Benjamin Wightman

Benjamin Wightman, the son of Abraham and Susanna (Stark) Wightman, was born on August 31, 1755, in Norwich, Connecticut. He was the fourth generation of the Wightman family in America. He married Esther Randall, the daughter of Rufus and Margaret (Wightman) Randall. She was born in Cochester, Connecticut, on December 4, 1758.

The Wightmans emigrated from Montville, Connecticut, to Herkimer County, New York, where the settlement became known as Whitmantown. Benjamin was a Baptist minister, and both he and his wife were lineally descended from colonial clergymen; among those were Valentine Wightman, Obadiah Holmes, and Roger Williams, first governor of Rhode Island.

During the American Revolution, Benjamin Wightman served as a private in Colonel Willet’s Tryon County Rangers of New York. Benjamin Wightman is the only known Revolutionary War veteran buried in Matagorda County.

Benjamin and Esther had nine daughters and two sons. The daughters were Jerusha, Lydia, Eunice, Lucy, Susan, Esther, Margaret, Amy and Clarissa. The two sons were Elias and Dimmis.

In 1828 Elias Wightman, a surveyor for Stephen F. Austin, brought a group of colonists from New York to Matagorda—including his parents, Benjamin and Esther, and his sisters, Jerusha and Margaret. They traveled down the Mississippi River by flatboat to New Orleans. From New Orleans they sailed on the schooner Little Zoe to Matagorda. The journey was long and difficult as told in Mary (Sherwood) Wightman Helm’s memoirs, Scraps of Early Texas History.

Esther (Randall) Wightman died June 20, 1830, and was the first person to be buried in the Matagorda Cemetery. Six weeks later, her husband Benjamin died and was buried beside her. Their coffins were made of lumber from New Orleans and taken to the cemetery by ox-drawn carts.

One league of land from the mouth of Caney Creek and including part of Matagorda Peninsula, was granted to the heirs of Benjamin Wightman, October 28, 1930.

Historic Matagorda County, Volume I, pages 100-101
 

Benjamin Wightman
additional information from Raymond Ready

Benjamin Wightman (Abraham, Rev. Valentine, George), born 31 August 1755 in Norwich, New London Co., Conn.; died in June 1829 in Texas. He married Esther Randall, born 4 December 1758 in Colchester, New London Co.; died about 1829 in Texas, daughter of Rufus and Margaret Wightman Randall.

Benjamin Wightman was an early settler in the region of German Flatts, Herkimer Co., N. Y. The History of Herkimer County (1893) states that he was the first to locate in the locality south of the present village of Mohawk, the settlement being known for some years afterwards as "Whitman Town." The same authority is cited for the statement that he was a Baptist minister.

Another early resident was Stutely Palmer, also from Connecticut, who kept an inn, and also William Wightman, son of Dea. Valentine of Bozrah, whose widow married Stutely Palmer, as his second wife. The locality is now known as "Denison Corners;" but until the present generation, the name Wightman was prominent throughout this whole area, including the village of Mohawk.

Sometime after 1800 Benjamin Wightman moved to Avoca Township in Steuben County, N. Y., where he bought land. In 1826 he and Esther sold this land (Steuben Co. Deeds, Bath, xvi, 255-6) and Margaret Wightman, the unmarried daughter, sold a farm there the same year. They are said to have followed the son, Elias, to Texas, and to have died there.

Children, order found as indicated in a family record with few dates:

1. Jerusha, b abt. 1776 m. _____ Yeomans

2. Lydia, b 17 July 1777; d. 17 July 1827 at Trenton, N. Y.; m. 1800 Eleazer Wightman, b 14 Jun 1774; d. 6 Oct. 1851 at Trenton, son of Allyn and Molly Spicer Wightman.

3. Eunice, b abt. 1779; d 21 Dec. 1812, Mass.; m 5 Dec 1802, Capt. Henry Peirce, b 23 May 1777, son of Levi and Bathshebe Babbitt Peirce.
     Peirce children recorded at Peru::
     a. Baldon Benjamin Peirce, b 29 Jany 1804
     b. Charles Whitman Peirce, b 8 Aug 1805, d 16 Jany 1815
     c. Esther Angeline Peirce, b 9 Feby 1807

4. Lucy, b abt. 1781; m Solomon Porter. Resided Ovid, N. Y.
     Son, Whitlock Thaddeus Porter, b 4 Jany 1820 in Ovid; m in La Salle, Ill., 14 Apr 1852, Martha Ann Masterman. He was a teacher and prominent in education. Res. Morris. Ill.

5. Susan, b 7 Dec 1783; d 6 Apr 1871 in Fenton, Mich; m Allen Wightman, son of Allyn and Molly Spicer Wightman

6. Dimmis

7. Esther, b abt 1788; m _____ Woodard

8. Elias, b abt 1790. He lived and probably died in Texas.

9. Margaret, b abt 1793; died unmarried.

10. Amy
 

Members of the Bluebonnet Chapter # 41, Sons of the Revolution, Marble Falls, Texas and members of several other SAR chapters across Texas, gathered in Matagorda Cemetery at the grave of Revolutionary War soldier, Benjamin Wightman, Friday morning, July 11, 2014, at 10 a. m. A Sons of the American Revolution marker was placed on the only Revolutionary War veteran grave in Matagorda County. The Bluebonnet Chapter wanted to honor the family member of their member, Ralph Whitman, who lives in Burnet, Texas. The program included a color guard dressed in Revolutionary War uniforms as well as a musket salute. Approximately 50 members of the Matagorda Cemetery Association, Matagorda County Historical Commission, Mary Rolph Marsh Chapter DAR and residents of Matagorda were in attendance in addition to the SAR members.
 

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