Benton's Ferry, Livingston Parish, Louisiana
File prepared by D.N. Pardue



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From the book entitled "The Free State - A History and Place-Names Study
of Livingston Parish" by the members of the Livingston Parish American
Revolution Bicentennial Committee in cooperation with the Livingston 
Parish Police Jury and the Louisiana American Revolution Bicentennial
Commission, 1976.  Reprinted by permission.  Dedicated to the memory of
Reuben Cooper and Raymond Riggs.

BENTON'S FERRY was operated in the 1800's by Robert Benton across the Amite

River near the spot where the US Hwy. 190 bridges are today.  It was also

the name for the first post office in what is now the city limits of Denham

Springs.

     Benton, a planter and lawyer, established the post office on Jan. 25, 1856.

An uncatalogued Union Army map discovered in the Library of Congress by LSU

geography professor Dr. Milton Newton shows Benton's Plantation south of Amite

Springs and Garig's Ferry south of the plantation.  Benton's Ferry is called

Marietta Ferry on this map, probably due to the fact that the community on the

west bank of the river, where the Comite flows into the Amite, is known to have

been called Marietta since at least 1832.

     Robert Benton had three wives, according to family records, one of whom was

Sarah Denham, William Denham's sister.  He had the following children - James

Lafayette, Josiah Edwin, Theodore Kean, Charles Henry, Edward C., Fredrica Brimmer,

Robinson Hatch, and Kirk White Benton.  Two of his sons, James and Josiah, died in 

the seige of Vicksburg, and Theodore died in a Union prison in Elmira, New York.

     Several Civil War skirmishes were fought in the vicinity of Benton's Ferry.

     Records compiled by Clark Forrest, Jr. show that James L. Harris became 

postmaster on March 26, 1867.  Other postmasters and the dates of their appointments

include Mrs. Jane E. Allen, March 2, 1874; Frederick F. Miller, April 26, 1887;

Charles F. Miller, Feb. 15, 1890; William P. Harris, April 8, 1899; and Norman R.

Allen, May 27, 1903.  The post office was discontinued on July 31, 1903.

     In time, the ferry was replaced by a bridge. --- James Earl Minton

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