I’ve already written a sketch about Isaac and Amelia Benson, but wanted to learn more about their children and writing really helps me get the facts in order. Isaac was born Woodstock, Vermont, 3 July1805, to Moses and Experience (Gibbs) Benson. Around 1825 he married Amelia Benson who was born Woodstock 10 May 1803, the daughter of Elisha and Sophia (Nye) Benson. See Isaac's sketch here. Both of their Benson families were originally from the southern Massachusetts. The couple returned to their roots, raising their family in Plymouth, Massachusetts. I find this couple so interesting because I’ve always felt my family has salt water in our veins coming from coastal towns in Plymouth County and Cape Cod. For generations we’ve also been drawn to boating. At least some Bensons must have felt otherwise and went to settle landlocked Woodstock, perhaps for the fertile land. I wondered if Isaac felt the ocean calling to him, but from records it seems he was a turkey farmer and a mason. However, all five sons earned their livelihoods from the sea at some point. Maybe that salt-water obsession skips a generation now and again!
Josiah Benson. I descend from Josiah, their eldest child who was born 24 July 1826 in Woodstock, Vermont (date and location from his death certificate). He married Aurilla West Nye in Middleborough, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, 10 March 1853 (MA VR 1841-1910, 70:335). She was born 12 April 1829 (as Orrilla) in the coastal town of Rochester (now Mattapoisett), Massachusetts, to William and Nancy (Snow) Nye (Rochester VR p 263; no maiden name for mother). June 1863 Civil War Draft Registration, Plymouth: Josiah Benson, age 34, married, seaman, at sea. Josiah was a fisherman and his home was not far from Plymouth Harbor. He once pulled in a net and found it filled with gold but the net broke from the weight and he only grabbed one gold coin (story re-told in his obituary in Old Colony Memorial). After he retired from the sea, he was a watchman at Hayden Mill on Eel River. He and Aurilla had at least seven children: Charles A. who died young, Nellie, Hattie, Lizzie, Charles W., Carrie C., Lydia F.
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| Harlow House, Plymouth |
Aurilla (as Aurelia) Nye Benson died Plymouth 24 March 1905 at age 75 (MA VR 1841-1910, 1905/77). Josiah died at this home in Plymouth on 26 Oct 1910, age 84 (MA VR 1841-1910, 1910/85:354). His cause of death was enlargement of the heart with valvular disease at his home at 119 Sandwich Street, now a house museum known as the Harlow House owned by the Plymouth Antiquarian Society. I wrote more about Josiah and Aurilla here.
Elvira A. Benson. She was born 7 September 1828 in Carver, Plymouth County, Mass (calculated from her age at death). On 10 Apr 1864 she married Winslow Thomas at Plymouth (MA VR 1841-1910, 172:280); it was his third marriage and her first at age 35. Winslow had married first Ruth Shaw and they had at least three daughters: Ellen, Mercy, Emma. Mercy died as a newborn with Ruth dying soon afterward and Emma must have died young also. Winslow married second Mary Thomas and they had at least three daughters, Ruth, Emma and Alice. At the time of his marriage to Elvira, he had recently returned from serving in the Civil War where he was imprisoned in Brashear City, Louisiana.
Elvira and Winslow had one daughter together, Janette/Jennie, born in 1865. Winslow was born Middleborough 4 May 1817 to Winslow and Charity Thomas. He was a moulder in the iron industry. Sadly Winslow died just two years after their marriage on 7 Jun 1866 of consumption at age 49.
Elvira was back in Plymouth in 1870 when she’s keeping house for Lorenzo and Susan Bennett, and daughter Jennie age 5 is with her. She’s in Plymouth in 1880 as head of household, with her daughter Jennie who is 15 and working in a well, and a boarder. Elvira died at Plymouth 18 Mar 1885 at age 56 of heart disease (MA VR 1840-1910, 365:348).
