[Ancestral Link: Lura Minnie Parker (Stagge), daughter of Minnie May Elmer (Parker), daughter of Mark Alfred Elmer, son of Hannah Polina Child (Elmer), daughter of Alfred Bosworth Child, son of Hannah Benedict (Child), daughter of Hannah Carter (Benedict), daughter of Hannah Benedict (Carter), daughter of Thomas Benedict, son of Thomas Benedict, son of Thomas Benedict, son of Thomas Benedict.]
East Norwalk Historical Cemetery, Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut
Birth: 1617, England
Death: March 1690, Norwalk, Fairfield County, Connecticut, USA
According to the memories of Mary Brighum Benedict, the wife of Thomas Benedict, as told to and recorded by her grandson, Deacon James Benedict of Ridgefield, Connecticut, the great grandfather of Thomas Benedict I was William Benedict of Nottingham, England. He had an only son, William Benedict, who had an only son, William Benedict. Thomas was the only son of the last William Benedict(#3).
Thomas was born in 1617 in England, was apprenticed to a weaver, and came from England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1637/1638 in his 21st year of age along with his father's second wife's daughter by her first marriage (his step-sister), MARY BRIGHUM (BRIGHAM). They were probably married around 1639/40 since all of the children were born in Long Island, New York beginning in 1641.
They first lived at Hashamommock near Southold, Long Island, New York. In 1649 Thomas Benedict along with my ancestor, HENRY WHITNEY, millwright, and Edward Treadwell purchased land of William Salmon, and had the first mill on the east side of Tom's (named after Thomas) Creek in Hashamommock. It was just a few rods more than two miles east of the First Church of Southold and two miles east of Southold Station of the Long Island Railroad. In 1650, he along with three others were commissioned by the court to examine the complaints of Uncas, Sachem of the Mohegan Indians, and act as arbitrators.
Thomas Benedict and some others living near Southold petitioned the General Court at New Haven, requesting to join them and asking their protection. On May 12 1662, the Court granted the petition and confirmed Jonas Wood and Thomas Benedict to act on behalf of the government. The same year, he was appointed to lay out the south meadows, and was given a home lot.
Trusted and respected by the Dutch, on March 20, 1663, he was appointed to be a magistrate for the Dutch Governor, Styvesant. On December 3, 1663, "Goodman Benedick" was elected Lieutentant of the town of Jamaica, Long Island. He was given a ten acre lot beyond the Rocky Hollow under the Hills to the east of Jamaica.
An educated man, "Thomas Benndyck" signed his name as a witness to a bill of sale. A copy of his signature can be seen in "The Genealogy of Thomas Benedict" by Henry Benedict. In 1664, he was made a freeman in "Jamaicoe" and was nominated as a commissioner for the town. The same year, Thomas Benedict and others petitioned Richard Nichols, Governor under his Royal Highness the Duke of York, for permission to settle a plantation upon the river in New Jersey, a tract of land purchased from the Indian Sachem at Staten Island on October 28, 1664. The governor granted their petition, and a group from Jamaica was sent to colonize the place now called Elizabeth City, New Jersey.
At the first legislative body to convene in New York on February 28, 1665, Daniel Denton and Thomas Benedict were sent as delegates from Jamaica. He was appointed lieutenant of the Foot Company of Jamaica by Governor Nichols.
When New York was finally taken over completely by the English, Thomas Benedict, whose real allegiance was to New Haven Colony, decided to leave Long Island and migrate to Norwalk along with all of his children and their families. In 1668 he sold his land in Long Island to Thomas Rider and purchased land in Norwalk in 1669. He was a Selectman of the town for seventeen years, a Representative to the General Court, and was Town Clerk for Norwalk until 1674. In 1671 John Platt and Thomas, Sr. were appointed to lay out the last division of land and also the home lots. His estate was worth 150 pounds in 1673 and 153 pounds in 1687. In 1684, he along with three others was appointed to plant a town above Norwalk or Fairfield at Paquiage (now called Danbury). His sons, Samuel and James, and six others with their families settled there. He was named a patentee of Norwalk in the Patent granted by the General Court in 1686.
No known record can be found that indicates the day of his death. His will was dated February 28, 1689/90 in Norwalk, Connecticut, and the inventory of his estate was on March 18, the same year, also in Norwalk.
