Delaware County NY Genealogy and History Site

Submitted May 2, 1997 by Fran Dumas

Delaware County Pioneers

Thaddeus Benedict

Thaddeus Benedict was the second and only surviving son of Daniel and Esther Seymour Benedict of Fairfield County, Connecticut. He was born at New Canaan on September 2, 1758, so he was not quite 18 when his dying father made his will in August 1776.

Daniel Benedict was the son of an early New Canaan settler, and owned a considerable amount of property there and in the family's former seat at Norwalk. At the time of his death, the inventory of his estate included such items of apparel as striped trousers, blue and white hose, gold lace button loops, brown and gray wigs, and a silver-headed sword with belt. Besides these perhaps somewhat dandy accoutrements he owned a long list of tools, livestock, harness, books, bedding and furniture; and real estate including a dwelling house in Norwalk, a barn, a gristmill, a half-share in a sawmill and eleven other parcels. He was, in short, a rich man with a rich man's tastes.

There is no known record of where Daniel Benedict's sympathies lay during the Revolution. His elder son and namesake, Daniel Jr., was, however, with Washington's army at Bergen, New Jersey in the summer of 1776. Word came that the young man was ill and Daniel Sr. went to visit his ailing son in the Continental Army camp. Young Daniel died despite his father's nursing, and when the elder Daniel returned home he very soon became ill himself and died at the age of 46. His will devolves a brown mare and a woman's saddle upon his wife, a third of his moveables to be her own property "forever," and the income of a third of the real estate during her widowhood. Upon her remarriage or death the property was to be divided into 11 shares, 3 of which were to go to Thaddeus, and one each to his eight sisters. Since Esther was pregnant at the time of her husband's death, provision was made for the child, depending on its gender. Daniel's two elder daughters, children of his first wife Anna Hoyt, had already received 30 pounds each, and this was to be deducted from their share.

The distribution was made in 1785, presumably at the time of Esther's remarriage. Thaddeus' two elder sisters Rachel and Anna did in fact have 30 pounds deducted from their shares of a little more than 60 pounds each. His younger sisters Mary and Esther, and the heirs of his deceased sisters Sarah, Jemima, Katherine and Abigail, all received undiminished shares. His was a triple share, and worth more than 180 pounds. Daniel was long since in his grave at Pine Island in Norwalk, with his grandparents nearby. Esther died many years later, in 1837 at the age of 96, and was buried next to him. She had of course acquired the surname of her second husband, and she was buried as Mrs. Esther Close.

Thaddeus married Ruth Lockwood in New Canaan in 1778 and sold off all his inherited real estate before the end of 1785, almost as soon as he acquired it. He was engaged in a sheep and wool-raising deal at New Canaan in the fall of 1790 and was then described as a resident of Norwalk. He was at Norwalk for the 1790 census, at which time he and his wife had four sons. He moved to Delaware County, near Delhi, in May 1791. The first log schoolhouse is said to have been erected in the area about 1790, and Thaddeus Benedict was one of the early teachers there.

In 1809 Ruth Lockwood Benedict and her husband, of Delhi, signed a quitclaim deed yielding their share of her father Isaac Lockwood's estate back in Norwalk to her brother Hezekiah. The same year, the couple's eldest son Thaddeus Benedict Jr. bought a lot in Deposit. Thaddeus Sr. died in Delhi in 1812 and Ruth died in Deposit in 1840 at her son's house. She is buried in the old cemetery at Laurel Bank.

Thaddeus Benedict [Thomas 1-3, Samuel 4, Daniel 5] was born at New Canaan CT on 2 September 1758; he married Ruth, daughter of Isaac and Ruth (Whitney) Lockwood on 3 September 1778. He died August 1812 at Delhi, Delaware Co., NY. Their children were: 1. Daniel, b 20 February 1783 at Norwalk; m 1 November 1803 Lois McCall. He d 18 May 1818 at Walton. 2. Thaddeus Jr., b 4 May 1785 at Norwalk; m 2 September 1807 Polly Hulse. He d East Lansing 3 February 1868. 3. Josiah, b 1 September 1787 at Norwalk. 4. Isaac, b 28 March 1790 at Norwalk; m (1) 24 Oct 1813 Sophia Larrabee; m (2) 20 September 1833 Polly McKeever; m (3) 8 September 1846 Lydia French Goodrich. 5. Esther, 23 April 1793 at Delhi; m William Hawley. She died before 1836. 6. Jeremiah, b 3 August 1795 at Delhi; m Elizabeth Herbert. He died 12 January 1852 at Covington KY. 7. Sally, b 11 December 1797 at Delhi. She died in June, 1812. 8. David, b 12 September 1800 at Delhi; m 1827 Sarah Knapp.