Judge Benjamin Elliott and Mary Carpenter
Husband Judge Benjamin Elliott 1 2 3
Born: 1752 - Peters Twp, Cumberland (later Franklin) Co, PA 1 2 3 Christened: Died: 15 Mar 1835 - Huntingdon, Huntingdon Co, PA 1 4 5 Buried: - Riverview Cemetery
Father: Robert Elliott (Bef 1730-1768) 2 3 Mother: Unknown ( - )
Marriage: 9 Apr 1776 - Lancaster, Lancaster Co, PA
Other Spouse: Sarah Ashman (1765-1803) 1 4 5 - 17 Oct 1785
Other Spouse: Susan Haines ( - ) 1 4 5 - 28 Mar 1805 4
Wife Mary Carpenter 1 4 5
Born: 1755 - Lancaster Co, PA Christened: Died: 1783 - ? Huntingdon Co, PA Buried:
Father: Jacob Carpenter (1719-1792) 6 Mother: Elisabeth Herr (1725-1760)
Children
1 F Martha Elliott 1 3 4
Born: 1779 4 5 Christened: Died: 26 Feb 1841 7 Buried:Spouse: David McMurtrie (1764-1843) 1 3 7 Marr: 2 Oct 1795 7
2 F Mary Elliott 1 5 8
Born: 6 May 1781 - Fort Bedford, Bedford Co, PA 8 Christened: Died: 4 May 1857 - Huntingdon, Huntingdon Co, PA 1 8 Buried:Spouse: Robert Allison (1777-1840) 5 8 9 Marr: 21 Sep 1802 8
3 M James Elliott 1 4 5
Born: 1783 4 Christened: Died: while young Buried:Spouse: Did Not Marry
General Notes: Husband - Judge Benjamin Elliott
On account of lack of harmony with his stepmother, he left home early in life, and entered at once upon what was then a successful business career, for in 1769 he was assessed in Dublin township, Cumberland County (subsequently Bedford County), Pennsylvania, with 100 acres of land, three acres cleared, one horse, one cow. In 1771, he had 25 acres cleared, two horses, two cows and eight sheep; and in 1788, the assessment list of Huntingdon shows that he had eighty acres, four horses, four cows, two negroes, one servant, one house and six lots of ground. It is probable that he moved to Huntingdon (which was in Bedford County then), about 1775. Huntingdon was at that time a village of a few houses, and the county adjoining was still occupied by the Indians. The assessment list for 1776 of Barree township, which then included Huntingdon, shows him charged with what was probably a personal tax. On August 17, 1776, Dr. William Smith conveyed to him by a ground rent deed Lot No. 2 in the borough of Huntingdon, situated on the north side of Allegheny street, fronting one hundred feet on said street and extending one hundred feet back. This lot was at the northwest corner of Second and Allegheny streets, where he built a frame house, in which he lived for a number of years. It is known that about 1780 he was living on what was known as Snake Spring farm, some five miles east of Bedford on the state road. At the formation of Huntingdon County, September 20, 1787, he was living in Huntingdon, where he continued to reside until the time of his death, with the exception of a few years spent on his farm two miles east of Huntingdon.
When but twenty-four years of age he was elected, July 8, 1776, one of the delegates from Bedford County to the convention which met July 15, 1776, at Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia, for the purpose of forming the first constitution of the Commonwealth. He was sheriff of Bedford County in 1784, and was again appointed, October 31, 1785. At the time when Huntingdon County was formed from Bedford, he was living in Huntingdon. The act creating the new county was passed September 20, 1787, and provided among other things that Benjamin Elliott, Thomas Duncan Smith, Ludwick Sell, George Ashman and William McAlevy should be appointed trustees to take assurance of any lands or grounds for the public buildings. Upon the formation of Huntingdon County, he was appointed its first sheriff, being commissioned October 22, 1787; and on November 30, he was commissioned lieutenant of the county. In the same year, he was elected a delegate from Huntingdon County to the Pennsylvania Convention which ratified the Federal Constitution. This convention met in Philadelphia, November 21, 1787; and on December 12 the vote was taken, when its ratification was carried by a good majority, Benjamin Elliott voting in the affirmative, although a large number of his constituents were opposed to the ratification. This opposition afterwards became riotous and violent. In May, 1789, a battalion of militia which had been organized by Benjamin Elliott, the lieutenant of the county, was ordered to assemble in Hart's Log valley. Some of the opponents of the constitution were present, and refused to be mustered in; an assault was made upon Colonel Elliott, as he is called in the old records, when he received many severe blows from several persons. Colonel Elliott, in his account of this disturbance, says: "I was very ill-used by a senseless banditti, who were influenced by a number of false publications circulated by people who were enemies of the Federal government."
Benjamin Elliott was appointed, August 12, 1789, a justice of the peace for the town of Huntingdon, and was the same day commissioned justice of the County Court of Common Pleas. He was elected a member of the Supreme Executive Council from Huntingdon County, October 31, 1789, took his seat December 30, 1789, and served until December 20, 1790, when Thomas Mifflin became governor, and the council expired, as provided in the new constitution of 1790. He was county treasurer from 1788 to 1795. He was appointed associate judge August 17, 1791, and after that was called Judge Elliott. In 1800 he was elected county commissioner. The town of Huntingdon was incorporated into a borough by the act of March 29, 1796, and in that year he was elected the first chief burgess, which position he held for three years.
About 1812, Judge Elliott went to the neighborhood of Newark, Ohio, where he purchased about 2,000 acres of land. While there, he was pursued by Indians, but escaped by getting into a boat and crossing a river. His sons by his third wife, Benjamin and John, inherited these lands, and made their residence there.
He was originally a Presbyterian, but on account of some difficulty with Rev. John Johnston, the first Presbyterian minister at Huntingdon, who was his neighbor, he left that church, and became an Episcopalian; all of his daughters afterwards became Presbyterians. He was above the average in height, and of great physical strength and endurance. He resided in Huntingdon until his death, at the age of eighty-three years; his remains rest in Riverview cemetery.
General Notes: Wife - Mary Carpenter
She came from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, to Huntingdon, with her brother-in-law, Abraham Haines.
1 J. Simpson Africa, The History of Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: Louis H. Everts, 1883), Pg 437.
2 Editor, Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley (Chambersburg, PA: J. M. Runk & Co., 1897), Pg 1.
3 —, Book of Biographies of Leading Citizens of Berks County, PA (Buffalo, NY: Biographical Publishing Company, 1898), Pg 13.
4 Editor, Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley (Chambersburg, PA: J. M. Runk & Co., 1897), Pg 2.
5 —, Book of Biographies of Leading Citizens of Berks County, PA (Buffalo, NY: Biographical Publishing Company, 1898), Pg 14.
6 Franklin Ellis & Samuel Evans, History of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: Everts & Peck, 1883), Pg 822.
7 Editor, Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley (Chambersburg, PA: J. M. Runk & Co., 1897), Pg 3.
8 Editor, Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley (Chambersburg, PA: J. M. Runk & Co., 1897), Pg 4.
9
J. Simpson Africa, The History of Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: Louis H. Everts, 1883), Pg 73, 437.
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