Peter Bennett

Captain, of Middleborough. About 1692 he settled at Fall Brook in Middleborough, on a farm bought from John Nelson; he owned the water privilege on Fall Brook and a grist mill near what is now Grove Street, then Rochester Lane (Weston, History of Middleboro, p. 305). He and Priscilla Howland were fined for the early birth of their first child (married 30 Oct 1700, child born 28 Mar 1701, five months later); the court record has not been seen.

On 29 Mar 1706 the town ordered every housekeeper to “bring or send in unto Peter Bennet six blackbirds heads” before mid-June or pay two shillings; he was to keep the account, and “one Crow’s head shall be accepted instead of three blackbirds heads” (Middleborough town records, printed in Weston p. 567). He was a Middleborough selectman in 1715 and sat on the 1716 committee that divided the town into quarters so that a single schoolmaster could teach in each in turn. He followed Joseph Vaughan as captain of the town’s first militia company (Weston).

About 1735 he and Francis Miller asked the town for leave to dam the brook to build a furnace. The Fall Brook Furnace, which Weston calls “one of the first blast furnaces,” was built there and later belonged to his son-in-law John Miller (Weston pp. 305-306). Weston’s list of members of the First Church includes “Jenny, (Afr.), … m. 1747, serv’t. of Peter Bennet.”

His will is dated 5 Oct 1749, and he died on 22 Oct 1749; his estate was valued at about £6,098 (Sibert, from the probate, not seen). The research has not gathered his children beyond Elizabeth and Joseph.

Open questions

• His parents, Dea. John Bennett and Deborah Grover, are named only; the research gives no dates for them, so they have no files.