Shadrack Benham

Shadrack married Elizabeth Austin on 4 Dec 1758 in Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America. Elizabeth was born about 1743. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Job Benham was born on 7 Aug 1759; and died.
2. Mercy Benham was born on 9 Apr 1761; and died.
3. Lucy Benham was born on 12 Jun 1763; and died.
4. Elizabeth Benham was born on 21 Aug 1765; and died.
5. Mary Curtis Benham was born on 27 Aug 1767; and died.
6. Katherine Benham was born on 17 Feb 1770; and died.
7. Lowly Benham was born on 22 Jan 1773; and died.
8. Harvey Benham was born on 24 Oct 1776; and died.
9. Daniel Benham was born on 6 Apr 1783 in Waterbury, New Haven County, Connecticut, United States; died in 1866.
10. Mercy Benham was born on 26 Jul 1785; and died.

Other Events:

• Will: 3 Apr 1754
• Probate: 1 Jun 1754

Notes:

...Inventory of estate: 7216.6.18 In this will he is called Sergeant Joseph. He left to "Mary, my dear and beloved wife" the use of 1/3 of his lands as long as she remained his widow, except for the lands which came to him from his first wife, Hope Cook, and the use of 1/3 of all his household good, which were to go afterward to "my and her three daughters, Mary, Abigail, and Lettice."
...To his eldest son, Joseph, he left 1/9 of the land he had purchased from the Rev. Sam Whittlesey, which descended to me on the right of my first wife and a pair of sleeve buttons that was my fathers.
...He left bequests to Enos, my second son, to John my third son, to daughter Hannah, wife of Sam Beach, to a daughter Thankful, widow of Jonathan Peck, to daughter Phebe, wife of Robert Austin, to daughter Elizabeth, wife of David Merriman, to daughter Lois, wife of Enoch Calver, to Rueuben my fourth son (one half of his dwelling house), to Shadrach my sixth son, to James my youngest son (one half of dwelling house.) Mary Benham was made the guardian of the six youngest children. In Dec 1763 Benjamin Benham was made guardian for James.

Joseph married Mary Curtis on 5 Apr 1732 in Wallingford, New Haven County, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America. Mary was born on 18 Mar 1706 in Wallingford, New Haven County, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America; died about Aug 1755 in Wallingford, New Haven County, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Of the two distinct Curtis families at W., Mary is descended from Thomas, son of John & Elizabeth, b. 14 Jan 1648; d. 1736; m. 9 Jun 1674 Mary Merriman b. 12 July 1657; da. of Nathaniel & Joan (---). This Thomas Curtis came to W. from Stratford, Ct. Mary Curtis' sister, Emm, married 7 Jan 1735 Joseph Benham, son of her husband's first wife. Mary was 21 years younger than Joseph Sr., and fit, really, into the next generation. Joseph Benham, Jr., her step-son as well as her brother-in-law, was just five years younger than she. in reviewing some of these marriages and connections, we can be truly credulous that these people kept such careful records. Sometimes they narrowly missed incest. (Source: Majorie Barnes Thompson, Barnes and Allied Families of Long Island and Connecticut, 1978, pg. 110)

Joseph married Hannah Merriman on 17 Aug 1682 in Wallingford, New Haven County, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America. Hannah was born on 16 May 1651 in New Haven County, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America; died in in Wallingford, New Haven County, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Birth: 1630, Plymouth, Devon, England

Notes:

...His youthful shenanigans having been duly brought to public attention and publicily punished, Joseph Benham apparently settled down to being a solid citizen, first, of New Haven, and later, of Wallingford, Connecticut.
...At a session of the New Haven Court of 5 February, 1655, it was noted: "John Benhan, Senior, passeth over to his sonn Joseph Benham all the accommodations which belonged to that lott which was at first given him by the Towne." We know that he had been made Freeman the year before that....Probably Joseph spent the next two years farming and getting a home built for his intended bride, for on 15 January, 1657, in Boston, Joseph Benham married Winifred King of that town. We's not been able to find the names of Winifred's parents. There were many King families in all of the settlements.
...Joseph and Winifred had fourteen children during their marriage. Only six of them lived beyond infancy or early childhood.
...In 1660, just a year before John Benham's death, New Haven, which had been a independent colony, became part of the State of Connecticut. After that, the General Court was held at Hartford, though there were still regular town meetings in the town of New Haven.
...Church and state were closely allied. People must attend church on Sunday. As the population grew, town and church leaders worried about the souls of people who lived too far away from the meeting house to get to church without spending the night in town. They began thinking in terms of starting a new colony "above ye great Plaine.
...Two years went into planing the new village, building a meeting house, and hiring a minister. Planters to settle the new town were selected by a committee as being "fit and offering themselves, so far as it can consist with the good of the place and capacity thereof."
...A Covenant for the new town of Wallingford was drawn up and signed by the heads of families chosen. Among them were Joseph Benham, Nathaniel Merriman, and Eliasaph Preston.
...Little is known of the wives of most early colonists. Winifred Benham was an exception, though not for a reason she would have wished. Other than the death of so many children at an early age (and that was apparently a common problem, considering the state of sanitation and medicine in those early times), things seemed to be going well for the Benham family. The children who did grow up married and started families.
...In November of 1692, though, Winifred Benham and her thirteen-year-old youngest daughter, also named Winifred, were accused of witchcraft trials in Salem and other ciites in Massachusetts. News traveled fast, probably by traders, and it would seem that some adolescent girls must have wondered, if their counterparts in other towns were getting so much attention by accusing people of witchcraft, why shouldn't they? Witchcraft was taken seriously, and had been for many centuries in Europe. People who were perfectly innocent were pointed out as the cause of all kind of misfortunes,m and all the accuser had to assert was the "witch's" shape had appeared to them before the misfortune occurred.
...At any rate, the Benham women, Winifreds Sr. and Jr., were accused, and the trials continued at frequent intervals over the next five years. Twice, during those years, Joseph had to pay large bonds, once 20 pounds and later, 40 pounds, to assure their appearance in Court. Even after acquittal, in August, 1697, the same young people accused them again. At that point, Joseph and both Winifreds fled to New York State, where two married daughters already lived. Young Winifred, like her two older sisters, married in New York. Joseph died there in 1703.
...Two sons, Joseph, Jr., and James, remained in Wallingford, and it was there that the Benham real estate was divided among the heirs in 1727-1728. (Source: written and edited by Lela (Shepherd) Wilkins, with added research and writing by Gladys (Benham) Hall, June (Benham) Stricklin and Loretta (Lee) Chapman, The American Ancestors of William R. Benham (1823-1907) and his Wife, Helen Maria Bingham (1827-1900)(: Cousins Etc., 1994) Chapter 2, pg. 9-11.)

Joseph was the son of John Benham and first wife, probably named Mary. (Note: both sons named their first daughters Mary)

Joseph Benham took the oath of fidelity in 1654. " EARLY FAMILIES OF WALLINGFORD, Connecticut", pg.47 says Joseph Benham came from New Haven to Wallingford in 1670 with the first settlers in the village, and some of his children were born after his removal there.

"A MEETING OF YE COURT EXTRAORDINARY, MARCH 23, 1652"
"Upon a complaint made to ye govenor of sundrie in ye Towne that had committed much wickedness in a filthy corrupting way with another, they were called before the Govenor & Magistrats, visd: Benjamin Bunill, Joshua Bradley, Joseph Benham, William Trobridg, Thomas Tutill and Thomas Kimberly: they were examined in a private way, and their examination taken in wrighting, wch were of such a filthy nature as is not fitt to be made known in a publique way: after wch the Court weere called together, and ye youthes before them; their examinations were read and vpon their severall confessions the Court, being mett at the meeting house vpon the day aboue written, sentenced the youthes aboue named to bee whipt publiquly."

