Richard Benham b. 24 Feb 1755 Monmouth County, New Jersey, British Colonial America d. Abt 1819 Symmes Township, Hamilton County, Ohio, United States: Tangled Roots

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1755 - Abt 1819 (63 years)

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Name	Richard Benham [1]
Born	24 Feb 1755	Monmouth County, New Jersey, British Colonial America [2, 3]
Gender	Male
Baptism	31 May 1759	Monmouth County, New Jersey, British Colonial America [3, 4]
	Address: Old Tennent Church
Military	14 May 1779 [5]
	Revolutionary War - Private
Name	James Benham [6]
Name	Richard James Benham
Religion	First Presbyterian Church [7]
Died	Abt 1819	Symmes Township, Hamilton County, Ohio, United States [8]
Person ID	I564	TangledRoots
Last Modified	22 Oct 2021

Father	Peter Benham, b. 1 Jan 1725, Freehold, Monmouth County, New Jersey, British Colonial America , d. 12 Jun 1780, Loudoun County, Virginia, United States (Age 55 years)
Mother	Anne James, b. 29 Jan 1727, Freehold, Monmouth County, New Jersey, British Colonial America , d. 1758, Freehold, Monmouth County, New Jersey, British Colonial America (Age 30 years)
Married	2 Apr 1747	Freehold, Monmouth County, New Jersey, British Colonial America
Family ID	F360	Group Sheet \| Family Chart

Family Lydia Robbins, b. Abt 1759, New Jersey, British Colonial America , d. Aft 1850 (Age > 92 years)

Married Abt 1774 [9, 10]

prob. New Jersey

Children

	1. Lydia Benham, b. Abt 1779, d. Yes, date unknown
	2. Abigail Benham, b. Abt 1780, Pennsylvania, United States , d. Yes, date unknown
	3. John Benham, b. 11 Aug 1782, Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States , d. 23 Apr 1870, Centerville, Montgomery County, Ohio, United States (Age 87 years)
	4. Benjamin Benham, b. Abt 1784, d. Yes, date unknown
	5. Elizabeth Benham, b. 10 Nov 1786, Northwest Territory, United States , d. Yes, date unknown
	6. Sarah Benham, b. Abt 1788, Hamilton County, Northwest Territory, United States , d. Yes, date unknown
	7. Richard Benham, b. 15 Mar 1789, Hamilton County, Northwest Territory, United States , d. 23 Mar 1870, Brown Township, Miami County, Ohio, United States (Age 81 years)
	8. Catherine Benham, b. 1795, Hamilton County, Northwest Territory, United States , d. Yes, date unknown
	9. Mary Benham, b. 9 Feb 1796, Hamilton County, Northwest Territory, United States , d. Aft 1860, Shelby County, Ohio, United States (Age > 65 years)
	10. Peter Benham, b. 18 Aug 1797, Hamilton County, Northwest Territory, United States , d. 19 Dec 1883, Greene County, Ohio, United States (Age 86 years)
	11. Amy Benham, b. 15 Dec 1803, d. 18 Mar 1837 (Age 33 years)

