Biography for Benjamin Markham (4th Great Grandfather)
Signature of Benjamin Markham from “A Hinterland Settlement”[1]
Benjamin was born July 14, 1752 in Stafford, Tolland, Connecticut.[2] His death date and location is unknown, and will be discussed further below. Benjamin’s home for most of his life was in Tyringham, Berkshire, Massachusetts.
His parents are Daniel Markham and Thankful Heath. Daniel was born on November 13, 1704 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut. He died in Tyringham, Berkshire, Massachusetts on March 16, 1786. Thankful was born July 5, 1717 in Framingham, Middlesex, Massachusetts. Her death date is unknown, but would have been after 1786 in Tyringham. She is identified in Daniel’s 1786 probate records as the widow and relict. Her death is not recorded in the town’s vital records.
Benjamin and Mercy Bentley were married on November 18, 1779 in Tyringham by Reverend Adonijah Bidwell.[3]
Benjamin and Mercy had the following children:
- John Benjamin Markham, born November 29, 1780, Tyringham, Berkshire Co, MA; married Lina Race, 1807, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, USA; died January 12, 1858, Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
- Oringe Markham, born March 3, 1783, Tyringham, Berkshire Co, MA; married John Powell, May 27, 1801, Great Barrington, Berkshire, Massachusetts; died August 28, 1842.
- Benjamin Markham Jr., born January 1, 1785, Tyringham, Berkshire Co, MA; married Mariah Race, 1807, Tyringham, Berkshire Co, MA; died March 13, 1864, Villenova, Chautauqua, New York.
- Joshua Markham, born April 8, 1789, Tyringham, Berkshire Co, MA; married Anna C. Dowd, about 1814, Occanum, Broome Co, NY; died May 9, 1878, Dayton, Cattaraugus, New York.
- Daughter #2 Markham was born after 1784 and before 1790 according to 1800 and 1810 Census records in Tyringham, Berkshire Co, MA.
- Daughter #3 Markham was born after 1790 and before 1794 according to 1800 and 1810 Census records in Tyringham, Berkshire Co, MA.
- Daniel Markham, born about 1792, Massachusetts; died 1878, Washington Co, KS.
- Belinda Markham, born January 12, 1797, Tyringham, Berkshire Co, MA; married Isaac Comstock, March 11, 1819, New Marlborough, Berkshire, Massachusetts; died January 15, 1882, Liberty, Susquehanna Co, PA.
Narrative
Benjamin was born in Stafford, Tolland, Connecticut. He was the eighth of nine children. His father was a farmer, so Benjamin would have worked on the farm as a young boy. In 1766, when he was 14, their family moved to Tyringham, Berkshire, Massachusetts.
Tyringham was originally called Housatonic Township Number 1, which was the area that became Tyringham and Monterey. The town of Tyringham began with an agricultural economy which soon shifted to include cottage industries and manufacturing. In 1786, the town had 182 dwelling houses, forty shops, two tanneries, four potash works, two iron works, and four grist and saw mills. The townspeople made 1185 barrels of cider that year. More than ten thousand acres of the uplands were woodlands or unimproved land, but about 2500 acres had been improved for tillage. About two thousand acres were mowed for hay, and more than three thousand acres were used as pasturage for the townspeople’s five hundred horses, eight hundred swine, 178 oxen, five hundred cattle, and 541 milk cows.[4]
In 1776 Benjamin, along with his father and his older brother Daniel, signed the Oath of Allegiance. Each colony had a version of this. They varied some, but two main components were that the signer had to renounce King George the Third of Great Britain and to discover and make known to officials all treasons and traitorous conspiracies to the colonies that the signer became aware of.[5] Any man who didn’t sign the Oath was not considered to be a Patriot, and would be seen as a Loyalist or Tory (remaining loyal to Great Britain and not the colonies).
In 1779 Benjamin married Mercy Bentley. They were married by Reverend Adonijah Bidwell in Tyringham. Reverend Bidwell was the first minister in Tyringham and served for many years.[6] His house is still standing today and is a museum.[7]
According to Tyringham Town Records Benjamin and Isaac Heath Junior (Benjamin’s cousin) appraised a black or dark gray roan horse belonging to Joshua Warren to be valued at three pounds “the old way”. This was done on December 25, 1779. The horse had apparently been lost.[8]
On March 11, 1782, at a Tyringham town meeting they were voting for various town positions. Benjamin was voted to be Constable, with 39 out of 53 votes. Then later in the meeting record is this, “Upon Benja Markham praying to be excused from Serving as Constable The Town Voted that they would not Excuse him”.[9] So, Benjamin became Constable, and remained in this position for several years. Back in these times a person didn’t necessarily run for office. The townspeople voted for who they thought was the best person for a particular position. In this case the people must have thought Benjamin would be a good Constable. Speculation, which cannot be proved, is that he was an accomplished Revolution War Veteran, was very capable and was a person they could trust to do a good job.