Joseph Benham, Jun 25
In the year 1677, there was a grant of land "at the head of the plains," which is another phrase which by which Hanover was then designated. A very natural phrase; for at that point, the stretch of level land which extends comes from New Haven, through North Haven and Wallingford terminates. In 1680 a grant was made "to Sam'l Hough, to settle on the head of the plain near to Nehemiah Royces". In 1689 this "head of the plain," or "falls plain," was considered so beautiful a spot, that it was reqularly laid out for a village. The main street was to be eighty rods long, and on each side of it were staked out bilding lots; the western lots extending to the hill, and the eastern ones to the river. These lots were assigned by raffle, each planter in the town of Wallingford being allowed to draw one lot. "Att a lawful towne meetin 19 Febrary, 1689-90, the towne voted Yt falles plaine shall be cast lots for and laid out according to above written ....and mape. The Lotts being cast each mans Lott is as followeth Joseph Benham, sen 63.

Joseph married Winifred King on 15 Jan 1657 in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America. Winifred (daughter of John King and Mary Williams) was born in 1635 in England; died in in Staten Island, Richmond, New York, British Colonial America. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Misc: 25 Jul 1692, Connecticut, British Colonial America; was accused of witchcraft and acquited
• Misc: 31 Aug 1697, Connecticut, British Colonial America; accused of witchcraft and indicted
• Misc: 7 Oct 1697, Hartford, Connecticut, British Colonial America; tried for witchcraft: The grand jury returned the verdict "Ignoramus," (not proven) and they were free to go home

Notes:

Winifred, the Witch of Wallingford
Winifred King was married to Joseph Benham of New Haven on January 15, 1657, in Boston. The couple had fourteen children. The youngest child Winifred, at age thirteen, was accused with her mother of witchcraft and was tried in New haven and Harttford, and finally acquitted. Winifred King's mother is probably Mary Hale of Boston, wife of John. Mary Hale was a widow who ran a boarding house/nursing home in Boston, accused in 1680 of poisoning a young man, a former boarder, who had rejected her granddaughter and was about to marry another. The granddaughter's name was Johanna Benham, and she was "aged 19 or thereabouts" when she testified at the trial, just the age of Winifred's daughter Johanna, who is said to have died young. At the trial, Johanna called Mary Hale her grandmother, and Mary was said to have called Johanna, "my granddaughter, a hump-backed jade!" Mary was acquitted. There are records of Mary Hale in Boston from 1663 when she was paid 5 pounds for taking care of an indigent but nothing has yet been found about her before or after that. No further record has been found of Johanna.
Joseph and Winifred Benham lived in New Haven until they moved to Wallingford in 1670 as one of the the thirty-seven founding families. Winifred was the only "foreign" wife, the only one among these families who had not been locally brought up and that, of course, made her particularly vulnerable to local malice. In Wallingford Joseph was allotted a six acre home lot on the main street, then called the 'Long Highway'. This was situated in the very center of the village, directly across from the site set aside for the ministry. In 1950 the First Congregational Church celebrated its 175th anniversary. For more than ten years, Joseph and Winifred Benham lived quietly. Sometime before 1680, their oldest daughter, Johanna, must have gone to Boston to live with her grandmother, and perhaps pick up some knowledge of nursing, as her mother had probably done. In 1682, their child, Joseph, was married to a widow, Hannah Merriman Ives, who was eight years older than he. Socially, this was a step up for Joseph because of the three classes in Wallingford, the Merrimans were in class 1 (paying the highest taxes and holding the most prominent positions), the Ives in class 2 (the great middle class of taxpayers and office holders), while the Benhams were in the lowest class 3 (with little money and no important jobs).
Since no more is ever heard of the second Mary and her brother Samuel, we assume they died by 1680. This left Joseph and Winifred with only four of their many children left at home; two girls, Anna age 13, Sara age 6; and two boys, John age 11, and James age 3. They were, no doubt, very surprised to have Winifred in 1684, a year after their first grandchild was born.
Rumors calling Winifred a witch must have been circulating for some years before Joseph finally lost his temper. Hannah Parker, wife of John Parker had even come to his house and suggested to Winifred that she was associated with the devil. Maybe she taunted her with having a child so late in life, (the baby Winifred had been born when she was 45, after a lapse of four years - unusual then) and suggested she had conjured up the baby! Or maybe she had asked about her "witch" mother, Mary Hale. Joseph pulled out his gun and threatened to shoot Hannah if the woman did not stop harassing his wife.
Joseph's threat so infuriated the righteous Parkers that they separately and publicly accused both Benhams before the county court at New Haven on July 25, 1692, he of threatening to shoot Hannah and she of witchcraft. Joseph Benham was cited in court and fined. Winifred had to appear again in November when she was cleared but warned "solemnly reflect upon ye case and grounds of suspicion given in and alleged against her." And told if further grounds or evidence should appear against her she might "justly feare and exspect to be brought to her tryall for it." Joseph was required to post 20 pounds to ensure her further appearance.
The fact that it took five years to find people to testify against Winifred, speaks very well for her character, and also shows that she must have had many friends in Wallingford. Outstanding among the friends are two very different families; the Dutch Johnson (or Jansens), originally from what is now Brooklyn, and the Eliasaph Prestons, the other deacon of the church. Not only was Preston a deacon but he was also one of the best educated men in Wallingford; he was the schoolteacher, and came from a line of educated men. Just as important was the fact that his wife, Elizabeth Beach, had a brother who had married the daughter of a very famous "witch" Mary Staples, of Fairfield. In 1653 Mary's husband had sued her accuser (the deputy governor of New Haven) for slander, and won. Among Mary's stated crimes was the fact that she had told a friend she did not believe in witches! In 1692 she was again accused (with a daughter and granddaughter) and again acquitted. Deacon Preston would have stood behind Winifred. Also his daughter Esther married Winifred's son James in 1703.
About 1667 a Dutchman named Jan Wouters moved to Branford, Connecticut with his wife and three sons. Lambert, born 1660 married Anna Benham, and Wouter (or Walter), born 1666 married Joanna Royce. Jan Wouter's first wife died and he married again, having nine more children. Jacob, born 1672, married Sarah Benham. Walter moved to Wallingford and settled there; even after the death of Joanna in 1688, he brought his second wife to live there. It was probably while visiting that their brother that Lambert and Jacob fell in love with the Benham girls. There is no record of when or where they were married, but it might have been Brooklyn (Flatbush), and since the first child recorded of either couple was baptized on Staten Island in 1696, it is possible they had a double wedding about 1694. This child was named Winifred, which must have brought great comfort and pleasure to her grandmother.
