I previously thought Henry BENNETT (1629 – 1707) was Alex’s 11th Great Grandfather; one of 4,096 in this generation of the Miner line.  However, it turns out that Henry BENNETT II who married Sarah CHAMPION in Connecticut, was not his son after all.

Henry was born in 1629 in England.   He married his first wife Lydia PERKINS in 1651 in Ipswich Mass.  After Lydia died, he married (our ancestor with her first husband) Mary SMITH.   Henry died in  1707 in Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts

Lydia Perkins was born 3 Jun 1632 in Boston Mass.  Her parents were John PERKINS and Judith GATES. Lydia died 12 Jan 1707 in Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts.

Elizabeth Smith was born 1630 in Shropham, Norfolk, England..  Her father was Richard Smith of Shropham, Norfolk England and .  She first married our ancestor Philip CALL.  After Philip died, she married Frances Burr.  Finally, she married Henry BENNETT.  Elizabeth died  12 Jan 1707/08.

Children of Henry and Lydia:

Henry was usually styled “Farmer Bennet”.   He bought a 200-acre farm in Ipswich in 1654 from Jonathan Wade.  In 1698 Henry sold his farm to John Wainwright.

In 1666 Henry was a signatory to the Ipswich petition to the General Court disapproving of the action of the Massachusetts authorities in opposing the King’s commissioners.  He was on an 18 Feb 1678 list of commoners in Ipswich.  He appears to have had little interest in public life and never appears to have held office. He was on the trial juries at the 29 Sep 1663, 26 Sep 1665 and 29 Sep 1674 courts at Ipswich.

At the Sep 1659 court, Richard Saltonstall’s tenant William Fellowes won his boundary dispute case against Henry, whom he claimed had taken hay off of the land that he rented. Henry appealed to the Court of Assistants.

When the Sep 1662 court ruled that James Sanders should be whipped or pay a fine for striking John Lynde in the meeting house on Sunday, Henry paid his fine.

Elizabeth Gater, an apparent relative of Henry’s mother-in-law Judith Gater, was the subject of a 28 Apr 1669 court case. Henry paid her fine.

Henry apparently employed the troublesome Laurence Clinton. Henry’s brother-in-law, Quartermaster John Perkins, sued John Andrews, Jr. for not paying Henry Bennett £10 for Laurence Clinton, according to agreement and Henry sued John Perkins for not paying him for Laurence Clinton.

Henry was friends with the prominant Symonds family. Henry Bennett and Mr. Samuel Symonds, Jr. acted as attorneys to to Samuel Symonds, gentleman, at the Mar 1666 court.  Henry and William Bennett appraised the estate of Samuel Symonds, Jr., gentleman, on 29 Nov 1669. Henry Bennett and Mr. Samuel Symonds, Jr. acted as attorneys to Samuel Symonds, gentleman, at the Mar 1666 court.

Mr. Harlackendine Symonds, gentleman, learned from Henry’s son Jacob that Henry had a rich uncle in London. While on a trip to London, he made inquiries and met Mr. Henry Jennings, a vintner of Bishopsgate, who was the son-in-law of Henry’s brother. Mr. Jennings told Harlackendine that Henry’s brother William Bennett had died and left a legacy to Henry. Upon his return, Harlackendine, who had additional business in London, suggested to Henry that he would be willing to go London again to retrieve the inheritance, which amounted to £100, in return for half of it. In Harlackendine’s version of events, he went to London and waited a year for a letter of attorney, which Henry did not send and without which he could not retrieve the money. He later discovered that John Fenton had collected the money on behalf of Henry and been paid £7; only 40 shillings was to go to Harlackendine. In Henry’s version of events — attested to by his son John — Henry had turned down Harlackendine’s proposal. Harlackendine then suggested that since Henry had been a good friend to him, he would collect the money for £10. Henry told him that if he decided to employ him, it would be for £10. But, that if he decided not to employ him, then it would be up to Henry to decide how much Harlackendine would be paid. Henry would have been willing to employ Harlackendine to receive the money, but only if Harlackendine’s father had been willing to post a bond. Furthermore, Harlackendine — while clearly not pleased with the outcome — had said that since Henry had always been a good friend, he considered the matter settled. This latter statement was attested to by Hannah Lord. William Quarles deposed that Harlackenden’s father had warned him not to go to England because Henry would not employ him without a bond from him and that he was unwilling to provide him with one. Harlackendine’s attempt to sue Henry at the Nov 1675 court was unsuccessful; he successfully sued at the Nov 1676 court and Henry appealed to the Court of Assistants.