The children of THOMAS and MARY (BRIGHAM) BENEDICT:
THOMAS II, SAMUEL, JAMES, ELIZABETH (BENEDICT) Slawson, DANIEL, SARAH (BENEDICT) Beebe, John, Mary (Benedict) Olmstead, Rebecca (Benedict) Wood
Burial: East Norwalk Historical Cemetery, Norwalk, Fairfield County, Connecticut, USA
Find A Grave Memorial# 33427648
found on findagrave.com
THOMAS' SIGNATURE
Info
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 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. 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, Conncticut, who recorded them in 1755.
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, 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.
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,(*) 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.
He is identified with the founding of the first Presbyterian church in America, at Jamaica, in 1662.
"Examine Chase's Map of Suffolk County, New York, and you may see a Small body of water marked just north west of the northwest point of Shelter Island and almost connecting Peconic Bay and Long Island Sound. The only separation is a level flat of Sand and Shingle, a few rods wide, and perhaps twenty long, partially covered with sedgy vegetation. Across this flat the famous Guilford expedition drew their whale boats when they made their successful descent upon the British post and stores at Sag Harbor. This flat is Hashamommuck Beach. The Small body of water is now generally called Mill Creek, a tide-mill to grind grain having been built upon it many years ago, and one is still in use near the old site. The proprietor of this mill some six or eight years since cut a canal from the Sound to the creek and thus poured the water of the Sound across Hashamommuck Beach into the creek, to give him more water and a higher head for his mill. But the action of the Sound soon closed the Canal with sand, as all intelligent persons predicted. This creek was formerly Thomas Benedict's, and in the oldest records of Southold is familiarly called Thomas's Creek and then for convenience it became Thom's Creek and even Tom's Creek. I have heard it called Tom's Creek--even in my day. The Creek is a few rods more than two miles east of the First Church of Southold. It is just two miles east of the Southold station of the Long Island Rail Road. Hashamommuck is about a square mile directly east of this Creek."
He is recorded as having been chosen town clerk of Norwalk, Connecticut, 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. On April 7, 1665 he was appointed "Captaine of a ffoote Company". 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.
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; 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.
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;
I, Thomas Bennidick of Norwalk, in ye County of Fairfield, in ye Colony of Connecticut, aged aboute 73 years, being weak of body, yet of perfect mind and memory, do make and declare this as my last Will and Testament.
Imprimis. I do commend my Soule into ye hands of my gracious God yt hath made it, and do give my body to ye Earth from whence it was, to be decently buried, in hope of a happy and gracious Resurrection at ye last day; As for my temporall Estate, I do despose of as followeth:
I do will and bequeath to my loueing wife Mary Bennidick my whole Estate, house and households, Lands, Cattle--to use and despose according to ye controll and advice she, with my overseers afterwards mentioned, shall judg[e] most [ ] during ye Time of her naturall Life, and after ye decease of ye said Mary, my wife, I do will and bequeath to my Sonn, Daniell Bennidick, my dwelling house barne and houseing, orchard and four ewes--ye whole of my homested--to be to him and his heirs, to have and to howld, forever.
I do will and bequeath my Sonn, John Bennedick, my calve pasture Lot--he [to] pay to my grandchild Thomas Slauson, ye Son of my daughter, Elizabeth Slasson, ye sum of ten pounds--which I give him as a legacy in time convenient.
I do also give to my said Son, John Bennedick one third part of my Sticky plaine Lott, which is half broken up. I also bequeath to him yt part of salt meadow lying be ye bridge at ye Indian Feild. Also, unto him, I bequeath eight acres of upland laid out above ye Long Swamp beyond ye New feild--All these lands to be to him and his heirs forever.
I do will and bequeath to my son, James Benedick, my Long Lot of Salt Medow--over ye River--lying between Keloge and Bets--I do also bequeath to ye said James, my son, half my fruitefull Spring Lot--yt Lyeth sideing by ye medow, provided ye said James shall pay to my Grandchild Elizabeth Slausson, ye sum of five pounds, in time convenient, the afforesaid Land to be James and his heirs forever.
