Individual Details
John BENBOW
(1 Apr 1800 - 12 May 1874)
[This is a history of John Benbow who was converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints by Wilford Woodruff and assisted many English families in emigrating to America. John and his wife, Jane, raised Ellen Benbow, their niece, who became the first wife of William Carter. This history was written by Arthur Erekson, a great grandson of John Benbow, and permission was given to Mary Ann Carter Smith to reprint this history for the William Carter Family Organization.]
JOHN BENBOW by Arthur Erekson
In my research and study as I have compiled this history of my great grandfather, I have gradually developed a sincere respect for him as a humble man of solid character, and with the ability to think and act and work with great intensity, which resulted in remarkable contributions to the growth of God's kingdom here on this earth.
Like my father, his grandson, he was raised by a good woman who taught him obedience to authority and a firm regard for order and fairness and justice, as well as a reliance on the Bible as a final authority for measuring truth and righteousness.
As the tenth child of a family of eleven, and as a fatherless boy at the age of five, he must have learned how to work from his mother and his older brothers and sisters, which was such a thorough education that at 18 years of age he could perform so well as a laborer that his employer doubled his wages after the first year and again after the second. During those early years working for someone else he was able to live so economically that he could save enough to rent a hop farm and go out on his own.
By the time he was 26, he felt he was in a position to care for a wife, and chose a woman eight years older who must have attracted his attention because of her intellect and wisdom and economy, as was later attested to by Hyrum Smith when he gave her a Patriarchal blessing in 1842.
With such a companion he made great progress toward financial security so that he could obtain a freeholder lease on Hill Farm, with a good house to live in and about 300 acres to cultivate under his direction.
At some point, we do not know exactly when, he joined a group that was to become the United Brethren. We assume that it was previous to December 12, 1833, when he signed an application for a license to use his home for Protestant religious services. He had previously become a supporter of Thomas Kington, whose views on religion matched his own, so that John and Jane provided food and lodging for him, as well as a place to conduct services for his followers. They rejected the teachings of both the Church of England and the Wesleyan Methodists and participated in organizing the United Brethren which taught the doctrines of the Lord Jesus Christ as found in the Bible.
Both John and Jane were then ready to receive the restored gospel as they learned of it from Wilford Woodruff, so much so, that they were the first of the United Brethren to be baptized within 48 hours after Elder Woodruff arrived at their home; and they remained loyal to it and its leaders throughout the remainder of their lives, although they were sorely tried at various times and places.
While John and Jane had no living children of their own, they fostered four nieces and nephews - a boy and a girl from John's side and the same from Jane's side of the family. They cared for them through their teenage years until they were married, including taking them with them from England to Nauvoo in America. They also cared for Wilford Woodruff's son, Wilford, for a year and a half while the Woodruffs were on a mission in England, demonstrating their love and concern for children who were in need of special attention.
It was Wilford Woodruff who labeled John a wealthy farmer, and this has caused others to over emphasize this to unreal proportions in their writings. However, I believe he was only relatively wealthy and his wealth in money was soon distributed to others after he joined the Church, so that he was left to live out the last 26 years of his life with the meager income he could secure from cultivating a few acres of rather poor soil and the raising of livestock on equally poor pastures which consisted mainly of salt and wire grass. I know because I lived on those acres and saw how the crops grew even with the best of care.
However, he was not poor in blessings; for after Jane died he found a good wife who loved and cared for him and bore his only child to live to maturity, a little daughter who became a source of joy to him to his dying day. This daughter, Isabella, responded to his counsel and gloried in the teachings of the Bible and Book of Mormon and married the man her father wanted her to marry and carried on in the traditions of her father. Thus he has become immortal when otherwise his bloodline would have ended with his death of May 12, 1874.
By distributing his wealth of things of this world, he was brought close to his daughter and became a powerful influence for good in her life, and as a result, she raised two sons who, in turn, became great fathers to descendants who have blessed all the continents of the earth with knowledge of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.
Today we honor John Benbow, not for his generosity in distributing his gold, but for giving his life as a father to the spiritual education of a daughter of superb qualities which we recognize as indispensable for the well-being of the hundreds who have now inherited at least some of those traits and qualities that are essential for gaining eternal life in our Heavenly Father's kingdom.
JOHN BENBOW by Arthur Erekson
In my research and study as I have compiled this history of my great grandfather, I have gradually developed a sincere respect for him as a humble man of solid character, and with the ability to think and act and work with great intensity, which resulted in remarkable contributions to the growth of God's kingdom here on this earth.
