Benbow Family
The surname Benbow is an English �occupational� name for an archer.
The story of our Benbow family begins in England.
In 1623, the records of Trefeglwys Parish, Montgomeryshire in Wales, prove that several families were there, probably related.
Thomas Benbow I, was born in 1505, and died in 1600. His wife was Margaret Bayley, who was born in 1505
Thomas Benbow II, was born in 1535, in New Port, Dalope, England, and died 1630.
He was married to Elizabeth Peryns who was born in 1535, in Brockton, Staffordshire, England, and died in 1620.
Roger Benbow II, son of Thomas Benbow II and Elizabeth Peryns, was born in
He was married to Margaret Leckyn, who was born in 1575, and died, in Wales or England.
Thomas Benbow III, son of Roger Benbow and Margaret Leckyn, was born about 1604 in Trefeglwys Parish. , Trefeglwys, Montgomeryshire, Wales.
He married Alice (or Anne) Brunt Beversley, who was apparently born about 1608, and died in Wales.
Edward Benbow, son of Thomas Benbow III and Alice Brunt Beversley, was born 3 July 1636, and baptized 24 July 1636 in Trefeglwys Parish Church, Montgomeryshire, Wales.
On 20 July 1662, he married Anna John, who was born about 1641, in Llanbrynmair, a village northwest of Trefeglwys, Wales. Anna�s father was John Jenkin(?), who was born in 1638.
They had two known sons.
Anna died in 1668; Edward died 13 December 1673, in Trefegwys.
Children:
Richard Benbow, son of Edward Benbow and Anna John, was born before 29 July 1665, when he was baptized in Trefeglwys Parish church.
He was married 25 August 1690 at Trefeglwys Church, to Susanna Jane Jones. She was baptized 16 April 1667, the daughter of John Jenkin? of Dolbachog, near Staylittle.
Sometime after 1704, when his son Charles�s baptism was recorded in Trefeglwys Parish, Richard became a member of the Society of Friends � a �Quaker.� Richard Benbow�s name appears subsequently in the records of Dolobran Meeting, and his home was used as a local meeting place during those years.
While all Benbow families in this area were probably kin, the departure of Richard from the Church of England caused problems in the relationships between the Anglican and Quaker cousins. Some Christian names, such as Richard and Charles, appear in both lines, and it is difficult to sort these out without a careful eye. Whoever their ancestors were � and most were members of the gentry � it seems that our Richard Benbow was a yeoman farmer. It is thought that his home was Gribyn-fach, on a hill called Gribyn, west of the village of Trefeglwys, and near the hamlet of Llwr-y-glyn. The farm buildings have fallen and are gone now. The hills between Trefeglwys and Staylittle are steep and would lend themselves to little other than sheep farming and rising a limited amount of produce for the family�s own use. The area is beautiful, and is called the �Paradise of Wales.�
Poor prospects for land ownership in Wales for the family�s younger sons may have been all or part of the motivation for the boy�s immigration to the American colonies. We know that the subject of immigration to William Penn�s colony of Quakers was discussed in the friends� meetings in this area of Wales as early as 1697, when emigration was evidently depleting the memberships of the local Friends� meetings. The prospect of religious freedom, in an area where the majority of the populations were Quakers, and the ability to receive a land grant, or else buy land at an affordable price, were attractive indeed to many Welsh Quakers. For these young men who were used to hard work, the option of binding themselves as indentured servants for 7 years would have seemed a reasonable price to pay for their passage to a new world that offered religious freedom and a better future for themselves and their children. And their descendants own them much for their courage and belief in their principles.
We are indebted to cousin Ronald Morris, as he descends from Richard�s son John:
�The passage of the Toleration Act, 1689, opened a new chapter in the history of Friends. Freedom of worship was now granted and meetinghouses were built, but Friends were still debarred from public life and continued to suffer for their refusal to pay tithes and church rates, and also for an objection to taking oaths.
They settled to a secluded life, which found few interests beyond the management of their businesses and homes, the organization of their religious body and the calls of philanthropy. Friends after the stormy years of the 17th Century, entered a phase of Quietism which in some respects did harm to the society. While other Dissenters, however used the Church of England for their marriages, and not infrequently the churchyard for burials, the Quaker, resolute in refusal to recognize the paid minister, married in his meeting house in his own way and buried his dead in his own graveyard. Marriages in the Quaker way were not recognized as lawful unless both parties were Friends, and �disownment,� that is, expulsion from membership, was the fate of any who, in order to marry one of another church, resorted to a �priest.�
Richard died between 1709 and 1711. Susanna became a prominent Quaker in the area, particularly after her husband�s death. Susanna was married/2 in 1713, to Edward Jennings of Trefeglwys. The three youngest, teenagers, made the arduous and dangerous sea voyage to a new and unknown world according to family tradition in 1718. Susanna died 18 May 1754, and was buried in Friends Burial Ground on Esgairgoch Ucha farm. This burial ground opened in 1711, so we don�t know if Richard is also buried there. The children were all born in Trefeglwys Parish.
Children:
Charles Benbow (1), the first American of the line, was baptized in 20 February 1704, in Montgomery, Montgomery County, Wales.
He arrived in America 1718, although there is no passenger list, which proves the year. According to circumstantial evidence and a strong family tradition, either before leaving Wales or after arriving in the Philadilphia, Charles Benbow bound himself as an indentured servant to a man named Carver, who may have been his future father-in-law or a relative of his future bride. Charles ended up doing his years of indentured service for James Carver, whose daughter Mary he later married.
