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CS 71 
 B469 
 1927 
 Copy 2 
 
 THE BENNETTS 
 
 
 of 
 
 
 
 
 
 SAUGUS. LYNN wn GROTON 
 
*A 
 
 
 het.<rc a meeting of the 
 
 '■«<<» Hlaieri t at Soc/e/j, 
 
 rmber 14. I ■ 
 
 THE LIBkAKV 
 I OF CONGRESS 
 
 imnom 
 
 
\Hi OLD BfNMTT M 
 
 
 
MY great-great-grandfather, Moses Bennett of Groton, who bought 
 a farm in that town, June 14, 1718, and married August 11, 1719, 
 the daughter of James Blanchard of Dunstable is the pivot 
 upon which a multitude of genealogical researches turn 
 throughout the United States. I used the present tense advisedly, because 
 although he is dead so far as the payment of poll taxes and other civic duties 
 are concerned, he is yet very much alive in the genealogical researches 
 alluded to, and I frequently receive inquiries from his widely separated 
 descendants who differ somewhat as to his antecedents. My own theory 
 has been that he was the great-grandson of Samuel Bennett of Saugus and 
 Lynn, and while others differ with me in opinion, yet a variety of 
 correspondence which comes to hand from time to time, appears to confirm 
 my theory. 
 
 Samuel Bennett, whose active participation in the early affairs of 
 Saugus and Lynn, is known to you all, came over in the ship James in 1635, 
 when 24 years of age. The house which still exists on Howard Street, 
 Saugus, near where I reside, and which is one of the best preserved specimens 
 of colonial architecture in New England, was built either by Samuel Bennett 
 or one of his two sons, and although it is frequently referred to as the 
 Boardman House, yet its early connection with the history of Lynn, Saugus 
 and Boston would be better emphasized if it were designated "The Bennett 
 House." 
 
 The oldest son of Samuel Bennett, of Saugus, namely Samuel Bennett, 
 Jr., whose marriage to the daughter of William Hargrave, of Horsey-Down, 
 England, was the cause of the oft-quoted instrument of settlement by his 
 
father recorded in Suffolk County Deeds, Boston, IV: 328, is the one who 
 1 theorize subsequently removed to Grot on, Mass. The second and third 
 sons, Elisha and John, were both mariners. John Bennett had a wife, 
 Susanna, in L673, but before 1677 he married Aphra, widow of Jonathan 
 Adams, who had a son John Adams, born in 1GT2, and a daughter, Sarah 
 Bennett, born in lt',77. John Bennett had trouble in court with Samuel Adams 
 of Chelmsford. He was in 1678, "shortly to go on a voyage." Captain 
 Elisha Bennett, the second son of the original Samuel, made his will April 
 9, 1726. and the same was proved May 30, 1726. In his will he is described 
 as of Rumney Marsh, and the will mentions his wife, Dorothy and children, 
 John. Ellis and Sarah, who had grown and settled in life. The son Ellis 
 was a mariner, and resided in Boston. The will also mentions a grandson, 
 John Bennett at New York, 
 
 Samuel Bennett, Jr.. migrated from Saugus in the latter half of the 
 
 enth century, but Captain Elisha Bennett, Mariner, is believed to 
 
 have still Lived in the old house which was then in that part of Boston 
 
 called Rumney Marsh, now Chelsea, until at least the first half of the 
 
 eighteenth century, as bis will is recorded May 30, 1726, as already stated. 
 
 The families who remain for generations in the same community 
 are either too prosperous to be attracted by a change or too unenterprising 
 and thriftless to move. The Bennett families who appear early and often 
 and In man] differenl localities in the early history of the American colonies, 
 cam< rally between these two extremes. The little warship "Massachu- 
 
 wbicb was one of the earliesl naval efforts of these colonies, was 
 'oinmanded at the Siege of Loulsburg by Captain Moses Bennett, and his 
 
autograph appears among the archives at the State House in Boston, 
 appended to the pay-rolls of that expedition. The first news of the fall 
 of the gieat and strong fortress of Louisburg, which for thirty years the 
 P'rench had been building at the front of Cape Breton Island, was brought 
 to Boston by Captain Bennett at daybreak on Tuesday, July 3, 1745. Never 
 was there such rejoicing— bells ringing; cannon thundering at Castle William 
 at the north and south batteries; bon-fires on the common; tents spread; 
 casks of wine tapped; at night, candles in every window and rockets 
 streaming up the sky. 
 
