Benjamin Gildersleeve was born on 29 April 1724 in Presbyterian, Huntington, Long Island, New York. He died in 1794, at age ~70, in Northport, Long Island, Suffolk County, New York.
Benjamin Gildersleeve had reference number. 64
Benjamin was baptized by Rev. Ebenezer Prime, Presbyterian, in Huntington, Suffolk County, New York, April 39, 1724. He was the son of Thomas Gildersleeve of the Older Line, a prominent farmer (Thomas) and town trustee in 1739 and 1740, who had succeeded to the estaes of his father, Richard 3d in 1717. Benjamin married October 10, 1745, Elizabeth Highbe baptized November 20, 1726, daughter of Captain Jonas, and had nine of his ten children baptized by Rev E. Prime:
Thomas, Jan. 25, 1747, died young; Zeno, June 7, 1747, died young; Finch, February 17, 1751; Richard, Aug. 19, 1753; John, Dec. 21, 1755; Jonas, July 2, 1758; Sarah, June 19, 1763, (m. Aug. 13, 1783,Edmund Bunce); Philip, Aug. 2, 1764; Thomas, Oct. 19, 1766, d. Apr. 10, 1845, (corporal War of 1812); and Drusilla, baptized by Rev. J. Close, Prime's assistant, July 16, 1769.
The people of Huntington as in other parts of Suffolk county were descendants of the New England Puritans and were firm against the treatment meted out by England towards her colonies. When thevarious events occurred leading up to the Revolution and were thoroughly discussed, the people at town meeting, June 21, 1774, put forth a noted Declaration of Rights, maintaining that each free man'sproperty was absolutely his own, that taxes laid by Parliament were unconstitutional and that is was their opinion that all the
colonies should unite to repeal the Boston Port Bill and that they should break off all commercial intercourse with Great Britain, Ireland and British West Indies. (Hunt'n Rec. II:585.)
At Huntington, July 23, 1776, the Declaration of Independence and the Resolutions of the Provincial Convention of New York were read and approved and applauded by the animated shouts of the people who were present from all distant quarters of this district. A parade with drums beating ushed in Independence and freedom of the Thirteen Colonies. The flag on the Liberty Pole was ripped - the letters George III cut off. An efigy of King George III was hung on the gallows, exploded with gunpowder and burnt to ashes. In the
evening the Committee with a large number of principal inhabitants sat around the genial board and drank thirteen patriotic toasts. (Hunt'n Rec. III:6.)
Benjamin Gildersleeve and two sons, Finch and John, signed the Association at Huntington, May 8, 1775. (Calendar of N.Y. His. Mss. Rev. Papers, p. 52.)
This was an agreement sent all around to uphold the Continental Congress and the New York Provincial Convention withstanding all oppression by England. They thus declared themselves for the American cause but troublous times soon occurred in Huntington. An ineffectual effort was made participated in by his son John to prevent the capture of Long Island at the Battle of Brooklyn Heights. (Mather's Refugees of 1776, p. 995, 1006.) Two sons had to flee over the Sound in order to fight on the American side, Finch in the Continental army and Richard in the naval service on the privateer "Montgomery." (N. Y. in Rev., p. 170.)
At Huntington, the British troops soon occupied the village as headquarters, billeting the soldiers on the people and causing great consternation and suffering. Under threat of banishment or worse, all inhabitants were forced to sign an oath of allegiance to King George III.
Benjamin was on the first list of persons who took the oath of loyalty before Governor Tryon in 1778. (Hunt'n Rec. III: 38.) Before that, John Morrison, commissary of Forage had ordered Mr. E. Punderson, Sept. 27, 1776, to summon all the farmers to a central place to demand grain, straw and hay. (Hunt'n Rec. III:17.) Oreders were given then to aid in building forst and transporting soldiers andsupplies.
Huntington 30 Decr '79 - Rec'd of Benjamin Gildersleeve forty bushels of Indian corn and fifteen bushel of oats he says: taken for the use of the Q'r M'r Gen'l Department which Geo. BrinleyEsq'r will pay for by order of his excellency Gen'l Leeland 25. pounds 5s. John Cutler.
One horse which was entered in Nathaniel Kelcy's name and had good right to collect the wages but never returned worth 15 pounds.
1779-May-10 C. fresh hay taken by Simcoe's party I carted 15 miles .
... 4 pound 9s. (Hunt'n Rec. III: Appendix 14, 38.)
Col. Simcoe of the Queen's Rangers often made forays into the country after supplies as did the other British troops. The above claims were presented by Benjamin Gildersleeve, as one of the plundered inhabitants of Huntington. Cattle and sheep were taken from the rebels without pay while those on the loyalist list were promised pay but generally denied.
New York 1 Jul 1780 - Attested to before Esq. Platt that Major Gilfillan took from Benjamin Gildersleeve fifteen bushels of oats and 40 bushels corn to the best of his judgement. Am'ts to 25 pounds 5s. I do certify that the above mentioned forage was taken and lodged in the Commissary Gen'ls Magazine at Huntington. T. Gilfillan A D'y Q. M'r Gen'l. (Hunt'n Rec. III: Appendix 14.)
