Rev. Benjamin Proctor

A granddaughter tells us that all the Proctor brothers were about six feet tall and "active." This is at a time when the average man was 5' 6" in height. The Proctor brothers would have stood out in a crowd.

Benjamin was born in Rowan Co, N.C. in 1760 along with his brother Little Page who was his twin. At an early age he was maimed in both arms. The injury was serious enough to exempt him from military service. Being patriotic he volunteered at Fort Boonesborough at the age of 18 years.

   The famed frontier military leader, George Rodgers Clark, asked that two men from each station (a small farming community centered around a small fort.) as scouts and spies to find out the movements and intentions of the Indians. Benjamin, as well as the other Proctor brothers excelled at this job. 

He would serve as a spy and scout throughout the Revolutionary War. It should be noted that even though the Proctors were frontiersmen and never wore a military uniform, they were just as much Revolutionary soldiers as any of those under the command of George Washington. Much of our information about the Proctors comes from their pension applications in their older years.

   Benjamin married Susannah (Susan, Suzie) Shirley at Estill's Station on 8 March 1787. She was born somewhere between 1759-63 (One source says 1769.) in Virginia. Susannah was the daughter of Michael Shirley and Kate France. Her parents, were living at Estill's station at the time of the marriage.

In 1808, Benjamin moved west with his brothers. He and his brother John continued with their families to Missouri'
Benjamin, and some of his brothers, were Methodist ministers with Benjamin being a circuit minister for the church. His name shows up as "Minister of the Gospel" on early Cole Co marriage records.

The 1830 census shows Benjamin in Cole County Mo. with four of his children living at home. By 1840 the family had moved to Benton County Mo. He applied for a pension for his Revolutionary War service in 1833, and received $80 per year from the government until he died on 4 July 1850, in Benton Co, at the age of 90.

Information compiled by Robert W. Moon
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https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/70485505/benjamin-proctor