The Society Of the Cincinnati in The State of Connecticut

The Capture of the Hessians at Trenton, December 26, 1776-1828. Left: Jonathan Trumbull Jr. (1740-1809) - Speaker of the Us House of Representatives. Right: Jonathan Trumbull Sr. (1710-1785) - Governor of Connecticut
The Battle of Bunker's Hill, June 17, 1775. Right: William Hull (1753-1825) - Lieutenant-Colonel in the Continental Army
The Resignation of General Washington, December 23, 1783. Left: Thomas Y. Seymour (1757-1811) - Lieutenant in the 2nd Continental Regiment of the Dragoons
The Death of General Mercer at the Battle of Princeton, January 1777

Category Archive: 7th Connecticut

  • 2nd Lt James Bennett

    Leave a Comment

     

    Birth:

    James Bennett was born 14 May 1755 at New Milford, Litchfield County, Connecticut. His parents were Caleb Bennett (1716-1790) and Abigail Fowler (abt. 1727-1771).

    Death:

    He died 14 November 1819 at Homer, Cortland County, New York.

    His death was noted in the New York Columbian:

    Another revolutionary patriot gone – At Cortland Village, Col. James Bennet, aged 64. He held a commission in the army of the revolution, and was interred with the honors of masonry.

    The following appeared in the Cortland Republican:

    Died – In this town on the evening of the 13th inst. Col. James BENNET, aged 64, leaving a wife and a large family of children, to lament the loss of a tender husband, a kind and benevolent parent, and one of those early patriots that were signalized by gaining the liberty which they now enjoy.

    Col. BENNET held a commission in the army of the revolution. He was early enrolled under the banner which waved with various prospects for a number of years, amidst the perils of our revolution. He was engaged in a number of the bloody contests that signalized our emancipation; and whether the American eagle retired amidst carnage and destruction from a superior force, or triumphed over our oppressors, and waved victory to its followers, and liberty to its country, his hand was always ready to support the pillar of freedom.

    His neighbors and friends, in disposing of his remains, have demonstrated their respect for the man, and those who have broken the shackles of slavery. He was duly interred by his Masonic brethren, with the usual ceremonies of that order.

    Marriage:

    On 21 November 1784 at Catskill, Greene County, New York, he married Catharine Bogardus. James Bennett died intestate and his wife, Catherine, was granted administration of his estate on 31 October 1821.

    Children:

    James Bennett and Catharine Bogardus had seven children: Nancy Bennett, Adolphus B. Bennett, James A. Bennett, Robert Bennett, Angeline Bennett, Eugene Bennett, and Catharine Bennett.

    Military:

    Sergeant Major of 7th Connecticut, 25th January, 1777; Ensign, 1st September, 1777; 2d Lieutenant, 8th September, 1780; transferred to 2d Connecticut, 1st January, 1781; retained in Swift’s Connecticut Regiment, June, 1783; and served to 3d November, 1783.

    James Bennett began his Connecticut service in January 1777; he had served already for a year and a half in the New York Continental Line. He detailed his New York service in 1818, when in reduced circumstances, he gave the following deposition in support of a pension application:

    State of New York

    Cortland County

    James Bennet of Homer in the county of Cortland aforesaid State of New York being duly sworn saith that he this deponent is an actual reside of the Town of Homer — that this deponent served in the revolutionary war against the common enemy as follows, to wit, this deponent enlisted in the fore part of the year 1775 into Capt. Daniel Mills Company in the fourth

    [Dutchess] Regiment of the New York line commanded by Col. James Holmes and served as Sergeant in the company until the last day of Decr. in the same year whose time of service expired — further that in the forepart of Jany. 1776 this deponent enlisted into the first New York Regiment commanded by Col. Goose Van Schaick where he served in the capacity of Sergeant Major until the last day of Decr. of that year inclusive when his period of service expired — that in the year 1777 he this deponent was commissioned as an Ensign in the 2nd Connecticut Regiment of foot commanded by Col. Henan Swift in which Regt. and capacity this deponent served until the first day of September 1778 at which time he this deponent was commissioned as a Lieutenant in said Regiment in which office this deponent served until 1783 at the close of the war and was disbanded with the army at west point in June 1783 when the preliminary articles of peace were published and was liable to be called into actual service again until the arrival of the definitive treaty of peace when congress resolved that they had no further service for the continental army — and this deponent further saith that from his reduced circumstances he is in need of assistance from his country — that at the Battle of Monmouth he received a musket shot in his under jaw — that his is old and infirm & has a wife & three children to provide for with no resources but his daily labor —

    And this deponent further saith that on the Eleventh day of Feby. 1798, his house was consumed by an accidental fire & his commissions and all his private papers were also consumed —

    And the said James Bennett hereby relinquishes all claims to any and every pension heretofore granted or allowed him by any law of the United States.

