The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
Author: VTSSAR
Benjamin was the 8th of 12 children (6th son) born of Daniel Plumley (1719-1781) and his wife Abigail Preston (d. 1814). Benjamin's siblings were: Lydia (b. 1743), John (b. 1745), Daniel (b. 1747), Alexander (b. 1749), Joseph (b. 1751), Abigail (b. 1753), Ebenezer (b. 1755), Samuel (b. 1758), Elizabeth (b. 1760), Jonathan (b. 1763), and Mary (b. 1765).
On May 1, 1775, Benjamin enlisted as a Private in Captain Isaac Gray's Company, Colonel Jonathan Brewer's Regiment of Massachusetts Militia and served 3 months and 8 days.
On December 25, 1776, Benjamin enlisted as a Private from Captain Hooker's Company, 4th Hampshire County Militia Regiment for 3 years service in the Continental Army. He engaged for the Town of Greenwich, Hampshire County, Massachusetts his place of residence. Benjamin joined Captain Josiah Smith's 3rd Company, Colonel Thomas Marshall's 10th Massachusetts Regiment of the Continental Line. He was promoted to Corporal in the same company and Regiment, January 1, 1778 and he was honorably discharged from this service on December 25, 1779 at West Pont in the State of New York. He was in the battles of Saratoga, September and October 1777, and Monmouth, New Jersey, June 28, 1778.
Benjamin married twice. First, he married, March 21, 1781 in Hanover, Grafton County, New Hampshire, Lucrecia (Luciceia) Fobes by whom he had 5 children (4 sons and 1 daughter): Daniel (1782-1826), Erastus (Arustus) (1783-1861), Lucretia (1784-1853), Benjamin (b. 1786), and Appleton (1787-1859). At the Hanover Town Meeting held on the 2nd Tuesday, March 1787, Benjamin was elected one of three Tythingmen. At the Hanover Town Meeting held on March 8, 1790, he was elected one of eleven Highway Surveyors for the year insuing. In the 1790 US Census taken of Hanover, Benjamin was the Head of a Family consisting of 1 Male 16 years of age and upwards, 4 males under 16 years of age, and 3 females.
Benjamin married, February 13, 1788 at Windham (Vernon) Connecticut, for his 2nd wife widow Anna (Fitch) McCrea, by whom he had 7 children (3 sons and 4 daughters): Anna (1789-1798), Polly (b. 1791), Horatio (1795-1869), Joseph (b. 1798), Anna (1800), Amrella (b. 1803), and Aldin (b. 1806).
Benjamin and his family moved from Hanover to Randolph, Windsor (now Orange) County, Vermont in the early 1790s, possibly in the late summer or early fall soon after the taking of the 1790 US Census in Hanover. At Randolph, Benjamin (Jesse) recorded the birth dates of his 1st ten children. His 6th child, Anna (1789-1798) died and was buried in Randolph. At the time he applied for a US Military Pension in April 1818, he was residing in Bristol, Addison County, Vermont.
References:
(1) "The History of Union, Conn." by Charles Hammond, 1893, pages 445 and 446
(2) US Federal Military Pension File No. R.8288
(3) "Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War." Vol. XII, by The Secretary of the Commonwealth, 1904, pages 477 and 478
(4) "New Hampshire, Marriages, 1720-1920"
(5) "The Records of the Town of Hanover New Hampshire 1761-1818" by Herbert Darling Foster, George Mendal Bridgman and Sidney Bradshaw Fay, 1905, pages 65-67 and 89
(6) mss. Vermont Birth, Marriage and Death Records, Vermont Records Center, Middlesex, Vermont
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