Benoni Patten, Revolutionary War Soldier

Tracing Benoni's parentage has been a study in human nature. I found it not unlike current events and times without being cut and dry and certainly a little messy how our Benoni came into this world. 

Introducing the main characters.
Adding to the confusion, it should be noted that a frequent claim as to Benoni's parentage has been that of John Patten and Abigail Makepeace. This is not true. While Benoni's biological father is named John Patten (probably not the same John Patten that married Abigail Makepeace), his biological mother is Margaret Holmes with Benoni being raised by his step-father William Wyman (Margaret Holmes' husband). 

Margaret Holmes and John Patten were never husband and wife, but obviously were in some sort of relationship, short-lived as it may have been. The relationship was mutual and acknowledged by Patten, we can see on the fifth of April 1757, Margaret brought suite against John Patten for, as it was put, "getting her with child". It is important to note, John Patten didnt put up a fight over paternity.

Benoni was born January 27, 1757 in Bedford, New Hampshire. He also lived in Putney, Vermont.

We see that Matthew Patten (no relation) was a well known and respected Justice of the Peace in Bedford, New Hampshire. On the fifth of April 1757 (over four months after Benoni was born) Justice Patten recorded in his diary, "was at James Walkers on John Pattens being apprehended by Margret Holms for his Getting her with child for which he agreed with her for 300 [pounds] old Tenor and he pd Charges".

excerpt from Justice Matthew Patten's diary from 1757, page 35

Margaret's parents were also living in Bedford, New Hampshire at the time and about this time sued some neighbors for saying Margaret's mother had procured abortion causing medication from a shady woman in the area to be used on her daughter to prevent Benoni’s live birth. (of course this was not true).

So our single mother, Margaret Holmes and her little son, Benoni probably living with her parents are found in New Hampshire's Bedford area and by 1759, Margaret is married to William Wyman. I love this William Wyman who married a young single mother and her little son who had a bit of a rough start. This name Wyman is note worthy in this story, as one of Benoni's sons was named David Wyman Patten, an important figure in early Church history. William Wyman must have left a lasting impression on Benoni to name a child for him.

William Wyman and Margaret would go on to have at least seven children of their own, all half-siblings to Benoni.

The next chapter of Benoni's life would be that of service to his country. His service in the Revolutionary war was noted for his imprisonment on a British ship and for the length of his service. 

Note: Benoni’s enlistment was less than two weeks after the first shots were fired at Lexington. He very possibly participated in the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, or at least could hear it and saw the movements of the companies. 

Benoni wasn't the only one in the Wyman household to serve, William Wyman with his sons, Henry, William, stepson Benoni Patten all served in the Revolutionary War. Margaret Wyman with her younger, small sons were left in the wilderness while the others served the Government and many tales are told of their hardships, and of the bravery of this woman of Scotch-Irish descent, as she with her small help attempted the making of maple sugar, with only the rudest utensils, and managed to keep the fires burning.

The following is Benoni's own account of his military service in the Revolutionary War. Original spelling retained. Items above the line are enclosed in carats <>. Editorial emendations are in brackets [].

"<May or June> in the Year 1775 I inlisted under Sergt John Me Pum for that campaign My colonels name Johnan<an> Brewer my Capt name Isaac Grey, first Lieut Thomas Millington his Brother was a Subaltern Joseph Colson was Drum Mager of our Regiment our Lieuts name was buckmaster he and the Colonel was wounded at Bunker Hill Battle 1775 Robert Conkey was our Fiefer <[unintelligible] names> Nathanul Ellot John Crosset Isaac Grey Alexander Conkey I served in this corps until I inlisted under Lieut Thomas Millington in the month of Dec in the same year for the year 1776 <Now look to the [unintelligible] page A.E> ———June or July in the year 1777. I Entered a board the Massachusetts Brig Freedom Capt John Cluston commander Lieut Adams & Lieut Abbott [unintelligible] on [unintelligible] month of Sept [unintelligible] we sailed I was made a prisnor by the British Carried to New York Harbor tarried there until Dec Sent round Long Island to Rhode Island Harbour put a board of another prison Ship held there until twelvth of March the set ashore at Bristol ferry in Rhode Island Carried to the Hospital in providence and said [sad] state tarried there until April 12. Got a Discharge and [unintelligible] Holm
[Page Two]In the month of Dec 1775 I inlisted with Lieut Thomas Willington in the Service of my Country for the year 1776. The place of my inslistment was Prospect Hill in the year State of Massachusetts My Colonl name was Asa Whitcome my Capt name I think was Daniel Whiting Willington Brother was another of our Lieut our orderly Sergent name was Benjamin. Phillips was one of our Corporals. Robert Dillon was another Whitney was another the given names of Phillips and Whitney are forgotten
Privates Lemuel Dewy : Antony Manuel Manuel Swasy, a private of the name of Lown Thomas Ferrel There was one Luce I think he was a Sergent our Drummers name Johnathan Willington
We marched from Prospect Hill to Roxbury we tarried there untill after the British Evacuation of Boston we then went into the Town and tarried there until August we then marched to Ticonderoga as Soon as I landed I was complimented by Lieut Riggs will you go down the Lake and fight the British by the liberty of the Capt I went and on oct 11th we had an Engagement we [unintelligible] Back to Ticondaroga and in two days went to the Hospital at Fort George at the head of Lake George I was verry sick and in december came Back to Ticondaroga and Found my Regiment I served untill the first day of January 1777 I then came home"

