Benoni Sweet, Jr.

GEDCOM Source

@R1453571318@ Ancestry Family Trees Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.

GEDCOM Source

Ancestry Family Tree http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=160154071&pi...

GEDCOM Note

He took his family to Cornwallis, Kings County in 1760 following the expulsion of the Acadians.

Benoni Sweet s/o Benoni and Elizabeth Sweet was born in 1692 in Rhode Island (RI). He was a bonesetter and was the one in our line who with his wife Elizabeth and their family left RI in 1760 as a New England Planters for NS. He disembarking at what is now Newport Landing in Hants County, NS and settled in Falmouth Township. He married when
he was about 50 years old to the much younger Isabel Spencer. However, he possessed the spirit of adventure to migrate to Nova Scotia. Benoni’s land grant was Lot 39 which he shared with Edward Manchester, each receiving one half share. In 1765 Benoni and his wife sold is part to Mr. Henry Denson. In 1765 Benoni and Isaac Little purchased land located at
Curry’s Corner, near Windsor. He had the following children with Isabel:
Thankful: born 18 May 1742
Elizabeth: born 10 Oct 1743,
Mary: born 20 Apr1745; who married Isaac Little,
Jonathan: born 20 Apr 1746,
Benoni: born 7 Oct 1748; who married Lydia Dimock,
John: born 3 Oct 1752, and
Nancy born about 1753.

MIGRATION OF THE SWEET FAMILY
From New England to Nova Scotia in 1760
In 1758 Britain was engaged in the last round of conflict with the French for the possession of Nova Scotia. The necessity of making Nova Scotia a strong, loyal British colony was obvious to both the Lord of Trades and other officials at Halifax. On October 12, 1758, Governor Lawrence issued an invitation by Proclamation to the people of New England to come to Nova Scotia, and offered them the cultivated farms left vacant by the expulsion of the Acadians on 5 Sept. 1755. A general meeting of families was held in Norwich Church in Connecticut to which families from Rhode Island and Massachusetts also attended. They were keenly interested, as their population had increased and they were faced with the problem of requiring new lands. However, they wanted information as to the form of government, the extent of religious freedom, and the payment of taxes. In September 1759 a committee was appointed to be sent as agents to Nova Scotia to investigate conditions. Upon arrival they were taken by the general surveyor, Mr. Charles Morris, by boat to the Minas Basin area. Having responsible government in the New England Colonies they would not go to a country where they did not have this liberty. This had been anticipated and the first House of Assembly was established in Nova Scotia in 1758. Another vital question was religious freedom and inquiries showed that this also would be assured to all Protestants. The result of this visit was a positive response that more than met the expectations of Governor Lawrence.
About 1,500 left for Nova Scotia in 1760 to occupy lands vacated by the Acadians in 1755. The move to Nova Scotia was to have been made in the autumn of 1759, but the threat of an uprising by the natives delayed it until the spring of 1760.

At that time agriculture was the main occupation and land was in great demand. Many New England Planters were interested in education and scores of their descendants have gone forth and become leaders in Education, Medicine, Business and leaders of churches in Canada and the United States. In common with most all of these early settlers or Planters, they possessed a fine integrity of character. They were descendants of the Puritans who migrated from England during the time of religious persecution to a land where they could worship God according to their conscience.

(The SWEET SAGA, by Belle Smiley and Iola Young, 1960)
From Duncanson, John Victor (1983): Falmouth - A New England Township in Nova Scotia. Mika Publishing Co., Belleville, ON.
'The Sweet Family of New England was founded by John Sweet of Wales who emigrated with his wife Mary and children to Salem, Massachusetts in 1630. John was granted land in Providence, RI in 1637. His son James Sweet (1622-1695) married in 1654 to Mary Greene, daughter of John Greene, surgeon of Salisbury, England. James Sweet lived at Portsmouth and Kingstown, RI. He was the progenitor of the “celebrated natural bone setters”. His son Benoni Sweet, born 28 Mar 1662, was a Capt. in the British service and has been described as “an educated man of polished manners”.

'He was a bonesetter and was called Dr. Sweet. He married Elizabeth, a cousin. Their son Benoni, born 28 Mar 1692 married Isabell Spencer and resided at North Kinsgtown, RI. Their son Benoni, born 7 Oct 1748 was the grantee at Falmouth, NS in 1761 of 250 acres (Lot 39). He sold these lands in 1765 to Henry Denson and is believed to have moved to Cornwallis, NS where a John Sweet had received a grant in 1764. Early Falmouth records report that Benoni Sweet performed medical aid during the early days of the Falmouth settlement. He therefore followed the profession that several of his ancestors had served.”

(Note: John Duncanson may have confused the Falmouth grantee).
According to a note from Allen Niles of July, 2020: “As for Benoni Sweet of Nova Scotia I'm not sure it's possible to know his correct line, given the burned records of N. Kingstown RI and other confusing records. One record says he was born 2 Apr 1715 the son of James and Mary (Greene) Sweet [Nova Scotia Immigrants to 1867, vol 1, p232]. James was married to Mary Abigail Sherman, not Greene! Their son Benoni was born 1715. He may be the one who married c.1739 Isabel/Elizabeth Sherman b c1720 and is the Benoni Jr. & Isabel shown in Arnold (p 102) as having children born beginning in 1740. Note: The Junior could be the town clerk's way of distinguishing him from his uncle Benoni born 28 Mar 1692 (son of Benoni Capt/Dr). It's not clear to me which Benoni went to NS with his parents; the one born in 1715 or the one born in 1692. There is a deed of sale of the grant at Falmouth that Benoni and wife Elizabeth" signed by mark 30 Aug 1765 (date of final payment by Henry Denson). Was this Isabel Spencer using a middle name Elizabeth or the wife of Benoni (b 1692) and his wife Mary Elizabeth (Sweet) Sweet (b c1703) daughter of Samuel & Bridget Sweet?”

Note: There were two Sweet immigrants to NS, Benoni, followed here, and another Sweet family who
settled in Cornwallis, Kings County. These were Theophilus and Eleanor Sweet, and Benoni and Hannah (Rockwell) Sweet. They are referred to in A. W. Eaton’s History of Kings County; however, their parentage is not given in that source.