I do will and bequeath to my grand child Thomas Benedick, one 3d part of my Sticky plaine Lot which he hath in part improued and is in part unbroken. I also, bequeath to ye sd Thomas, my second division of medow called Mamathemans--the lands to be to him and his heirs forever.
I do will and bequeath to my Grandchild Samuell Benedict, ye other half of my fruitfull Spring Lot lying next to Nathaniel [ ] I do also bequeath to ye sd Samuell, a small parcel of medow which is salt--[ ] Kelloggs Swamp rung through --also one 3d part of my sticky plaine Lot on ye [side] I have broken up. I do also bequeath to my sd grand child Samuel, half my comonage which is 50 pounds; and the other half I do give to my grandchild John Bennedick ye eldest son of my son John Bennedick. I also will and bequeath to my Grandchild Samuell Bennedick my ould Horse and one yearling Calf. I do also bequeath to ye sd Samuell, my Carts and Iron plows and chains and irons belonging to plow and cart. Also ye bed and bedsted--yt in ye chamber with what belongs to it--leauving it to his Grandmother and ye overseers to give him of ye moveables what they can spare, provided he carry and behauve himself dutefully and louvingly towards his Grandmother--so doing, I do, also, will and bequeath to ye sd Samuell half of my sheep.
I do will and bequeath to Joanna Bennedick, One Cow, one half of my sheep--the trukle bedstead wth ye bed thereupon and the furniture of it, and what else of household her Grandmother shall bestow on her, provided she liue with her and be tender of her while she shall continue in this world.
As for my Out Lands, undesposed of, it is my will that my Son James and Daniell diuide ye Upland between them equally except ye peace of boggy medow which I will to be equally divided between my son James and grandchild Samuell Benedick.
I do will and bequeath to my daughter Rebecka Wood [the] mare yt is now running in ye wood; and I leauve it to my wife to give to my Daughter Sarah and Rebecka what of ye moveables she shall see meet and can spare.
I do will and bequeath to my Grand child Mary Olmsted, a legacy of twenty shillings; I also give to Hannah Benedick, my grand child, ten shillings the [same] to be paid out of ye estate after my decease.
Finally it is my will and I do hereby appoint my Son John and my Son Samll Bennedick to be joynt overseers of this my last will and testiment--willing these my loueing sons to be carefull of their Mothers comfortable liueing and to councell her in ye ordering her affairs and desposall of goods; and to see carefully to ye payment of all lawfull debts.
In confirmation of ye premises of this my will and Testiment, I do set my hand and seal this eight and twentieth febt Ano dominy 1689-90.
[Signed] THOS BENEDICK, Senr.
Signed and Sealed in presents of us, Thomas Hanford John Platt, Jr.
Memorand: in ye twentieth line Elizabeth is bloted out and Mary put in ye Marjent accordin to ye will of ye testator--ye name mistake [n] by the writer
THOS. HANFORD.
An Inventory of the Estate of Thomas Benedick Senr of Norwalk, late deceased, taken this 18. of March 1689 or 90.
Imprimis: œ. s. d.
The Homested and Buildings 40. 00. 0.
Item in Lands 150. " "
" " Neat Cattle 30. " "
" " Horss Kinde 05. " "
" " Beding and furniture 17. 04. 0.
" " Table linen and Napkins 01. 02. "
" " Wearing Cloathes 04. 06. "
" " Bedsteds, Chests and boxes 02. 12. "
" " Iron Kettle and pott 01. 03. "
" " Pewter, brass Earthenware and Woodenware 03. 15. "
" " Several iron things 04. 18. "
" " Carts and wheels and Irons belonging to them 03. 10. "
" " Knailes and other Small things 01. 12. "
" " Plogh and Graine 8. 14. " " " Arms and Ammunission 02. 13. "
" " Saddle, bridle and Sundry small things 06. " "
" " 5 Small Swine 02. 10. "
the total 285. 09. 0.
Thomas Benedict, who came over from England to America in 1638, at the age of twenty one, was the first of that name in this country, as in the Benedict Genealogy of 1870 our historian tells us. He was the son of William Benedict, who had lived in Saxlingham Nethergate, Norfolk, England. Who was his mother? In Water's "Genealogical Gleanings in England," (p. 1047) there is printed the Will of Henry Hunlock of Wingerworth, Derbyshire; it is dated July 13, 1610, and was probated for record February 16, 1612.