    James Bennet

    Sworn this 13th Day of April 1818.

    Cincinnati:

    Original Member.

    Discussion:

    James Bennett’s father, Caleb Bennett, was a member of New Milford, Connecticut’s Committee of Inspection and Correspondence.

    James’ oldest brother, Isaac Bennett (b. 1747) lived at Stockbridge, Massachusetts and was member of a militia unit in that location. Another brother, Samuel Bennett (b. 1750) is reported in one source to have been a Captain in the Revolution; however, that has not been confirmed. A younger brother, Caleb (b. 1758) was a member of a New Milford militia company from mid 1776 until late 1779 when he moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts to live with his brother, Isaac.

    References:

    Abstracts of Wills, Administrations and Guardianships in NY State, 1787 – 1835. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2006.) Original manuscript in Eardeley Genealogy Collection: New York State Abstracts of Wills, Brooklyn Historical Society. Cortland, p. 574.

    Connecticut. Adjutant-General’s Office. Record of Service of Connecticut Men In the I. War of the Revolution, II. War of 1812, III. Mexican War. Hartford: [Case, Lockwood & Brainard Co.], 1889. pp. 218, 328, 352 & 373.

    Cortland Republican, 18 Nov 1819. (http://www.usgenweb.info/nycortland/vitals/d1815-21.htm : accessed 05 March 2015)

    Frank Hasbrouck, The History of Dutchess County, New York, v. 1. Poughkeepsie: S. A. Matthieu, 1909. p. 122.

    Francis B. Heitman, Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army during the War of the Revolution April, 1775, to December, 1783. Washington, D.C.: The Rare Book Shop Publishing Company, 1914. p. 99.

    Frank Hasbrouck, ed.,The History of Dutchess County, New York, vol. 1. Poughkeepsie, N.Y.: S. A. Matthieu, 1909, pp. 120-122.

    Donald Lines Jacobus, History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield, v. 1. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2007. p. 73.

    “Died”, New-York Columbian, 01 December 1819. p. 2, col. 5.

    Samuel Orcutt, History of the Towns of New Milford and Bridgewater, Connecticut, 1703-1882. Hartford: Press of Case, Lockwood and Brainard Co., 1882. pp. 217, 651-652.

    Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 15. Fold3.com(http://www.fold3.com/image/15190966/). Connecticut. James Bennett, Pension W. 16191.

    Biographical information compiled by V. Allen Gray.

    (more…)

  • Capt Stephen Betts

    Leave a Comment

     

    Birth:

    Stephen Betts was born on 15 July 1756 at Norwalk. He was the son of Isaac and Elizabeth Betts. Stephen Betts had a sister, Ann Betts.

    Death:

    Stephen Betts died on 28 November 1832. He is buried in Church Hill Cemetery, New Canaan, Fairfield County, Connecticut. Also buried in the Church Hill Cemetery is his wife, Ruth, who died 24 March 1835.

    Marriage:

    He was married to Ruth Church 04 January 1784.

    Children:

    Charles (b. 1784), Harriet (1786-1795), Esther (b. 1790), Lewis (b. 1796), Harriet (1798).

    Military:

    1st Lieutenant 7th Connecticut, 6th July to 23d December 1775; 1st Lieutenant 19th Continental Infantry, 1st January to 31st December, 1776; Captain 2d Connecticut, 1st January, 1777; transferred to 3d Connecticut, 1st January, 1781; wounded at Yorktown, 14th October 1781; served to close of war; Brevet Major, 30th September, 1783.

    Stephen Betts enlisted in July 1775, served as Sergeant, Ensign, Second Lieutenant and First Lieutenant in Captain Joseph Hait’s company, Colonel Charles Webb’s Connecticut regiment. On Jnuary 1, 1777, he was commissioned Captain and served to the end of the Revolutionary War in Colonels Charles’s Webb’s and Samuel B. Webb’s Connecticut regiments. On October 10, 1783, he was commissioned Brevet Major in the United States Army. During his service in the Revolution he was in the battles of Trenton, Monmouth and at the siege of Yorktown and surrender of Cornwallis.

    Stephen Betts was issued bounty land warrant #139 for 300 acres on 18 May 1789.

