The Benedict Genealogy

Our Benedict ancestors were descended from LT. THOMAS BENEDICT (1617-1690), an early settler of Norwalk, Connecticut, who had emigrated from Nottinghamshire, England, in 1638. The surname "Benedict" derives from the Latin word benedictus, "blessed one," a popular ancient Christian given name whose first and most prominent bearer was St. Benedict of Nursia (A.D. 480-543), father of Western Monastacism and founder of the Benedictine Order. It has also been the regnal name of 12 popes and four illegitimate antipopes. As a popular saint's name, it spread throughout Europe, and so in the course of time it passed from being a Christian name to a family surname -- in England and nations of Anglo-Saxon origin, the name appears under various forms -- not only "Benedict" but also abbreviated forms such as "Bennett" or "Benet" -- needless to say, these various families do not share a single genealogical origin.

In America, however, the specific surname "Benedict" first appeared when Thomas Benedict came from Nottinghamshire to Massachusetts in 1638. No other English colonial family would bear the surname "Benedict" for quite some time, and most persons with this surname are Thomas' descendants. Thomas himself was a Calvinist Puritan, and unlike many of his fellow colonists he was able to read and write, usually signing his own name as "Bennydick." Little is known of Thomas' ancestry, but Benedict genealogical family tradition has been preserved in writing since 14 March 1755, in the form of a "memorial" (a term I use because said document commences with the words, "Be it remembered . . .") authored by Thomas' grandson Deacon James Benedict of Ridgefield, Connecticut. Deacon James had known his own grandmother Mary (Bridgum) Benedict, Thomas' widow who lived to the age of 100, dying circa 1720-25, and he included information and traditions that Mary had told him. Following is a complete transcription of Deacon James' memorial, quoted from Henry Marvin Benedict's Genealogy of the Benedicts in America (1870), pages 2-3. Henry Marvin Benedict's monumental work on his family is necessarily the chief source for my genealogical account of our Benedict line.

"Be it remembered that one William Benedict, about the beginning of the 15th century,(*) who lived in Nottinghamshire, in England, had a son born unto him whom he called William, after his own name (an only son); and this William, the 2d of that name, had also an only son whom he called William; and this 3d William had in the year 1617 one only child whom he called Thomas; and this Thomas's mother dying, his father married the widow Bridgum.

Now this Thomas was put out an apprentice to a weaver, who afterwards, in the 21st year of his age, came over into New-England, together with his sister-in-law [sic - step-sister], Mary Bridgum. Afterwards said Thomas was joined in marriage with Mary Bridgum. After they had lived some time in the Bay parts, they removed to Southhold on Long Island, where were born unto them five sons and four daughters, whose names were Thomas, John, Samuel, James, Daniel, Betty, Mary, Sarah and Rebeccah. From thence they removed to a farm belonging to the town, called Hassamamac, where they lived some time. From thence they removed to Huntingtown, where they lived some years. Then they removed to Jamaica on said Island, where Thomas, their eldest son took to wife Mary Messenger, of that town. And last of all, they removed to Norwalk, in Fairfield county, Connecticut, with all their family, where they were all married. John took to wife Phebe, daughter to Mr. John Gregory, of said Norwalk. Samuel took to wife Rebecca Andrews. James took to wife Sarah Gregory, sister of the above said Phebe. Daniel took to wife Mary Marvin. Their daughters were all married. Betty to John Slawson, of Stanford; Mary to John Olmsted; Sarah to James Beebe; Rebeccah to Samuel Wood. From these have risen a numerous offspring.

The children of Thomas, the 2d of that name, were Thomas (an only son), Mary, Hannah, Esther, Abigail and Elizabeth. The children of John were Sarah, Phebe, John, Jonathan, Benjamin, Joseph, James, Mary and Thomas. The children of Samuel were Joannah, Samuel, Thomas, Rebeccah, Esther, Nathaniel and Abraham. The children of James were Sarah, Rebeccah, Phebe, James, John, Thomas and Elisabeth. The children of Daniel were Mary, Daniel, Mercy and Hannah. The children of Betty were Mary and Thomas. The children of Mary were John, Mary, Jane, Sarah, Rebeccah, Elisabeth, Daniel, Richard, Eunice and Deborah. The children of Rebeccah were an infant (I know not his name), and Samuel. The children of Sarah were Sarah and James. All of these were the children and grandchildren of our honoured predecessors, Thomas Benedict and Mary his wife, who walked in the midst of their house with a perfect heart. They were strict observers of the Lord's day from even to even;(**) and I think it may be said of them, as it was of Zacharias and Elisabeth, "that they walked in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless, and obtained a good report through faith." Their excellent example had a good effect, by the blessing of heaven, upon their children. He was made a deacon of the church at Norwalk, and used that office to the good satisfaction of that church to his death, which was in the 73d year of his age; and two of his sons, viz: John and Samuel, used the office until old age and its attendants rendered them unable to serve any longer. And there are, at this day no less than seven of the family and name that use that office, and some of them at least, I hope, to good acceptance with God and man.

