Adelia Benedict
ID # 6118, (1793-1865)
| Birth | Adelia Benedict was born in 1793. |
| Marriage | She married Samuel Smith. |
| Death | She died on 10 October 1865. |
| Burial | She was buried at St. George Cemetery, South Dumfries Twp., Brant Co.. |
| Note | She There is deceptive information relating to Adelia Benedict and her marriage. Page 130 of volume one of Ancaster's Heritage tells that 'Amelia' Benedict was the wife of Samuel Wilson Cowden Smith and that she died on October 10, 1865. That there was such a person as Samuel Wilson Cowden Smith is correct, but his story is quite different. For our purposes, this background may be disregarded. Page 31 of A History of the People of Troy provides us with a brief family tree of the Wood family. This tells that two brothers married two sisters. Lewis Wood married Asenath Smith and Robert Wood married Laura Smith. They are described as the daughters of Samuel Smith and Adelia Benedict. When we then look at the Lewis Wood family in Beverly at the time of the 1861 census, we find that Adelia Smith, age 68, was with them, as well as 'Lara' Wood, listed immediately after her. Find-a-Grave has photos of the gravestones in St. George Cemetery for Samuel and Adelia (Delia), both of which have remarkably survived, and she, Delia, is said to have died on October 10, 1865. The transcription of St. George Cemetery done by the Brant County branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society shows her as Della, but Murray Fair's transcription done for Interment.net shows her as Delia. Hence, we may disregard the statement that Adelia was at any time wife to Samuel Wilson Cowden Smith who died in 1870. A land note: See the 1839 Beverly Township assessment which appears on microfilm GS1417AA, page 8. (This is a year after the death of Samuel Smith.) This shows Delia Smith on concession 4, N.D. Gore. The letters N.D. probably represent the north portion of lot D, Beverly Gore. The D lot as it appeared on a map in an 1875 gazette is shown in the McGill University's county map project and it is on the 4th concession. It borders South Dumfries Township in Brant County and is but a short distance from there to St. George where Samuel and Adelia are buried. The Ontario Land Registry Access (onland.ca) has the abstract index pages for Beverly Township. This is identified as Beverly, Book 1, Concession 1 to 4, pages 176 to 345. See images 260 and 261 for the 4th concession, lot D. This almost certainly has information missing for there is a blank between 1804 and 1842. The cause of this is probably the destruction of records in the Land Record Office (LRO) by General Dearborn's forces during the American occupation of York during the War of 1812. It's entirely possible that Delia's presence on this lot as shown in the 1839 Beverly Township assessment in the above paragraph represents the family leasing this land. The transaction referred to here on the abstract index page for the same lot represents the sale of 173 acres of this lot to Solomon F. Smith, apparently Delia's oldest son, in 1842. Solomon F. Smith et ux (and wife) sold two portions of this same lot to James Sager in 1852 and 1856, effectively removing the family from an interest in the property. The abstract index pages, while generally accurate and useful, were not created until 1867 in response to a law of the day. There was loss of information occasioned by the War of 1812 and occasionally by decisions made by the Second Heirs and Devisees board. Mileage varies on this latter, but, with Beverly, a Second Heirs decision could wipe out a previous history of the lot's ownership. There is no evidence that Second Heirs had any involvement with this lot in the Gore of Beverly. (The Township Papers file for this as for any given township lot might tell a fuller story, but this has not been examined.) As an added note, Jacob Cope appears in the same assessment and on the same page as being on Gore section C, 3rd concession. Jacob and his wife Phoebe were the parents of Caroline Cope who was married to Solomon Smith. |
Children of Adelia Benedict and Samuel Smith |
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| Last Edited | 21 Feb 2023 |