Mary Judith Benjamin then Lanman (née Gall)

1. According to her gravestone in Connecticut, Mary Judith Lanman, wife of James, was born in Barbados 08/06/1778 and died 12/02/1848 in Norwich, Conneticut aged 69 years. According to her Findagrave memorial she was the wife of firstly Parke Benjamin and secondly James Lanman. "She died from burns after her dress caught on fire." The same source states her maiden surname was Gall and she had four children with her first husband: Park Benjamin (1809-1864), Mary Elizabeth Benjamin Motley (1813-1874), Benjamin Henry Benjamin (1815-1851) and Susan Margaret Benjamin Stackpole (1815-1896). According to the British Guiana Colonists Index, Park Benjamin was born 05/10/1769 in Preston, Connecticut, married Mary Judith (Polly) Gall in Demerara 22/08/1801 and died 23/06/1824, lost at sea.

2. William Christopher, son of Park and Mary Judith Benjamin was born 28/11/1806 and baptised in St Michael, Barbados, 06/05/1807. No other baptisms of the children of Mary Judith have been found in Barbados.

3. "The Benjamins landed in American even earlier than the Livingstons, in 1632, on a boat called Lyon, emigrating from Sussex, England, and prospering almost immediately and for more than a century, until somebody bore a son with a talent for losing money. But this latter man, unfortunate though he was in the ways of finance, himself had a son named Park Benjamin, who made his own way in the world. At the age of twenty-six, Park abandoned ownership of a shoemaker's shop and became Captain Park Benjamin of the good ship Prosperity, a trading sloop that traveled between Norwich, Connecticut, and British Guiana, and this made all the difference for the family. Captain Benjamin became one of the most famous of the Norwich sea captains; the local paper was filled with stories of his adventures. Working just after the Revolution, a time of great maritime prosperity, many captains on the East Coast amassed fortunes by both exporting and importing. Park and his brother developed a plantation in Demerara, British Guiana. They arrived there with cattle, lumber, and flour from the States and left with sugar, coffee, and rum. Park bore a son in Demerara, also named Park, who caught a tropical disease that left one of his legs permanently shriveled. Young, lame Park would go on to have a career as a poet and editor and is chiefly remembered for bringing to wide attention a new author then in his early thirties, Nathaniel Hawthorne. When Park was thirteen, the family had returned permanently to Connecticut, but his father, Captain Benjamin, needing to oversee his holdings in British Guiana, had set sail once more from the East Coast in June 1824, bound for South America. He was never seen again. Pieces of the boat found by other vessels suggested that the ship had run into weather; young Park also lost his older brother in the wreck."

4. "Park made his will June 29, 1816 at Demarara, but it was invalidated because it did not name son Benjamin Henry, who was born after the making of the will. In New Haven, Conn. Probate Records (Vol. 37 p. 18) the will is set aside and Mary J. Benjamin is named administrator and Sherman Croswell with a bond of $5,000. (Ibid Vol. 37»544). Mary Lanman, late widow of Park, is given her third part of the real estate, which was valued at $940.50. (Ibid, Vol.39 p. 3^) Mary J. Benjamin is appointed guardian of the children and in Vol. 37 p. 75-6 is given a listing of the inventory. The personal estae was valued at $3,629.90. After Mary Judith's second marriage, Judge Lanman acted with his wife in the settlement of the estates of Capt. Park Benjamin, her former husband, and of Margaret C. Gail, her sister. Her sister accompanied Capt. Park Benjamin on his fatal voyage, and was drowned at sea... The will of Mrs. Lanman is dated July 16, 184? and leaves her estate to her children Park Benjamin, Mary Motlet, Susan Stackpole, and Benjamin H. Benjamin; to be equally divided between them with the proviso that Park's share be held in trust during his lifetime and after his decease, be conveyed to such persons as her son Park appoint. The value of her estate was $38,112.98. (Norwich Probate Rec. Vol. 18)."

5. Mrs Mary J. Benjamin, gentlewoman of Demerara, age 50 left Demerara on the brig Ellen and arrived in Boston, Massachusetts, 20/06/1826. James Lanman and Mary Judith Benjamin were married in Boston, Massachusetts, 26/10/1826. The announcement of their marriage in the American Mercury gives him as Hon. James Lanman and Mary Judith as the widow of Park Benjamin.

6. Park Benjamin, age 30, merchant, of the United States, travelled from Barbados to Philadelphia in 1834 on the brig Emily Davis. This must be Park Benjamin the younger, travelling after the death of his father Captain Benjamin.

7. The passport application of Park Benjamin (son of Park Benjamin the younger and thus grandson of Captain Benjamin) in 1924 states that he was born 25/12/1852 in New York and that his father (now deceased) was born in Demerara, British Guiana of American parentage. An earlier passport application of the same Park Benjamin stated that his father, also named Park Benjamin, was born in British Guiana "of American citizens there residing and died 1864".

8. "LANMAN, James, lawyer, b. in Norwich, Conn., 13 June 1769; d. there, 7 Aug. 1841. He was graduated at Yate in 1788, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1791, and began practice in his native town. He was state's attorney for New London county from 1814 till 1819, a member of the lower branch of the legislature in 1817 and again in 1832, a delegate to the convention that framed the first constitution for Connecticut in 1818, and was elected to the state senate in 1819. Mr. Lanman was subsequently elected to the U.S. senate as a Democrat, serving from 6 Dec., 1819, till 3 March, 1825. From 1826 till 1829 he was judge of the supreme and superior courts of Connecticut, and for several years was mayor of Norwich. His second wife was the mother of Park Benjamin, the author."

1. Ancestry.com, Connecticut, Hale Collection of Cemetery Inscriptions and Newspaper Notices, 1629-1934 [database online]; Findagrave.com memorial ID 40968971 (note this memorial does not contain a transcription of the memorial or a photo of the gravestone); https://www.vc.id.au/tb/bgcolonistsB.html [accessed 16/09/2020].

2. Familysearch.org, Barbados Church Records, 1637-1887 [database online].

3. Image from Findagrave.com memorial ID 40968971 sourced to Michael Ruhlman, Wooden Boats: In Pursuit of the Perfect Craft at an American Boatyard (2001).

4. Gloria Wall Bicha, The Benjamin Family in America (1977) pp. 220-221 available at https://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/gloria-wall-bicha/the-benjamin-family-in-america-hci/page-24-the-benjamin-family-in-america-hci.shtml [accessed 16/09/2020].

5. Ancestry.com, Massachusetts, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1820-1963 [database online]; American Mercury 02/11/1826 transcribed at Ancestry.com, U.S., Newspaper Extractions from the Northeast, 1704-1930 [database online]; Ancestry.com, Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988 [database online].

6. Ancestry.com, Pennsylvania, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1800-1962 [database online].

7. Ancestry.com, U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925 [database online].

8. Appletons' Cyclopedia of American Biography, 1600-1889 (1888) vol. III p. 613.

We are grateful to David O'Carroll for his assistance with compiling this entry.