About 1725 after living in Pennsylvania, he and his brother Gershom, went to Cape Fear River, South Carolina, where they operated indigo plantations. Like many planters in the area, they owned slaves to help. Indigo required a well-drained and loamy soil. The process of making indigo dye was very precise, a highly skilled form of agriculture that was risky, but very profitable.
There is a fascinating family legend about the departure of the family from their home to North Carolina. �James Carver was imprisoned because of his refusal to bear arms, as the unpopular pacifist beliefs of the Society of Friends often gave rise to suspicions of secret Tory sympathies during the years preceding the Revolutionary War. Charles accomplished James Carver�s escape from jail by pretending to be drunk and then helping his patron to escape. Charles went into a saloon and called for a pint of liquor. After drinking it, he went outside and put his finger down his throat and threw up all the liquor. Then he threw himself down in the straw pen, which the law required saloons to provide for drunken men to lie in. After the saloonkeeper had gone home for the night, Charles released James Carver from prison and he fled the area. Charles was not suspected, because he appeared to be in the straw pen in a drunken stupor when the grog shop closed for the night, and he was found lying there the next morning. Charles afterwards brought James Carver�s family to join his employer in North Carolina.�
In 1735 James Carver, William Carver, Charles Benbow, and Gershom Benbow all received patents for land in Bladen County, from the North Carolina Executive Council and Governor Gabriel Johnston. The records of Carver�s Creek Monthly Meeting have been lost, there is little information about the 30 years of Charles Benbow�s life in Bladen County, North Carolina.
Charles Benbow married Mary Carver, daughter of James and Elizabeth (Halloway) Carver. (See: Carver Family, Part VIII)
Mary evidently died before Charles when he made his will 25 January 1774. He died before April 1775. They are probably buried in the graveyard at Carver�s Creek United Methodist Church, which stands where the old Quaker meetinghouse stood. There are still old Quaker fieldstone grave markers there.
Within 3 years after his death, the children moved to the Piedmont area of North Carolina, a region of gently rolling hills, fertile, mixed hardwood and evergreen forests, and plentiful game. They could not have forseen that one of the major battles of the revolutionary War would be fought near their new homes in 1781, less than five years after they moved. They were recorded first at Cane Creek Meeting in what was then Orange County, later to New Garden Meeting in Guilford County, North Carolina.
Children:
Benjamin Benbow II, son of Charles Benbow and Mary Carver, was born between 1747 and 1750.
In 1778, he and his siblings, Thomas, Ann, Sarah, Mary, and Sophia, changed their membership from the Cane Creek Monthly Meeting, North Carolina, to New Garden Monthly Meeting.
He was married 11 January 1781, to Lydia Reynolds, in Center Monthly Meeting, Guilford County, North Carolina, who was born 30 January 1760, North Carolina, and died 8 May 1837, Guilford County, North Carolina, daughter of John David Reynolds and Mary Gay.
He died 8 February 1829 (age 78), and she died 5 August 1837, near Hopewell Monthly Meeting. The children were all born in Guilford County, North Carolina.
Children:
John Benbow, Sr., son of Benjamin Benbow and Lydia Reynolds, was born 1 March 1787.
He was married 8 December 1807 to Charity Mendenhall, who was born 28 June 1787, daughter of Aaron Mendenhall and Miriam Rich. (See Mendenhall Mendenhall and Rich Families)
They were married in Guilford County, North Carolina, where the two oldest children were born.
In 1810, they set out with the great Quaker migration, for the Northwest Territory. They stopped in Ohio for 5 years. Three children were born there. From Ohio, they moved to Fairmount, Indiana, where John built the first log cabin - in a corner, where now some of the best business property is located.
Here, the rest of the children were born. Here, John and Charity passed away. John died in 1844; Charity died 12 April 1858.
Children:
Benjamin Benbow IV, son of John Benbow, Sr. and Charity Mendenhall, was born 29 May 1811 in Ohio.
He was first married 19 December 1832, to Mary Morris, who was born 12 July 1811, daughter of Thomas Morris and Sarah Musgrove. (See Morris Family-Part IV) Mary died 30 July 1853.
Benjamin was married a second time. He died 21 July 1863 in Indiana. The children are probably not listed in order.
Children:
Aaron Benbow, son of John Benbow, Sr. and Charity Mendenhall, was born 5 December 1812, in Ohio.
He was married to Catherine Elliott, daughter of Isaac Elliott and Rachel Overman (See Overman Family, Part VIII)
Children:
David Benbow, son of John Benbow, Sr. and Charity Mendenhall, was born 26 January 1820, in Fairmount, Indiana.
He was married 16 April 1846, probably in Polk County, Iowa, to Lydia Osborn, daughter of Thomas Osborn and Rebecca Edgerton (See Edgerton Family, Part V)
David was an expert at repairing wooden clock works. It was said that he had repaired every wooden clock between Des Moines, Iowa, and Fort Riley, Kansas. There were other children, who all died in infancy.
Children:
Jane Benbow, daughter of Aaron Benbow and Catherine Elliott, was born 20 July 1840.
She was married 21 June 1862 to William Modlin. She died 4 May 1913.
Children:
William Benbow, son of David Benbow and Lydia Osborn, was married to Lydia Angeline Edgerton, daughter of David Edgerton and Sussannah Osborn.
She died in 1921 in Glendale, California. (See Edgerton and OsbornFamilies )
Children:
Bibliography
Meet the Edgertons by J. Howard Binns KGS Library, Dodge City, Kansas
Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, Hinshaw