THE BENEDICT BOOKS
Genealogy of the
Benedicts in America
Volumes 1 and 2
The most comprehensive and extensive paper publication of the history of Benedict families in North America is the two-volume set of Genealogy of the Benedicts in America.
This valuable collection has been carefully compiled by Elwyn and Esther Benedict of East Syracuse, upper New York State and published for future generations. They have become the go-to reference for any serious Benedict surname researcher. The books have extensive index sections, both for persons born of the surname and also persons who adapted the name by marriage or other.
The first volume is an updated reprint of the original book, composed and first printed in 1870. The second volume is a compilation of extensive work by Elwyn and Esther involving field research, vast correspondence with families across North America, late evening composing, indexing and typing, followed by the publication into print. This project spanned many decades and we genealogy researchers are gratful that it was finally in print by 1969.
The books are still available by contacting their son, Darrel Benedict, more information below. Any excerpts to this website from either book has been granted by Elwyn Benedict during the interviews of 2007 – 2010.
Prelude to the Benedict Books
In the Introduction to Volume 1 by Erastus Benedict, he describes the early scribing of the first Benedict family line at Massachusetts Bay Colony and then the Connecticut area, starting with Mary, wife of our original Thomas Benedict:
“Our first American grandmother [Mary Bridgham Benedict] , who walked in all the ordinances of the Lord blameless, till she looked over the brow of a hundred years into the happy land, must not be omitted as the author of the first Benedict genealogy, and our first teacher of the moral lesson of family pride. Like an old chronicler she told the traditionary story of the family in England, and of its first generation here, to her grandson James, afterward one of the seven deacons of the seven churches….He reduced the tradition to writing and in due time it passed from him, by a copy, to his grandson Abner, then a student in college, and afterwards the first clergyman of the family thence to me, his grandson. My inquiries showed that many copies of it were extant in the original form.”
Lineage from Mary to Erastus — Mary ► John ► James ► Peter ► Abner ► Joel Tyler ► Erastus Cornelius Benedict
Volume I
by Henry Benedict
The Volume I was first published in 1870 by Henry Marvin Benedict, then republished in 1969 by Elwyn Ellsworth Benedict. It has 477 pages, with a full index of Benedict by given names and also a full index of others with a different birth surname (i.e. via marriage).
Henry’s early years
Henry Marvin Benedict was born at Albany, New York State on September 16, 1827 of parents Lewis Benedict (1785-1862) and Susan Stafford (1791-1869).
He was fitted at Albany Academy and at boarding schools in Pittsfield and Williamstown, entered Williams, as Freshman, in 1842, and remained until about the middle of Junior year, when he was compelled, by incipient disease of the hip, to return home. From this disease he never recovered. It doomed him to years of confinement to his bed, and rendered him a cripple for life. At first he met these sufferings with a stoical indifference which amounted almost to a defiance, seeking relief in close reading, careful thought, and the use of the pen. His unusual worldly advantages made him feel it an especial hardship to be cut off from active life.
His enforced leisure allowed him time to become our chronicler and genealogist. Our Latin family motto, Benedictus qui patitur, which
might be translated Blessed is he who endures, truly applies to this man, to whom we owe much for his labor in organizing and preserving the family records up to his time.
Introduction by Erastus Cornelius Benedict
Erastus Cornelius Benedict
The first volume contains an introduction by Erastus C. Benedict, lawyer in the city of New York, author, and trustee of William’s College, who had contributed to the work considerable material which he had himself accumulated. It contains a philosophy that could apply to today’s seekers of Benedict threads:
“When I say interesting, it will of course be understood that I am speaking only to our little family, on a family matter. The outside world will please consider that it is none of their affair, and we are not bound to interest them. We may get ourselves together in our own way and in our own time, and fill up our family record and album without apology. We have a right to be kindly affectioned one to another. We are blood relatives, and like all well constituted families we are a mutual admiration society and no one can complain while we keep our mutual admiration within our own little circle…. In all these dead generations we see ourselves. They are our family mirror.”
Volume II
by Elwyn Benedict
Elwyn Benedict 2007
Almost a century lapsed between publication of Volume I in 1870 and then Volume II in 1969. There had been a few books and pamphets in the meantime but the interest in a second full volume was growing. Many Benedict families were pressing to have their family line included.
Finally, Elwyn Ellsworth Benedict and his wife, Esther Winefred, decided to tackle this monumental job. Over many years, Elwyn and family would spend their summer vacations, touring various states to visit cemeteries and local phone books, then return home to correspond and compose the contents. Visit their story on another page in this website.