In it Hunlock bequeaths "to my loving son, William Benedeke, forth shillings to buy him a ring for remembrance, and to my daughter, Ann Benedeke, twenty pounds at one and twenty years of age."
Derbyshire is a county adjacent to Nottinghamshire and Wingerworth is but a few miles from Nottingham, where William Benedict lived; and these bequests, in connection with the dates of the birth and emigration of Thomas, supported by the testimony of the wife of Thomas, given on page 2 of the Benedict Genealogy, seem to warrant the conclusion that the mother of Thomas was Ann Hunlock of Wingerworth, that his father, William, married her before July 13, 1610, that she was not of age then, nor before 1612, and therefore was not twenty eight years old when Thomas was born in 1617. No record was found by our historian of the name of the mother of William or of his grandmother; so that Ann Hunlock Benedict is the earliest ancestress of the name yet known.
The Hunlocks, or Hunlokes, were an old family in Derbyshire. Ann's father, Henry, was sheriff of the county and in attendance upon King James First during his royal progress through that county; the date and place of his burial has not been ascertained, but on a slab in front of the altar in Wingerworth Church is inscribed in Latin the following:
(translated)
Henry Hunloke son of Henry
Buried 17th day of August, A. D. 1624
Henry Hunloke, Knight (Miles) and Baronet son of the above named Henry
Buried 12th day of January, 1647
Evidently the Henry first interred there could not have been Ann's father whose will was recorded in 1612; but as Wingerworth Hall is known to have been the family estate for mare than 300 years it is a fair assumption that he was Ann's elder brother, who succeeded his father. If so the second Henry there interred was Ann Hunlock's nephew; according to historical statements he was knighted by King Charles First on the battlefield of Edgehill in 1642 and afterwards made baronet. A portrait hangs in the picture gallery at Wingerworth Hall inscribed "Sir Henry Hunlock ae. 21, 1639." If this is a portrait of the baronet who died in 1647, he was born in 1618, and was a cousin of Ann Hunlock Benedict's son Thomas. There is also in the picture gallery at Wingerworth Hall a portrait inscribed "Ann Hunloke," but the date on it is later than 1610, and the portrait is that of a woman who was not born at that date.
The facts and dates above given were some of them obtained by the late Robert D. Benedict, of Brooklyn, New York, and others by a member of his family in 1905, by visits to Nottingham and Wingerworth, and while they may be thought not conclusive, yet they seem sufficient to warrant the above assumptions based on them as not unfounded. The probability of their correctness is certainly very strong. As the family line has not been traced back in England, except by the tradition noted in the Genealogy, to identify either the grandmother or great grandmother of Thomas Benedict, Ann Hunlock Benedict is our first English ancestress yet known.
Thomas and Mary arrived in Massachusetts in 1638 where they were married. They soon moved to Southold, Long Island where all their children were born - Thomas, John, Samuel, James, Daniel, Betty. Mary. Sarah, Rebecca. Then they moved to Huntington, where they stayed for several years. After 1656, they moved to Jamaica, New York where their son Thomas married Mary Messenger. In 1664. when the Dutch Governor, Peter Stuyvesant captitualed to the English Governor, Col. Richard Nichols, the English settlers on Long Isand, then considered part of Conn., began extending their settlements. Thomas Benedict and others made application to Nichols to settle a plantation in New Jersey near the present Elizabethtown. Later that year, Thomas was one of two delegates chosen to represent Jamaica in the first English legislative body convened in New York to settle the many grievances of the English settlers.
One year later, in 1665, Thomas and his family moved to Norwalk, Connecticut. He was immediately chosen town clerk and selectman, posts he held for many years. In the 1800's his records in his handwriting were still preserve and legible. He was made Deacon of the church until his death in 1690. His wife survived him to live to the age of 100.
found on ancestry.com
Biography
"Thomas was born in 1617 in England, was apprenticed to a weaver, and came from England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1637/1638 in his 21st year of age along with his father's second wife's daughter by her first marriage (his step-sister), MARY BRIGHUM (BRIGHAM). They were probably married around 1639/40 since all of the children were born in Long Island, New York beginning in 1641.