The Dutch did not believe in witch nonsense and were probably anxious to get their women out of the range of malicious gossip as soon as possible. It is likely that John, who would have been 23 in 1694, left home about this time to seek his fortune; the Wallingford land records show no mention of John until 1726. So Joseph, Winifred, their son James and daughter Winifred might well have been alone.
But the hounding wouldn't stop! Winifred was teased, inspected, questioned, watched all the time. Young Winifred was so like her mother, she was suspected, too. Can you hear Hannah Parker saying... "she was an unnatural child to begin with...the devil's spawn." The Benhams liked their home...they had worked hard to make it a good place to lay down roots and didn't want to tear them up. They probably spent more and more time on their farm at Cheshire, hoping against hope that the persecutions would stop
Finally came the break that Hannah Parker was waiting for. Her second daughter, Hannah, who had married Josiah Royce in 1693, was left a widow and married a second time to Ebenzer Clark on December 22, 1696. Ebenezer had a fifteen year old daughter Sarah by his first wife Sarah Peck who had died in May of that year. We can surmise it would not take long for Elizabeth to convince her disconsolate and impressionable step-daughter that most of her troubles and those of her friends were due to the wicked witch Winifred Benham.
Sarah had an orphan friend, Elizabeth, who had lost both her father and mother in the last nine years; Elizabeth Lathrop's father John died in 1688 and her mother Ruth Royce had married again to Abraham Doolittle who already had children. Then about 1694 her mother Ruth had died, her stepfather had married for a third time, and was now starting a new family. She must have felt unwanted and unloved and so was readily convinced she was bewitched. It is quite possible that by then she was living with her aunt, Martha Lathrop Moss, whose son John Moss, age 15, was the third accuser. These three were the witnesses that the Parkers and Deacon Hall had been looking for; they came from very good families and the Parkers would not appear to be involved.
The trial was held at a 'Special County Court by order of Governor, held at New Haven August 31, 1697.' The accused were: Winnifred King Benham, age 58, Wallingford and Winnifred Benham Jr, age 13, Wallingford. They were accused by: Wallingford Children; John Moss 3rd, son of John Moss Jr. and Sarah Lathrop Moss; Elizabeth Lathrop, age 19; and Sarah Clark, age 16. The three teenagers testified that "they were frequently and sorely afflicted in their bodies by the said Benhams, mother and daughter or theire Apparicon and as they strongly suspect by their means or procurance by the Devil in their shapes." The court said that the death of a young child should be inquired into "with what appeared as spots on said child and the like spots on the said Benham quickly vanishing," and this time the court found "clear and sufficient ground of suspicion against them" and bound them over for trial at the next Court of Assistants in October.
Joseph had to post a 40 pound bond to keep his wife and daughter out of jail, and guarantee their appearance. Where he found the money, goodness knows. In June of 1697, he sold 4 acres of land to Thomas Beach for 8 pounds 10 shillings. Maybe he mortgaged the rest of his land for the bond. Under no conditions would he let his family spend any time in prison.
When the two Winifreds appeared before court at Hartford in October 7, 1697, they tried the experiment of casting her into water; "the Superior Court of Connecticut has searched her several times for Tets (witch marks). The grand jury returned the verdict "Ignoramus," (not proven) and they were free to go home. After this she was excommunicated from church by the minister of Wallingford. They could not know that this was the last recorded witchcraft trial in New England. Continued suspicion drove mother and daughter to seed refuge elsewhere; they fled for the less hostile environment of Staten Island in the Colony of New York.
The two Johnson (or Wouters) girls (Anna and Sarah Benham) ended up on Staten Island and raised children. Either or both of them occupied a fine house overlooking the "Narrows" towards Brooklyn. it is now a tourist attraction, one of the oldest on the Island. Eventually both Johnsons moved to New Jersey.
Young Winifred is in the 1706 census of Staten Island, married to Evert Van Namen, who moved there from Brooklyn about that time. Until her marriage she and her parents, while they lived, had probably been with the Johnsons in Brooklyn. Joseph Jr. died in 1702, leaving three children. John turns up just once, in 1726, as a signer of a power of attorney to his brother James and nephew Joseph for the sale of Joseph Sr.'s land, and the division of profits among his heirs. He was at the time living in Kings County, New York, which is Brooklyn. James who stayed in Wallingford, either with his brother Joseph until he died in 1702, or with his friend the Deacon Eliasaph Preston, married Esther Preston in 1704, and had a large family of his own. We do not know when or where Joseph or Winifred died...Joseph had died at least by 1714, when the new land division allotted shares to "the hairs of Joseph Benham, Senor."

The last witchcraft trial in Connecticut happened in 1697, where the charges against Wallingford residents Winnifred Benham and her teenage daughter were dismissed. The last recorded accusation of witchcraft in the state is against Colchester resident Sarah Spencer, who was determined by magistrates to be innocent and awarded damages. The trial of Connecticut Colony laws were updated in 1715, at which time witchcraft continued to be listed as a capital crime. The crime of witchcraft disappeared from the list of capital crimes when the laws were next printed in 1750.

Notes:

Married:
[15da 11mo 1656]