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BENJAMIN EMMONS (1737–1811), son of ROBERT EMMONS and MARY PETTY
ELIZABETH SMITH (pr. 1745–aft. 1818)
Benjamin Emmons, the son of Robert and Mary Emmons, was born in Brookfield, Worcester County, Massachusetts in 1737.1 He died in St. Charles, St. Charles County, Missouri in 1811.1 He married Elizabeth Smith on 8 November 1765 in Hinsdale, Chester County, New Hampshire.2
Elizabeth is probably the daughter of Ensign Moses Smith, the first settler of Chesterfield, Chester County, New Hampshire, who was of Leicester, Worcester County, Massachusetts, and his wife Elizabeth, possibly Elizabeth Maynard.1 However, Randall says that Moses's daughter Elizabeth probably married Abel Emmons.3 This Elizabeth was born on 13 August 1745 in Leceister. She was living in St. Charles in 1818.1
Benjamin Emmons was of the founders of the town of Woodstock, and one of its leading men; an educated man, a man of great energy, and conspicuous in all the affairs of the settlement. He was one of the framers of the constitution of Vermont in its colonial days. [quoting Andrew Jackson Aikens]4
Benjamin served in the French and Indian War. He was listed in a 1756 roll of Brookfield soldiers as age 18 and living in Hatfield [in Hampshire County, Massachusetts].1 He moved to Hinsdale by 1765.1
Benjamin and Elizabeth moved to Woodstock in April 1772. Benjamin bought 700 acres from Oliver Willard at the time of his coming and he settled on the farm where he lived for about 35 years.2
Andrew Jackson Aikens recalls his grandmother Harriet Emmons' recollection of the time that Woodstock feared an Indian invasion4:
My grandmother Howland could not have been more than four or five years of age, although she could remember with perfect distinctness how the whole family (the Emmons) were hidden on the river bank, in the alder bushes, for three days, while her father and brothers, with rifles, had gone out to meet the Indians, if they should come that way; but as fortune would have it, the Indians turned back.
The King's patent for the township of Woodstock was issued on 3 June 1772 and on the third Tuesday in May 1773 the inhabitants met to choose their officers. Benjamin was chosen to be a supervisor, and overseer of the highways and a commissioner of highways. He was later a supervisor in 1775, a selectman in 1776, 1778, 1794 and a representative of the town to the state government 11 times between 1786 and 1800. He was a deacon of the Congretational church.2
Benjamin was a representative from Woodstock at the January 1777 convention at Westminster, Vermont and at the June 1777 convention at Windsor, Vermont. He was counselor at the start of the Governor and Council in 1778 to 1786.1 He was one of several men chosen to run a state lottery on 25 February 1779. He was one of several elected an assistant to the governor on 12 and 14 October 1779.1
Benjamin was on the town committee of safety during the Revolutionary War and he was a lieutenant in the Upper Regiment.2 He was on a committee of eastern Vermont men to direct defense in that area.1 He was an assistant judge in Windsor County in 1781. He was justice of the peace in Windsor County for 1786 to 1795 and in 1797.1 There was a great disturbance in Woodstock when it was discovered that he had become an adherent of the doctrine of Universalism.2
In April 1798 Benjamin dug the cellar for the prison in Woodstock, stoned it and underpinned the building.2
Benjamin was "a man who never let slip an occasion for pushing forward the interests of the town."2 He was "a political wire-puller of more than ordinary skill."5
"... the one thing more than all others that contributed to making Woodstock a beautiful, thriving and prosperous muncipality, was the designation of Woodstock as the shire town of Windsor, and that brought about through the persevering efforts of Benjamin Emmons, whon generations of inhabitants of the village and locality will hold in grateful remembrance."6
Some of Benjamin's children moved to St. Charles in 1806 and he later followed, dying six months after his arrival.1
Elizabeth was part of the Presbyterian church that formed in St. Charles on 30 June 1818.1
Children of Benjamin Emmons and Elizabeth Smith:
i. Seth Emmons was born on 9 May 1768 in Hinsdale.1,7 He married Esther Paine on 28 December 1791 in Woodstock.1 Esther, the daughter of Ebenzer and Esther (Child) Paine, was born on 3 September1768 in Woodstock.1 She died on 12 October 1832 in Springville, Erie County, New York.1 She is buried in the Maplewood Cemetery in Springville.8
ii. Harriet Emmons was born on 21 May 1770 in Hinsdale. She died on 8 May 1847. She married Seth Howland.
iii. Bethany Emmons was born on 3 January 1772 in Hinsdale.1,2,7 Bethany Carver, the daughter of Benjamin and Elizabeth Emmons, died on 24 May 1820 in Woodstock.9 She married Unknown Carver, probably before 1800. He died, probably before 1810.
