Capt Benjamin Stites

• BIRTH 9 Feb 1725 Springfield, Union County, New Jersey, USA
• Probate: 1 Apr 1801. Essex, New Jersey, USA. [4]
• Residence 1 Apr 1801. Westfield, Essex, New Jersey, United States.
• DEATH 31 May 1805 (aged 80) Scotch Plains, Union County, New Jersey, USA
• BURIAL Scotch Plains Baptist Church Cemetery, Scotch Plains, Union County, New Jersey, USA
• MEMORIAL ID 95496522

Benjamin was born in 1725, the last child of William and Mary (Hall) Stites. His parents and family had moved to Springfield (then part of Elizabethtown) NJ from Hempstead, Long Island sometime after 1717. In that year, Benjamin's father purchased 700 acres west of the Rahway River before the First Mountain in what would become Springfield Township. The First Presbyterian Church of Springfield was built on the Stites land and Benjamin's parents and several siblings are buried nearby in what was originally the 3 acre Stites family burial ground and has now been reduced to a tiny plot with about 22 headstones, known as the Old Springfield Burial Ground.

Benjamin was just a toddler when his parents died in 1727 (father) and 1728 (mother). Their still stands in the Old Springfield Burial Ground (across the street from the Springfield Public Library). At the time, very few English families had settled in the area west of Elizabethtown. Benjamin was raised by his oldest brother, John, who was 22 when their mother died. It appears that John took over the running of the family farm with assistance from other local families. John later became quite wealthy as a planter (who enslaved an unknown number of people), a lawyer, and a public official--he served as Chief Magistrate of Elizabethtown.

Benjamin lived most of his life on a farm in Scotch Plains adjacent to the Scotch Plains Baptist Church that his brother and guardian John helped found in 1747. Baptisms were conducted in a stream on Benjamin's farm. Benjamin first married Rachel (last name unknown) in about 1745. He and Rachel had five sons, Benjamin, Henry, Elijah, Hezekiah, and Isaiah, and a daughter named Rachel after her mother. Rachel (the mother) died in 1779 at the age of 55. Soon after, Benjamin (age 52 at the time of Rachel's death) married his second wife, Elizabeth 'Betsy' Willcocks (Wilcox). Many family trees mistakenly identify Betsy Wilcox as the mother of Benjamin's children, possibly because probate records at the time of Benjamin's death in 1805 identify Betsy Wilcox as his wife.

Benjamin was known as Captain Benjamin Stites, an indication that he may have fought in the French and Indian Wars as a young man and possibly in the Revolutionary War when he was older. Four of his sons (Benjamin, Henry, Elijah, and Hezekiah) were documented Revolutionary War Veterans. He passed away in 1802. At the time of his death, only his youngest son Isaiah remained in New Jersey in Scotch Plains. His oldest four sons all left New Jersey to move west. Four of his sons (and perhaps Benjamin as well) lived at times in southwestern PA in Tenmile Creek near the place known then as Redstone Old Fort. In 1788, Benjamin junior was leader of the first group of settlers who left Pennsylvania to found a new settlement in the Miami Territory in what became Cincinnati, OH. Benjamin senior's sons, Hezekiah and Elijah were with their brother Benjamin to settle in Ohio. Henry died in Pennsylvania before reaching Ohio.[1]

In 1758 Hugh Webster was drafted and taken three miles from his dwelling. Capt. Benjamin Stites, before whom he was taken, demanded that he should go into the service himself or furnish a substitute. Hugh positively refused to do either; so he was led away eight miles further to a spot where the guard expected to find the company assembled. The soldiers, however, had marched away. He was left to take care of himself, and returned to his residence, stopping at Capt. Stites' house to inform him that his men had set him free.[3]

Parents
William Underhill Stites 1676–1727
Mary Hall Stites 1681–1728

Spouses
Rachel Kitchell Stites 1724–1779 m. abt 1745 (to 1779) in Essex County, New Jersey
Elizabeth "Betsey" Willcocks Stites unknown–1821 m. abt 1780 in Scotch Plains, New Jersey

Siblings
John Stites 1706–1782
Rebekah Stites Carle 1707–1770
Hezekiah Stites 1708–1728
Sarah Sttes
Richard Stites 1715–1727
William Stites Jr.
Mary Hall Stites 1716–1720
Elijah Stites 1721–1765

Children
Henry Wilcox Stites unknown–1788
Benjamin Stites 1734–1804
Rachel Stites Woodruff 1754–1794
Elijah Stites 1758–1843
Hezekiah Stites 1761–1842
Isaiah Stites 1765–1825

References

[1] https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Stites-519

[2] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/95496522/benjamin-stites

[3] http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=billhusle...

Sources

[4] Johannis (John) Stites Book of Common Prayer, And Administration of the Sacrements, And other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, According to the Use of the Church of England, Together with the Psalter or Psalms of David, Pointed as they are to be sung or said in Churches (London: 1728); in possession of Andrew Trotter, Washington, D..C, a descendant of John Stites and Susannah Brasier. The book was passed down the female line from Susannah (Brasher) Stites to Andrew Trotter’s mother, from whom Andrew Trotter subsequently inherited it. The cover includes a list of owners through to 1912.

[5] Probate records, 1794-1902 [Essex County, New Jersey]; Author: New Jersey. Surrogate's Court (Essex); Probate Place: Essex, New Jersey

[6] Probate records, 1794-1902 [Essex County, New Jersey]; Author: New Jersey. Surrogate's Court (Essex); Probate Place: Essex, New Jersey

[7] Probate records, 1794-1902 [Essex County, New Jersey]; Author: New Jersey. Surrogate's Court (Essex); Probate Place: Essex, New Jersey

[8] Ancestry.com family tree of Regie Stites added by Regie Stites on Dec. 11, 2017.
New Jersey, Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1643-1890 Ancestry.com Publication: Ancestry.com Operations Inc

[9] New Jersey, Abstract of Wills, 1670-1817 Ancestry.com Publication: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.

[10] Millennium File Heritage Consulting Publication: Ancestry.com Operations Inc

[11]Genealogies of Long Island Families, Vol. II, search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=FLHG-LongIslandFamII&
h=294900&ti=0&indiv=try&gss=pt