************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/mi/mifiles.htm
************************************************

Submitted by  Cheryl VanWomer

				

				LOREN AND PAULINA (ADGATE) BENEDICT.

	This family traces its ancestry to the settlement of Salem, Mass., and is of English 
origin.  Aaron Benedict, grandfather of the above, was a Presbyterian minister, and continued in
the line of his duty until he was seventy years of age.  He was also a soldier in the 
Revolutionary war, and was at the side of the lamented Warren at Bunker Hill when it was 
demonstrated to the satisfaction of incredulous Britons that "Yankees" would fight.  He 
settled after the war in Sangerfield, Oneida Co., N. Y., and died at the age of ninety-three at 
Harvard, N. Y.  His son Aaron married Achsah Foster, and about 1804 located at Attica, N. Y. 
(then in Genesee County), purchasing eighty acres on Wells' Hill, near the centre of the town.  
About 1820 he exchanged places with Grove Cooley and removed to Courtland Co., N. Y.
	Loren Benedict was the third in a family of ten children, and was born at Attica, N. Y., 
Sept. 19, 1811.  Remaining at home until he had attained his majority, he then worked a short 
time for monthly wages, and at the age of twenty-three set his face towards Michigan, coming 
via the Erie Canal to Buffalo, where he took water passage for Detroit.  The vessel was wrecked 
off Erie, Pa., on the night of Nov. 22, 1834, stranding on a sand-bar.  The boat was the steamer 
"Columbus," and had four hundred passengers on board, who were all safely landed in the morning. 
The remainder of the trip to Detroit was made by Mr. Benedict in a stage.  He proceeded to 
Rochester, Oakland Co., and resided near that place two years, assisting his brother-in-law in 
making improvements and putting in grain.  He was on one occasion lost at night while searching 
for the cattle, and only knew which way to find home by wetting his finger and holding it up to 
ascertain the direction of the wind.  Feb. 15, 1838, he proceeded to Flat River with a load of 
pork, and crossed on a skiff to the cabin of Ambrose Spencer.  Spent a day in looking at land, 
and purchased at Cook's Corners, in the township of Otisco, Ionia Co., one hundred and sixty 
acres.  His money was of that uncertain breed known as "wild-cat," and he returned to Pontiac 
and disposed of it (two hundred dollars) in the purchase of two yokes of oxen.  In less than two 
weeks the said money was worthless.  He sold his cattle the following spring, receiving gold in 
payment, and on foot journeyed to his land in Otisco, erected a cabin, and began improvements.  
In December he again returned to Pontiac, where on the 1st of January, 1839, he married Paulina 
Adgate, daughter of Abel and Polly Adgate, and took her to his wilderness home.  In 1846 he 
disposed of his place and removed to his present farm, lying in Berlin and Orange townships, 
Ionia Co.  This purchase had upon it a log house and a frame barn, but little other improvement, 
and the labor necessarily expended upon it was great.  To-day it is in excellent condition, and 
additions have been made until it now consists of four hundred acres, including the residences 
of his sons, George, Abel, Emerson, and Philo.  One daughter, Emeline, was also born to Mr. and 
Mrs. Benedict, and is now Mrs. Henry Sprague, of Easton.
	Mrs. Benedict died Dec. 7, 1872, and her loss was deeply mourned by her family and a 
large circle of friends and relatives.  Mr. Benedict is a Jefferson Democrat in politics.  In his
private life he is honest and upright, and those who know him testify to his worth as a friend 
and neighbor and business man, while the destitute and needy have cause to remember his many acts
of kindness and charity towards them.



This biography is taken from "HISTORY OF IONIA AND MONTCALM COUNTIES, MICHIGAN" 
by John S. Schenck. Philadelphia:  D. W. Ensign & Co., 1881.  Page 189.  Berlin.