Elisha Benson (ca 1763-1811) and his Wife Sophia/Zerviah Nye (b 1763) of Middleborough & Rochester, Mass., and Woodstock & Pomfret Vermont

Elisha Benson was born about 1763, probably at Middleborough, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, the son of Elisha and Sarah (Stewart) Benson. [Benson] I wrote about Elisha and Sarah here. Elisha is my 5th great-grandfather on my grandfather Arthur Washburn Ellis Davis’ side of the family. Elisha is one of those ancestors for whom I have more questions than answers due to the lack of records found. 

Elisha Benson and Zerviah Nye were married 14 July 1783 at Rochester. [Rochester Vital Records 2:34] Marriage intentions of “Mr. Elisha Benson” of Middleboro and “Miss Sevier Nye”” of Rochester were published 13 May 1783. [Massachusetts Vital Records/Middleborough 2:102] The Rochester marriage intention gives the groom’s name as Isaac Benson, likely a transcription error.

Zerviah Nye was born 8 November 1763 at Rochester, the daughter of Jonathan and Elizabeth (Irish) Nye. [Rochester VR 1:227] Her name is spelled in many ways and later she used Sophia as seen in several of her adult children’s death records.

Zerviah/Sophia and Elisha had at least six children whose births are not recorded. They are shown to be Elisha’s children by parent names on death records (children 1 and 5) and/or court guardianship records (children 2-6):

1. Levi born 14 August 1790 at Middleborough (date derived from his age at death). He married Lydia Holmes 19 June 1814 at Woodstock, Vermont [Benson]. He died 20 August 1867 at Woodstock, age 77; parents given as Elisha and Sophia Benson. [Vermont Vital Records/Woodstock on microfilm]
2. Luther born about 1795. He was a minor over age 14 when Joel English was appointed his guardian on 7 April 1813. He married Martha Stiles. [Benson]
3. Stephen born about 1798. He was a minor over age 14 on 7 April 1813 when Ebenezer Holmes was named his guardian on 7 April 1813. He married Olive Drew on 5 February 1828 at Woodstock. [Vermont VR Marriages B to 1871, page 10566] He died Woodstock 9 May 1837 at age 39. [Vermont Deaths B 1871-1908, page 8573] He’s buried Prosper Cemetery, Woodstock.
4. Leonard born August 1800 based on his age at death. He was a minor under 14 when Ebenezer Holmes was appointed his guardian on 7 April 1813. He married Ebenezer’s daughter Lydia Holmes of Woodstock on 19 June 1814. [Woodstock VRs on microfilm] He died 7 January 1877 age 78 years and 6 days. His death record gives his birthplace as Middleborough, Mass. and his parents as Levi and Lidda (Holmes) Benson, so perhaps his older brother helped raise him; Levi is too young to actually be his father. [Vermont Register of Deaths 1867, page 9, number 48]
5. Amelia born 10 May 1803 at Woodstock [calculated from age at death]. She married about 1825 Isaac Benson. She died Plymouth, Mass., on 25 February 1880. [Plymouth VR] Her death record gives her parents as Elisha and Sophia (Nye) Benson. 
6. Sylvia Benson born about 1804 at Woodstock. On 7 April 1814 she was a minor under age 14 when her mother Patty Benson was named her guardian.  

I descend from Amelia. I wrote about Amelia and Isaac Benson here. It is likely they had more children given the gap between their 1783 marriage date and the 1790 birth of Levi. One possible child is Elisha Benson who in the 1810 census is living in Pomfret, where the elder Elisha died a year later. There are two people in the household, a male and a female, both age 16-25.

Since Sylvia’s mother is identified as Patty in court guardianship record, I initially thought Elisha had a second wife but it seems unlikely given the closeness of age between Sylvia and her sister Amelia.

Elisha Benson Jr. of Middleborough purchased land near his dwelling house in “the South Purchase” on 26 April 1789. [Plymouth County Deeds 88:220] On 17 February 1795 Elisha Benson with Stephen Gibbs purchased land in Middleborough next to this land and divided the land on 10 April 1797. [Plymouth County Deeds 88:220]

In November 1791 at the Plymouth Court of Common Pleas, John Putnam (Sutton physician) attached Elisha Benson (Middleborough Yeoman) on a 16-month note dated 4 May 1790 for £5 2s 2d “lawful Silver Money…six months without interest then interest till paid.” Plaintiff said that defendant’s failure to pay was to his damage of £12. Default by defendant; judgment for £5 9s and £2 3s costs. Appealed by defendant but no further record. [Plymouth Court records 1686-1859 10:190] I find this puzzling because Sutton is in Worcester County, quite a distance from Middleborough. I also do not know whether this refers to Elisha Sr. or Jr.

Elisha and Sophia moved their family to Pomfret/Woodstock, Windsor County, Vermont. His father had also removed to Woodstock.

In the 1810 census Elisha Benson is living in Woodstock. The eight household members fits nearly perfectly to be Elisha Jr., although one of his young daughters is not included and there is perhaps an unknown older daughter included. The household members: 1 male under 10 [Leonard]; 1 male 10-15 [Stephen]; 2 males 16-25 [Luther and Levi]; 1 male 26-44 [Elisha; perhaps his estimated birth is off by a few years]; 1 female under 10 [Amelia or Sylvia]; 1 female 26-44 [Sophia or an older unknown child]; 1 female 45 and over [perhaps Sophia].

Elisha Benson Jr. died at Pomfret 12 April 1811. His father Elisha Benson Sr. evidently died early in 1813. [Benson]

It appears that Elisha Sr. and his wife took in their grandchildren and perhaps their daughter-in-law after their son Elisha’s 1811 death. It makes sense these are Elisha Jr’s children, but the records don’t state that specifically. [Hartford Probate District, Windsor Co VT, 4:427, 428, 446, 5:74, 6:78]

• On 7 April 1813, Ebenezer Holmes was appointed administrator of the estate of Elisha Benson Sr. of Woodstock, at the request of his widow Sarah Benson. 
• At the same time Ebenezer was also appointed administrator of the estate of Elisha Benson Jr. of Pomfret. 
• On this same date Ebenezer was appointed guardian of Stephen Benson, a minor over age 14 as well as Leonard Benson and Amelia Benson, both minors under age 14, all heirs of Elisha Benson of Woodstock.
• On the same day Joel English was appointed guardian of Luther Benson a minor over the age of 14 and heir of Elisha Benson of Woodstock.
• It seems that these heirs who were born around 1800 are grandchildren since Elisha Sr. was born in 1730/1. It aligns that they are Elisha Jr.’s children since he died before Elisha Sr. and their estates were being settled simultaneously.
• On 7 April 1814 Silvia Benson, a minor under 14 and an heir to the estate of Elisha Benson Jr of Pomfret—her mother Patty Benson was named her guardian. This is puzzling because her mother would have been Sophia/Zerviah. 

I have not found a death record for Zerviah/Sophia Benson.

Sources:

Richard H. Benson, The Benson Family of Colonial Massachusetts, Newbury Street Press, 2003

George Hyatt Nye & Frank E. Best, A Genealogy of the Nye Family, 1907