    Stephen Betts was allowed pension on his application executed April 28, 1818, while a resident of New Canaan, Fairfield County, Connecticut where he had resided since the close of the war and was still living in 1828.

    Cincinnati:

    Original Member.

    Discussion:

    Capt. Stephen Betts was a member of one of two traveling Masonic Lodges at West Point, American Union No. 1. Among the other members were Col. Samuel Wyllys, Major Jonathan Heart, Lt. Robert Allyn, Dr. John Simpson, Dr. Jedediah Ensworth, Col. Rufus Putnam, Lt. Isaac Tiffany and others of the Connecticut Line.

    References:

    Connecticut. Adjutant-General’s Office. Record of Service of Connecticut Men In the I. War of the Revolution, II. War of 1812, III. Mexican War. Hartford: [Case, Lockwood & Brainard Co.], 1889. pp. 79, 104, 306, 334, 354, 367, 374 & 633.

    “Deaths”, Connecticut Courant, Hartford, Connecticut, 18 December 1832, p. 3, col. 4.

    Connecticut Vital Records to 1870 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2011.) From original typescripts, Lucius Barnes Barbour Collection, 1928. Norwalk, pp. 14-17.

    Edwin Hall, The Ancient Historical Records of Norwalk, Conn.; with a Plan of the Ancient Settlement and of the Town in 1847. New York: Ivison, Phinney, Blakeman & Co., 1865. p. 259.

    Gary L. Heinmiller, Membership in American Union Lodge No. 1 during the Revolutionary War. (http://www.omdhs.syracusemasons.com/sites/default/files/history/American%20Union%20Lodge%20No.%201%20-%20Membership.pdf)

    Francis B. Heitman, Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army during the War of the Revolution April, 1775, to December, 1783. Washington, D.C.: The Rare Book Shop Publishing Company, 1914. p. 102.

    Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 15. Fold3.com(http://www.fold3.com/image/13928087/). Connecticut. Stephen Betts, Pension S37749.

    Rev. Charles M. Selleck, Address by Rev. Charles M. Selleck at the Centenary of St. Paul’s Church, Norwalk, Conn., July 15, 1886. Norwalk: The Hour Printing Office, 1886. pp. 26-27.

    Biographical information compiled by V. Allen Gray

    (more…)

  • Ensign Ebenezer Daggett

    Leave a Comment

     

    Birth:

    Ebenezer Dagget was born at New Haven, Connecticutt on 21 December 1760. He was the son of the Rev. Naphtali Daggett, D.D., and Sarah.

    Death:

    Ebenezer Dagget died of smallpox on 20 November 1781 at Head of Elk, Maryland on the return march from Virginia and Yorktown.

    Military:

    Ensign 7th Connecticut 20th June, 1779; transferred to 1st Connecticut, 1st January, 1781; died 20th November, 1781.

    Discussion:

    Two of Ebenezer Daggett’s siblings had issue. His brother, Henry (1758-1843), married Anna Ball. They had nine children. His brother, Ezra (1765-1844), married Eunice Tuttle. They had eleven children.

    Ebenezer’s brother, Henry Daggett, served as a Lieutenant with the 2d Connecticut until 3 June 1783. During course of the war Henry Daggett not only lost his brother, he lost his father.

    During the British raid of New Haven, Connecticut in July 1779, Ebenezer’s father, the Rev. Naphtali Daggett, took up arms against them. He actively opposed the British, incited his students at Yale against them, and openly preached and prayed against them. British troops captured him and after beating him severely left him for dead. He was taken to a nearby house, and when the British troops came to collect him as a prisoner, the mistress of the house refused to surrender him. He died 18 months later from the effects of his beating by British troops.

    References:

    Connecticut. Adjutant-General’s Office. Record of Service of Connecticut Men In the I. War of the Revolution, II. War of 1812, III. Mexican War. Hartford: [Case, Lockwood & Brainard Co.], 1889. p. 352.

    Samuel Bradlee Doggett, A History of the Doggett-Daggett Family. Boston: Press of Rockwell and Churchill, 1894. pp. 119-120 & 147

    Francis B. Heitman, Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army during the War of the Revolution April, 1775, to December, 1783. Washington, D.C.: The Rare Book Shop Publishing Company, 1914. p. 184.

    Henry Phelps Johnston, Yale and her honor-roll in the American revolution, 1775-1783. New York : Privately printed [by G.P. Putnam’s Sons], 1888. p. 340.

    Biographical information compiled by V. Allen Gray.

    (more…)