 Governor Richard Bennett of Virginia, born 1606, died 1676, was a 
 member of the House of Burgesses in 1629 /in the King's Council, 1642 to 
 1660; Governor, 1652 to 1655; Commissioner to England, 1657; made the 
 General of the Virginia forces, 1662 to 1672. There were Bennetts from 
 Gowanus, New York, in the war with the Indians in 1643. Samuel Bennett 
 of East Greenwich and Coventry, Rhode Island, was a lieutenant in 1690 
 and a deputy the same year. 
 
 I am not going to repeat the many interesting facts respecting the 
 life of Samuel Bennett in Lynn and Saugus, with which you are thoroughly 
 familiar. He built the first iron works in the Western Hemisphere at 
 Saugus, not as owner, but as master mechanic; he did the teaming for them 
 after they were completed, and he put them into bankruptcy when they 
 ceased to be successful. He also owned and operated one of the oldest 
 mill privileges upon Strawberry Brook, and he became as early as 1640 
 one of the most enterprising citizens of this section of Massachusetts Bay 
 Colony. The story that he moved into Boston because he was fined for 
 
sleeping In church in Lynn, is not necessary for the purposes of this paper. 
 His homestead was in thai part of ancient Lynn or Sangus, which, about 
 1660, by the perfecting of the town bounds came into Boston, which then 
 embraced ancient Chelsea, but which after the organization of the present 
 town of Saugus was set off to Saugus. The ancient house on or near the 
 site of the first house still stands, as already explained. Samuel Bennett 
 was styled "carpenter," and in a deed in 1657 he conveyed "Rumly Hall" 
 and eight acres of land to George Wallis, which estate is believed to have 
 been nearer the present centre of Lynn than his home in what is now 
 Oakland vale, Saugus. In 1661, Samuel Bennett was one of the perambulators 
 of the Town of Boston to inspect and determine the line between Lynn and 
 Boston. He fulfilled the same offices in L665, and as late as 1671. lie had 
 five children, Samuel. Elisha, John, and a fourth one, whose name I have 
 not found, and a fifth. Lydia. The marriage settlement of his oldest son, 
 Samuel, Jr., constitutes a well known historical document. Captain Elisha 
 Bennett, mariner of Rumney Marsh, made his will April 9, 1726. The 
 descendants of the younger children of Samuel Bennett appear in Boston 
 a- late at 17S7. and their descendants arc possibly readily traced, by those 
 \\ ho are interested. 
 
 I have said that there is some difference of opinion as to wflat became 
 of Samuel Bennett. Jr., and thai my own theory is that he removed to 
 Groton, Mass.. where there was an urgent demand for skilled mechanics 
 ii. the latter pari of the seventeenth century; and also considerable demand 
 for men of courage to participate in the defense against the Indians. The 
 name of Samuel Bennetl appears frequently in the early history of Groton 
 
in the latter part of the seventeenth century, sometimes in charge of parties 
 engaged in the defense of the town. The difficulties in the way of exact 
 genealogical knowledge in the latter part of the seventeenth and the earlier 
 years of. the eighteenth centuries were due not only to the defective character 
 of the town and parish records, but also to the general indifference of most 
 of the inhabitants of communities in which a Calvinistic religious element 
 was dominant. The people cared not so much about a man's grandfather 
 as wnether he was one of God's "elect." I was much interested to read 
 the following sentence even in a recent article by United States Senator 
 Beveridge of Indiana, "You can open the Bible anywhere and be fascinated, 
 except only and always its genealogies, which, as I have remarked before, 
 are stupid and dull, whether they occur in the Bible or in history, or in 
 a family tree." That remark of Senator Beveridge seems to be the theory 
 of a man who lives in a section of the United States where great and 
 exaci interest is taken in the pedigrees of live stock. And most of us think 
 the pedigrees of human beings are at least as interesting as the pedigrees 
 of the domestic animals. 
 
