Graduated from Yale 1716, ordained as a pastor at Northfield, MA 1718. Practiced as both a physician and a pastor for 30 years. Wrote “An Enquiry into Enthusiasm, Being an account of what it is, the Original progress and effect of it” (1743) and “A Short Narrative of the Mischief Done by the French & Indian Enemy, on the Western Frontiers of the Province of Mass. Bay,” found among his papers after his death and published in 1750. It is apparently a rare perspective of the incidents in question and became an important first-hand account.
Benjamin died suddenly at age 52. A notice in the Boston Gazette detailed death following chest pain. His funeral sermon was by Jonathan Ashley.[ [551]]
Epitaph: Blessed with good intellectual parts, Skilled in two important arts, Nobly he filled the double station, Both of a preacher an physician.[ [701]]

Teacher before her first marriage. After the death of her second husband, Lydia was living with her daughter Lucy. She eventually married the father of Lucy’s husband, Japhet. He died soon after and she returned to Northfield. She is known in the records still as “Widow Doolittle”, probably a reflection of her husband’s standing in the community. She remained active in her family and died at the age of 91 while trying to remove one of her grandchildren from a table upon which he had climbed. [551]