They first lived at Hashamommock near Southold, Long Island, New York. In 1649 Thomas Benedict along with HENRY WHITNEY, millright, and Edward Treadwell purchased land of William Salmon, and had the first mill on the east side of Tom's (named after Thomas) Creek in Hashamommock. It was just a few rods more than two miles east of the First Church of Southold and two miles east of Southold Station of the Long Island Railroad. In 1650, he along with three others were commissioned by the court to examine the complaints of Uncas, Sachem of the Mohegan Indians, and act as arbitrators.Thomas Benedict and some others living near Southold petitioned the General Court at New Haven, requesting to join them and asking their protection. On May 12 1662, the Court granted the petition and confirmed Jonas Wood and Thomas Benedict to act on behalf of the government. The same year, he was appointed to lay out the south meadows, and was given a home lot.Trusted and respected by the Dutch, on March 20, 1663, he was appointed to be a magistrate for the Dutch Governor, Styvesant. On Dec. 3, 1663, "Goodman Benedick" was elected Lieutentant of the town of Jamaica, Long Island. He was given a ten acre lot beyond the Rocky Hollow under the Hills to the east of Jamaica.
An educated man, "Thomas Benndyck" signed his name as a witness to a bill of sale. A copy of his signature can be seen in "The Genealogy of Thomas Benedict" by Henry Benedict. In 1664, he was made a freeman in "Jamaicoe" and was nominated as a commissioner for the town. The same year, Thomas Benedict and others petitioned Richard Nichols, Govenor under his Royal Highness the Duke of York, for permission to settle a plantation upon the river in New Jersey, a tract of land purchased from the Indian Sachem at Staten Island on October 28, 1664. The governor granted their petition, and a group from Jamaica was sent to colonize the place now called Elizabeth City, New Jersey.At the first legislative body to convene in New York on February 28, 1665, Daniel Denton and Thomas Benedict were sent as delegates from Jamaica. He was appointed lieutenant of the Foot Company of Jamaica by Govenor Nichols.
When New York was finally taken over completely by the English, Thomas Benedict, whose real allegiance was to New Haven Colony, decided to leave Long Island and migrate to Norwalk along with all of his children and their families. In 1668 he sold his land in Long Island to Thomas Rider and purchased land in Norwalk in 1669. He was a Selectman of the town for seventeen years, a Representative to the General Court, and was Town Clerk for Norwalk until 1674. In 1671 John Platt & Thomas, Sr. were appointed to lay out the last division of land and also the home lots. His estate was worth 150 pounds in 1673 and 153 pounds in 1687. In 1684, he along with three others was appointed to plant a town above Norwalk or Fairfield at Paquiage (now called Danbury). His sons, Samuel & James, and six others with their families settled there. He was named a patentee of Norwalk in the Patent granted by the General Court in 1686.
No known record can be found that indicates the day of his death. His will was dated February 28, 1689/90 in Norwalk, Conn., and the inventory of his estate was on March 18, the same year, also in Norwalk.
The children of THOMAS & MARY (BRIGHAM) BENEDICT:
THOMAS II, my ancestor
SAMUEL
JAMES
ELIZABETH (BENEDICT) Slawson DANIEL
SARAH (BENEDICT) Beebe John
Mary (Benedict) Olmstead
Rebecca (Benedict) Wood
Source: www.findagrave.com
found on ancestry.com
family history
Deacon James Benedict learned the particulars he gives of the early history of the family, down to his own memory, from his grandmother, Mary Bridgum, the wife of Thomas Benedict, sen. with whom he lived in his youth. She lived to the age of one hundred years, and in her lifetime communicated them to her grandson, Deacon James Benedict, of Ridgefield, Connecticut, who recorded them in 1755.** In 1768 this record was copied by his grandson, Rev. Abner Benedict, while a member of Yale College, and by him sent to Thomas Benedict, of Norwalk. Other copies have been made for other branches of the family.
William Benedict, is the first of the family of whom any trace has been found. Tradition says that he resided in Nottinghamshire, England, about the year 1500, and that he was the only son of his father. He had also but one son, who was also called William.
William Benedict, who also resided in Nottinghamshire, and had an only son, also called William.