 In any event, family records were very defective in the seventeenth 
 century. 
 
 The heroic quality of the Pilgrim settlement at Plymouth and the 
 stern religious character of the leaders of the early arrivals at Salem 
 have idealized the nature of the entire immigration into the colonies which 
 afterwards composed the state of Massachusetts. Samuel Bennett and 
 probably a majority of the early settlers were purely commercial adventurers, 
 looking for an opportunity to improve their material condition; but the 
 
religious idea was dominant, and lent its color to all ot the activities of 
 the colonists. Hence, if the theocratic rulers cared little about genealogy, 
 the rank and lile of the inhabitants had no reason to differ from them in 
 that direction. 
 
 However, from the date when my great-great-grandfather, Moses 
 Bennett, bought land in Groton, June 1 1, 1718, and the next year was married 
 tc Anna Blancbard of Dunstable, the family record is clear and definite, 
 and the descendants of Moses Bennett are so numerous, and many of them 
 so much interested in genealogical researches, that they feel quite confident 
 of establishing the antecedents of Moses Bennett. 
 
 The descendants of the Bennetts of Manchester, .Mass., who are very 
 Dumerous, arc also interested in the same researches, and T have lately been 
 in correspondent with several g< ntlemen of different branches of the Bennett 
 family who have addressed inquiries to me upon these subjects. Another 
 difficulty in tracing connections of the name of Bennett is that many of the 
 families lack anj common origin in recent years. 
 
 1 once devoted a little time in the British Museum and elsewhere in 
 land to Inquiries upon this subject, and found that while the family name 
 of tb«- Earl of Tank* rville is Benni tt, and that he is one of the great noblemen 
 of England descended in t lie maternal line from that Earl of Arlington, who 
 v. as also named Bennett, and was one of the famous ministers of Chas. II; 
 ami while iint' are several importanl county families named Hennett, yet 
 re were numerous dock laborers: a leading clock maker of London, and, 
 in fact, persons of this surname in every walk of life. In fact, the name 
 <>t Bennett is in England little less numerous than Smith, because it was 
 
originally a given name derived from St. Benedict. There are ancient 
 churches in England known as St. Benet's. The derivation of the name 
 from Benedict is clearly established, and while at first a given name, it 
 became eventually a surname. However, very many of the Bennetts who 
 were among the earlier settlers of Massachusetts and Virginia were connected. 
 And their descendants have migrated numerously throughout the United 
 States. As I wrote the above sentence, having the Travellers' Railway Guide 
 of the United States at hand, I opened it and found thirty-one railroad stations 
 named Bennett in various parts of the United States. Moses Bennett of 
 Groton, who took up a farm in that town upon his own account in 1718 and 
 married Anna Blanchard August 11, 1719, was born in 1691, and I theorize 
 that he was the great-grandson of the first Samuel Bennett of Lynn; but 
 this theory is tentative, and may be disproved by the active researches of 
 the number of intelligent descendants, who are now making inquiries upon 
 this subject. Moses Ben nett had ten children all enjoying good old Biblical 
 names as follows: Abygail, or Abiah, Stephen, Moses, David, E unic e, 
 Jonathan, James, Anna, Thomas and Aaron. The name of the ninth child, 
 Thomas, who was my great-grandfather, appears on a muster roll dated 
 Boston, February 5th, 1759. of a company of foot in his Majesty's service 
 under Captain Asa Wfiitcomb in Colonel Jonathan Bagley's Regiment, raised 
 by the Province of Massachusetts Bay. Thomas also marched on the alarm 
 from Lexington, April 19th, and enlisted April 26th, 1775, in the eight 
 months' regiments, taking parr at Bunker Hill and the Siege of Boston, but 
 was disabled later, and when he died, was reported as "Lately deceased 
 occasioned by ye hardships and difficulties he underwent in ye late expedition 
 
under Capt. Tyng, being taken sick and dieing at Charlestown." It used to 
 be a family tradition that Thomas was hoeing in the field when the news 
 came of the alarm at Lexington, and that he dropped his hoe where he was 
 at work, and responded to the alarm. So many men are reported as having 
 dropped their hoes in order to respond to the alarm, that I have been 
 doubtful about this tradition, especially as April L9th was rather early for 
 hoeing in this latitude. 
 
