Captain Robert Benham (November 17, 1750 – February 6, 1809), was a frontier pioneer, served in local government and was a member of the first elected legislature for the State in Ohio, 1799 & 1800.
Family
Benham was born in
Monmouth County, New Jersey
Monmouth County () is a county located on the coast of central New Jersey. The county is part of the New York metropolitan area and is situated along the northern half of the Jersey Shore. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county's population w ...
- the son of Peter Benham (1724-1780) and Ann James (d. 1758). After the death of his mother, he and his siblings, John, Richard, Amey, Peter and Catherine, were taken by his father and stepmother to be baptized at the
Old Tennent Church
Old Tennent Church is a Presbyterian church located at 450 Tennent Road in the Tennent neighborhood of Manalapan, New Jersey. The congregation was founded in 1692 and played a prominent role in the founding of Presbyterianism in America. The cur ...
in
Manalapan Township, New Jersey
Manalapan Township (, ) is a township in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. The township is centrally located within the Raritan Valley region and is a part of the New York Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 United States Census, the t ...
May 31, 1759.
[Cooley, Elizabeth Morrow, "The Benham Brothers - Robert, Peter, and Richard: Early Settlers of Southwestern Ohio and Northern Kentucky", Bulletin of the Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio, Volume 10, No. 1, p. 72] After the removal of his father and step mother to
Loudoun County, Virginia
Loudoun County () is in the northern part of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. In 2020, the census returned a population of 420,959, making it Virginia's third-most populous county. Loudoun County's seat is Leesburg. Loudoun C ...
, Robert Benham and his siblings were reared by their maternal grandfather, Robert James.
His father was a lineal descendant of John Benham who settled in
Dorchester, Massachusetts
Dorchester (colloquially referred to as Dot) is a Boston neighborhood comprising more than in the City of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Originally, Dorchester was a separate town, founded by Puritans who emigrated in 1630 from Dorchester ...
in 1630 and later removed to
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...
where he was one of its founders.
John Benham's son, Joseph, was married to Winifred King; the great great grandmother of Robert Benham who along with her daughter (also Winifred), was brought up on charges of
witchcraft
Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have us ...
in 1697 in
Wallingford, Connecticut
Wallingford is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, centrally located between New Haven and Hartford, and Boston and New York City. The population was 44,396 at the 2020 census. The community was named after Wallingford, in En ...
. In 1692, Winifred's mother also appeared at a preliminary trial infamously known as the
Salem Witch Trials
The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused. Thirty people were found guilty, 19 of whom w ...
. The charges, in all three cases, were fortunately dismissed. Robert Benham and his wife, Elizabeth Miller, had ten children who were born in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Kentucky. He was as an early settler of
Washington County, Pennsylvania
Washington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 209,349. Its county seat is Washington.
Washington County is part of the Pittsburgh, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area.
The county i ...
,
Newport, Kentucky
Newport is a list of Kentucky cities, home rule-class city at the confluence of the Ohio River, Ohio and Licking River (Kentucky), Licking rivers in Campbell County, Kentucky, Campbell County, Kentucky. The population was 15,273 at the 2010 United ...
and
Hamilton County, Ohio
Hamilton County is located in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 830,639, making it the third-most populous county in Ohio. The county seat and largest city is Cincinnati. The county i ...
. He later removed to
Warren County, Ohio
Warren County is a County (United States), county located in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 242,337. Its county seat is Lebanon, Ohio, Lebanon. The county is ...
where he died in 1809.
Career
His service in connection with the military made him well-known to Colonel David Rogers, General
Harmar, General
Arthur St. Clair and
Mad Anthony Wayne
Anthony Wayne (January 1, 1745 – December 15, 1796) was an American soldier, officer, statesman, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He adopted a military career at the outset of the American Revolutionary War, where his mil ...
.
After leaving the military, he continued to be addressed as Captain. People who knew him included
Simon Kenton
Simon Kenton (aka "Simon Butler") (April 3, 1755 – April 29, 1836) was an American frontiersman and soldier in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio. He was a friend of Daniel Boone, Simon Girty, Spencer Records, Thomas S. Hinde, Thomas Hinde, and ...