The children of John, the 2d of that name, were John, Matthew, Caleb, Nathaniel, Annah and Phebe. The children of Benjamin were Benjamin, Timothy, John, Samuel, Daniel, Amos, Elisabeth, Mary, Rachael and Thankful. The children of Joseph were Joseph, Gideon, Anna, Pitman, Jonathan, Mary, Ezra and John. The children of James were Sarah, Ruth, Peter, Hannah, Phebe, James, Martha and John and Thomas. The children of Thomas were Ebenezer, David, John, Thomas, Betty and Seth. The children of Phebe were Enos, William, Noah, a son and Phebe. The children of Mary were Ezra, Josiah, Phebe, Asa and Isaac. All these were the grand-children of Deacon John Benedict, the 1st of that name, who was my honoured father.

[Signed] JAMES BENEDICT.

Ridgefield, March ye 14, 1755."

(*) "Probably meaning about the year 1500; otherwise the three generations would extend through 200 years, [Signed] ABNER BENEDICT."

(**) Levit. 23:32. "From even to even shall you celebrate your Sabbaths," was to our New England ancestors sufficient Scripture authority for their following Jewish example in commencing the sabbath on Saturday evening at sunset.

1. WILLIAM BENEDICT of Nottinghamshire, England, lived about the beginning of the 1500s, had an only son also named William. This earliest known ancestor of our Benedict family is recorded in the 1755 memorial of his descendant Deacon James Benedict of Ridgefield, Connecticut: " . . . one William Benedict, about the beginning of the 15th century (sic), who lived in Nottinghamshire, in England, had a son born unto him whom he called William, after his own name (an only son) . . ." The period when William lived was the reign of the Tudor king Henry VII and Henry VIII -- thus, William witnessed and suffered the effects of the great religious and societal upheavals of Henry VIII's violent suppression of English Catholic Christianity and introduction of the Anglican religion. William evidently aligned with the new Protestant religion, and in time his descendants became English Puritans.

     2.  WILLIAM BENEDICT

2. WILLIAM BENEDICT, only son of William Benedict, lived in Nottinghamshire, England, in the mid- to latter 1500s. Like his father, this William also had an only son named William. This is recorded in Deacon James Benedict's 1755 memorial: ". . . this William, the 2d of that name, had also an only son whom he called William . . ."

     3.  WILLIAM BENEDICT

3. WILLIAM BENEDICT, only son of William Benedict, lived in Nottinghamshire, England, in the late 1500s and early 1600s. By his unknown first wife, William had a son named Thomas in 1617. After the death of his first wife, William remarried to the WIDOW BRIDGUM, a woman whose late husband was a certain MR. BRIDGUM. By her previous marriage, the Widow Bridgum had had a daughter named Mary. This is recorded in Deacon James Benedict's 1755 memorial: . . . this 3d William had in the year 1617 one only child whom he called Thomas; and this Thomas's mother dying, his father married the widow Bridgum . . ."

     4.  THOMAS BENEDICT, born 1617.

4. LT. THOMAS BENEDICT, only child of William Benedict, born 1617 in Nottinghamshire, England, died in early March 1689/90 in Norwalk, Fairfield County, Connecticut. Thomas emigrated from Nottinghamshire to Massaschusetts in 1638, accompanied by his step-sister MARY BRIDGUM, whose mother the Widow Bridgum had married Thomas' father William in Nottinghamshire. Mary was born in Nottinghamshire, England, probably circa 1620-25, and is reported to have lived to the age of 100, which would mean she died circa 1720-25 in Fairfield County, Connecticut. Thomas and Mary married soon after their arrival in Massachusetts, and together they raised a family of five sons and four daughters. The area of Nottinghamshire is known to have been a hotbed of Calvinist Separatist and Puritan activity in the early 1600s, and many of the original families of Plymouth Colony hailed from Nottinghamshire and its vicinity.  It therefore is likely that Thomas and his relatives moved in Puritan circles before coming to America.