According to a portion of The History of Butler County, Benoni Patten was taken prisoner during the battle of New York and was confined several months at a British prison ship in New York harbor.

Further, this history reveals some of the hardships such prisoners endured.

“One day, after suffering from hunger for a long time, a large iron kettle, with peas boiled into a soup, was brought to the prisoners, with nothing to eat it with - without spoons, ladles or other utensils, and each had to help himself with such as he could find in that loathsome prison-ship,” it states in the History of Butler County.

So, how did Benoni Patten seize this rare offer of nourishment?


“He, in his hunger after food, took from his foot an old shoe and dipped it into the kettle of pea soup, and drank out of the heel of the shoe.”

Of his capture by the British we learn that the British Prime Minister, Lord Germain, took the position that since the Americans were rebels, they did not qualify to be treated as regular prisoners of war. It is said Benoni would often relate the hardships those prisoners had to undergo while thus confined, half fed, poorly clad, and abused by those in charge. 

The British used up city jail space in New York and brought in a number of unseaworthy hulks which they anchored in Wallabout Bay (now Brooklyn Navy Yard), which they converted to prison ships. Benoni was moved to a prison ship in Rhode Island Harbor about three months before the most notorious prison ship of all, the Jersey was brought in to Wallabout Bay. 

Benoni endured the infamous harsh winter at Valley Forge, at Trenton. He also experienced the satisfaction of seeing Cornwallis’ surrender at Yorktown.

After doing his part and having sacrificed much, he was needing rest and recovery. It would be a few more years until Benoni would meet Edith Cole. They were married 14 September 1779 in Westmoreland, Cheshire, New Hampshire. In Patten style and tradition, they would go on to have thirteen children. Edith, Polly, Margaret, Sally 1, John (our ancestor), Benoni Jr 1, Archibald,  Benoni Jr 2, Sally 2, Elizabeth, David Wyman, Sophia, Ira.

It is recorded that the Benoni Patten family lived with Edith's father, Jonathan Cole in Westmoreland, New Hampshire for a number of years and is found in the 1790 census as living there.

Of the thirteen children of Benoni and Edith, six accepted the true gospel of Jesus Christ including Dr John Patten (our ancestor), Archibald Patten, Elizabeth or Betsey Patten Parrish, David Wyman Patten, Ira Patten, Polly Patten, even the mother Edith Cole Patten were all baptized. They were a close family, they were familiar with the teachings of the Holy Bible, so when the truth came, they were ready and accepted it. 

Excerpt from David W. Patten - baptism of family members by Brigham Young.

"May 20, 1833, brother Brigham Young came to Theresa, Indian River Falls, where I had been bearing testimony to my relatives; and after preaching several discourses, he baptized my brothers Archibald and Ira Patten, and brothers-in-law, Warren Parrish, Mr Cheeseman and my mother and my sister, Polly."

Just a year prior to the family baptisms, in August 13, 1832, Benoni died at Orleans, Jefferson County, New York, at the home of his son Archibald Patten. According to Edith’s pension application they had lived in Orleans for six months prior to Benoni’s death. Benoni's widow did receive a pension for his service after his death.

Signature of Benoni Patten on his statement of war service.

Samuel I Burgess

Samuel Israel Burgess (1826-1875)

Our Samuel Israel Burgess was born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England on July 8, 1826 to his good parents Thomas Burgess and Mary Ann Nullis.