William Benedict, who also resided in Nottinghamshire. He also had an only son, who was named Thomas. 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 prosecution 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 Germany, and, thence, by way of Holland to England. Thomas Benedict was born in England, 1617. He was an only son, and when he left England, tradition says, the name had been confined to only sons for more than one hundred years, and that he did not know another person of the name in existence; from which it would seem that his father was then dead. He lost his mother early, and was put apprentice to a weaver during his minority. His father married a second wife, who was a widow, a Mrs. Bridgum, who had a daughter named Mary Bridgum.
When Thomas became of age (1638), he and Mary Bridgum came to New England in the same vessel, and first settled in "The Massachusetts Bay." Not long after "the said Thomas Benedict was joined in marriage with said Mary Bridgum, and from these have arisen a numerous offspring"-the Benedicts in America. They lived some time in the Massachusetts Bay, and then removed to Southold, Long Island, where their children were born-five sons and four daughters-Thomas, John, Samuel, James, Daniel, Elizabeth, Mary, Sarah, and Rebecca. From Southold they removed to Huntington, where they resided several years. They were residing there in June, 1656. They removed thence to Jamaica, on the same Island, where Thomas, the eldest son, married Mary Messenger of that place. The eastern part of Long Island being at that time considered a part of Connecticut was of course principally settled by the English pilgrims, who gradually extended themselves westward, and rather encroached upon their Dutch neighbors of New York, with whom they were not much disposed to coalesce. The Long Island settlements (except the extreme west), were principally English, and when on the 27th August, 1664, the Dutch Governor, Stuyvesant, capitulated to Col. Richard Nichols, the change of government was highly acceptable to the English settlers, and they immediately set about extending their settlements.
On the 26th September in the same year, John Bailey, Daniel Denton, and Thomas Benedict, 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 he granted the petition and promised encouragement. That place is now Elizabethtown. The principal petitioners were in Jamaica in 1665. It is therefore to be presumed that they sent out a colony.
Governor Nichols issued "To the magistrates of the several tounes upon Longisland," an order of election, dated, in New York, 8th February, 1664, 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 disputed, civil liberties interrupted, and from this general confusion private dissentions and animosities had too much prevailed against neighborly love and Christian charity, and in discharge of his duty "to settle good and known laws," requiring two deputies to "a general meeting," to be chosen from each town "by the major part of the freemen," and recommending "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. This is believed to be the first English legislative body ever convened in New York. In 1665, he was commissioned by Govenor Nichols as a Lieutenant "of the Foot Company of Jamaica." His commission was dated at "Fort James in New York, the 7th day of April, 1665." Whether he accepted the commission is not known. It is certain, however, that he did not hold it long, as during the same year he removed from the State to Norwalk, in the Colony of Connecticut, with all his family. There they lived together, and thence they scattered abroad in little colonizing parties to let in the light on other parts of the neighboring wilderness, or to swell the numbers of the pioneer bands who had already planted settlements in the vicinity. In 1666, February 19th, he was chosen town clerk and selectman of Norwalk. In 1669 he was again chosen town clerk, and the list of freemen of Norwalk contains his name as one of 42 of which the list was composed October 13, 1669. In 1672 he was again chosen town clerk, and held the office for many years afterwards. The records, in his own hand writing, are still preserved and are legible, properly attested by his own signature, a facsimile of which, as here given, it may also be interesting to preserve. This primitive pilgrim pair are thus described in the manuscript of Deacon James Benedict already referred to: "They walked in the midst of their house with a perfect heart. They were strict observers of the Lord's day from even to even. It may be said of them as it was of Zachariah and Elizabeth, 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 through the blessing of God upon their children. He was made a deacon of the church in Norwalk, and used that office to good satisfaction of that church to his death, which was in the year of our Lord 1690, in the seventy-third year of his age, and was succeeded in his office as deacon by two of his sons, John and Samuel, who used that office until old age and its attendants rendered them unable to serve; and there are at this time seven of the family and name which use the office of a deacon, and I trust some of them, at least, to good acceptance both to God and man." His wife survived him and lived to the