Like my father, his grandson, he was raised by a good woman who taught him obedience to authority and a firm regard for order and fairness and justice, as well as a reliance on the Bible as a final authority for measuring truth and righteousness.
As the tenth child of a family of eleven, and as a fatherless boy at the age of five, he must have learned how to work from his mother and his older brothers and sisters, which was such a thorough education that at 18 years of age he could perform so well as a laborer that his employer doubled his wages after the first year and again after the second. During those early years working for someone else he was able to live so economically that he could save enough to rent a hop farm and go out on his own.
By the time he was 26, he felt he was in a position to care for a wife, and chose a woman eight years older who must have attracted his attention because of her intellect and wisdom and economy, as was later attested to by Hyrum Smith when he gave her a Patriarchal blessing in 1842.
With such a companion he made great progress toward financial security so that he could obtain a freeholder lease on Hill Farm, with a good house to live in and about 300 acres to cultivate under his direction.
At some point, we do not know exactly when, he joined a group that was to become the United Brethren. We assume that it was previous to December 12, 1833, when he signed an application for a license to use his home for Protestant religious services. He had previously become a supporter of Thomas Kington, whose views on religion matched his own, so that John and Jane provided food and lodging for him, as well as a place to conduct services for his followers. They rejected the teachings of both the Church of England and the Wesleyan Methodists and participated in organizing the United Brethren which taught the doctrines of the Lord Jesus Christ as found in the Bible.
Both John and Jane were then ready to receive the restored gospel as they learned of it from Wilford Woodruff, so much so, that they were the first of the United Brethren to be baptized within 48 hours after Elder Woodruff arrived at their home; and they remained loyal to it and its leaders throughout the remainder of their lives, although they were sorely tried at various times and places.
While John and Jane had no living children of their own, they fostered four nieces and nephews - a boy and a girl from John's side and the same from Jane's side of the family. They cared for them through their teenage years until they were married, including taking them with them from England to Nauvoo in America. They also cared for Wilford Woodruff's son, Wilford, for a year and a half while the Woodruffs were on a mission in England, demonstrating their love and concern for children who were in need of special attention.
It was Wilford Woodruff who labeled John a wealthy farmer, and this has caused others to over emphasize this to unreal proportions in their writings. However, I believe he was only relatively wealthy and his wealth in money was soon distributed to others after he joined the Church, so that he was left to live out the last 26 years of his life with the meager income he could secure from cultivating a few acres of rather poor soil and the raising of livestock on equally poor pastures which consisted mainly of salt and wire grass. I know because I lived on those acres and saw how the crops grew even with the best of care.
However, he was not poor in blessings; for after Jane died he found a good wife who loved and cared for him and bore his only child to live to maturity, a little daughter who became a source of joy to him to his dying day. This daughter, Isabella, responded to his counsel and gloried in the teachings of the Bible and Book of Mormon and married the man her father wanted her to marry and carried on in the traditions of her father. Thus he has become immortal when otherwise his bloodline would have ended with his death of May 12, 1874.
By distributing his wealth of things of this world, he was brought close to his daughter and became a powerful influence for good in her life, and as a result, she raised two sons who, in turn, became great fathers to descendants who have blessed all the continents of the earth with knowledge of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.
Today we honor John Benbow, not for his generosity in distributing his gold, but for giving his life as a father to the spiritual education of a daughter of superb qualities which we recognize as indispensable for the well-being of the hundreds who have now inherited at least some of those traits and qualities that are essential for gaining eternal life in our Heavenly Father's kingdom.
Events
| Birth | 1 Apr 1800 | Grendon Warren, Hereford, England | |||
| Marriage | 16 Oct 1826 | Jane HOLMES | |||
| Death | 12 May 1874 | Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, USA | |||
| Marriage | Living |
Families
| Spouse | Living |
| Spouse | Jane HOLMES (1792 - 1846) |
| Father | Thomas BENBOW (1752 - 1805) |
| Mother | Ann JONES (1759 - 1851) |
| Sibling | James BENBOW (1783 - ) |
| Sibling | Thomas BENBOW (1784 - 1835) |
| Sibling | Prestwood BENBOW (1786 - ) |
| Sibling | Ann BENBOW (1788 - ) |
| Sibling | Joseph BENBOW (1790 - ) |
| Sibling | Sarah BENBOW (1795 - ) |
| Sibling | Jane BENBOW (1797 - 1844) |
| Sibling | Mary BENBOW (1797 - ) |
| Sibling | William BENBOW (1803 - 1886) |
| Sibling | Elizabeth "Lucy" BENBOW (1782 - ) |