Huntington seemed to be the strategic base of the enemy. A small earthwork was near St. John's Episcopal Church, a larger fort was on Gallows Hill so named from the execution of two American spies, and on the west side of Lloyd's Neck was Fort Franklin, commanding the entrance of Cold Spring Harbor and Oyster Bay Harbor, which the Huntington people were forced to build where at one time fivehundred Tory troops were stationed. Another fort on the east side of the Neck commanded the entrance to Huntington Bay and Northport Bay west of Benjamin's farm. These forts together with the shipping of the enemy, protected the cutting of much of the wood from the whaleboat raids from Connecticut. The wood was used for the fuel in New York City during the British occupation and stripped LongIsland bare of the best trees.
The British troops tore up the Presbyterian Church where Benjamin and his family attended church to use as barracks in Huntington village. The troops desecrated the burying ground by erecting Fort Golgotha there. This was done in the fall of 1782 in spite of the Provisional Treaty of Peace and the Truce existing since the capture of Yorktown in Virginia. It was in vain that the people protested against the use of gravestones for tables and ovens and they were forced even to work on this fort. Rev. Ebenezer Prime who preached for sixty years in Huntington was a fearless advocate for American Independence and in his 77th year was driven from home by the enemy. He died Oct. 2, 1779, and was buried in the Burying Ground which became the site of Fort Golgatha. Col. Benjamin Thompson(afterward the noted scientist Count Rumford in Bavaria) pitched his tent in this graveyard in order, he said, that he "might tread on the dead old rebel's head whenever he went in and out his tent."(Mather's Refugees of 1776 from L.I.)
The British troops often sallied out and committed depredations on the outlying farms as they foraged for supplies. Benjamin had most of his cattle driven off at that time suffering also from the raids of former Long Islanders now in Connecticut as he was near the Sound at Crab Meadow east of Northport Harbor.
1782. Acct. of damages sustained by the inhabitants of Huntington by the British troops and Refugees....Benjamin Gildersleeve, loss by the enemy. Loss of time & expenses in the ****. Lossof stock...332pounds.
(Hunt'n Rec. III: 99.)
The enemy did not leave until the close of the war. The claims of Huntington people were supported by the receipts of the British officers. These claims were sent to New York to be laid beforethe Board of Commissioners instituted April 1783, by Sir Guy Charleton when Evacuation was at hand to adjust such demands against the British Army as had not been settled. But the Board sailed for England without attending to them: and thus Benjamin was left without redress. (Wood's First Settlements on L. I.)
His experiences during the Revloution were indeed bitter. He declared himself for the American Cause in 1775 as an Associator and had three sonsfight for it. Th e next year all was lost and twosons had to flee because of British occupation. Forced to take oath in 1778 although inwardly rebelling, his feelings can be imagined when he was forced to labor for and supply the British and thenbe plundered by them besides. To crown all, promises to pay were broken and the British left the United States for good. At the close of the war in 1782, he was on the town tax list for 82 pounds, while in 1788, he was on the tax list for 406 pounds:00:00, Crab Meadow and Cow Harbor (Northport). His son Richard had enlisted June 28, 1775 with his brother, Finch in the 3d New York Regiment of the Line and then as seaman in the naval service in 1776. (N. Y. in Rev., p. 42, 269; N. Y. Archives - The Rev. p. 533.)
His will at Riverhead, Long Island, New York, names wife, Elizabeth, household furniture, then to go to daughter Sarah Bunce. Son Finch and his five sons, and two sons, Jonas and Thomas, lands and house equally, and all stock if they pay 10 each to sons John and Philip and maintain their mother.
The Nellie Ritch Scudder Collection.
Signed Association Against England, 1775.
!Sylvester Gildersleeve Descendants, by Willard Harvey Gildersleeve , 1952, page 13: 15. - Benjamin Gildersleeve. (Biography, p. 236-240, Gildersleeve Pioneers). Born in Northport, L. I., bp. 19 Apr. 1724, d. there in 1794; m. Huntington, L. I., 10 Oct. 1745, Elizabeth Highbe, bp. 20 Nov. 1726, dau. of Capt. Jonas and Drusilla (Finch). Will, 27 Mar. 1792, Huntington, L. I., proved 2 June 1794 -wife, Elizabeth, household furniture and then to dau.
Sarah Bunce; son Finch, 5s. York; two sons, Jonas and Thomas, lands and house equally and all stock if they pay 10 pounds each to sons John and Philip and maintain their mother. Exec. Jonas Gildersleeve, Zebulon Buffett. Wit.: Pina Blatchley, Phebe Rogers, Moses Blatchley. Listed U. S. Census 1790 - Huntington - males over 16, - 1; 3 under 16; 2 females.
Downloaded from the Nick Hayes-Sue Drake family tree. He had person sources.
1,2,3 He was christened in 1724 in Huntington, Suffolk County, Long Island, New York.