Samuel I Burgess and his parents, Thomas and Mary Ann, joined The Church in their native land and in 1836 they migrated together to be with the Saints in Nauvoo, Illinois. Surely they were involved in the building of the temple there and what joy, on February 7, 1846 Thomas and family were endowed in the Nauvoo Temple. What a blessing this must have been for the Burgess family! Samuel and his parents owned property in Nauvoo and after his father's property was damaged by the mobs, they fled Nauvoo in 1846 to Iowa.

Samuel married Marinda Hartwell June 2, 1850 by Lyman Stoddard at Springville, Pottawattamie, Iowa. Marinda was the only one of the Hartwell family to accept the gospel that we know of. Then in the summer of 1850 the new couple traveled with Sam's parents to Salt Lake City, Utah in an unknown company. They lived in Salt Lake City, Cottonwood, Lehi and Springville, Utah. These respective places are where their five children were born.

Marinda Hartwell Burgess Hughes (1831-1870)

What hard events, difficult circumstances or heartache occurred with the Samuel Burgess family over their nine years of marriage and family life, we do not have record. They moved a lot, was Marinda done moving with the small children? Was the marriage too difficult to stay? Had she become disillusioned with her religious beliefs? We do not know. It is all speculation, but the later events in Samuel's life show a side of Samuel's character that might be telling to the reader. Whatever the reasons, we know that sometime between August 1858 and 1859, Marinda Hartwell, left Samuel and her five small children never to be heard from again. At the time, their children were very young; Laura, age 7, Samuel age 6, Lizzie age 3, Thomas age 2 and Cleopatra was a baby (Cleopatra is our ancestor). What torment, what loss this must have been for everyone.

Marinda had sought another man and was remarried to John Hughes, Jr about 1859 in Utah. Marinda appears on the October 1860 census living in Camp Floyd, Fairfield, Cedar, Utah. Marinda is enumerated as twenty eight years old from her birth state of New York living with her husband John Hughes a twenty four year old blacksmith from New York.

I wanted to raise my voice as a direct descendant of Marinda in love and concern for her. Whatever circumstance drove her to abandon her infant child and four other small children must have been unbearable to endure even a moment longer. I know in my heart that she did what she had to do to survive. We know that Marinda went on to have at least three more children with John Hughes. With that in mind, we know the children weren't the problem. I believe she did everything she could in what must have been a very difficult situation to push her to her breaking point, to her final straw...to her leaving.

Who would be able to help raise these very young children? Samuel's own mother, widow Mary Ann Nullis Burgess, would be the saving grace for the now motherless Burgess children. What a blessing she must have been to the children. However, Grandmother Burgess would die just four years later leaving them alone again. It is said the oldest daughter, Laura then only ten years old would be relied upon to take care of her younger siblings.

By this time, Samuel received a call from Brigham Young to the cotton mission in Southern Utah's St. George and Washington area.

DIXIE COTTON MISSION of 1860's

On November 7, 1861, Sam Burgess left Salt Lake City in the company of Hugh Moon, John Ludd, Richard Hawkins, John Filling and William McMellon to go south to raise cotton and tobacco and the first night they camped at Cottonwood, at Thomas Bullock's farm. Samuel's mother came too, as she was one of the first to be buried in the St. George cemetery.

Samuel is noted among the Original St George Pioneers of 1861. In that same year, we have record that Samuel donated $25 to have the first town hall built. He also drew lot 42A Plat at 4th West and 4th North.

These cotton mission families endured the summer's blistering heat and were forced to continually rebuild their washed out dams on the Virgin River. As cotton growers they were successful, but they quickly found that to survive they had to grow their own food and "make do." Many were beset with chills and fever and were unaware that they had contracted malaria from the mosquitoes that bred in the seeping springs and along the streams' edges. This robbed them of much productive energy.

Many quit the mission. By June 1861 only twenty families remained in Washington. Late that year, the community received quite a number of new settlers, most of them from Sanpete County. Their spirits rose. One historian said, "Just to have a few fresh arrivals to share their miseries must have made the burden lighter." In 1862 the arriving cotton missionaries settled in what is now St. George.

Due to the alkali soil, the cotton crops did not completely germinate as expected, resulting in a limited harvest. A spirit of frustration and hopelessness overcame many of the early settlers. And by the time the Civil War ended, the economics no longer justified growing cotton in Utah's Dixie.

