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Meanwhile, back in Massachusetts, our Smiths from Eastham1 have settled in and remained an important part of the Sandisfield scene, long after the founding Stillmans had moved on to the newer settlement in Colebrook.
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In the Sandisfield Center Cemetery, Lieutenant Benjamin Smith’s headstone stands with the flag and star insignia which, we long thought, identify him as a soldier of the American Revolution.2
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“In Memory of
Lieut. BENJAMIN SMITH.
He died 10th February
1796
in the 72d Year
of his Age”
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1See my Mayflower Descendants section for Benjamin’s lineage from Pilgrim Thomas Rogers, and Ruth’s from
Pilgrim Stephen Hopkins. That’s also where I’ve put the bulk of the material on the
Smiths and the
Hurds, whose Mayflower connections are central for us.
2 Then (2012) we came upon the 1850 affidavit of his daughter-in-law Phebe Smith, daughter of his brother Phineas and wife of his namesake son Captain Benjamin. She attested: “...my uncle the Father of my said Husband During the period of the War of the Revolution resided in the building in which I now live, and my said Husband Benjamin Smith, and his Father whose name was Benjamin Smith were the only person by the name of Benjamin Smith which I know or heard of During the period of the Revolutionary War,—My said Husband I well remember was a Soldier in the War of the Revolution and his Father my uncle Benjamin Smith I well know was not engaged in said War in any way whatsoever...” Since Grandpa and his family seem to have made a great point of his lieutenancy, I’m guessing (and seeking to verify) that he earned it in service to the local militia.
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