Elizabeth Benham

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

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]