Benoni Hills

Burial record:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/41576150/benoni-hills

Son of Joseph Hills, Sr. and Mehitable Hinsdale

Spouse of Hannah Strong

Father of

• Hannah (Hills) Loomis,
• Zimri Hills,
• Veriah Hills,
• Medad Hills,Lt Colonel,
• Mary Hills,
• John Hills, Captain,
• Mary Hills,
• Seth Hills, Deacon,
• Rachel Hills,
• Bela Hills,
• Anne Hills

Inscription

Benoni Hills spent years crafting his own two grave stones. One stone reads "Benoni Hills, this my house". The other stone reads "O Eternity, death is come" and the date June 24, 1793

Ancestor #: A056310

SIGNED OATH OF FIDELITY

GEDCOM Note

unit=Patriotic Service

Biography

Benoni Hills was born at Northampton, Mass. or Suffield, in 1700. His father died before and his mother not long after his birth. He was married on Dec. 19, 1723, and settled in Suffield where he remained a little more than one year and removed thence to Durham. His first child was born in Suffield and the eight following were born in Durham, and removing thence, about 1740, his two last were born in Goshen.

In August, 1747, while still in Goshen, this article appeared in the newspaper: "Mr. Benoni Hills, of Goshen, Connecticut, fell a white pine that was four feet, ten inches at the base and later cut into twelve thousand board feet of boards. From Boston news of 23 February."

<ref>New Hampshire Gazette (Portsmouth, New Hampshire), 27 February 1761, p. 2, col. 1. New Hampshire Gazette: Newspaper Abstracts, 1756-1769 available through NEHGS, americanancestors.org</ref>

Benoni purchased thirty-seven acres of land in Torrington, a little north of Capt. Abel Beach's house, with a frame standing on it. Half of this land with the frame on it he gave to his son Beriah, who soon after settled on it. In 1764 or 5, Benoni Hills rented a house of Abel Beach, and in 1765, he bought the same of Mr. Beach. This house stood a little north of his son Beriah's, where he resided until within a few years of his death, when he removed to Winchester.

In Torrington he was well known and much respected for his uprightness of character, and sensible, but pleasant admonitions to the young. While sitting in Dr. Hodges's store he several times remarked to the clerks: "Boys, it is best to be pretty middling honest."

Some years before his death, he selected two rough stones of mica slate, and shaping them to his liking, engraved on one of them, "Benoni Hills; this is thy house;" and on the other, "O eternity, death is come." To which has been added: "June 24, 1793 ; B. H., aet. 93."

Working upon these stones seems to have been the special enjoyment of his leisure hours. He took them with him from Torrington and gave special directions to have them placed over his grave, where they now stand, in the old Winchester graveyard. His wife was born June 3, 1700, d. Oct. 21, 1776.

<ref>Orcutt, Samuel, 1824-1893. History of Torrington, Connecticut, From Its First Settlement In 1737: With Biographies And Genealogies. Albany: J. Munsell, printer, 1878. http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=ucw.ark:/13960/t57d2vj17;view...</ref><ref>Boyd, John, b. 1799. [from old catalog]. Annals And Family Records of Winchester, Conn.: With Exercises of the Centennial Celebration, On the 16th And 17th Days of August, 1871. Hartford: Press of Case, Lockwood & Brainard, 1873. https://archive.org/stream/annalsfamilyreco00boyd#page/42/mode/2up/...</ref>

Benoni married Hannah Strong in ____

Children:

• 1. Hannah, b. Oct. 5, 1724
• 2. Zimri, b.Dec. 16, 1725, d. June 4, 1760.
• 3. Beriah, b. Aug. 31, 1727
• 4. Medad, b. April 27, 1729
• 5. Mary, b. June I, 1731, d. Jan. 28, 1732
• 6. John, b. Dec. 13, 1732
• 7. Mary, b. Sept 25, 1734
• 8. Seth, b. Sept. 13, 1736
• 9. Rachel, b. July 8, 1739
• 10. Bela, b. Aug. 24, 1741, d.May 29, 1756.
• 11. Ann, b. June 11, 1743

Benoni fought in the French Indian War<ref>ConnecticutHistory.OGR https://connecticuthistory.org/connecticut-in-the-french-and-indian...</ref><ref>Wikipedia, French and Indian War

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_and_Indian_War</ref> with Captain Moses Lyman and assisted Eben Marsh in protecting Fort Wm Henry.<ref>Google Books, Rolls of Connecticut Men in the French and Indian War, 1755-1762, Volume 1 page 247 https://books.google.com/books?id=7R4WAAAAYAAJ&dq=Medad+Hills+Conne...</ref>

He is recognized at DAR for his signing an oath of fidelity for the Revolutionary War as a Patriot.

<ref>12/31/2017</ref>

Sources

<references />

See also:

• Add sources here.