamin Ogden's death and current conditions in Union County. All of Isaac Ogden's original spelling and punctuation have been retained: ^[18]

"Union County State of Arkansas SeptemBer the 15 1838
Dear Brother and Sister I take this oppertunity of Reiting a fue lines to let yew now that we receve your letter dated Augus the 28 and we wose verry glad to hear frome yew the Connection is all well but Stanley he has the fever. father died the 9 of november 1837 and sister tempey died march the 19 1838. We hav had a grate deal of troble since I saw yew last. father wose sick a bout 25 days With a Billeaus feavre(?). I wount yew to come and se us wonc more and if yew Cant come Rite us ofen as yew can times is hard monney scarce pervisons high on acount of the grate emegration to our Cuntry. I have nothin more at pressent onley Remanes your friend untel death
Isaac Ogden"

Sources

1. ↑ 1790 Wake County NC Federal Census, p. 271, line #25: Benj Ogdon. 1800 Montgomery County NC Federal Census, p. 489, line #5: Benjamin Ogdon. 1810 Montgomery County NC Federal Census, p. 23, line #11: Benj. Ogdon. 1830 Union County AR Federal Census, p. 143, line #14: Benjamin Ogdon. These census records show Benjamin Ogden as aged 26-45 in 1800 and 1810, and 60-70 in 1830. Narrowing down each range puts his birth between 1765 and 1770.
2. ↑ 1911 Arkansas Census of Confederate Veterans, Isaac Craig of Strong, Arkansas, certified on 8 October 1912. There is no known North Carolina marriage record of Benjamin and Susan Ogden. Isaac Craig stated that his mother was Susan Ogden, daughter of "Ben Ogden and his wife Susan Moore who lived in North Carolina."
3. ↑ 1800 Montgomery County NC Federal Census, p. 489, line #5: Benjamin Ogdon. 1810 Montgomery County NC Federal Census, p. 23, line #11: Benj. Ogdon.
4. ↑ Tennessee General Land Grants Book L (1815-1816), p. 38 (State of Tennessee to Benjamin Ogden, Grant #7720, Warrant #769, 24 acres, official grant dated 11 September 1815). Stewart County TN Deed Book 3, p. 353 (same as Grants Book L, p. 38). Tennessee General Land Grants Book R (1821), p. 877 (State of Tennessee #16024, Certificate #2221, 10 acres granted to "Benjamin Ogdon assignee of the said Ephraim B. Davidson").
5. ↑ Stewart County TN Deed Book O or 6, p. 83-84 (Benjamin Ogden to William Norred, 3 October 1816). The purchase from William Andrews to Benjamin Ogden is not recorded in Stewart County Tennessee.
6. ↑ Hempstead County AR Order Book 1819-1822, pp. 1-3. After impanelling the grand jury, the court ruled that "Three of the orriginal [sic] Panel of grand jurors returned to This term made default viz. John Harpold, Will Crabtree and Isaac Penington and it appearing to the court that the aforesaid jurors have not been citizens of this Territory for twelve months previous to this Term of this Court it is ordered that they be excused for their non attendance." The fact that Benjamin Ogden did serve on the grand jury implies that he had resided in Arkansaw Territory for at least twelve months prior to June 1819, i.e., he established residence there prior to June 1818.
7. ↑ Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Southern Arkansas. Vol. 2. Chicago: Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1890, pp. 820, 822.
8. ↑ Jewell, Horace. History of Methodism in Arkansas. Little Rock, AR: Press Printing, 1892, pp. 52-53.
9. ↑ Hempstad County, Arkansas United States Census of 1830, 1840, 1850; Tax Lists 1828, 1829, 1830, 1831, 1832, 1839, 1841, 1842, 1847, 1848, 1849. Hope, AR: Hempstead County Genealogical Society, 1995, p. 123.
10. ↑ 1830 Union County AR Federal Census, p. 143, lines #12: Isaac Ogden; #14: Benjamin Ogden.
11. ↑ Union County AR County Court Record A, p. 24.
12. ↑ Union County AR Deed Record A, p. 38.
13. ↑ Union County AR Deed Record A, p. 55.
14. ↑ 1840 Union County AR Federal Census, pp. 217-218: #21: Susan Ogden; 219-220, lines #14: Lewis Ogden.
15. ↑ Union County AR Deed Record A, p. 146.
16. ↑ "Arkansas State Gazette" (Little Rock, AR), 26 December 1837, p. 2, column 5.
17. ↑ Ogden Family Graveyard (El Dorado, Union County AR), tombstone of Benjamin Ogden.
18. ↑ Photocopy in the collection of Timothy D. Hudson. The envelope was addressed to "Liberty County Texas, Benga Burke."