It is possible that Thomas Benedict may have arrived in Southold as early as as the year 1636-1637, coming to Long Island about that time from the English colonies on the islands of Bermuda, St. Christopher (today St. Kitts), and Nevis. That is the scenario presented in an interesting -- albeit somewhat dubious -- document dated 18 March 1658 that is known as the "Osman Deposition." The reason for the doubt regarding this document's authenticity is that the original text cannot be found. The original was reportedly found in a private collection of papers of Southold settler Barnabas Horton, and it was last reported as being owned by a genealogist named Lester Dunbar Mapes (1866-1944), a descendant of Henry Whitney. A transcription of the deposition was printed in the 1939 tercentenary celebration book, "Southold Town 1636-1939 -- The Oldest English Town in the State of New York," but because the original document is lost, it cannot be determined whether or not it is authentic. Nevertheless, for what it is worth, the text of the "Osman Deposition" is as follows (emphasis added):

"March ye 18th, 1658 Swearinge be Ye Holy Evangelists that he [Thomas Osman] with his now father-in-law William Purrier, and his brother in ye law, James Reeve did go adventuringe in ye Chowan country [North Carolina] for sperrits resin in ye yeare 1636 and there did meet William Salmon, Thomas Reeve, Thomas Terrill, Thomas Benedict, Henery Whiteney and others who had come hither from ye Summer Isles [the Somer Isles, i.e., Bermuda and St. Christopher and Nevis in the Lesser Antilles] and ye said adventure failinge through ye overplus of adventurers, who had come hither prior to their co[m]eing. They did set sale with one Sunderland to a country the said Sunderland had from his master one James Ffarrett by letters patent from ye Earle of Starlinge. And ye said Osman does farther depose that ye said company with others whose names he has forgotten did set downe on ye necke called Hashammomack and did ingage in distillinge sperrits resin from ye trees in ye greate swampe and further Sunderland, Salmon, Whitney, and Benedict did from ye beginning owne ye said necke in equal shares and did so from our first sittingse down in year 1636-7. Signed: Thomas Osman in ye presence of: Barnabas Horton, Thomas Moor"

Despite the doubts surrounding the authenticity of the Osmon Deposition, the statements in the deposition are consistent with what is known of English colonial and trading activity in Bermuda, North Carolina, and Long Island during the 1630s. It also agrees with what we know of the activities of Thomas Benedict, Henry Whitney, William Salmon, and Thomas Osman in Southold. William Salmon, Thomas Reeve, and Thomas Terrill are known to have sailed from London to St. Christopher (St. Kitts) on the ship Matthew on 21 May 1635. Salmon is also known to have married the widow of Matthew Sinderland of Boston, Massachusetts, who is the "Sunderland" of the Osman Deposition. It is possible that Henry Whitney and Thomas Benedict also came to St. Christopher that year on another ship or ships.

 Henry Marvin Benedict's monumental Genealogy of the Benedicts in America (1870), pages 1-23, includes a detailed and extensively footnoted biography of Thomas Benedict. Henry Marvin Benedict's biography of his and our ancestor Thomas is given below, with hyperlinks to a separate webpage for the biography's footnotes (which include complete transcription of several primary sources including Thomas' will).  I have added occasional bold emphasis to the biography, along with some interspersed remarks:

AMONG those Englishmen who went into voluntary exile, rather than endure the cruelties and oppressions of Stuarts in the State and Lauds in the Church, was Thomas Benedict, of Nottinghamshire. There is reason to suppose that his own remote ancestor had made England his refuge from religious persecution on the Continent. There was a tradition in his family which ran, that anciently they resided in the silk manufacturing district of France and were of Latin origin; that, Huguenot persecutions arising, they fled to Germany, and, thence, by way of Holland to England.