age of one hundred years. Thomas Benedict, 2d, was born at Southold, Long Island. From Southold he went with his father to Huntington and thence to Jamaica, where he married Mary Messenger of that place. In 1665 he removed with his father to Norwalk, in the Colony of Connecticut. In the Wylys 's manuscripts his name is, with that of his father, among the names of the 42 freemen of Norwalk, taken October 13, 1669. He had six children-Mary, born 1666; Thomas, born 1670; Hannah, born January 8, 1676; Esther, born October 5, 1679; Abigail, born 1682; Elizabeth, born- John Benedict was born at Southold, Long Island. He continued to reside with his parents till they removed to Norwalk. He there married Phebe Gregory, daughter of John Gregory of Norwalk, November 11, 1670. They had nine children. Sarah, Phebe, born 1673, John, March 3, 1676, Jonathan, Benjamin, Joseph, James, born January 5, 1685; Mary or Mercy, and Thomas. He succeeded his father as deacon of the church in Norwalk, and used that office until old age rendered him unable to serve. Samuel Benedict was born at Southold, Long Island. He continued to reside with his father till after his removal to Norwalk. He married Rebecca Andrews of Fairfield, 7th July, 1678. They had seven children. Joanna, born 22d October, 1673, Samuel, 5th March, 1675, Thomas, 27th March, 1679, Rebecca, Esther, Nathaniel, and Abraham born 21st June, 1681. In the fall of 1684 and spring of 1685, he, with seven other families, including his brother James and his brother-in-law, James Beebe, (Dr. Wood, another brother-in-law, soon followed) purchased land of the Indians and made the first settlement at Paquiogue, which they called Danbury. 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. He conveyed his property in Norwalk February 3, 1685, to Samuel Betts. He is described as of Paquiack, formerly of Norwalk. On Sunday morning, April 27th, 1777, the British under Governor Tryon, burned Danbury - excepting the houses and the property of the Tories. Nineteen dwelling-houses, besides other buildings, were consumed with all their contents. Among the nineteen principal sufferers were Thaddeus Benedict, Matthew Benedict, Matthew Benedict, junior, Jonah Benedict, and Zadock Benedict. James Benedict was born at Southold, Long Island. He continued to reside with his parents until after their removal to Norwalk. He there married Sarah Gregory, May 10, 1676. They had seven children. Sarah, born 16th June, 1677; Rebecca, Phebe, James, John, Thomas, and Elizabeth.
*Hinman says: "Thomas Benedict was the only early settler found in the colony of Connecticutt of the name Benedict." The same is true of all the other colonies. **"Probably meaning about the year 1500; otherwise there three generations would extend through 200 years. [Signed] Abner Benedict."The "Encyclopedia of Biography" from ancestry.com tells us that the family of William Benedict lived for many years in the silk manufacturing district of France and were of Latin origin.
Source: Stories, Publications, and Research Notes: www.ancestry.com
"Danbury, Connecticut, Town History, 1684 - 1896"
found on ancestry.com
Some history
BENEDICT, WILLIAM, in 1500, son WILLIAM, son WILLIAM, son THOMAS and Mary, all born in England. Tradition says the first William resided in Nottinghamshire, England, about A.D. 1500, and was an only son, and he had an only son William, who resided in the same shire. This second William had also an only son William, in Nottinghamshire, who also had an only son Thomas, who was born in England, in 1617. He married Mary Bridgum, and was by trade a weaver. His father married a second wife, Mrs. Bridgum, (a widow) whose daughter Mary, married Thomas when of age, (1G:^8.) Thomas Benedict and Mary came to Massachusetts in the same vessel, and were soon after married. He remained for a time there and then removed to Southold, Long Island, where they had nine children born, viz., Thomas, John, Samuel, James, Daniel, Betty, Mary, Sarah and Rebecca. From Southold he removed to Huntington, Long, Island, and resided there in June, 1656. He removed to Jamaica, where his son Thomas married Mary Messenger. On the 26th of September, 1664, Bailey, D'l Denton, Thos. Benedict, &c., applied to Col. Nichols to settle upon the river, (Arthur-Cull Bay,) now Elizabethtown, in New Jersey: the petition was granted. On the 8th of February 1664, Govenor Nichols issued an order of election, dated at James Fort, in New York, to the magistrates of the towns upon Long Island, to elect two delegates in each town, of the most sober, able and discreet persons, to meet at Hempstead, on the last day of February, to enact laws, &c. Daniel Denton and Thomas Benedict were elected delegates by the town of Jamaica. This was probably the first English legislature ever held in what is now the state of New York. He received a Lieutenant's commission in a foot company at Jamaica, from Govenor Nichols, dated at Fort James, in New York, April 7th, 1665. During the same year Thomas removed to Norwalk, in the colony of Connecticut, with his family. In February 1666, he was elected town clerk and selectman of Norwalk. He was also chosen town clerk in 1669, also in 1672, at twenty shillings a year, which office he held many years. (See Hairs Norwalk and Southold Record.)