A few days after the vote, on March 20, 1782, Benjamin was notified as Constable by the Selectmen (similar to a city council) that he was to notify the town’s inhabitants to attend an upcoming town meeting in order to vote for Governor and Senators.[10]
In April of 1782 Benjamin, as Constable, received a letter from John Hancock, Governor of the State of Massachusetts.[11] This letter, which is not known to exist today, is likely something that Governor Hancock sent to acknowledge a town constable.
In October of 1784 and again in October of 1786 Benjamin, as Tax Collector for the town of Tyringham (which was a role of the Constable) sold land belonging to people who had not paid their taxes.[12],[13] This must have been a difficult task for him, he likely knew the people who were having their land confiscated. Or perhaps the owner just vacated the land to look elsewhere for a new opportunity. Economic conditions were difficult after the Revolutionary War. Many people were struggling and some would not have had enough money to pay their taxes.
On November 13 of 1786 Benjamin sold the land that his father had given him in lots 115, 17 and 18, a total of 84 acres. He sold it to his brother-in-law Israel Alden.[14] This land is mentioned in his father’s probate distribution as being already given to Benjamin, but no deed records have been found.[15] This land was just north of what was then called 12 Mile Pond, today it is Lake Garfield.
On the same day that November Benjamin also bought land from the same Israel Alden, 44 acres that included a grist mill in lot 242. This was a few miles west of 12 Mile Pond and was just northeast of 6 Mile Pond, today known as Lake Buel.[16]
On May 28, 1790, Benjamin was the plaintiff in a court case versus Elisha Killbourn. Benjamin claimed that Elisha owed him three pounds nineteen shillings and seven pence. They called Elisha to court three times but he didn’t show up. The court then ruled in favor of Benjamin for the sum of four pounds eleven shillings and ten pence (original amount plus interest).[17] Upon hearing this Elisha then appealed to the Supreme Judicial Court. The results of this appeal are not available online at the current time and further research will be needed to discover it.
In a land tax record dated October 1, 1798, Benjamin is listed as an occupant, and David Esther as owner, of a house valued at $20 on 25 acres, total assessed value of $250.[18] It is not known who David Esther is and why Benjamin was an occupant. He already owned land and a house at this point. More research is needed to explain this. The Benjamin who is the subject of this paper is the only known Benjamin in Berkshire, other than his son who would be too young at this time. So, this must be our Benjamin.
On January 21, 1799, after buying and selling several pieces of land over the years, Benjamin buys half interest in a saw mill for $100 from Nathaniel Bird. This includes half of the dam mill yard and implements, with the right to pond and raise water for the use of said mill.[19] On the same day Benjamin also buys land from John Joslin. This land is in lot 187, that part south of the Town Road (today’s State Highway 23 that runs through Monterey). Lot 187 is next to other land he owns. The price was $100.[20] Then, also on that same day, he also bought 100 acres in lot 241 for $1700. This included a house, barn and other buildings. The seller was the widow Sarah Joslin and her two sons.[21] This land is next to his other land.
After a few more land transactions over the next few years, on June 21, 1802, Benjamin sells 60 acres, the grist mill and a small house to Joseph Brewer for $500.[22]
In a court case on April 16, 1804, Benjamin was the plaintiff and Thomas Stow the defendant. Benjamin claimed that he sold a yoke of oxen to Thomas for $70. Also, that Thomas still owed him $45 from an earlier sale of a yoke of cattle. Thomas didn’t show up in court and the judgement was awarded to Benjamin for $45 plus court costs.[23] Why he wasn’t awarded judgement for the $70 is not known, it seems like he didn’t come out fully compensated.
Benjamin was in another court case on April 20, 1805. This time he was the defendant, Sarah Kingsley, widow, was the plaintiff and claimed that Benjamin owed her $26.87 from a promissory note signed by him. The Court ruled for Sarah, and judged that Benjamin pay her $29.46 plus court costs.[24]
Benjamin made two land transactions on March 19, 1806. The first was to Joseph Brewer, who bought the ½ interest in the saw mill for $30.[25] So Benjamin was no longer in the milling business. He also sold 100 acres in lot 241, with a house and barn, to Joseph Brewer Junior for $823.62.[26] He had paid $1700 for this lot and house in 1799, so he lost quite a bit of money on this one. His son Joshua signed as a witness on both of these transactions.