Last Modified 16 Jan 2022

Family ID F358 Group Sheet | Family Chart

Notes

...Baptized on May 31, 1759, with his brothers and sisters, in the Scotch Covenanter Church, the Old Tennent Church of Freehold, New Jersey. His first or middle name may have been James. Probably in 3rd Virginia Regiment of the continental Line during the Revolutionary War. (Source: Information from John Hartsock)
...According to Benjamin Van Cleve, nephew of Richard Benham, in about 1784/5 "Captain Robert Benham, my mothers brother, paid us a visit. He strongly solicited my father to remove to that county (the land west of the Monongehelah in Pennsylvania), gave him a list of the different places on the road and every necessary advice relative to his preparations and journey. The object to be surmounted. He was, however, all summer getting ready and did not commence the journey until the second day of November. It seemed hard to leave the country of our nativity, our near relatives, and almost all that was dear to us. My father's mother was living and had lived with us for many years. My mother's grandmother who had brought her up from two years old, lived within a quarter of a mile; she had never lived further off. There was a numerous connection of both sides. We were now to separate from forever. But the prospects of being better enabled in a new country of providing for a growing family preponderated. We commenced our journey on the second of November, 1785, with two wagons of my father's one carrying a set of smith's tools and the other the household goods, in the company with Cornelius Shourd and family, whose wife is my mother's sister. They were in anot
her wagon. My father and uncle and each an apprentice and a young man by the name of Tunis Voorheis, and neighbor, came with us to see the country, and my Uncle had with him likewise my Uncle Richard Benham's wife and son. We made this day near thirty miles and put up at the ferry on the Delaware River about two miles below Trenton."
..."Skipping some entries, we continued: - Dec, 6 came to James Crawford's Ferry on the Monongehela. Here we were met by Uncles, Robert and Peter Benham, with fresh horses and before night we arrived at the end of our journey on the north fork of Ten Mile Creek in Washington County Pennsylvania."
..."We lived on the Plantation of my uncle, Robert Benham, nearly opposite Wises (afterwards Wallaces) Mills during the years 1786 - 87. My father cultivated a small field and worked at his trade. In 1788 my father rented a farm."
..."On the 25th of November 1789 we sailed from Crawford's Ferry, one boat carrying the families of my father, uncle Richard Benham and some passengers, one of who was Jacob Tappan of New Jersey." The family of Amey Benham and Cornelius Shroud (her husband) remained in western Pa. The journey was made safely and the company landed at Losantiville, opposite the Licking River, on January 3, 1790. The new arrival quickly made preparations for living quarters and the care of their families. John Van Cleave, a blacksmith by trade, who had brought his tools with him, all the way from his home in New Jersey, set up a shop.
...Richard Benham's brother, Robert, followed shortly after with his family while their brother, Peter, and his family came several years later. Richard and Robert Benham soon bought property in Hamilton county, property which now is of great value, being in downtown section of Cincinnati. Their names appear on the record of distribution and sale of lots in the town of Losantiville, 1789-90. Deeds in the Hamilton county Court House attest to early ownership of land by both of them.
...Richard Benham's land became his as a "volunteer settler" on property offreed by John Cleves Symmes. A "volunteer settler" was required to improve the land and represent his section whenever required for seven years before he was granted ownership. This was called the "Rule of Sale and Settlement of Miami Lands." Should the volunteer settler not live up to his part of the contract he lost the right to claim property and someone else was allowed to apply for it. Richard Benham, according to court house records, never seems to have left Hamilton County although he lived several places in it including the old settlement of Columbia, where from deeds we know he lived in 1802. It was at this time that he became tired of clearing lots Nos. 243 and 244, at the north west corner of fifth and Race Streets in Cincinnati, and paying taxes on them, so he decided to sell them deeming them valueless. On January 4, 1802, he sold the two lots for $40.00.
...Richard Benham did not leave a will but from other sources I learned that his wife was Lydia (Last name unknown). He died intestate but the names of his children and heirs appear in a series of deeds of land recorded in Hamilton County court House, in which deeds they sold the land left them by their father. This property was located in the north west corner of Symmes township. Lydia appears as the head of the family in Symmes township in the 1820 census records of Hamilton County, as do her widowed daughter, Betsy Luther, and her sons-in-law, Henry A. Balser, Robert Hughes, and Amos Harris. The last known record of Lydia is in a deed dated November 14, 1823 in Warren County, Oh. Richard Benham built the third cabin on the present site of Cincinnati. He had ten acres there at one time. He died near Todd's Forks and at the time of his death he owned 114 acres.

Researchers Note: Cincinnati was founded in 1788 and named "Losantiville" meaning "the city opposite the mouth of the Licking River".