San Joaquin County
Biographies
HERBERT ALLEN BENTON
HERBERT ALLEN BENTON,
proprietor of the Farmington Hotel, was born in Elkhart County, Indiana, March
28, 1852, son of Talman and Jane (Thompson) Benton. The mother, born in New
York, daughter of Robert and Jane Thompson, was killed by the accidental discharge
of a gun while coming to California with her family in 1853, and was buried in
Ione Valley. She left two daughters by a former marriage with a Mr. Dennison,
who are both deceased; and two sons by her marriage with T. N. Benton,--the
subject of this sketch, and his brother Martin Allen, born in 1848. The latter
went on a journey in 1882, and, not having been heard from since, is supposed
to be dead. He left two children, - Frederick, born in 1872, and Laura, born in
1875.
T. N. Benton, the father of the subject of
this sketch, born near Lake Champlain, June 23, 1805, is still living on his
ranch near Farmington. He is a son of Noah Sylvester and Nancy Northrup
(Lamkins) Benton, natives of Vermont, who had moved to New York some time
before his birth, and thence to Canada in 1806. The father was a millwright,
and found a desirable opening in that country. The declaration of war in 1812
found him engaged in erecting a substantial mill; he was drafted into the
British army, and was given the alternative of working for the army in the line
of his trade. Being determined not to serve the enemies of his country in any
capacity, he managed to escape to New York with his eldest son, who was also
liable to conscription. The wife, with two other children, followed two months
later, and the family settled in Leicester Township, Livingston County, where
the father died in 1832 at the age of sixty-five. The wife survived until 1877,
when she died at the home of one of her children in Pennsylvania, aged
ninety-nine years, nine months and four days. The great-grandfather Lamkins
lived to be seventy-nine. Both families are of New England birth for several
generations. T. N. Benton received a limited education of three terms in a
district school and left home at the age of seventeen to earn an independent
living. He, however, fell into the same line of business as his father and
became a millwright, working at his trade about twelve years in New York State,
and afterward for five years in Michigan, at Pontiac and Niles. In 1848 he
bought 160 acres in Elkhart, Indiana, and farmed there until he came to
California. He arrived in Stockton October 9, 1853, and ten days later on the
ranch near Farmington, which has ever since been his home, and which now
comprises 1,140 acres. The first purchase in 1853 was 320 acres, for a
possessory claim, for which he paid $500.
H. A. Benton, the subject of this sketch,
was not quite nineteen months old when his father settled near what is now
Farmington, in 1853. He received such education as was received in the district
schools of the period, and was brought up to farming. In September, 1869, on
the completion of the Central Pacific Railroad, and by the first through train
he went East, accompanied by his father, and entered Clayton College, in
Jefferson County, New York, to finish his education. Called home by his father
he returned in May, 1871, and at once entered into active service on his
father’s ranch, where he continued until his marriage. In 1874 he was married
to Miss Emma Anna Dial, a native of this State, and has two boys by that
marriage,--Edward Northrup, born December 4, 1877; and George Washington, June
7, 1882. In 1875 he went to work on his own account, renting his father’s ranch
of 1,330 acres, the first year. In 1876 he bought 590 acres adjoining and
farmed it until 1879, when he added to his farm labors by renting 1,000 acres,
which he kept for three years. From 1882 to 1886 he farmed his own ranch;
selling it he purchased the Farmington Hotel October 1, 1887, which he has since
conducted.
In 1882 he entered the field of practical
invention in the farming line, perfecting and patenting a combined harvester of
acknowledged merit, which he sold to the Shippee Combined Harvester Company in
1886, reserving his right to sell his remaining stock of eight harvesters,
which found a ready sale at $500 each. He was engaged in the manufacture of
these, together with running his farm, from 1882 to 1886.
Mr. H. A. Benton was married a second
time, in 1886, to Miss Cora Kelly, born in Missouri, in 1866, and a resident of
California since 1882. Her father died in 1889; her mother, now residing in
this county, came to California in 1882. Mr. and Mrs. H. A. Benton have one
child,--Harry Allen, born October 12, 1888.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
An Illustrated History of San Joaquin County,
California, Pages 260-263. Lewis Pub.
Co. Chicago, Illinois 1890.
© 2008 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County
Biographies
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County
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