It is said of Thomas Benedict, that he was born in 1617; that he was an only son, that the name [i.e. "Benedict"] had been confined to only sons in the family for more than a hundred years; and that, at the time he left England, he did not know of another living person of the name; whence, it is assumed, that his father was not living.(A) His mother he had lost early, his father marrying, for his second wife, a widow, whose daughter, Mary Bridgum, came to New England in 1638, in the same vessel with Thomas, then in his twenty-first year. Soon after their arrival they were married, and finding the society and institutions of Massachusetts Bay congenial, they resided in that colony for a time. These facts in the history of Thomas Benedict are verified by the testimony of Mary Bridgum herself, who lived to the age of one hundred years, and in her life-time communicated them to her grandson, Deacon James Benedict, of Ridgefield, Conn., who recorded them in 1755.(B)

The separate colonies, which afterward formed that of Connecticut, had been founded under auspices peculiarly hopeful, and were nourished by influences specially edifying and elevating in the view of the more austere of the Puritans. The foundations and expanding superstructures were according to the plans and specifications of Winthrop, of Haynes, and, especially, of Hooker, "the light of the Western churches." The valley of the Connecticut, too, was famous for its fertility, and the stream was considered a principal natural channel for the lucrative trade in furs with the natives of the interior. It had waged its first Indian war with a vigor and severity which precluded all present dread of another. Thomas Benedict seems to have been so far attracted by the moral or material advantages of this promising region as to have removed within its rigorous jurisdiction, still, it could scarcely have been the rich meadows of the valley, or the facilities for traffic afforded by its river, that enticed him, for he soon sought the opposite shore of Long Island, already dotted with settlements from the mainland. In the statement of his wife, Mary Bridgum, to her grandson, before referred to, she names Southold as his place of residence and birthplace of their five sons and four daughters. It is certain, that in June, 1657, he was a resident of Huntington, which leaves but little doubt that he was, early, an inhabitant of Southold, which was settled in 1640. In conjunction with three others, in 1649,(C) he purchased a tract of land belonging to the town of Southold, called Hashamomack, and this interest he conveyed, in 1659, describing himself in the deed as then of the town of Huntington.(D)

This tract of land, though within a mile or two of Southold, was not, technically, within its limits; for, at a meeting of the General Court held at New Haven, May 31, 1654, upon the request of the Deputies of Southold, it was advised that, "Thomas Benedict and som others who liue nere Southold" should be permitted "to joyne" it.(E) Still, he had been recognized as of Southold, and must have attained some prominence as a citizen, for we find that when Uncas, the celebrated Sachem of the Mohegans, complained to the commissioners for the United Colonies in New England, because the Mohansick Sachem of Long Island, had killed some and bewitched others of Uncas's men, and even Uncas himself, that body, at Hartford, Sept. 5th, 1650, referred the matter, with large powers, to the famous "Captaine Mason" and others, and to Thomas Benedict, of Southold, to be adjusted.(F)

It has been stated positively that Thomas Benedict was resident in Huntington in June, 1657. This is on the authority of affidavits of himself and wife made on the 13th of that month, in the course of probate proceedings in the matter of the estate of his old neighbor, William Salmon of Hashamomuck.(G) His connection with affairs of a public nature may be inferred from such records of them as still remain. In May, 1658, the Court of Deputies and Magistrates, sitting at New Haven, were solicited to receive the town of Huntington into the jurisdiction of New Haven, the petition therefor being signed: "Will. Smith, Tho: Benedick, Wm Leuerich, in ye name and with ye consent of ye rest."(H) That he was put forward as a representative man in a movement so important, after so brief a residence, argues that he was not among the least notable of the inhabitants. That he maintained an honorable distinction is made clear by the action of his townsmen, who, in pursuance of instructions from the General Court, nominated two persons to be appointed by that body, commissioners to exercise certain functions of government in the town, Thomas Benedict being one of them; and the General Court appointed him, May 15, 1662.(I)

There are traces of his presence in Jamaica as early as Dec. 12, 1662, when, in conjunction with two others, he was appointed to lay out "the south meadows." At the same time the town voted him "a Home lot." He was also one of a committee charged with the duty of "making ye rate of ye minesters house and transporting ye minester." March 2, 1663, his name appears as one of twenty-four freeholders who deed a house and lot to the "minester," Mr. Walker.(J) March 20, 1663, he was appointed a magistrate by the Dutch Governor Stuyvesant, an honor, it is to be feared, which he never requited by loyalty to the Dutch government.(K) Sept. 29, 1663, we find him, with other inhabitants of towns on the west end of Long Island, petitioning the General Court of Connecticut to be what, in our day, would be termed annexed to that colony.(L)