 The widow of Thomas, who was my great-grandmother, subsequently 
 married Gershom Hobart, a lineal descendant of the early minister of Groton, 
 and removed to Washington, Vermont, where she lived to be one hundred 
 years of age or more. She is known to have been living in 1S30, when my 
 father was nineteen years of age, and was a prolific source of information, 
 especially concerning the migration of the Whitcombs, Bennetts, and others 
 from Groton to Vermont at the close of the eighteenth century. 
 
 On July 27, lt;!»4, Gershom Hobart, the minister of Groton, with part 
 of his family, was remarkably preserved from tailing into the hands of the 
 Indians when they made themselves the masters of his house, though they 
 took two of the children, whereof the one was killed and the other sometime 
 after, happily rescued out of his captivity. Gershom. Jr., son of the Rev. 
 Mr. Hobart. whom Mather mentions as having been rescued from captivity, 
 is said to have been carried to the east. The first information his friends 
 received of bim was in May following his captivity, at a fort a day's journey 
 from Norridgewog, and his master's name was Nassacunbcwit, the chief captain 
 Of the place. Both his master and mistress were kind to him and afterwards 
 granted his ransom. 
 
The widow of Thomas Bennett of Revolutionary fame, removed with 
 iier second husband, Gershom Hobart, to Washington, Vt. Her second child; 
 Naomi, married June 6th, 1796, Gershom Hobart, Jr. My grandfather, Imlah 
 Bennett, who was born at Shirley, Mass., October 5th, 1774, went with the 
 Hobarts to Washington, Vt., and was present when that town was organized, 
 March 1, 1792, being then only about seventeen years of age. The 
 settlement of Washington, Vt. commenced in 1785, but the town was not 
 organized until March 1st, 1792. Mr. Hobart's name did not appear in the 
 town records until September 2nd, 1794, when it is recorded that Gershom 
 Hobart, Jr., Joseph Trufant and others were enrolled "freemen." 
 
 There has been a theory that my great-great-grandfather, Moses 
 Bennett, who, with Benjamin Bennett, appeared in Grot on purchasing farms 
 on the same day, June 14, 1718, were grandsons of the Moses Bennett of 
 whom trace was lost in Manchester, Mass., in 1686. The Bennett family 
 of Manchester descended from William Bennett, an original planter of the 
 town, who died in 1683, leaving two sons, Moses and Aaron, then men grown; 
 Moses was the oldest. Jane, the widow of William Bennett, in 1686 conveyed 
 certain rights and lands to her sons, Moses and Aaron, and this is the last 
 we hear of that particular Moses. The son Aaron had a family, and from 
 dim the later generations in Manchester and vicinity of the Bennett name 
 descend, and the names of Aaron and Moses predominate among their 
 descendants. 
 
 r J he theory that Moses Bennett of Groton came from Manchester 
 instead of from Lynn is disputed by a statement in Hazen's History of Billerica, 
 Massachusetts, where it is alleged that the father of Moses was probably 
 
same name, more than one hundred years later, married the widow of Thomas 
 Bennett, as already mentioned, and through his connection further proof 
 of the directness of my theory of the connection between the Groton and 
 Saugus Bennetts has been established. 
 