Once the cotton mission failed, Samuel moved to Pine Valley, Utah, this was about 1862, with his five children. It was a canyon with a beautiful stand of virgin pine trees, these trees were found to be without knots and perfect for the organ pipes of the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The water from Spring Branch was now carried through a longer millrace so more mills could be placed on it. The new millrace was made so that it circled round the old one. It extended east then north to a point just below the bridge above Sell's Grove. Here Robert Gardner, his son William and a brother in law, Bradford put up a mill with the first circular saw in the valley. This was the mill erected in the town. Up to then all the mills had used the old up and down known as "Muleys." The millrace now curved around through the southeast of Sell's Field and crossed back southwest in the Levi Snow's Pasture to run Whipple Mill. The water from the Whipple Mill tail-race ponded across the north in Maggie Calkins' field where Asa Calkins owned a gristmill. The then crossed out to the foot of the Cedar Hill into a field now owned by Effie Beckstrom. At this point Samuel Burgess and Ebenezer Bryce built the fourth sawmill in Pine Valley. It also had a shingle mill attached to it.

typical saw mill for that time

This is the same Ebenezer Bryce that was assigned to build a meeting house in Pine Valley. Bryce was a shipbuilder who had immigrated from Australia. When asked if he thought he could build a church, Bryce said, "If they will be satisfied to have it look like an upside-down ship, I'll be willing to try it." Of course the timbers used to build the church were from the Pine Valley Mountains. In 1868 after the roof was in place and finishing touches complete, Bryce remarked, "If floods come, it will float; if winds blow, it will roll over, but it will never crash."  Sam's business partner, Eb Bryce, is also known for his discovery of what he called Bryce Canyon. It is not recorded, but I am certain our Burgess family were involved with the building of this church in some capacity.

Pine Valley Church building (still in use) built 1868

They must have lived there for about eleven years during which time they harvested much of the timber in the area. Sam hauled many wagon loads into Salt Lake City. A few years later, he married widow Mahala Jane Mathis Thomas,  November 18, 1872, in Salt Lake City.

Pine Valley had become a thriving little community with saw mills on a rambling creek, schools, a bar to accommodate the outside workers hired to work at places of labor. In this setting, Samuel Burgess was raising his family.

The opening of mines in Pioche and the discovery of silver at Silver Reef in 1870 caused an increased demand for lumber products. Teamsters from Pine Valley were paid in gold for loads they hauled to Pioche. Marcellus E. "Cell" Bracken recalled, "Pioche, at that time was a wild town-possibly the wildest in the West. One night when I was there with a load of lumber, seventeen men were killed in gunfights, and a murder a day was considered about average." A gang of frontier outlaws learned that the teamsters of Pine Valley were paid in gold. They began preying upon the wagons as they returned to the mountains. Lurking in the brush along the trail, the highwaymen would leap up at an approaching wagon, level guns at the driver, and demand the gold he was carrying. The situation eventually became so serious that Wells Fargo established a local bank so that the freighters could be paid by check. "Pine Valley itself was no nest of angels," recalled Bracken. "As a matter of fact, it was probably one of the wildest of the Mormon towns. With the mills running at capacity, there weren't nearly enough family men to operate them, and many 'drifters' were hired. The town's peak population was about 600 persons, while ward membership never exceeded 275. Many of these drifters were murderers, thieves and army deserters....There were a number of saloons, and among the more worldly element, gambling flourished.

At this time in Samuel's life story, we come to the great tragedy. Samuel's second daughter, Mary Elizabeth "Lizzie", now a young woman, became infatuated with a young man, Ransom William Allphin, (they called him Rance) and they became sufficiently intimate that she became pregnant. Samuel insisted that Rance marry his daughter and even threatened him but Rance refused, saying that he had a wife before coming to Pine Valley from which he never divorced (this was probably not true). With Rance's adamant refusal to marry Lizzie, Samuel threatened to shoot Rance. They both went armed after that. As time went by, Samuel became more upset almost to the point of insanity.

Samuel made Lizzie leave home and she went to live with her married sister, Laura Burgess Nay, until the baby was born. The baby was named George Philip Allphin, born December 1874, and died 3 years later.

Robert Gardner lived in Pine Valley and in October 1875, Robert decided to go to Salt Lake Conference and took his wife LeNora with him. At that period the main traveled road out of Pine Valley went down a very winding road along a deep gorge known as Pinto Canyon. When it reached Pinto the road forked. The fork on the left went out to Pioche, Nevada where the men from Pine Valley took loads of lumber, grain, potatoes and other produce to the mines in Pioche. The fork on the right went east and then north to Salt Lake City.