Thomas, Senior, in 1669, purchased of Samuel Campfield, his home lot, which had been granted him by the town of Norwalk. He was to have the meeting house swept for the year 1065, at twenty shil-lings. Daniel Benedict, a soldier in the swamp fight against the Indians, had twelve acres of land given him by Norwalk for his service.
Thomas Benedict, Senior and Junior, of Norwalk, were propounded for freemen in Connecticut, in Octtober 1667. In May, 1670, Thomas Benedict and Walter Hoyte, were deputies to the General Court of Connecticut. At a session of the General Court in May, 1672, Richard Olmsteed, Thomas Benedict, &c., gave " in thier names for begining a plantation neare the backside of Norwalke, and by thier deputies desired the countenance of the court therein.'' The petition was granted, and a committee appointed, " to make a plantation." John and Samuel Benedict, sons of Thomas, of Norwalk, were " propounded" freemen for Norwalk, with Ralph Kelor, (fee, in May, 1674. This was early a highly respectable faimily in the colony. (Col. Rec.)
found on ancestry.com
Mary and Thomas
Mary's mother, a widow, became the second wife of Thomas' father, William in Nottinghamshire, England. She and Thomas immigrated on the same ship to Massachusetts and soon after arrival, were married.
found on ancestry.com
Residences
Thomas and Mary arrived in Massachusetts in 1638 where they were married. They soon moved to Southold, Long Island where all their children were born - Thomas, John, Samuel, James, Daniel, Betty, Mary, Sarah, Rebecca. Then they moved to Huntington, where they stayed for several years. After 1656, they moved to Jamaica, New York where their son Thomas married Mary Messenger.
In 1664, when the Dutch Governor, Peter Stuyvesant captitualed to the English Governor, Col. Richard Nichols, the English settlers on Long Isand, then considered part of Connecticut, began extending their settlements. Thomas Benedict and others made application to Nichols to settle a plantation in New Jersey near the present Elizabethtown. Later that year, Thomas was one of two delegates chosen to represent Jamaica in the first English legislative body convened in New York to settle the many grievances of the English settlers.
One year later, in 1665, Thomas and his family moved to Norwalk, Connecticut. He was immediately chosen town clerk and selectman, posts he held for many years. In the 1800s his records in his handwriting were still preserve and legible. He was made Deacon of the church until his death in 1690. His wife survived him to live to the age of 100.
found on ancestry.com
Thomas Benedict
1638-, Massachusetts, Long Island, Connecticut
Thomas apprenticed to be a weaver. He and Mary first lived in the Massachussetts Bay and lived there for quite a while. Mary Bridgum, who lived to be one hundred years old, told the details of the their life to her grandson, Deacon James Benedict. He recorded them in 1755. According to that story, Thomas descended from William, William, William. Thomas and Mary had five sons and four daughter. After they had lived in Massachussetts for some time, they moved to Southhold, Long Island. This is where the children were born. From Southhold, they moved to a town called Hassamac, where they farmed and then they moved to Huntington for a while, then they moved to Huntington, Long Island. Their last home was in Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut. Deacon James' written record goes on to name more but for this purpose I intend to talk only about Thomas and his wife.
found on ancestry.com
Thomas Benedict (Bennydick), the colonist ancestor of Martha Benedict Sackett, was a native of Nottinghamshire, England and came to Massachusetts Bay in 1638, and there married Mary Bridgman.
They lived for several years at Southhold, and in 1662 resided in Jamaica, Long Island. Still later they were at Norwalk, Connecticut, where Mr. Benedict was made a deacon of the church.
found on ancestry.com
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