Holden, Capron Genealogy (1859)

Compiled genealogy. Prints Philip Capron’s family account of 1817 (pp. 7-8), the source of the stowaway story: “He, with three other youths, each about 14 years old, and all schoolmates … privately concealed themselves in the hold of the vessel”, and “The said Banfield was of a middling stature, well-built, of a light complexion, blue eyes, and reddish hair.” The account says Banfield married “one of Callender’s daughters,” with no first name.

Gives Banfield’s death as “August 20, 1752, aged 92 years” (p. 25), his wife Elizabeth Blackington (called his second) as dying 10 May 1735, and his marriage to Sarah Daggett, 16 Dec 1735. Also prints a Tyler account (p. 191) of Ebenezer Tyler’s death: “He went into his barn one morning, to feed his cattle, and was found dead upon the hay mow, with a pitch fork in his hand.”

More from Philip Capron’s 1817 account (pp. 7-10) and Holden’s entry (p. 25):

• The account does not name Banfield’s home town: “The name of the town or county that the said Banfield came from is forgotten; but it has been kept in remembrance, that he came from the northerly part of England, and that the town joined Wales.” The writer then picked Chester from a map as “reasonable to conclude”.
• His age: he died “being about ninety years old. Some think he was considerably older,” a figure got by supposing he was 21 when his first child was born in 1682 or 1683. His Bible, then owned by his grandson Abiel Brown, recorded only the birth of his eldest daughter, 22 Oct 1684; other leaves “had become loose and were lost”. Abiel Brown also said Banfield “lived with his first wife fifty-two years after they were married.”
• In 1779 Philip Capron visited the Barrington farm where Banfield first settled and lived about twenty years. The owner, a Mr. Humphrey, said he had bought it from Banfield, who “had a large family of children” and sold “in order to move back into the woods, (Attleborough,) as it was then called, where he could get a greater quantity of land.”
• Holden names the wives as (1) “a lady by the name of Callender, of Rehoboth”; (2) Elizabeth Blackington of Attleborough, d. 10 May 1735; (3) 16 Dec 1735, “Mrs. Sarah Daggett … relict of Deacon John Daggett.” He lists twelve children: Banfield, Joseph, Edward, Walter, John, Jonathan, Betsey, Mary, Hannah, Margaret, Sarah and “A daughter”, without saying which wife was the mother of each.