Facsimile of Thomas Benedict's signature to a deed

He was, in fact, one of the bearers of this petition to the court at Hartford, November 3, 1663.(M) December 3, 1663, he was appointed lieutenant of the town. March 7, 1664, a petition from "Crafford alias Jemaico" asks for "help of your (Conn.) authority for the settling of peace amongst us and the killing and quelling of mutenous and facsious sperits." Except the signature of his colleague, this document is in the handwriting of Thomas Benedict, and is signed by him. It fills three-fourths of a page of cap paper, is clean and well preserved, and a very neat autograph.(N) He held the office of commissioner when the Dutch Governor Stuyvesant surrendered New York and its dependencies to the English, under Colonel Richard Nichols.(O) This change of jurisdiction was especially welcome to the English settlers, whose encroachments on the western end of the Island had kept them in a state of embroilment with the Dutch, and even inspired them with ideas of colonizing beyond the limits of their own territory. Sept. 26, 1664, Thomas Benedict, with John Bailey, Daniel Denton and others, "made a written application to Col. Nichols for liberty to settle a plantation upon the river called Arthur Cull Bay," in New Jersey. On the 30th of the same month, the Governor granted the petition and promised encouragement. The place is now Elizabeth City. The principal petitioners were in Jamaica, in 1665. It is, therefore, to be presumed that they sent out a colony.(P)

Governor Nichols issued, "To the magistrates of the several tounes upon Long-island," an order, dated "James ffort, in New York, 8th February, 1665," reciting, that the inhabitants had for a long time groaned under many grievous inconveniences and discouragements, occasioned partly from their opposition to a foreign power, in which distracted condition few or no laws could be put in due execution; bounds and titles to lands were disputed, civil liberties interrupted, and from this general confusion, private dissensions and animosities had too much prevailed against neighborly love and Christian charity; and in discharge of his duty "to settle good and known laws," he required two deputies to "a General Meeting" to be chosen from each town "by the major part of the freemen;" and recommended "the choice of the most sober, able and discreet persons without partiality or faction," to meet, "on the last day of February, at Hempstead." The delegates from Jamaica were Daniel Denton and Thomas Benedict.(Q) This is thought to be the first English legislative body convened in New York. He was appointed, by Governor Nichols, lieutenant of "the Foot Company of Jamaica; his commission bearing date at "Fort James, in New York," the 7th day of April, 1665.(R)

The fact that, in this same year, he is recorded as having been chosen town clerk of Norwalk, Ct., gives color to the supposition that some confusion of dates was occasioned about this time by the introduction, into the possessions acquired from the Dutch, of the style in use in England, then, and for many years afterward, and also from the practice of double dating. A flight to the jurisdiction of New England, from that of New York, whose governor must have seemed a lineal representative of the persecutors who had driven the Puritans from the mother country, would not be a surprising thing in the case of any of that people. In that of Thomas Benedict it was a most natural result. Honored, and to some extent trusted, as he had been by both Dutch and English governors of New York, it is beyond controversy that his heart had always been with the government of Connecticut, and that he was the especial enemy of Captain John Scott and his party; for "the killing and quelling" of whom he had, indeed, in 1663, invoked the authority of Connecticut. It is not improbable that after the supremacy of the English had been fully established in the west end of Long Island, Thomas Benedict, and others of like principles, found themselves, socially at least, in a condition not unlike that of the Union men in the south after the Civil War, and could but regard the territory as an excellent one to migrate from. At this time he had a numerous family, one of his sons was married and settled near him; still he took to Norwalk with him all in whose veins his blood ran. Others, who shared his religious and political proclivities, betook themselves to Connecticut, at the same time, and, doubtless, for the same reasons.(S)

He must have been a welcome addition to the society of Norwalk, to cause its people to make such haste to elevate him to official station; nor was it a spasmodic appreciation of him merely, for, in the following year, he was not only reappointed to that office, but was, also, made a Selectman of the town. He was continued Town Clerk until 1674; and, after an interval of three years, was again appointed. The records, in his own handwriting, are still preserved, are legible and properly attested by his own signature. His term of service as Selectman covers seventeen years, closing with 1688. His name is one of forty-two who comprised the list of Freemen in 1669. He was the representative of Norwalk in the General Assembly in 1670, and again in 1675. In the Patent, granted by the General Court in 1686, confirming the title of Norwalk to its territory, his name is inserted as a patentee. In May, 1684, the General Court appointed him and three others to plant a town "above Norwalke or Fayrefeild," at Paquiage(T); and in the fall of that year and the spring of 1685, Samuel and James, sons of Thomas, and six others, with their families, settled there; the land having been purchased from the Indians. The parties most interested asked that their settlement might be named "Swamfeild"; but, in 1687, the General Court denied their request and called it Danbury.(U)

Beside the service of these more conspicuous appointments, he rendered much to his friends in a non-official and neighborly way. His good sense and general intelligence, some scientific knowledge and his skill as a penman, made him their recourse when papers were to be drafted, lands to be surveyed and apportioned, or disputes to be arbitrated. It is evident that very general respect for his judgment prevailed, and that trust in his integrity was equally general and implicit.