 In lt;s!i. King William's War, as it was called, occurred, and the frontier 
 towns of New Kngland were again the scene of barbarities and destruction. 
 In arrangement of the garrisons in Groton. .March 17. 1691, the name of 
 Samuel Bennett and another Bennett, whose first name is not given, appears 
 in the garrison of five men at Mr. llezekiah Usher's farm. My theory is, 
 that this was Samuel Bennett, Jr., formerly of Saugus and the grandfather 
 of Moses Beniutt of Groton. In the early annals of Lynn, it is stated that 
 about this time and earlier, there was some immigration of mechanics to 
 Groton. The history of Groton savs the location of Mr. Usher's farm and 
 the Bennetts of that period, is not known, but as the brook rising in Harvard 
 and running into Spectacle Pond, is called "Bennett's Brook," it is probable 
 that the Bennetts who preceded Moses lived in the vicinity of ihat brook. 
 Cotton Mather refers to the remarkable preservation of Gershom Hobart. 
 who was one of the eight sons of Rev. Peter Hobart, firsl minister of Hingham, 
 Mass. From 1697 to 1702, peace prevailed ai Groton. Then came the war with 
 l-Taiiee. upon the accession of Queene Anne, and the frontier towns of Massa- 
 chusetts were again exposed to tomahawks, scalping knives, tire and torture. 
 in L675 there was a Moses Bennetl in the company of Captain Samuel 
 Brocklebanfe of Rowley, in the garrison at Marlboro, bul he unquestionably 
 came from Manchester, Mass. in the colonial records of King Phillip's War, 
 occurred the names of I'eter, Henry, John, Moses and William Bennett, 
 
There was at last accounts eight epitaphs of Bennetts in Copps Hill 
 Cemetery, Boston. The oldest was that of Sarah Bennit, wife of Samuel 
 Bennit, formerly of Saugus. 1 he inscription reads: "Here iyes ye body of 
 Sarah Bennit, wife to Samuel Bennit, age 75 years, deceased January 18, 
 1682." The most recent epitaph under this name reads: "In memory of 
 Mrs. Rachael Bennett, wife of Bezaleel Bennett, who died October 1, 1814, 
 age 60." 
 
 Original documents concerning Moses Bennett, Jr., of Groton, and 
 
 also of Thomas and his military and naval service, are in the Massachusetts 
 
 archives, Boston. An order dated Boston, July 21, 1747, signed by Governor 
 
 Shirley, directing Captain Moses Bennett to land the guns belonging to 
 
 the Brig, Boston Pickett under his command, to secure the stores, haul up 
 
 tne vessels and discharge the crew excepting a boat-swain and boy to take 
 
 care of tie vessel, a muster roll dated, Boston, September 13, 1748, shows 
 
 the muster roll of the ship "Massachusetts," commanded by Captain Moses 
 
 Bennett, and June 20, 1749. the pilotage of the frigate "Massachusetts" in 
 
 and out of New York, was certified by the autograph of Captain Moses 
 
 Bennett. Lydia Adams, the widow of Thomas Bennett, who subsequently 
 
 married Gershom Hobart and" lived to the great age already mentioned, was 
 
 born in Groton, August 4, 1743, the daughter of Methiboshbth Adams, and 
 
 it is interesting to note how these old scriptural names were inevitable 
 
 throughout that period. 
 
 By and by some person with greater facility in genealogical research 
 and more time at his disposal than myself, will ascertain whether there 
 was any cause for the co-incident arrival of several Bennetts at so many 
 
different points in the colonies in the seventeenth century; that is, whether 
 then- was any common point of departure for most of them in England. In 
 Mun& li's Gi in aio.'. ical Ind< x, references to Bennetts are made in 58 different 
 hooks. There was a Henry Bennetl in Ipswich, Massachusetts, as early 
 as 1650, as a record of his marriage with Lydia Perkins of that town 
 testifies. In 1654 he boughl of Jonathan Wade, a farm of 2(H) acres, and 
 besides his hon he I i Id considerable land on Plum Island and elsewhere. 
 
 The early settlers in Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania, the seat of subsequent 
 bloody massacres by Indians, were Bennetts, and when the now thriving 
 city of Wllkesbarre hold but five women, three of them were of the name 
 of Bennett. 
 
 William Bennett, one of tin original planters of Manchester, Massa 
 chusetts, who died there in 1683, has already been alluded to. 
 
 Stephen B. Bennett of I 'it is; on wrote a brief volume about the 
 Pennsylvania Bennetts in 1899, and acknowledged (hat he formerly believed 
 kI Bennetl of Lynn to be an ancester of tin- Bennetts who were 
 drawn to the Wyoming lands by the Susquehanna Company. It was later 
 ..vend, however, that the other Samuel was the son of Edward, who, 
 viih his wife and four children, sailed from Weymouth, England, and settled 
 at Weymouth, Mass., taking up. as he was entitled to, :'><; acres of public 
 land and being made Freeman in L636. 
 