Volume II has 636 pages with a table of illustrations, of portraits and photographs. In the back are two indexes, for given names and for surnames (where the surname is not Benedict). Preface by Elwyan on May 12, 1969. Because of the near-century gap between the two publicaitons, the family connections between the volumes might not be fully researched and documented. For example, my g-g-g-g’father Smedley Benedict is described as born in Aylsford, Nova Scotia in 1810, sone of a tory who fled north to Canada to escape the American Revolution. Not true.
I found the American Revolution veteran penion records, in a Houston library, showing that Smedley Benedict fought on the patriot side and his children had applied for his war pension. Smedley had gone north after the war to Ontario with his family to farm.
Preface by Elwyn Benedict
It has been a pleasure to work with so many kind and understanding people during the past ten years while collecting data for this Volume II of the Benedict Genealogy.
We must give much credit to Henry Marvin Benedict who laid the ground-work for this second volume. During the early part of this century a family reunion was held yearly at Grove Park in Elmira, New York. At that time officers were elected and dues collected to carry on an ancestor-searching campaign. Much data was collected with the thought in mind of publishing a revision to Volume I.
It can be said that this publication is a project of the author’s family. It started out as a project in search of his own personal line and gradually became a hobby. On vacations we gathered addresses from phone books or any other source that was available. Then during the winter months letters and forms were sent out to gather in the data.
The author’s mother, Clara Myrtle (Cramer) Benedict, played a major roll in the assembling of the information. Every page of this volume was written first in long hand by her as the author dictated it from letters, scraps of paper, forms and other sources. It was five years in assembling stage. Mrs. Clara Benedict also assisted in sending out forms and in addressing envelopes, etc. If it had not been for her spirit, that was in this project, it would no doubt have taken many years longer to assemble. She worked with me until a few days before her sudden death caused by a hip fracture on February 17, 1964. Her death occurred on February 21, 1964.
In the later stages we must not forget the author’s wife, Esther Winefred (Wemes) Benedict, who has typed all of the information. She also has assembled the giant index and made a list of addresses so you folks could be informed of the new two-volume genealogy. We can all say we are proud of the outcome of this great project, yet we as a family are not taking full credit by any means.
Elwyn Ellsworth Benedict – May 12, 1969
Volume III?
by Jim Benedict
Both Volumes I and II are masterpieces of content and meticulous research. After publication of Volume II in 1969, Elwyn Benedict was satisfied at finally completing the family line up to that year.
But not the extended family at large. More Benedict family members who missed out on having their contribution published, continued sending family trees to the Elwyn and Esther address, hoping to make it into the next edition. Alas, our elderly couple had done enough and had energy no more. There would be no paper book of Volume III.
Then I visited them in 1n East Syracuse in 2007.
The Website Project
During my business travels down through the United States in the early part of this century, I wanted to visit with the author of the Books. A set of the books sat on the shelf of my boyhood home in Calgary and I enjoyed looking up my father and his line. By 1990 I had started an interest in documenting our family line. But I also was involved working in the early days of the World Wide Web and knew that was the path to preserving and publishing.
My first opportunity to visit East Syracuse and Elwyn was in 2007. He and Esther were gratious hosts and made me feel very welcome.
I then became aware of the filing cabinets, boxes and tubs of envelopes and papers stuffed into corners of their living room and bedroom. Manila envelopes crammed with letters, lists, hand-drawn family trees and precious family photographs. All waiting for inclusion into Volume III, a publication that would not be happening.
What to do? Read more of this story on the Elwyn Ellsworth Benedict biography page.
More Benedict Books
Connecticut Society of Genealogists Inc.
Volume 39 Number 3 – December 2006
ISSN 0045-8120
The Connecticut Nutmegger
Article by LaRue Olsen on page 353 titled, The English Origins of the First Thomas Benedict of Long Island and Norwalk, CT. A detailed and thorough research paper filling 14 pages, with extensive endnotes. The research includes transcriptions from original documents uncovered in the Norfolk, U.K. using parish registers, birth, marriage and death records, plus estate and wills. This information is the foundation information on Thomas Benedict Sr. and his three Benedict generations before him.
