(1760-1838). Private, 2nd and 4th Regiments, Westchester County Militia.
Connecticut Church Record Abstracts 1630-1920 show that Benajah Bouton, born on October 31, 1760, was baptized in New Canaan, Connecticut, on December 28, 1760. He was the son of Samuel Bouton (1738-1803), and Sarah Bouton (1738-1823). His given name has been spelled in various ways in legal documents: Benijah, Benayah, and Benaijah.
By 1777, Benajah was living in Westchester County, New York, where he took the Oath of Allegiance, per the Calendar of Historical Manuscripts, Relating to the War of the Revolution, in the Office of the Secretary of State, Albany, New York; many New York residents, including those who served as patriots in the military, swore allegiance to the Crown, often under duress, during the occupation by the British. According to his cemetery headstone, where he is listed as serving in Captain Delavan’s dragoons, Benajah served in several companies during the Revolutionary War. In New York in the Revolution as Colony and State, by James A. Roberts, published in 1898, Benajah is recorded as an enlisted man in both the 2nd Regiment of Westchester County Militia under Colonel Thomas Thomas and the 4th Regiment of Westchester County Militia under Colonel Thaddeus Crane and Major Nathaniel Delavan. He is also listed as a private in Crane’s Militia Regiment and Thomas’s Militia Regiment in U.S., Compiled Revolutionary War Military Service Records, 1775-1783. His war pension records, in U.S., Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application File, 1800-1900, list his name as both Bouton and Boughton. A membership application for the Sons of the American Revolution, filed with the New Jersey State Society of that organization, specifies that he was a private in the New York State Troops. In 1776, he was in Captain Samuel Delavan’s Company of Rangers under Colonel Thomas Thomas’s regiment. He was reported to have taken part in battles fought at Throggs Neck, Ward House near Eastchester, and Kings Bridge on York Island under Colonel Gibbs, and he may have served in the “Washington Guards.” In 1777, he served in Captain William Fancher’s Company and participated in the Battles of Ridgefield and Saugatuck in Captain Abijah Gilbert’s Company. In 1778, he served in Captain Samuel Lewis’s Company. He fought in the Battle of Bedford, New York in 1779 in either Captain Samuel or Nathaniel Delevan’s Company and continued to serve in the military until 1795.
“Early Connecticut Marriages” lists Benajah’s marriage to Ruth Mead on March 29, 1787. Ruth’s parents, Captain Matthew Mead and Mary née Bush, were both from Greenwich, Connecticut.
According to the July 29, 2011 recollections of Sarah Johnson Witt, a five-times great-granddaughter of Ruth’s parents, Ruth’s father, Matthew Mead, served as an ensign in 1762 during the French and Indian War, and later as a captain in the Connecticut Militia 9th Regiment that served in New York during the Revolutionary War, in 1776 and 1777. Matthew Mead’s older brother, John Mead, was a brigadier general in that war.
Benajah and Ruth were the parents of Richard M. (1788-1848); Amos (1790-1849); Samuel (1791-1862); Sophia (1796-1862); Maria Bouton Brush (1798-1869); and James (1801-1857). Cemetery records show that all are interred in the Old Burying Hill Cemetery, commonly referred to as the Old Burying Ground or Old Burial Ground, except for Maria Brush. According to Sarah Johnson Witt, there were eight children in all.
Benajah is listed in the NY, U.S. Tax Assessment Rolls, 1700-1908 for Kings County (Brooklyn) in 1799. The 1810 federal census lists Benajah as head of household living in Brooklyn. There were nine people living in the same home: one man 45 or older, one woman 45 or older, one male 16-25 years old, one female 10-15 years old, two males under 10 years old, and two females 10-15 years old. New York Land Records 1630-1975 show William Willis granting land to Banajah in 1813 in Suffolk County, New York. By the 1830 federal census, the Bouton family had moved to Huntington, Long Island, and nine people were living in the same home: one man 60-69 years old, one woman 60-69 years old, one male 40-49, one male 30-39, two females 20-29, one male 20-29, one male 15-19, and one free colored female 10-23.
The Long Island Star published a death announcement on October 4, 1838, for Banajah, declaring his death on October 2, 1838 in West Neck, Huntington. He was a resident of Huntington at his death, according to a notice about his estate published on December 21, 1841, in The Brooklyn Evening Star. Ruth, his widow, died on June 12, 1841, also in West Neck, Huntington, and was interred in the Old Burying Ground in Huntington.