Benjamin Bosworth
Benjamin Bosworth

Information on this page is from History of Rensselaer Co., New York by Nathaniel Bartlett Sylvester, published in 1880.

BENJAMIN BOSWORTH. This gentleman was born in Pittstown, Rensselaer Co., N. Y., Aug. 18, 1793. The first of the family who came to this country from England was Nathaniel Bosworth, who was born there Sept. 4, 1617. He emigrated with a brother and first settled at Plymouth. About the year 1680 he removed to Bristol, R. I., where he died Aug. 31, 1690. He was among the first settlers of Bristol; was a deacon of the First Congregational Church there from its organization. He was a man distinguished for his uprightness of character, and was a devoted Christian. He left one son, Belomy Bosworth, who was born May 6, 1658, a farmer, lived most of his life in Bristol, and died there March 16, 1718. Nathaniel Bosworth, his only son, born in Bristol, March 3, 1693, was a man "who carried on an extensive business, employing many men, and sustained through life a fair and honorable character.

He was twice married. By his second marriage he had seven children, of whom Benjamin Bosworth, grandfather of the Benjamin who heads this sketch, was the fifth child. He was born in Bristol, Jan. 9, 1732 or 1733. He was frequently elected a representative of the county of Bristol to the General Assembly, was a major of the militia during the time of the Revolution, and discharged the duties of the civil and military office which he held with great fidelity and success. His second wife (grandmother of Benjamin) to whom he was married, July 19, 1764, was Mary Church, daughter of Constance Church, of Bristol, and great-granddaughter of Col. Benjamin Church, the hero of King Philip's war, and the man who commanded the party that killed the "Sachem of Mount Hope," in August, 1676. Mrs. Bosworth was a worthy representative of the distinguished family from which she descended. Her death, which occurred April 21, 1781, from the bursting of a blood-vessel, was sorely felt by her family, and was a great loss to the community in which she had passed a useful life. In 1784, having married the third time, Abigail Monro, by whom he also had seven children, Benjamin Bosworth moved to Warren, R. I., where he died Oct. 18, 1810. He was buried in Bristol.

Nathaniel Bosworth, the eldest child of the preceding by his second wife, was born in Bristol, June 16, 1767. He married Suriah Mason, Nov. 25, 1790. This lady was the daughter of Christopher Mason, a descendant of Sampson Mason, who emigrated from England and settled in Swanzey, Mass., about the year 1634 or 1635. Her father was a representative from the town of Swanzey to the General Assembly for twenty-one years.

In the spring of 1792, Nathaniel Bosworth moved from Bristol, and settled in the south part of Pittstown, where all of his children, ten in number, were born, except Nathaniel, the eldest, who was born in Rhode Island. When he came to Pittstown he was in moderate circumstances; but by careful and prudent management, seconded in all his undertakings by a wife who was truly a helpmeet, he accumulated a handsome property, and at the time of his death was estimated the wealthiest man of Pittstown. His wife died April 17, 1834.

The following tribute to her memory is taken from a family record prepared by her husband in 1844: "She was a kind and affectionate wife, a tender and exemplary mother, a woman of integrity, uprightness, and serious religion, and left to her posterity an example worthy of imitation."

Benjamin Bosworth was the second child of ten children, and the first born in Pittstown. Except about twelve years he has always lived in Pittstown. His education was limited to the common schools of his neighborhood. He was married Nov. 5, 1818, to Hannah Kingsley, daughter of Elisha Kingsley, a prominent man of Adams, Mass. Mrs. Bosworth was born July 13, 1798. They had children as follows:

Nathaniel Elisha, born Jan. 15, 1823; married Feb. 13, 1855, to Hannah Jane Shedd. A farmer in Pittstown. Six children; four living.

Benjamin Franklin, born Dec. 11, 1827; married Oct. 5, 1852, Sarah Augusta Sturgis. One child, drowned April 13, 1863.

Frances C., born Oct. 5, 1829; married Jan. 25, 1853, Spencer A. Buckley; now a widow, living in Easton, Washington Co., N. Y.. Six children; four living.

Hannah A., born March 23, 1840; died March 14, 1843.

Mrs. Bosworth died Oct. 24, 1856, and Mr. Bosworth was married June 5, 1867, to Eliza M. Roberts, widow of David Roberts, and daughter of George and Margaret Snyder. She was born in Pittstown, Sept. 6, 1820.

Two years after his first marriage Mr. Bosworth worked at home. He then moved on to a farm in Grafton, where he remained twelve years. Having purchased a farm adjoining the homestead in Pittstown, he moved on to it, and has resided there ever since.

Mr. Bosworth has been a life-long farmer, and has shown by his marked success in his chosen calling that the lessons of industry, temperance, and an enlightened economy taught him by his father have not been lost upon him. Though he has always discharged his duty as a citizen, he has never been a seeker of office. In politics he has been identified with the Whig and Republican parties. Though not a member of the church, he is at the present time, and has been for a number of years, a trustee of the Baptist Church of Pittstown Corners. For many years Mr. Bosworth has not used tobacco or spirituous liquors, and as a result, few men of his age are both mentally and physically better preserved.



Send comments or suggestions to:
Debby Masterson

Go Back to Rensselaer Co. Biographies
Go Back to Home Page