Author: David Benton Greger
At the age of 13, in 1777, David moved with his father from Salisbury, Connecticut, to Sheffield, Massachusetts, and in February, 1788, bought land adjoining his father's. In 1789 he moved with his brother Caleb and his uncle Levi Benton to New York, and was a first settler of the present town of Seneca, Ontario County, as was his uncle Levi, a first settler of the adjoining town of Benton in Yates County. David, in April, 1793, was elected as one of the first officers of the town, serving on the Overseers of Highways committee. On March 3, 1798, David’s name is found as a signer of the original articles establishing the original Seneca Library, a “Social Circulating Library” for stockholders of the Union Library Society. The preamble to the agreements stated that the library was founded because “the greater part of the knowledge we possess is handed down to us by the writings of our ancestors,” and because of the expense of purchasing books. On February 6, 1802, the price of shares in the library was fixed at $2.62 1/2, and new members were given permission to pay in “good merchantable wheat.” In 1854, the library was disbanded, and the books divided among the stock-holders.