Little has been said of Thomas Benedict's labors in that other department, which, in view of the character and mental habitudes of the communities, at the time he dwelt among them, were of public importance, and, perhaps, in the popular estimation far transcended in value his civil services, that of ecclesiastical affairs. No extended account of them will be given now, seeing that it is impossible to make them of much interest to the people of this day. The early church records, both of South-old and Huntington, are not now to be found; but the position he held among the citizens of both make it highly probable, that he was concerned in establishing the first church in each. Where the church records of any town in which he lived are preserved, they furnish abundant evidence of his zeal and diligence in establishing and maintaining the public worship of God. Whether it was settling or supporting a minister, repairing the church edifice or building a new one, providing seats or allotting them, Thomas Benedict's name is almost certain to appear on the records in connection with it. He is identified with the founding of the first Presbyterian church in America, at Jamaica, in 1662; and during the term of his residence there, he was of the committee to make the rate and provide the means to support its minister.(V) In Norwalk, he was chosen Deacon, and held the office during his life.

No record can be found that indicates the day of his death; one, of his Will, is extant, which states that he was "weak of body;" "aged aboute 73 years;" and that his Will was executed the "eight and twentieth feb.r. ano dominy 1689-90." An Inventory of his Estate, in which he is described as "late deceased," was taken on the 18th of March in the same year; it is therefore quite certain that he died, at Norwalk, in the interval between those two dates.(W)

He seems to have been seldom or never without some employment of a public nature. Until his settlement at Norwalk, when he was nearly fifty years old, no one place appears to have held him long; and it is a remarkable thing that these changes of abode, each of which must have made him a new comer, never prevented his immediate preferment either in church or state affairs. It would be only reasonable to infer, that the alacrity with which he was honored and trusted, under the circumstances, was due to his established character for prudence and ability. The action of the General Court, whenever his name came before it, shows that he was known and esteemed by the authorities of the main land; indeed it is apparent from cotemporaneous events that he was a main support of the cause of Connecticut on Long Island. That he was a man of enlarged views, such as in this day are supposed to characterize statesman, and that he had the courage and energy to attempt to realize them, it proved by his persistence in schemes designed to increase the power and expand the jurisdiction of the commonwealth he loved. The four families found by Carteret, at Elizabethtown, were the pioneers of the Jamaica colony, of which he was one of the projectors. His connection with the founding of Danbury has been stated. Traces of other plans for colonizing are visible yet, but the event of them is not.(X) They were, of course, less successful than those mentioned; but they serve to show his zeal and enterprise in that direction. The holder of military commissions, in so unquiet a time, it might naturally be expected that some feats of arms would illustrate the annals of his life. Nothing appears to satisfy such an expectation, reasonable as it may be; and, probably, for the reason that no occasion for service of that sort arose, at the times and places, when and where, he held military rank. If, however, the training of his children may be regarded as an indication, it is entirely certain, that he did not fail to educate them to the high duty of fighting for their country. His family participated in the Indian wars of the time, and one was prominent in perhaps the most bloody struggle of all. His son, Daniel, in 1677, received a grant of land, from the town of Norwalk, for his services in "the direful swamp fight" of Dec. 19, 1675.(Y) By this mournful and expressive title, bereaved New England was accustomed to identify the memorable expedition against the Narragansetts, which, however disastrous to the savages, filled the whole country with woe and lamentation. His posterity have never shown themselves derelict in respect either to loyalty or bravery. The public enemy has ever been their enemy; the muster rolls of every army ever raised to defend the country, or to achieve or maintain its independence, abound with their names; and none more so than those of the last and greatest of all American armies; the army, whose loyalty, patriotism, bravery and patience, saved the cause of Liberty and Civilization, first for their countrymen, and scarcely less, for the rest of mankind.