 Richard Bennetl of Virginia, already alluded to. was the owner of 
 Immense tracts of bind in Nansemond County, whence he came in 1621. 
 His Bon, Richard Ol Greenburg Point. Anne Arundel County, Maryland, was 
 a member of the Maryland Assembly in 1663. His son. the third Richard. 
 
horn in 1663, died in 1749, owned 1,300 slaves. The "Gentlemen's Magazine,' 
 in a notice of his death, says he was the richest man in the Colonies. 
 His tomb is at Bennett Point, Queen Anne County, Maryland, with the 
 Bennett Arms and a long inscription. 
 
 The consideration of the individuality of the modest settlers of those 
 early days, gives a living touch to the pages of history. Samuel Bennett 
 of Saugus bought a mill on Sagamore Hill in Lynn, Dec. 13, 1644, and upon 
 the document regarding the purchase, which may be seen at the Salem 
 Court House, is the autograph of Samuel Bennett, As we read of these 
 commercial transactions, it is not easy to remember that the celebrated 
 wedding of Winnupurkit, otherwise called George, Sachem of Saugus, to the 
 daughter of Passaconaway, the great Penacook chieftain, at what is now 
 Concord, New Hampshire, occured in 1662, the theme of Whittier's poem 
 "The Bridal of Penacook." Savage state and dignity were, therefore, 
 dominant in Saugus and Lynn for many years after iron works and mills 
 had begun to be established here by the sturdy settlers. I have stated that 
 the Uncanoonuc Hills at Manchester, New Hampshire, can be seen from 
 Castle Hill in Saugus. It was in the Uncanoonuc Falls, which drive the great 
 Amoskeag Mills in Manchester, N. H., that the wife of Sachem George of 
 Saugus, is said by a poetic fiction to have met her death in her attempt to 
 return home to her husband. 
 
 James Gordon Bennett, the founder of the New York "Herald," a 
 Scotchman born in Baff shire, once wrote: The Bennetts were a little band 
 of freebooters, A. D. 896 in Saxony. I have no doubt they robbed and 
 plundered a great deal. They migrated to France and settled on the Loire, 
 
< Ltre they lived several hundred years. The family was Roman Catholic 
 3nd later of the Church of England." 
 
 It is said that there are now more than one hundred clergymen of 
 the established Church of England, named Bennett. * 
 
 In 161ft. at Yoguhal, a south Irish seaport. Richard. Lord Boyle, caused 
 airs to be made to a certain chapel* time having caused it to fall into 
 ruin. He carved recumbent' stone effigies of a man and woman upon a 
 tomb, which bears the inscription: "Here lyeth the bodies of Richard Bennett 
 and Ellen Barry, his wife, the first founders of this chapel. It is for a 
 reviving of theii memory I have had their figures cut in stone." 
 
 Perhaps the oldest family of Bennetts in England, is at Pithouse, in 
 Wilkshire. They have a coat-of-arms whose motto is "Benedictuc Qui Toluit 
 < 'oncere." "Ulessed is He who Bears The Cross." No doubt there have been 
 Bennetts in Germany, France and Ireland, as well as England and Scotland. 
 1 nt I siill insist that their derivation from the given name of Benedict is 
 so well established, thai there are many of them whose relationship is not 
 nearer than by the way of Adam. While history deals largely with kings 
 and captains and governors, it is inspiring to take up, occasionally, the 
 career of one of the millions who are marching in the ranks. We are told 
 thai the apparently careless flight of a bird across the sky leaves a permanent 
 impression upon the world. How much more permanenl must be the 
 passage of even the most modesl and inconspicuous human soul through 
 life. Personally I have never had much time to devote to genealogy, but 
 I make no apologj for what little Interesl I have been able to manifest 
 in the subject, as adding to the dignity and worth of the individual life. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGR ESS 
 
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