Benjamin Smalley ca 1665-1721 of Maine, Truro MA, and Lebanon CT and His Wife Rebecca Snow

Benjamin Small/Smalley was born about 1665 in Maine, then Massachusetts, the son of Francis and Elizabeth Smalley. 

He grew up in Sturgeon Creek which in 1713 was renamed the parish of North Kittery and then became the town of Eliot, Maine in 1810. His father Francis was involved in trade with Native Americans, was a fur trapper, and a fisherman. Benjamin’s childhood changed dramatically when from 1675 to 1678 the area was under attack by Native Americans during King Philip’s War. Sturgeon Creek families fled their homes and lived crowded together in a garrison. In 1689 King William’s War broke out and the locals were under attack again, this time by the French and Native Americans, with many European settlers in the area being killed or taken captive. Benjamin’s sister Mary (Small) Frost and two of her children were taken captive in 1693. 

By 1694 Benjamin and his brother Daniel moved to Eastham and then Truro on Cape Cod, perhaps the violence of war was a factor in leaving the area. Some of his other brothers stayed in the area, working at a mast-yard in Dover, New Hampshire, but Francis and Edward eventually came to live on Cape Cod as well. His father stayed in Sturgeon Creek for a time, but then he came to Truro.

About 1694 Benjamin married Rebecca Snow, likely at Eastham on Cape Cod. This marriage is based on circumstantial evidence provided by Clarence Torrey, but descendants have used this line to be have lineages accepted by the Mayflower Society. Rebecca Snow was a granddaughter of Constance (Hopkins) Snow and great-granddaughter of Stephen Hopkins who both came on the Mayflower. Rebecca was born 23 July 1676 at Plymouth, the daughter of John and Mary (Smalley) Snow. Benjamin and Rebecca are my 8th great-grandparents on my grandmother Milly Booth Rollins’ side of the family.

Rebecca and Benjamin’s children (a work in progress):

i.Hannah born Eastham 25 November 1695

ii.Rebecca born Eastham 27 April 1697

iii.Benjamin born Eastham 23 January 1700/01; died in infancy

iv.Benjamin born 15 October 1702 at Truro; m 1) Rebecca Wright 2) Mary Allen; died Salisbury Connecticut 30 August 1754

v.Mary born Truro 15 March 1705

vi.James born Truro 28 Oct 1707; died young

vii.Phebe born Truro 13 December 1709; died young

viii.Joseph born prob Lebanon about 1712; died young

ix.Francis born  prob Lebanon about 1714

x.Elizabeth born prob Lebanon about 1716

Births of the first three children are recorded Eastham/Orleans Vital Records published in The Mayflower Descendant 8:245; the next four children’s birth recorded Truro Vital Records volume 1, Part 1. I descend from Mary who married John Nickerson. I have more work to do to prove that the Mary “Smalle” who married John Nickerson is the daughter of Benjamin as the marriage is not included in the 1995 Stephen Hopkins GSMD Silver Book. I wrote about John and Mary here.

On 1 August 1709 Benjamin Smalley was appointed Constable at Truro. [MD 68:59]  On 13 March 1709/10, [Benjamin?] Small was chosen as selectman. [MD 68:61] In June 1701 at the meeting of proprietors of Pamet, Benjamin Smalley and Constant Freeman were chosen to oversee men coming to take hay at Eastern Harbour, charging them six shillings a sloop-load, and to look after men who set up whale houses on common on undivided land charging no less than one shilling a man. 

Benjamin Smalley was a founder of the church at Truro. I have seen him referred to as a Deacon, but I haven’t come across a record to substantiate this. He and his brother Daniel shared land grants at Truro in 1710 and 1712. There is some conjecture that Daniel married Abigail Snow, Rebecca’s sister (see Steven Edward Sullivan article cited below). 

Benjamin was on the list of 20 Truro men who owned cattle in February 1711. He was at Lebanon Connecticut by 1714 where he purchased 375 acres of land.

Benjamin died before 4 June 1721 at Lebanon, New London County, Connecticut, when, according to Charles T. Libby, Rebecca Smalley was granted administration of his estate. 

Rebecca married, second John Porter on 26 December 1728 at Hebron, Connecticut. [Connecticut Marriage Index 1620-1926 on Ancestry] I have read that after John’s death, Rebecca moved to Salisbury, Connecticut to live with her son Benjamin where she died on 31 August 1753 but have not seen a citation for this.

Sources Not Included Above:

Simeon L. Deyo, editor, History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts, HW Blake & Co., New York, 1890

John D. Austin, Mayflower Families Through Five Generations, vol 6, Stephen Hopkins, GSMD, 2001

David Hamblen, communicated by, NEHGS Register, “First Settlers of Eastham, Mass.” vol 7 p 280 (1853)

The Mayflower Descendant, “Truro Mass. Church Records,” 31:56 (1933)

Steven Edward Sullivan, The American Genealogist, “Abigail (Snow) Small Probable Wife of Daniel 3 Small of Truro & Provincetown, Mass.,” 71:137 (1996)

Charles T. Libby, Genealogical Register of Maine and New Hampshire, 1928, p 640 [cites Benjamin’s probate]

Shebnah Rich, Truro—Cape Cod or, Land Marks and Sea Marks, 1884:

Torrey’s New England Marriages Prior to 1700

Richard F. Whalen, Truro: The Story of a Cape Cod Town, 2007