Phebe Lain and Jeremiah Bennet’s Story, Minisink, NY

Jeremiah Bennett was born Feb. 20, 1760, and said to be the son of Thomas and Mary (Dyckman) Bennet. Two of Jeremiah’s children told 1880 federal census enumerators their father was born in Connecticut; other researchers claim he was born in Minisink.

5^th Great Grandfather’s lifetime included the fight for American independence from England which I’m certain greatly influenced his next choice. When Jeremiah was nineteen, he signed up in Col. John Hathorn’s Orange County, New York Militia Regiment. In June, July, and November 1779, his name appeared on payrolls among the certificates returned by Col. John Hathorn.

Jeremiah collected four pounds, thirteen shillings and six pence owed from Col. Hathorn’s Regiment after the Revolutionary War ended August 2, 1785.

Excerpt from Ancestry.com

Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M246, 138 rolls); War Department Collection of Revolutionary War Records, Record Group 93; National Archives, Washington. D.C.

Regiment: Fisher´s Regiment of Militia, 1775-1781 (Folder 100) - Hopkins´ Reg of Militia, 1779 (Folder 116)

Beatrice Linskill Sheehan notes in her book, Descendants of William Lain and Keziah Mather with her Lineage from Reverend Richard Mather, that Jeremiah also enlisted in the New York Levies with Col. Lewis DuBois’ Regiment serving under Captain Daniel Gano during the American Revolution.

Five years before the War of Independence, Phebe Lain was born Feb. 15, 1770 in Minisink, New York to William Lain and Keziah Mather. The Lain family farm passed from generation to generation and is still a working farm in Orange County.

Jeremiah Bennett married Phebe Lain Dec. 12, 1789. They would become the parents of nine children:

1)    Sally, born Oct. 31, 1790; married Abraham Kimber; died Susquehanna Co., PA 1850

2)    Keziah, born Nov. 2, 1792; married Benjamin Kimber March 30, 1812, Westtown, Orange Co., NY; died Troy, Bradford Co., PA Jan. 23, 1858

3)    David, born May 13, 1796; married Phebe Lateer; died Orange Co., NY June 29, 1868

4)    Josiah, born June 11, 1799; married Hannah Kimber Dec. 6, 1818; died Chemung Co., NY May 21, 1881

5)    Bethia, born August 8, 1801; married James Spencer; died Susquehanna Co., PA March 24, 1879

6)    Phebe, born Sept. 4, 1803; married Ezra Bacorn; died Chemung Co., NY 1884

7)    Maria, born Jan. 21, 1806; never married

8)    Joanna, born April 25, 1808

9)    Eunice, born Jan. 31, 1811; married James Loree Jan. 4, 1834; died Schuyler Co., NY Dec. 21 1893

Oct. 1, 1798, the Town of Minisink tax man assessed homes and farms within the town; William Lain, Jeremiah’s father-in-law, owned the Bennet home. In 1799, 1800, and 1801 NYS Tax Assessment Rolls (Minisink), he needed to pay taxes for real estate. Oddly, no entries exist for Great Grandfather in the Orange County deed or mortgage indexes making me think Jeremiah and Phebe always lived on Lain land.

Jeremiah supported the First Presbyterian Church in Westtown by contributing $3.00 to the building fund July 10, 1805. His daughter, Keziah, would marry Benjamin Kimber in this church seven years later.

Phebe’s father, William Lain, passed January 1811. He bequeathed $25 to Phebe and gifted Jeremiah the land where the Bennet family lived. William Lain then instructed Jeremiah to pay Phebe’s sister, Sarah Brundage, $675.

The following summer on the 24^th of August 1811, Great Grandfather Jeremiah died at the age of 51 years. He’s buried in Loree Cemetery, Westtown, New York. Phebe Bennet passed Feb. 3, 1830, and rests beside him.

  

Loree Cemetery

Westtown, Orange Co., New York

Dear Coz, Seat yourself in that big easy chair and prick open your ears, Kimber Letter 21

Lucretia Bennett writes to Cousin Eliza Jane (Kimber) Seely in Troy, Pennsylvania from Unionville, New York Nov. 16, 1856. There’s talk of Aunt Ann, Cousin Hannah Loree, Josiah Bennett, Lucretia’s Dad David Bennett, and little sister Pamela. Three of the Kimber sons-in-law, John Decker, William Clark and Caleb Jones, are mentioned too. I know Eliza Jane Seely must have enjoyed hearing the local doings of the folks back home in Orange County.

You can read the letter transcript or listen to my narration by clicking below on the YouTube video.

Kimber Letter 21, page 1

Kimber Letter 21, page 2

Transcripts provided by the late Edna Raymond, Town of Minisink Historian.

Father and Mother, Now is your Time to Come, Kimber Letter 20, August 31, 1856

Kimber letter 20 reflected urgency about the well-being of Keziah (Bennett) and Benjamin Kimber. Keziah must have written her daughter Sarah and husband William Mackney letting them know the matriarch and patriarch were not happy in their new home.

Keziah’s letter galvanized the family in Troy, Pennsylvania. As soon as William and Sarah Mackney read it, they sent word to Moses Seely and wife Jane Eliza Kimber. Moses and Jane came to the Mackney home that evening to discuss what could be done to help.

It was unusual for the sons-in-law to write, but each of them penned a letter to Benjamin and Keziah inviting them to come live with them and pledging to help. The Kimber daughters, Sarah and Jane Eliza, sent words of encouragement too.

Sometime in 1856 4^th Great Grandparents Keziah and Benjamin left Orange County, New York behind them. I didn’t know where they were living. I got a clue when William mentioned Mark in his letter; the only Mark I’m aware of who has a family connection is Mark Congleton, husband of Mary B. Kimber. Mark and Mary lived in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania and I suspect the Grandparents had been living with them or nearby.

You can read the letter for yourself or listen to my narration by clicking below on the YouTube video.

Letter 20, page 1

Letter 20, page 2

Letter 20, page 3

Transcripts provided by the late Edna Raymond, Town of Minisink Historian.