It is to be regretted that few or no details of the social or domestic life, no personal traits, no characteristic incidents, of himself or wife have come down to us. During the term of their migrations, with so numerous family, the household cares and duties must have been especially burdensome and perplexing to the wife and mother. It was within this period, too, that the character and habits of their children were, mainly, formed; for at the time they ceased to wander and sat down in Norwalk, their eldest born was twenty-five years old, and married, and their youngest must have been eight years old at least. The fruits of their culture and discipline, under circumstances certainly not favorable, are conspicuous enough in the character and lives of their children, and childrens' children; and prove him to have been a wise and prudent father, and her a judicious and faithful mother. The love which united them at the beginning kept them united to the end; and his Will, probably one of the last acts of his life, is full of evidences of thoughtful affection for his wife; his great concern seeming to have been to secure her comfort when he should be able to provide for it no longer. Their grandson, Deacon James Benedict, of Ridgefield, is the only one of their posterity, who, speaking from actual knowledge, furnishes even a glimpse of this interesting couple. He says: "they walked in the midst of their house with a perfect heart. They were strict observers of the Lords day 'from even to even'; and I think it may be said of them, as it was of Zacharias and Elizabeth, that 'they walked in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless, and obtained a good report through faith.' This excellent example had a good effect, by the blessing of heaven, upon their children. He was made a Deacon of the church at Norwalk, and used that office to the good satisfaction of that church to his death, which was in the 73d year of his age; and two of his sons, viz: John and Samuel, used the office until old age and its attendants rendered them unable to serve any longer. And there are at this day [1755] no less than seven of the family and name that use that office, and some of them at least, I hope, to good acceptance with God and man." This proclivity toward deaconship continued in the family; for, as late as 1851, another of his descendants, Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Bouton, in an Historical Discourse pronounced by him, July 9th of that year, on occasion of the two hundredth anniversary of the settlement of Norwalk, closes a tribute to the memory of his ancestor thus: "The savor of his piety, as well as his venerable name, has been transmitted through a long line of deacons and other godly descendants, to the seventh generation."

Thomas and Mary (Bridgum) Benedict had five sons and four daughters:

     --  THOMAS BENEDICT JR., born 164-, died 20 Nov. 1688/9.
     --  JOHN BENEDICT, born 164-.
     5.  SAMUEL BENEDICT, born 164-.
     --  JAMES BENEDICT, born 164-.
     --  DANIEL BENEDICT, born 164-.
     --  ELIZABETH BENEDICT, born 16-- at Southold, Long Island, married John Slauson.
     --  MARY BENEDICT, born 16-- at Southold, Long Island, married Lt. John Olmsted.
     --  SARAH BENEDICT, born 16-- at Southold, Long Island, married James Beebe of Danbury, Connecticut.
     --  REBECCA BENEDICT, born 16--, married Dr. Samuel Wood of Danbury, Connecticut

5. SAMUEL BENEDICT, third son of Thomas and Mary Benedict, born in the 1640s in Southold, Suffolk County, Connecticut (now New York), died in early April 1719 at Danbury, Fairfield County, Connecticut. Samuel married twice, his first, unknown, wife, whom he married when he lived in Norwalk, Fairfield County, Connecticut, being the mother of his two eldest children, Joanna and Samuel Jr. After the death of his first wife, Samuel married secondly on 7 July 1678 to REBECCA ANDREWS, daughter of Thomas Andrews of Fairfield, Connecticut (but cf. James Savage's 1884 Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, vol. I, page 164, which says Rebecca was "prob. d. of Francis Andrews of Fairfield"). Samuel and Rebecca had five children, including our ancestor Thomas, firstborn child of this marriage.

Henry Marvin Benedict's Genealogy of the Benedicts in America (1870), pages 241-242, offers the following summary genealogical account of Samuel's life:

[Samuel] continued to reside with his father until after his removal to Norwalk, Ct. There he married, first (unknown), by whom he had Joanna and Samuel. He married, second, July 7, 1678,(*) Rebecca, dau. of Thomas Andrews of Fairfield, Ct., by whom he had five children, the last two born in Danbury, Ct. In the fall of 1684 and the spring of 1685, he, with his brother James, his brother-in-law James Beebe, Judah Gregory (brother-in-law of James Benedict), and four others, purchased land of the Indians and made the first settlement at Paquiogue (Danbury).(+) Dr. Samuel Wood, who married Rebecca, dau. of Thomas Benedict, soon followed, and Daniel, youngest son of Thomas Benedict, also, settled there, soon after 1690. Thus it will be seen that the majority of the first settlers of Danbury were of the Benedict stock and connection. "They soon built a little church, only forty feet by thirty; when its frame was raised every person in the town was present and sat together on the sills." Samuel Benedict, a Deacon of the church, while a resident of Norwalk, was also first Deacon of this church. He conveyed his Norwalk property, Feb. 3, 1685. He is named as patentee in the patent of Danbury, granted by the General Assembly, May, 1702.(**) His will, made at Danbury, April 15, 1719, was recorded March 20, 1719. His inventory, made April 17, 1719, shows a total of 185 pounds 11s. 5d. The will mentions wife Rebecca, Samuel (eldest son), to whom is bequeathed "my great Bible;" Samuel Benedict, son of Thomas Benedict, "my second son, deceased" who received "my martir book;" two youngest sons, Nathaniel and Abraham; heirs of Thomas Benedict, "my second son, deceased," "as one child," [i. e., to take as one child,] and Benoni [to take] "half so much as one child." It, also, mentions daughters Rebecca and Esther. . . .

(**) Gen'l Assembly, May, 1702. "This Assembly doth order that a pattent for the township of Danbury shall be granted to the severall persons hereafter named and intended, as pattentees, to be signed by the Governour or Deputy Governour and the Secretary, with the seal of the Colonie affixed. The names of the pattentees are, James Bebee, Thomas Taylor, Samll Benedick, James Benedick, John Hoyt senr, Josiah Starre, and the rest of the proprietors of the township of Danbury." Col. Rec. of Ct. (1689-1706), p. 385.

Samuel Benedict had three daughters and four sons:

     --  JOANNA BENEDICT, born 22 Oct. 1673.
     --  SAMUEL BENEDICT JR., born 5 March 1674/5.
     6.  THOMAS BENEDICT, born 27 March 1679.
     --  NATHANIEL BENEDICT
     --  ABRAHAM BENEDICT, born 21 June 1681.
     --  REBECCA BENEDICT, married 18 June 1712 to Samuel Platt.
     --  ESTHER BENEDICT

6. THOMAS BENEDICT, second son of Samuel and Rebecca Benedict, born 27 March 1679 in Connecticut, predeceased his father in 1714. About 1701, Thomas married ELIZABETH HICKOCK, born in 1682 (prior to 12 Nov. 1682) in Waterbury, Connecticut, died 12 May 1751 in Danbury, Connecticut, daughter of Samuel and Hannah (Upson) Hickock. Thomas and Elizabeth had a son and three daughters.

Henry Marvin Benedict's Genealogy of the Benedicts in America (1870), page 243, shows the following brief remarks on Thomas' life (including an erroneous maiden name for Thomas' widow Elizabeth):

THOMAS . . . b. March 27, 1679. Information derived from the administration of his estate, granted Dec. 6, 1714. He left widow Elizabeth (Barnum), and "four children in their nonage." Estate amounted to 240 pounds 16s. 11d. The widow and sergeant Francis Barnum were the administrators.

Henry Marvin Benedict also comments that Thomas' son Samuel was "probably the Samuel whose estate was administered upon Nov. 26, 1795, by Wm. Prindle. Distribution was made May 3, 1796; to his daughters: Esther, w. Bigelow; Jemima, w. John Whitlock; Patience, w. Justus Olmsted; Eunice, w. Wm. Prindle; Hannah, w. Timothy Picket."

Thomas and Elizabeth Benedict's four children were:

     --  SAMUEL BENEDICT, died 1795.
     --  ELIZABETH BENEDICT
     3.  HANNAH BENEDICT, under age 7 in 1714.
     --  REBECCA BENEDICT, born 1713.

7. REBECCA BENEDICT, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Benedict, born 1713 in Connecticut, died 1 Aug. 1798 in Ridgefield, Fairfield County, Connecticut. Julia Ardelia (Harrison) Lobdell's Simon Lobdell--1646 of Milford, Conn. and his descendants (1907), page 19, says Rebecca married 23 Dec. 1732 to EBENEZER LOBDELL, born 24 Feb. 1707 in Milford, New Haven County, Connecticut, died in 1801 in Ridgefield, Connecticut, son of Joshua and Mary (Burwell) Lobdell of Ridgefield, Connecticut. Rebecca and Ebenezer had seven daughters and seven sons.

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