Benjamin and Mary Phillips were the parents of:
Benjamin and Mary Phillips Piatt were divorced on November 24, 1790, in Pennsylvania by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Mary remarried to ? Scott and they had a second family whom they reared near Elizabethtown, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
A record of the Philips Family Reunion held at the Vincent Baptist Church, Chester County, Pennsylvania, on May 30, 1877, sheds light on this family. It lists the two sons of Benjamin and Mary Phillips Piatt as their only offspring.
According to most researchers, Benjamin then married on October 31, 1795, in Ohio County, (West) Virginia, Mary 'Polly' Waddell who was born in 1778 and died after 1851 in Adams County, Ohio, where they moved after their marriage. Their marriage was also recorded by a Presbyterian circuit rider for Fayette and Washington County, Pennsylvania. James Hughes recorded the marriage of Benjamin Pyatt and Mary Waddel November 2, 1795.
I do not personally believe that these two Benjamins are one and the same man. One question is - why would he name his sons with Mary Waddell 'John' and 'Benjamin' when he already had a John and Benjamin with his first wife? No will is known to exist for Benjamin Piatt in Adams County, Ohio. However, a biography done in 1898 lists one wife and six children (all named). It seems more likely to me that this would be a different Benjamin who was roughly the same age and a close relationship to the Benjamin from Washington County, Pennsylvania. According to "A History of Adams Co OH," the Benjamin who was married to Mary Waddell was born in 1763 in Virginia (1753 if you correct the math). He would have been aged 32 if 1763 is accurate or 42 if 1753 in correct. While his wife was only 17 years old having been born c1778 in Pennsylvania per their 1850 census entry.
There was a Benjamin Piatt of Louisiana Territory from c1780s to 1809 who was in jail there for murder and counterfieting along with Lewis Wetzel. The name Lewis Wetzel is found even in the regular history books of southwest Pennsylvania and the northern panhandle of West Virginia. He was not a nice guy. The information copied from published Louisiana Territorial records, shakes up the thinking concerning Benjamin of Washington County, Pennsylvania. It was always believed that Benjamin went to Adams County, Ohio, with his brother, Jacob Piatt. But there were problems in getting all the Adams County information to fit. Now we have to wonder if the Benjamin in Adams County was a son, nephew or cousin of the Jacob there in Adams County and not his brother. That would free, Benjamin the brother of Jacob, to be the bad guy in Lousiana. Certainly Benjamin of Washington County, Pennsylvania, had already indicated he was not a model husband. His wife, a minister's daughter, divorced him in 1790. He was, by the terms of Jacob's will, required to use Jacob's land for the schooling of his two younger brothers. He failed to do so. He was sued for debt by his father-in-law Rev David Phillips and subsequently a part of the land was sold for the debt. Then Benjamin disappeared - to Louisiana? The Louisiana incident covered the years 1780s through 1809. The timing of these personal disasters in Pennsylvania 'fit'. Mary could easily have asked for a divorce from a man who had gone to Louisiana and been jailed - effectively 'abandoning' her. Have the divorce records been searched for any possible clues? Who knows were this Benjamin could have gone and if he had no real estate and no family that claimed him - would their be any record of his death or a stone to mark his life?
Back to the Benjamin who married Mary Waddell in 1795 - In "A History of Adams Co OH," by Nelson W Evans & Emmons B Stivers (1900), pp 331 & 336 gives: Benjamin Piatt was born in 1763 in Virginia. He came to Adams County in 1810, and bought land in Tiffin Township. He was a first lieutenant under General McCullough. He married Polly Waddle in Virginia, and was a pensioner. He died in 1851, at the age of ninety-eight [my note: Does not add - born 1753 if 98. MCP], and is buried near West Union, probably in the Trotter Cemetery. No stone marks his grave. He had a son, Benjamin, who was living in 1898, near West Union. A daughter, Margaret Denning, lived near Stone Chapel in 1898. He had six children, three sons and three daughters [my note: Eight listed in this abstract - do Nancy and Lisonia belong to someone else? MCP]. His son Jacob married Polly Trotter. His son John married Hester Black. Benjamin married Myra Bayless. Margaret married Newton Denning. Elizabeth married Lewis Trotter. Polly married John Black. [my note: Is this an abstract or the full article?. MCP]
The children of Benjamin and Mary Waddell were:
Assuming that this was Benjamin's first marriage at age 42, it is still reasonable to expect that he fathered children through at least 1815 when he was 62. As a Revolutionary War veteran did he only marry after finishing his military career? His wife was more than 20 years younger than he and would have been about 17 when they married. We must bear in mind that the work that was published in 1900 was most likely submitted by a local family member. Could they have been in error? Benjamin had been dead for fifty years. Would that have been long enough for someone to have an incomplete list of children (ie. Nancy and Lisona)? Did they have his place of birth correct?
Benjamin and Mary can be found on the 1850 census in Tiffin Township, Adams County, Ohio, as follows:
When looking VERY closely at the 1850 census entry - it is entirely possible that the age is 98 given the way some of the other 8s are written with an open top and almost no loop at the bottom. If he died in 1851 at the age of 98 (having not yet had his birthday between August 30th 1850 and his death in 1851), then his birth year of 1753 is likely accurate.
Are these Revolutionary War records those of Adams County, Ohio, Benjamin?
In the Historical Register of Virginians in the Revolution by Gwathmey (975.5G):
From Revolutionary War Muster Rolls of Virginia:<>
Another source lists: Benjamin Pyatt (Piatt)(Pyeatt) served as Sergeant, 13th Virginia Regiment, Continental Line. He moved from Fort Pitt to Ohio with the Regiment and served 3 years. He was discharged at Ft Pitt in Dec 1779.
Sources:
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