According to the census, in 1810 Bethany Carver headed a household in Hartford, Windsor County, Vermont made up of a female age 26 to 44, two females age ten to 15 and a male and a female under ten.10
iv. Almena Emmons was born on 18 August 1773 in Woodstock.1,7
v. Lois Emmons was born on 22 September 1775 in Woodstock.1 She probably married Roswell Durkee.11 Roswell, the son of Bartholomew and Ruth (Keyes) Durkee, was born on 16 October 1774 in Pomfret, Vermont.11 He perhaps died on 3 August 1813 in St. Charles.11
On 29 January 1814, Benjamin Emmons [Jr.], administrator of the estate of Roswell Durkee of St. Charles County, published notices asking for claims against Roswell's estate.12
vi. Benjamin Emmons was born on 1 May 1777 in Woodstock.1,7 He was living in St. Charles in 1832.1 He married Philomilla English on 26 December 1802 in Woodstock.1,7
vii. Elisha Emmons was born on 11 January 1779 in Woodstock.1,7
viii. Elizabeth Emmons was born on 2 November 1780 in Woodstock.1,7
References:
1. Scott Andrew Bartley, "Lieut. Benjamin Emmons, Esq. of Woodstock," 2015, digitzed articles, "Early Vermont Settlers, 1700–1784," AmericanAncestors (https://www.americanancestors.org/DB1565/i/22568/3/0).
2. Henry Swan Dana, History of Woodstock, Vermont (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1889), 20–21 (Benjamin and Elizabeth's marriage, Bethany's birth, arrival and settling in Woodstock, quote); 25–26, 397, 580–1 (town and church offices), 520–1 (Revolutionary War), 462 (building the prison), 397 (Universalism).
3. Oran E. Randall, History of Chesterfield, Cheshire County, N.H (Brattleboro: D. Leonard, 1882), 435.
4. Horatio Gates, The Aikens Monograph (Milwaukee.: privately printed, 1900), 597.
5. Henry Steele Wardner, The Birthplace of Vermont: A Hstory of Windsor to 1781, New York, C. Scribner's Sons, 1992, 335.
6. Lewis Cass Aldrich and Frank R. Holmes, History of Windsor County, Vermont (Syracuse: D. Mason & Co., 1891), 249.
7. "Vermont: Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1700–2008," database with images, AmericanAncestors > Births E–F to 1871, p. 3077, entry for Almena Emmons, p. 3078, entry for Benjamin Emmons, p. 3079, entry for Bethany Emmons, p. 3082, entry for Elisha Emmons, p. 3083, entry for Elizabeth Emmons, p. 3099, entry for Seth Emmons. Marriages E–F to 1871, p. 3502, entry for Benjamin Emmons, Jr. "New Hampshire: Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1654–1969," database with images, AmericanAncestors > Births E to 1901, p. 8798, entry for Seth Emmons.
8. "Esther Paine Emmons," Findagrave (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6197303/esther-emmons). Her inscription says "Esther Emmons died Oct 12 1832 age 64 years."
9. "Vermont: Vital Records 1720–1908," database with images, Ancestry > 1870 and prior > Carroll, C.–Caswell, H., p. 1531.
10. "1810 U.S. Federal Census," database with images, Ancestry > Vermont > Windsor > Hartford, image 5.
11. Scott Andrew Bartley, "Bartholomew Durkee of Pomfret and Sheldon," 2018, digitzed articles, "Early Vermont Settlers, 1700–1784," AmericanAncestors (https://www.americanancestors.org/DB1565/i/48565/5/68972116).
12. "Notice," Missouri Gazette and Public Advertiser, St. Louis, 29 January 1814, p. 2, digitized newspaper, Newspapers (https://newspapers.com).
Last revised: 06-Dec-2021