Heman Benedict was born on 18 Feb 1792 at Danbury, Fairfield, Connecticut,

the son of John Benedict and Lydia Peck. He

married Fanny Serine, daughter of John Serine and Abigail

Barton, circa 1811. He fought in the war of 1812 as part of Company 2, REG'T (SANFORD'S),

CONNECTICUT STATE TROOPS. He was inducted as a private and remained so for the duration

of his service.

He appeared on the census of 1820 and 1830 at Danbury, Fairfield, Connecticut,

United States of America. From the records of Danbury, he and his wife, Fanny,

were members of the First Ecclesiastical Society of In the winter of 1837 , and

being unable to attend service in Danbury , Mr. and Mrs. Horace Trowbridge

, Mr. and Mrs. Heman Benedict , and Miss Laura Trowbridge met together in a

private house for prayer and class-meeting. The members interested in this

early movement rapidly increased, and it became necessary to find enlarged

quarters. During 1839 they worshipped in a hall at the corner of Elm and

Maple streets, where there was preaching by a minister from Danbury once in

four weeks. At this time they became connected with the Conference circuit,

which at that time included Ridgefield , Danbury , and Poplar Plains. By 1840 Heman

and Fanny were living at Lumberland,Sullivan, New York. He died on 13 Jul 1845 at Deerpark,

Orange, New York, at age 53. Fanny die 23 Sep 1874 at age 80 in New Fairfield.

Heman Benedict and his wife, Fanny, are buried at Mountain View Cemetery, New Fairfield,

Fairfield, Connecticut.Their son, Caleb Bouton Benedict, married Hannah Wildman, daughter of

Joseph Wildman and Betsy Chase, who are my great great-grandparents through my grandmother, Martha

Post Fairchild.

8 Original Settlers of Danbury, Connecticut

THOMAS TAYLOR was also an founder of Norwalk, Ct. The General Assembly of May 1684 "appoynted. .a committee for to order the planting of a Towne above Norwalke or Fayrefeild". In the same year eight families "trekked through Sugar Hollow and over Pandanarum" to settle there. Thomas Taylor’s family was one of those families. He married Rebecca Ketchum, daughter of Edward. He survived all the original settlers, and died in January, 1735, aged 92 yrs. He had 10 children and their average life span was 85 years. Only 3 lived to be less than 80. He was the first representative to the General Assembly from Danbury. His son Nathan was the grandfather of P.T. Barnum. He was the 9th great-grandfather of my mother, Eleanor Fairchild.

JOHN HOYT was born at Windsor, Ct. Five of his children were born in Norwalk, Ct. He lived to a very ripe old age. He owned land in Fairfield and Norwalk, Ct. Before helping to establish Danbury. He and the other founders of Danbury purchased their land directly from the Indian proprietors. He was the 9th great-uncle of my mother, Eleanor Fairchild.

JAMES BENEDICT and SAMUEL BENEDICT were brothers who came from Norwalk, Ct. Their Father, Thomas, was appointed to make a new settlement in 1684 at Paquiage, later named Danbury. His sons, James and Samuel settled the new village. At the session of the General Assembly in May 1702, a patent was granted, giving town-privilages to the inhabitants and proprietors of Danbury. James and his brother John married two Gregory sisters. My mother descends from James Benedict.

JUDAH GREGORY is the ninth great-grandfather of my mother, Eleanor Fairchild, and is the brother of Sarah Gregory, wife of James Benedict.

Francis Bushnell, Thomas Barnum, and James Beebe were also among the 8 original settlers of Danbury Connecticut, but are not directly related to my family.

Philip Wildman

He was born in 1756. Philip Wildman chose Comfort Wildman as his guardian
on 24 Jan 1775,although date may be 1765 as Joseph (his father) died 1764.
He lived at Brookfield, Fairfield, Connecticut, United States of America. He sold
to Friend Terrell, 50 acres in 2 pieces of land on 10 Apr 1778. Deeds
show that he sold for the consideration of 16 shillings and 5 pence, land
for a public highway in Dec 1787. He married Luana Platt, daughter
of Jesse Platt and Sarah. He witnessed the will of
Jesse Platt on 5 Jul 1797 at New Fairfield, Fairfield, Connecticut,
United States of America. He left a will in 1812. He married Louisa
Canfield as his second wife.
Philip owned a large tract of land
and one day while chopping down trees in his woodland a tree fell upon him
and it was necessary to amputate his leg. After this he wore a wooden leg.
He was considered an excellet agriculturist at Brookfield, Fairfield,
Connecticut, United States of America. He died on 9 Nov 1816 at aged sixty years, Brookfield,
Fairfield, Connecticut, United States of America. He was buried at Brookfield Central
Cemetery, Brookfield, Fairfield, Connecticut, United States of America.
Philip Wildman was the father of Joseph Wildman. Joseph's son Abraham was the father of Clarinda Wildman Durgy and Joseph's daughter Hannah married Caleb Bouton Benedict, both being ancestors of my grandfather, John Alpheus Fairchild.

Mother's Day

I just got back from New Fairfield where my mother, Eleanor Mae (Fairchild) Williams is buried in the Mountain View Cemetery. Her mother, Martha (Post) Fairchild, Martha's mother, Jennie Post, Jennie's mother, Mary Elizabeth (Benedict) Post, and Mary's mother, Hannah (Wildman) Benedict are all buried there also. Five generations all buried in New Fairfield, Connecticut in the same cemetery!
Hannah's mother, Betsey (Chase) Wildman is buried in Brookfield's Central Cemetery. Betsey's mother, Lucy (Pepper) Chase, is buried in Coburn Burying Grounds in Sherman, also adjacent to New Fairfield. Lucy's mother, Lucy (Bennett) Pepper, is buried in the Pepper Burying Ground, also in Sherman.
I don't know where Lucy Bennett's mother, Abigail Moss, is buried; the family came from Lyme, Connecticut to Sherman. Abigail's mother is supposed to be Mary (Borden) Moss, daughter of Mary (Tillotson) Borden, daughter of Dorcas (Coleman) Tillotson, daughter of Susannah (Rawlings) Coleman. I'm still working of verifying this rest of this information.
I had my mitochondrial DNA tested which goes back through this line, mother to mother. I am in Haplogroup K, or Katrine if you follow Brian Sykes. We are related to Otzi, the frozen Ice Man, found in the Austrian Alps from 5,300 years ago.