12 May 1675 – Quartermaster John Perkins, Sargent Belchar, Henry BENNETT  I with several others petition the general court for liberty to lay out a new plantation which the court allow will be six miles square and not more than 10 miles long ….

Henry began a long legal altercation when he successfully sued his nephew John Stanion for debt in Nov 1677.

At the Mar 1678 court, Daniel Epps successfully sued Henry Bennett, Sr. of Ipswich. He claimed that Henry’s son Jacob had cut trees on his land.  An unsuccessful suit was brought against Henry in 1684 by Daniel Epps, who accused him of harboring Daniel’s Indian boy Lyonel.

A group of Henry’s descendants are conducting a DNA project: see their webpage IpswichBennett.com.

Children

1. Jacob Bennett

Jacob’s wife Sarah

2. John Bennett

John was killed at the Battle of Bloody Brook.  At the Battle of Bloody Brook on September, 18, 1675, the dispossessed Indians destroyed a small force under the command of Captain Thomas Lathrop before being driven off by reinforcements.  Originally intended to be a uneventful delivery of wheat by oxcarts to Hadley, the men apparently took few precautions and were confident that their numbers belied attack.  It would have disastrous consequences.  Colonial casualties numbered about sixty. In retaliation, at dawn on May 19, 1676, Captain William Turner led an army of settlers in a surprise attack on Peskeompskut, in present-day Montague, then a traditional native gathering place. They killed 200 natives, mostly women and children. When the men of the tribe returned, they routed Turner, who died of a mortal wound at Green River.

3. William Bennett

William’s wife Abigail Bixby was born 1667 in Rowley, Mass. Her parents were Joseph Bixby and Sarah Wyatt. Abigail died 7 Nov 1758 in Topsfield, Essex, Mass.

4. Henry Bennett

Henry married his step-sister. Henry’s wife Frances Burr was born c. 1669
Ipswich, Essex, Mass. Her parents were John Burr and Mary SMITH. Frances died 12 Jan 1708in Ipswich, Mass

Frances was 10 years old and Henry 15 when their parents married  on 18 Feb 1679 in Ipswich, Mass.  Frances and Henry married six years 20 May 1685 when Frances was only 16 years old.

Only one child is recorded for Henry and Frances; Mary Bennett born 3 Mar 1685 Ipswich, Mass. It is interesting to note that Mary was born two months before her parents marriage date.  Given Frances young age, the questionable marriage of step-children and the conflicting birth and marriage dates, I can only conclude that Henry got Frances pregnant.  (Greg and Marcia Brady?)  Mary went on to marry 29 Apr 1703 in Ipswich, Essex, Mass to Nathaniel Knowlton and died 1716 in Ipswich, Mass.

I had previously that that Frances’ husband was our ancestor Henry BENNETT II who married Sarah CHAMPION 9 Dec 1673 in Lyme CT, but that turns out to be an unrelated Henry Bennett.

5. Thomas Bennett

Thomas’ wife Elizabeth [__?__] was born 1671 in Mass.

7. Benjamin Bennett

Benjamin’s wife Abigail was born 1674 in Mass. Abigail died 17 Feb 1754 in Ipswich, Essex, Mass

Sources:

http://www.genealogyofnewengland.com/b_b.htm

http://www.treetreetree.org.uk/Bennett.htm

http://www.mayflowerfamilies.com/cooke/d34.htm#P2272

http://trees.ancestry.com/owt/person.aspx?pid=17790994