Benjamin H. Benson. Benjamin was born 10 May 1829 in Woodstock, Vermont (he couldn’t be born spring 1829 if Elvira was born fall 1828 so one or other date is wrong). He is listed with his family in 1850 census in Plymouth, age 19, a seaman. He married Saphronia Thomas on 14 March 1855 in Virginia, where she was from (Virginia, U.S., Select Marriages, 1785-1940, Ancestry database). In the 1860 census he and Sophronia are living in Plymouth with their young family, he’s 39, a mariner, born Vermont. They had children Joseph and Owen, born Virginia, and twins Harriet and Henry who both died in infancy. In 1870 Benjamin is a carpenter, living with his wife, two sons Joseph and Owen, as well as his brother Isaac and sister-in-law Mary, in the coastal town of Bristol, Rhode Island. In 1880, Benjamin is 48, a rubber worker, living in Bristol with his wife Saphronia. In 1900 Benjamin is 69, working for the National Rubber Company, with his wife Saphronia, age 61, living at 5 High Street in Bristol. They’ve been married for 45 years and both can read and write.
Sophronia died by 1911 when Benjamin is 81, widowed, living with his sister-in-law Ellen Benson’s family in Plympton, Mass. Ellen was the widow of Benjamin’s brother Ezra. Benjamin H. Benson died Plympton, 25 May 1911, age 82 years, married of a cerebral hemorrhage, he was a box maker at the time of his death, born Plymouth to Isaac Benson who was born Woodstock, VT and Amelia Benson born Mattapoisett, Mass. He was buried Bristol RI on 29 May. This would give him a birth date of 1829, a bit off from the ca 1831/32 inferred by other records. He also would have been a widower, unless he married his sister-in-law!
George H. Benson. George was born ca 1833. He is listed with the family in 1850 census and 1855 state census at Plymouth. In 1855 he is listed as a mariner. I thought George died young as he disappeared from Massachusetts records, but his third great-grandson told me he moved to Buffalo, Erie, New York, and then the northern neck of Virginia where he married Elizabeth Wilson, and had 11 children. According to findagrave.com, George died 14 Aug 1895 in Richmond County, Virginia, and is buried at Farnham Baptist Church. I was surprised to find he served as a confederate soldier in the Civil War, in Company K in the 4th Virginia Infantry. I wonder what his family thought of that, especially his brother-in-law Winslow Thomas who was a prisoner of war in Louisiana. Elizabeth died 8 Feb 1923 of influenza at age 86, the daughter of William Wilson and Betsy Virginia Conley (Virginia Death records 1912-2014 Ancestry database, certificate no. 1923005728).
There was a George Benson born about 1832 who enlisted in the Union Army 26 Dec 1861 at Buffalo, NY, in Company B of the 12th infinity and deserted on 21 Jan 1862. This could be the correct George since his great-grandson said he lived in Buffalo, and if he sympathized with the southern cause, it would explain how he came to live in Virginia.
Timothy Manter Benson. Timothy was born 12 March 1839 at Plymouth (gravestone reads 1838) (MA VR, Carver, 1: 17). He married Rebecca Sears at Carver on 19 October 1866. (MA VR 1841-1910, 190:381) Rebecca was born 3 July 1844 to Edmund and Lucetta (Thomas) Sears (Births, Marriages & Deaths on Ancestry). June 1863 Civil War Draft Registration, Plymouth: Timothy M. Benson, age 24, married, seaman, fishing.
They had had one daughter Clara who never married. They lived in Carver, MA, and he was a master mariner. He died 20 January 1890, at just age 50, of dropsy. (MA VR 1841-1910, 440:413) He is buried with an impressive stone with an anchor carving at Center Cemetery in Carver. Rebecca died 25 Sept 1921 (gs).
Timothy’s family donated many of his maritime-related belongings to the Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut. There is a display including ship furnishings and portraits of the family and a treasure trove of his papers digitized and available online. It’s been fascinating to learn about and I became fairly obsessed for a while! I’ve visited his grave and hope to find the house where he lived but haven’t discovered that yet, only that he lived on Wenham Road in Carver. He was involved in the trans-Atlantic and oriental trade and often took his wife and daughter with him. What an adventurous life for the three of them! He was master of the British Bark Viking and the Bark Martha Davis.
Letters and Timothy’s log give a snapshot of what his life was like. He wrote from London saying when he arrived there he heard of his mother’s death. He sometimes mentions his brother Isaac Benson being on board. He writes of dangerous storms, crew member deserting, his vessel being damaged to the point of the crew’s lives being at risk, and places he visited including Hong Kong, Calcutta, Chile, Hawaii, Rotterdam, Java, Singapore, Philippines, Cuba, Scotland.
