The Harwinton home of Jacob Benton from 1737 - 1761
In 1950 my father bought an operating dairy farm on Locust Road. The home and barn were built of the colonial hand-hewn beam construction typical of the middle 1700s. Local rumor placed an earlier home at the same site supposedly owned by a Jacob Benton. This home, as is referenced in town records, was the host of Harwinton’s first town meeting December 20, 1737. In the summer of 1998 we demolished a woodshed on the eastern side of the home and began construction of a large addition. Exposing portions of the house covered for probably 200 years and working with the old foundation stones renewed an interest we all held in the history of the house. The following story, and I might add the web site including my new interest in these matters, resulted from typing "Jacob Benton" into a search engine and my amazement at the result.
In the middle 1600s, just before the Connecticut Charter incident in Hartford, the early settlers were aware of a renewed interest in the Colonies by the English. Vast areas of Western Connecticut were essentially wilderness with narrow trails worn through the forests by European explorers and Indians. Connecticut’s Colonial Legislature passed a measure granting these lands to the towns of Hartford and Windsor as an insurance policy against an English award to others. The settlers hid the Charter in the now famous "Charter Oak" of Hartford and the English sailed home without success. These awards were forgotten for a time until demand for new lands by settler’s sons and grandsons began in the early 1700s. First cleared for farms and settled were parts of Litchfield. The legislature felt these peoples had illegally moved into land still owned by the state and had some of them jailed in Hartford. Other settlers staged riots and a jailbreak to release the men. At the same time the Legislature was meeting and as a solution the western wilderness was equally divided between the State and a combination of the towns of Hartford and Windsor. Each of the two then owned enough land to create three and one half towns and the contraction Harwinton was created by the halves.
In the 1720s Hartford and Windsor granted portions of their half townships to local property owners based on the values of their assessed and taxable property. 54 men were granted proportions of the Windsor or western half of Harwinton and 40 of Hartford were granted the east. Only seven of these men became settlers as most gave their grants to their children. Other grants were sold and divided and in East Harwinton 25 men finally held portions of the original 40 grants. Daniel Messenger of Hartford was a surveyor and became the first settler in 1730. An Indian trail dating most likely to very early times was the only path through town. Mr. Messenger with two Hartford men as a committee marked highways north and south perpendicular to the Indian path, which was referred to as the Country Road. They explored and noted the best agricultural areas adjacent to these highways and I believe a lottery system was utilized to award the first lots to the remaining 24 men. Messenger had already staked his claim and it is possible he was allowed to do so as a condition or payment for exploration. The following map designates the awarded lots with respect to the roads of the present day. For those who by now think I have lost my train of thought regarding Jacob Benton the lot number 13 was his first division grant and I live between lots 11 and 12.
Past researchers have probably drawn this layout but Town Records contain no sale of this lot by Jacob or his heirs to a new owner after his death in 1761. Tracing back in time from present owners also yields a dead end. Today’s residents rarely own separate parcels in their hometowns but these aforementioned 25 settlers each owned at a minimum six separate pieces by 1740. This fact, the division of the remaining land, and the family and religious ties of the settlers will constitute later stories.
Living in Harwinton from 1737 until his death in 1761 Jacob held various offices and is reported to have been a storekeeper. A posting of his will and the best source on the web of Benton family history and genealogy can be found at Boxes In The Attic A copy of this will is on file at the Probate Office in the Litchfield Town Hall. His third son Barnabas was to receive lot 13. The Will states: "Thirdly I give to my Son Barnabas, my Homelott or Homestead, with the Buildings thereon; the lott being about 64 acres". Lot 13 measured north and south 63 ¾ rods and ½ mile east and west. A rod of 16 ½ feet was a common measurement of the 1600s. When land was divided into parcels of ½ mile depth, frontage in rods was exactly the total acreage. No record exists of Barnabas ever taking possession of this land. For many months I thought no records existed tying any of this past history to future landowners. By chance an investigation into lands of Jonathan Brace, owner of lot 14 and son-in-law of Daniel Messenger, found a reference to Jacob.
On July 1, 1771, Jonathan Brace purchased two parcels of land. One of these contained "11 acres more or less with a mansion house and barn and other edifices". Further noted in the land sale record "which lands and premises were part of the Estate of Jacob Benton deceased and were set off to me the said James Pitts to satisfy an execution obtained against his executors upon a judgement of the adjurred? County court held at Litchfield in the county of Litchfield aforesaid on the first Tuesday of January 1763". A Col. John Chester received by court award the remaining 53-acre portion of the homelot.
On March 23, 1776, Jonathan Brace gave Jacob’s home and lot to his son Elizur. Again noted on the deed is "it being part of the homelot formerly belonging to Deacon Jacob Benton deceased’.
On May 26, 1778 Elizur bought the remaining 53-acre portion from John Chester. One person once again owned the Jacob Benton homelot.
On June 20, 1784 Elizur sold to Joseph Cook ten acres of the lot, which by recorded description, would now border the present Route 4 and Harmony Hill Road. Presently containing the home formerly owned by Henri David and the home of Randy Bell this lot is bordered on the north by a stonewall adjacent to the Bell’s driveway. On April 4, 1785 Elizur sold Joseph Cook another three acres between his home and Joseph’s ten acres.
From September 16,1786 to May 5, 1788, Jacob’s home with various amounts of land was bought and sold by the Brace brothers Elizur, James and Nathaniel. The order of ownership was Elizur – James – Elizur – Nathaniel – James. Jonathan Brace also sold his sons various parcels subdivided from his original homelot. I am able to trace the home sale, as it then constituted the only remaining Brace property with a southern boundary on a highway.
On January 7, 1791 James Brace sold the home and twenty acres to Joseph Cook. Again the record notes the highway as the southern boundary and lists a "house and barn thereon standing". The following picture is, I believe, the home built for Jacob Benton in 1736 or 1737. To the left in the picture is a barn which in the 1930s or 40s was elevated and became the aforementioned home of Henri David. This is not the barn noted in the early deeds but probably built by the Cook family in the late 1700s or early 1800s to store hay from their meadows to the north. Today this home is a private residence to the west of the Firehouse.
The second picture contains Joseph Cook’s grandsons Martin Cook, Wakeman Gold Cook and Stephen Butler Cook. Stephen was the last surviving Cook brother and died in 1896. Notes in the local Historical Museum state the home was removed to Litchfield in the 1920s and subsequently burned down. I now believe the chimney date together with that of the note are incorrect. In Chipman’s History of Harwinton 1858 the author lists the house of Wakeman Cook as one of the nine oldest in Harwinton.
The next picture was reproduced from Samuel Slade Benton His Ancestors and Descendants authored by Josiah Henry Benton in 1901. Published privately and limited to 250 rare and valuable copies it is now available as a photocopied reproduction from Higginson Books in Salem MA or online at www.higginsonbooks.com These two homes, 25 miles apart, are almost carbon copies. It is possible that the same carpenters built the two. Notice, that on the first house above, the window over the front door was raised to accommodate a small entryway roof. Although no longer present on the Harwinton home I believe one existed in the past. The Hartford home had a normal sized window above the same door. Possibly more space was needed between the two.
The title character Samuel Slade Benton, according to family bible record, was born 1777 in Harwinton possibly in the home of my father. He was the youngest child of Jacob Benton Jr. who was born in the pictured Hartford home of Jacob Benton. The author Josiah Henry Benton was a grandchild of Samuel.
My next story will show my research into my father’s home and how I determined Jacob Benton Jr. had it built around 1760.