,
William Henry Harrison
William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773April 4, 1841) was an American military officer and politician who served as the ninth president of the United States. Harrison died just 31 days after his inauguration in 1841, and had the shortest pres ...
,
James O'Hara, Judge
Jacob Burnet
Jacob Burnet (sometimes spelled Burnett) (February 22, 1770May 10, 1853) was an American jurist and statesman from Ohio. He served as a U.S. Senator.
Early life
Burnet was born in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Dr. William Burnet. He graduated ...
and
William McMillen. His constant companion once he moved to Ohio was his nephew
Benjamin Van Cleve
Benjamin Van Cleve (February 24, 1773 – November 29, 1821) was a pioneer settler of Dayton, Ohio in the United States. He held several offices in the town.
Benjamin Van Cleve was the oldest child of John and Catherine Benham Van Cleve of Monmout ...
who established the first library in
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...
, was Dayton's first
postmaster
A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...
and a member of the Board of Trustees for
Miami University
Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the 10 ...
in
Oxford, Ohio
Oxford is a city in Butler County, Ohio, United States. The population was 23,035 at the 2020 census. A college town, Oxford was founded as a home for Miami University and lies in the southwestern portion of the state approximately northwest ...
. He died in
Warren County, Ohio
Warren County is a County (United States), county located in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 242,337. Its county seat is Lebanon, Ohio, Lebanon. The county is ...
.
During the Revolutionary War, he served under Colonel David Rogers. An account of his near death experience in 1778 was preserved by his fellow survivor, Basil Brown, who related it to
Lyman Draper
Lyman Copeland Draper (September 4, 1815August 26, 1891) was a librarian and historian who served as secretary for the State Historical Society of Wisconsin at Madison, Wisconsin. Draper also served as Superintendent of Public Instruction of Wisc ...
in the 1820s.
Benham was a member of the first Ohio Territorial legislature. He worked with a small group Democratic-Republicans to overcome the Governor's efforts to delay Ohio becoming a state.
His Life
His adventures were written about by many, including
Henry Howe
Henry Howe (October 11, 1816 – October 14, 1893) was an American author who wrote histories of several states in the United States. His most celebrated work is the three volume ''Historical Collections of Ohio''.
Life
Henry Howe was born in ...
, President
Teddy Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
and the 1921 Year Book of the
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded i ...
. His son,
Joseph Benham, continued to serve in the tradition of his father.
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
wrote in ''The Winning of the West''; "A still more remarkable event had occurred a couple summers previously (October 4, 1779). Some keel boats, manned by a hundred men under (Colonel) Lieutenant(David) Rogers, and carrying arms and provisions procured from the Spaniards at New Orleans (from
Governor Galvez and American Agent
Oliver Pollock
Oliver Pollock (1737, Bready, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland – December 17, 1823, Pinckneyville, Mississippi) was a merchant and financier of the American Revolutionary War, of which he has long been considered a historically undervalued fi ...
), were set upon by an Indian war party under (Simon)
Girty and Elliot while drawn upon a sand beach of the Ohio (later known as Manhattan Beach, Dayton, Kentucky.) The boats were captured and plundered, most of the men were killed; several escaped, two under very extraordinary circumstances. One had both his arms, the other both legs, broken. For weeks the two crippled beings lived in the lonely spot where the battle had been fought, unable to leave it, each supplementing what the other could do. The man who could walk (Basil Brown) kicked wood to him who could not (Captain Benham), that he might make a fire, making long circuits, chase the game toward him to shoot it. At last they were taken off a passing flat boat"
(and returned to the fort opposite the
Falls of the Ohio
The Falls of the Ohio National Wildlife Conservation Area is a national, bi-state area on the Ohio River near Louisville, Kentucky in the United States, administered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Federal status was awarded in 1981. The fal ...
. Among those captured by the war party and carried away was Colonel John Campbell who had joined the Americans only a few days before.)
References
Biography (Pending Publication)
James Williams, ''The Pack Horse Master, Captain Robert Benham''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Benham, Robert
1750 births
1809 deaths
Ohio postmasters
People of New Jersey in the American Revolution
People from Monmouth County, New Jersey
Miami University trustees
Members of the Ohio House of Representatives
Northwest Territory House of Representatives
American people of the Northwest Indian War