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| Timothy's sea chest; the charts have his hand-written notations |
After Timothy’s death, Rebecca and her daughter Clara taught at American International College, Springfield. In the 1920 census Rebecca was 75 and still teaching—she must have been a remarkable woman!
Ezra F. Benson. Ezra was born 10 August 1840 in Middleborough (a few records state he was born Plymouth) (calculated from age at death). He married Ellen Thomas at Roxbury on 14 October1864 (MA VR to 1910, 172:226). Ellen was born 29 October 1844 at Carver, the daughter of Winslow Thomas and his first wife Ruth Shaw. (MA VR 1620-1850, Carver, 1:70) Interestingly, Ezra’s sister Elvira married Ellen’s father Winslow as his second wife. So Elvira was Ellen’s sister-in-law and step mother!
They lived in Plymouth and had children Annie, Mary, Bertha, and Ezra. In 1870 Ezra and his family were living with his parents Isaac and Amelia and he’s called a train fireman. In 1880 he is the head of household in Plymouth, a train engineer, living with his wife, children Annie, Mary, Ezra, his 76 year old father Isaac, and a domestic servant. In 1900 he is living in Somerville, near Boston, with wife Ellen, grown children Ezra and Bertha. His daughter Mary had died 18 October 1898 at Somerville at age 30 of consumption.
June 1863 Civil War Draft Registration, Plymouth: Ezra Benson, age 21, seaman, married, so even Ezra started out as a mariner.
Ezra died 30 March 1907 at Plympton (MA VR 83:166). He was 66 years old, died from diabetes, and was a farmer. He’s buried Vine Hills Cemetery in Plymouth.
Isaac Benson. Isaac was born 6 April 1846 in Plymouth (Plymouth VR p 569). He married Mary Benson 8 December 1869 at Boston (MA VR 219:176). Mary was born Lowell, Massachusetts, to Samuel and Emily Benson. Marriage attentions were filed in Franklin New Hampshire where Mary lived. Impressively Isaac was already a sea captain at age 23.
They had daughters Emma, Annie, and Ida. In the 1870 census, Isaac and his wife Mary are living with his brother Benjamin’s family in Bristol, Rhode Island, a coastal town. Isaac is 24, a seaman; Mary is 24, working in a cotton mill. In the 1880 census he’s back in Plymouth, living near the Harbor on Court Street, with his wife Mary, daughters Emma 8 and Ida 6, and a sister [in law] whose name I can’t decipher, possibly Fannie.
Some letters he wrote to his brother Timothy are included in the digitized items of the older brother at Mystic Seaport. In 1867 he is paid 4 pounds 4 shillings at Scotland for 21 days of service on board his brother Timothy’s vessel The Viking. Also that year he is paid 34 pounds 4 shillings for service on The Viking at Greenock, also in Scotland. He often writes of things he’s dissatisfied with, such as family members not writing, and in 1869 he wrote “I will not go to sea for the rest of my lifetime if I can help it.” That year he mentions being in a gale off Hatteras and asks after his parents as well as Ez and Ellen. In 1875 Timothy writes in his log that “Benson” was off duty sick with a fever at two separate times in February and March, totaling over 20 days.
Tragically he died at sea during a hurricane on 25 October 1897, south of Cape Hatteras. The brig Stacy Clarke of Boston was floundering so the crew had to abandon ship and spent 20 hours in a yawl boat before being rescue. As the crew was being picked up by the John Twohy, which was challenging because there was a gale and the Twohy was also damaged, the smaller boat capsized and the Captain (Isaac) and his mate drowned. The tragedy was written about in The Norfolk Virginian on 29 Oct 1897, The Wilmington Messenger, as well as a Boston paper. Some accounts omit his first name, but the Boston paper mentions it.
The Boston paper calls Isaac a well-known shipmaster who formerly commanded the barkentine Henry Warner, that he was about 50, and resided at Waltham where a widow and two grown daughters survive him.
In 1900, Mary Benson is listed in the census, living in Waltham, Mass., as a widow. She lived to age 84, dying in Cranston, Rhode Island, at the home of her daughter Emily who was also a widow. Ida has died in 1903 at just 27 years of age.