Another court case occurred on April 20, 1810. Darius Joslin claimed that Benjamin owed him $69.89. This time Benjamin did not show up in court, and the court ruled against him for the sum of $76.17 plus court costs.[27] The records do not state what the debt was for. Darius was probably related to Sarah Joslin, whom Benjamin had an earlier case with about debt.
For information regarding Benjamin’s involvement in the Revolution War, see the paper Benjamin Markham Powder Horn Hunt. In addition to describing the hunt for his powder horn, this paper describes what his involvement in the war might have been.
Shays’ Rebellion
In the years immediately after the Revolutionary War, the individual states and the weak federal government owed enormous war-related debts. Americans had suffered hard economic blows during the war and now were excluded from traditional trade within the British Empire. The financial crisis in Massachusetts was especially severe because of a scarcity of currency and attempts by the Commonwealth to liquidate its war loans quickly through heavy taxation. The subsistence farmers and small-scale artisans in central and western Massachusetts found themselves in a particularly difficult position – mired in personal debt and resulting lawsuits and oppressed by heavy state taxes levied on behalf of wealthy speculators who controlled much of the outstanding state debt. At the same time, onerous property qualifications for voting or holding office, and the high cost of maintaining local representatives at meetings of the state legislature in faraway Boston meant that the citizens of central and western Massachusetts, including many veterans of the war that had made the new nation, found themselves with no say in a distant state government. Their grievances, which had been growing since the Revolution, were marked by protests, public debates, riots, and interference with local officials and courts (to prevent legal action from being taken against debtors and riotous behavior), but events only boiled over into violent resistance in 1786.
Berkshire County was the first to put a stop to courts at the beginning of the Revolution, and were reluctant to consent to have them resume. No probate courts were held here from 1774 until 1778, and deeds were not recorded from 1776 until 1778.[28]
Shays’ Rebellion was an armed uprising in Western Massachusetts in response to the debt crisis among the citizenry and in opposition to the state government’s increased efforts to collect taxes both on individuals and their trades. The fight took place mostly in and around Springfield during 1786 and 1787. American Revolutionary War veteran Daniel Shays led four thousand rebels (called Shaysites) in a protest against economic and civil rights injustices. In 1787, Shays’ rebels marched on the federal Springfield Armory in an unsuccessful attempt to seize its weaponry and overthrow the government. The local government found itself unable to finance troops to put down the rebellion, and it was consequently put down by the Massachusetts State militia and a privately funded local militia.
The widely held view was that the Articles of Confederation needed to be reformed as the country’s governing document, and the events of the rebellion served as a catalyst for the Constitutional Convention and the creation of the new government. There is still debate among scholars concerning the rebellion’s influence on the Constitution and its ratification.[29]
Benjamin may not have been directly involved in this rebellion, but he may have been affected by it. In nearby Great Barrington, protestors blockaded the court house and prevented court sessions. Being quite close to Tyringham, and with Benjamin still being Constable and Tax Collector, this had to be concerning to him and may have prompted him to increase security in Tyringham. Tax Collectors were especially disliked by many people who couldn’t pay their taxes. This would have put Benjamin in a difficult position.
Benjamin’s death date and location are unknown. Some books and websites have him moving to Broome County, New York, to be with his son (Benjamin Jr.) and a daughter (Belinda) that moved there. There are several indications and sources in Broome County for Benjamin Markham. But they are more likely for Benjamin Junior, his son. The supposed sources just don’t prove it’s Benjamin Senior.
Upon finding a second powder horn that he carved for his nephew in Granville, New York, this opened up a new possibility. Based upon the horn carving, he was in Granville in 1816, with his nephew Eliud Smith. Assuming, with no proof, that he had spent time in this area during the Revolutionary War, he may have gone back there after his wife passed away. It may have been an area he was familiar with, and there was nothing to keep him in Tyringham in his older age. But again, this is speculation.
No will has been found for Benjamin. He had sold most of his land by 1806. After 1810 there are no known records for him, and there is no known cemetery location or burial information of any kind. He had to have been an interesting guy. He was a farmer with a couple hundred acres of land, a saw mill owner, a grist mill owner, a Constable and a Tax Collector. He very likely participated in the Revolutionary War. He must have been quite artistic judging by the carving on his powder horns. And he was a husband and father, as well as being a teenage son who had helped his father move from Stafford to Tyringham. More research is needed to figure out what really happened to him after 1810.
Benjamin lived in the following places:
1752 – He was born in Stafford, Tolland, Connecticut.
1766 – His father moved their family to Tyringham when Benjamin was 14, shown by a land purchase.[30]
1779 – Benjamin got married in Tyringham.