Article by Emily Benedict Grey on page 367 titled, “Was this Man the Father of John Benedict of Cornwall, VT?“
History of Danbury, Connecticut
volumes Part I and Part II
ISBN 0-7884-0836-4
History of Danbury, Connecticut 1684-1896
Two volumes by Susan Benedict Hill (1836-1898). These are facsimile reprints of notes and manuscript left by James Montgomery Bailey with additional information by Ms. Hill. Index section has 107 references to surname Benedict. A reprint was published in 1998 by Heritage Books, Inc..
Per the author, Susan Hill:
“This work, the first written history of Danbury, was originally started by J. M. Bailey. His unfinisehd composition was then taken up by Susan Benedict Hill and completed in 1896. This text is a very precies account of the twon and its surrounding area. This work is a genealogical wealth of information.”
Portrait of New Canaan
The History of a Connecticut Town
ISBN 0-939958-00-7
Portrait of New Canaan
Written by Mary Louise King and published in 1981 by John Spencer, Inc., of Chester, Pennsylvania. There are 68 mentions of Benedict in the index.
Per the author, Mary Louise King:
“I am a writer. I happen to have been born in New Canaan, and when I returned in 1958 after an absence of 22 years, I resumed the work I had formerly done for the New Canaan Historical Society – title searching old houses. But a straight chain of title has never interested me. I have always wanted to know who were the people who occupied a house or a store, what they were like, what they did, and so I went farther afeild than land and probate records.”
List of Old Houses 100 Years Old or Over
Standing 1921 in or near Danbury, Conn.
List of Old Danbury Houses
Full title is: LIST OF OLD HOUSES ONE HUNDRED YEARS OLD OR OVER STANDING FEBRUARY, 1921 IN THE VICINITY OF DANBURY, CONNECTICUT. Compiled by Henry B. Betts of Danbury, Conn., then photostated at the Connecticut State Library in Harfford, Conn. on 1921.
There are seven houses mentioned that were occumpied by a Benedict: the Jachin Benedict house, Ira Benedict’s tavern, Abraham Benedict, Isaac Benedict land and buildings, Samuel Benedict place, Deacon Ira Benedict place and Francis Knapp Benedict house.
The Family of James Henry Allen 1802-1997
includes a Benedict branch
James Henry Allen 1802-1997
“A Treasure – The Family of James Henry Allen 1802-1997” is a personal family history for author John Allen. The Allen line spans New York, Pennsylvania, Dakota Territory, Alberts and State of Washington.
Our connection is with Electa “Mercy” Benedict marrying Elisha Allen in 1831 in the State of New York. Electa is mentioned in the Genealogy of the Benedicts book. The Allen book has the early Benedict history in the appendix and also contains part of the Benedict family tree chart on page A2, from Samuel Benedict 1645-1719 down to Electa, 5 generations later.
private publication
The Benedicts on the Lemhi
“The Lemhi” is a territory in mid-Idaho and located along the Lemhi River. The name is a variant spelling of “Limhi”, a personage of the Book of Mormons. The author’s family line ran from Danbury, Conn. with Samuel Benedict, then to Illinois, on to Butte, Montana The family line finally settled in the Lemhi area in late 1890’s.
No table of contents or name index. Author is Audrey Heese. The softcover book contains 180 pages of family stories, yarns and older photos.
private publication – 1968
Benedict Pioneers in Kentucky
A collection of short biographies of Benedict families in the state of Kentucky, starting with a John Benedict, b. ca. 1742 and lived in Kentucky. Included are wills, deeds, property tax lists, census records, and descendant lists.
Includes table of contents and name index. Some family photos. Soft cover, 73 pages. Author is Marvin J. Pearce of El Cerrito, California.
private publications – 1989 & 2010
Bull River Falls and Town of Bull River – v.I
Bull River Falls and Town of Bull River with Grandpa Clifton – v.II
Volume I – Published in hard cover format by Lyle C. Benedict. Volume I in 1989 is 55 pages of text plus many full-page photographs. Many family biograhies. Stories of the author’s family growing up in Bull Falls, British Columbia.
Volume II – Also in hard cover format, this contains all of volume I writings and extends the story by another two decades. Even more full size photos. Contributions by Dwain Benedict and George A. Benedict.
private publication – 2010
Daniel Benedict 1841 ~ 1907
Descendants of Smedley and Catherine (Dafoe) Benedict
A compliation of research material by Betty Mae [Benedict] McIntyre of Innisfil, Ontario. Private publication in 3-ring binder. Contains 15 sheets of chronological biographies, assessment rolls, census, marriages, cemetery records. Plus many old photographs of Benedict famiilies in the Grey County area of Ontario.