Robert and LeNora stopped in Pinto and were seated on the ground eating their lunch when our Samuel Burgess came by and stopped to talk with them. Robert asked Sam why he was going down to Pinto, Sam said that Rance had taken a load of produce out to Pioche and his folks expected him back that afternoon; Sam intended to wait for Rance and was going to kill him.

Robert reasoned with Sam and asked him what good would it do and that two wrongs never made a right.  Robert thought he had sufficiently calmed Sam down enough for Sam to go back to Pine Valley. Robert said if he had known what was going to happen later, he would have stayed with Sam. Here Robert and Sam parted ways, with Robert going on to Salt Lake City and Sam starting back to Pine Valley. Despite Robert's good advice, as Sam advanced up the canyon, he must have become more and more upset and as Sam was a man of action, more and more resolved. Maybe Sam was taking his ideas from the tactics used by the gold seeking Pioche outlaws and highwaymen of the time. Maybe he even felt justified in his plans; knowing these same strategies and means were used often.

Near sight of Samuel Burgess death, "The Dairy"

The road that leaves Pinto, going to Pine Valley, winds its way south along the gorge. Then it turns sharply to the east and is fairly straight. Again it makes a sharp turn to the south. Just across the gorge before it makes this turn is a meadow known as "The Dairy." This place was fenced in because it had been used for a dairy. At this sharp turn, there next to the road was a large clump of oak trees. Here Sam turned his horse loose in "The Dairy" and hid in this clump of oak trees. Sam laid in wait for Rance.

Rance was driving his span of mules along the road to the east he glanced up and saw Sam's horse in "The Dairy." He guessed that Sam was hid near by so he laid his gun on the wagon seat beside him and kept a close watch for him as he rounded the clump of oaks and headed south. His mules pricked up their ears and Rance picked up his gun. Sam waited until Rance had passed by then stepped into the middle of the road and fired his gun striking Rance in the back. In the words of Cell Bracken, "Why the old man ought to have knowed better. There wasn't a one of them Allphins that wasn't a perfect shot."  Even after having been injured, Rance whirled around, fired his gun and got Sam right in the middle of the heart. Sam dropped dead right in the middle of the road.

Sam's bullet cut Rance's portal vein in two. Rance began to bleed profusely and became so weak that he had to lie down. He watched for the fork in the road that turned toward George Burgess's place in Grass Valley. That was closer than Pine Valley, and he knew he needed help as soon as he could get it.

The Gardner and George Burgess boys were playing down in the field below the house. One of the boys said they saw a wagon with no driver coming up the road. Soon enough, Rance climbed out and crawled over to the fence and called to them. They hurried down. He told them to run up to the house as fast as they could and tell their father that he had been shot and to please come get him.
Upon hearing the story George Burgess rushed down and took Rance up to his house. They all gathered round while Rance told them what had happened; he said they would find Sam dead in the middle of the road down by "The Dairy."

George and the women did everything they could to stop the bleeding, but to no avail. Rance died about three o'clock in the middle of the night October 11, 1875. They took his body to Pine Valley and sent some of the men of the town to get Sam's body.

Ira Joseph Earl and William P. Sargent made the coffins for them. The whole town was understandably upset.

When Cell Bracken was asked about the incident and if the town took sides, Cell responded, "I should say they didn't. Both families were loved and respected by all the town, and they all felt terrible. They all figured that Sam had gone through so much with his first wife leaving him with those children to raise, and then "Lizzie's" problem added to it that he was mentally upset."

Rance and Sam were both buried in the Pine Valley cemetery. Rance lies beside his mother Burnetta who died July 27th the year before. Only a few feet away, Sam lies at the foot of Grandfather William Snow's grave under a Cedar tree that has grown there since he was buried.

Despite this sorrow, the Keele and Burgess families continued to operate separate sawmills near each other on the creek.

The struggles and pursuits of Samuel I Burgess were finished, he passed away October 10, 1875.

This incident left our Cleopatra alone as all her brothers and sisters had started their own lives and moved away. Luckily Cleopatra would only have to wait seven more months to be married to William Augustus Keele. There would be no father or mother for our Cleopatra to celebrate this new couple's happy and blessed event. The Keele's would now be her people. (look for upcoming blog about the Keele's of Wayne county Utah)