1790 – The family was on the Federal Census in Tyringham.[31]
1800 – The family was still in Tyringham.[32]
1810 – Still in Tyringham.[33]
1816 – Possibly in Granville, Washington, New York.
Suggested reading:
“Tyringham – A Hinterland Settlement”, by Eloise Myers, published by Hinterland Press, 1989.
“Stafford, Connecticut, 1719-1870 – From farm to factory”, by William P. McDermott, Kerleen Press, Tolland, CT, 2010.
“Berkshire – The First Three Hundred Years, 1676-1976”, by Tyler Resch, published by William H. Tague and Robert B. Kimball, 1961.
“Berkshire County, Its Past History and Achievements”, by Charles F. Palmer.
“The Berkshire Jubilee – Celebrated at Pittsfield, Mass – August 22 and 23, 1844”, by Weare C. Little and E. P. Little, Pittsfield, 1845.
“History of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men”, New York, J. B. Beers & Co., 1885.
“Four Papers of the Berkshire Historical and Scientific Society”, Published by the Society, 1886.
“Gazetteer of Berkshire County, Mass., 1725-1885”, by Hamilton Child, Syracuse, NY, Printed at the Journal Office, 1885.
Biography written by Kem & Becky Marcum; October, 2022.
[1] A Hinterland Settlement – Tyringham, Massachusetts and Bordering Lands, by Eloise Myers; Printed by Eagle Printing and Binding Company, Pittsfield, Massachusetts; Page 9.
[2] Descendants of Deacon Daniel Markham – Workbook 2008, by Curtis Hartwig and Nancy (Markham) Hartwig; Binghamton, New York; Page 12.
[3] Ibid, Descendants of Deacon Daniel Markham, page 12.
[4] 1786 Massachusetts Town Valuations, Tyringham; Massachusetts Archives, Volume 163, Page 340.
[5] Acts and Resolves of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, Volume 5 (1769-1780); Boston, 1886.
[6] Adonijah Bidwell; Wikipedia; accessed at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adonijah_Bidwell.
[7] History of the Museum, The Bidwell House Museum; accessed at bidwellhousemuseum.org.
[8] Tyringham’s book of records, 1711-1898; Page 1; accessed at Familysearch.org.
[9] Ibid, page 251.
[10] Ibid, page 258.
[11] Ibid, Descendants of Deacon Daniel Markham, page 12.
[12] Massachusetts Land Records, Berkshire County, Volume 26, Page 128; accessed at Familysearch.org.
[13] Ibid, Volume 36, Page 20.
[14] Ibid, Volume 30, Page 444.
[15] Berkshire County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1761-1917, Page 1328:1; New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2017 (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives. Digitized images provided by FamilySearch.org); accessed at AmericanAncestors.org.
[16] Ibid, Volume 38, Page 34.
[17] Massachusetts Court of Common Pleas, Berkshire County Records 1760-1860, Volume 12, Page 57; accessed from familysearch.org.
[18] Massachusetts and Maine 1798 Direct Tax, Volume 20, Page 385; accessed at Americanancestors.com.
[19] Ibid, Massachusetts Land Records, Berkshire County, Volume 41, Page 549.
[20] Ibid, Massachusetts Land Records, Berkshire County, Volume 41, Page 541.
[21] Ibid, Massachusetts Land Records, Berkshire County, Volume 44, Page 13.
[22] Ibid, Massachusetts Land Records, Berkshire County, Volume 44, Page 15.
[23] Ibid, Massachusetts Court of Common Pleas, Berkshire County, Volume 12, Page 262; accessed at Familysearch.org.
[24] Ibid, Massachusetts Court of Common Pleas, Berkshire County, Volume 22, Page 289; accessed at Familysearch.org.
[25] Ibid, Massachusetts Land Records, Berkshire County, Volume 42, Page 392.
[26] Ibid, Massachusetts Land Records, Berkshire County, Volume 42, Page 393.
[27] Ibid, Massachusetts Court of Common Pleas, Berkshire County, Volume 27, Page 536; accessed at Familysearch.org.
[28] Gazetteer of Berkshire County, Mass., by Hamilton Child, Syracuse, NY, Printed at the Journal Office, 1885.
[29] Shays’ Rebellion; Wikipedia; accessed at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shays%27_Rebellion.
[30] Ibid, Massachusetts Land Records, Berkshire County, Volume 12, Page 150; accessed at Familysearch.org.
[31] 1790 United States Federal Census, accessed at Ancestry.com.
[32] 1800 United States Federal Census, accessed at Ancestry.com.
[33] 1810 United States Federal Census, accessed at Ancestry.com.