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- Andrew Cowles Benedict
Andrew Cowles, b. Jan.17,1828, m. Maria Amelia Farnham who d. of consumption 10 months later, m.2nd.Helen Maria Hoyt May 12,1852. His father, Andrew, b. June 21,1772 m. 1st. Sally Brown at South Norwalk, Conn. Sept.1793 and at once moved to Chenanqo Co., N.Y. 350 miles with one yoke of oxen and cart, one cow and one horse. Traveled over 100 miles by marked trees as the country was inhabited by Indians and wild animals. The govern?ment had surveyed this section of New York State and had set off certain sec?tions for the soldiers of the Revolution as a bounty. His father, Nathaniel, b. Mar. 26,1744 served as Sgt. in Conn. Continental Line in Capt. Seth Seymour's Co. in 1776. He was at Danbury, Fairfield and Norwalk. Served on seacoast guard throughout the war and died at Nor?walk. He received bounty land and gave it to his sons Andrew and James Nathaniel who were married about the same time. They set out to their new home, at that time called "far West." (I think quite a bridal town.) Their home was about 40 miles south of Syracuse, then only a few families of white people, now a city of 150,000 and 40 miles east of Ithaca, N.Y. and 5 miles to the nearest settlement of a white family. These neighbors of which consisted of six white fami?lies turned out and helped them cut trees and build a house in one day. They slept in the house the first night after the first tree was cut. At that time of the year leaves were falling fast and were used for beds instead of feathers and springs.
Andrew C. related these facts to his grand-daughter, Lulu, in a let?ter dated June 10,1910: "I will give you a little of the way my fath?er told me of how they lived. There was no wheat flour and little rye flour and corn meal. The meal was made by pounding the corn on the top of a hard wood stump that he hollowed out like a bowl and used a pestle of very hard wood to pound it. The meal was sifted and then made in a cake called "Johnny Cake." The coarsest of the pounded corn was boiled and called samp. They had plenty of wild meat: veni?son, wild geese and wild turkeys in abundance. Their clothing and shoes were made from bear and wolf skins. Wolves were very numerous and troublesome at night. They did their own tanning using squirrel skin for sewing thread which was tanned with the hair off and cut as small as it could be. The most of the hides were tanned with the hair on as it made very warm clothing. They gathered a great many nuts: chestnuts, butternuts and beechnuts. It was no trouble to get fish at Chenango Forks but that was from 18 to 20 miles away. They went to the Post Office twice a year at which time they got lots of fish and salted them down. I think they lived as the Indians did in those days. My grandfather, Nathaniel's home was always in Norwalk, Conn. His house and everything on his premises were burned by the British Army during the Revolutionary War. All of the village was burned except one house and that was saved by an old colored man. Soon after the burning of Norwalk my grandfather enlisted and served until the close of the war." Andrew Sr. m.2nd. Sally Stankliff who d. Aug.23,1823, m.3rd.Anna Gannet. She m. 1st.George Nichols and had two sons: Washington O. and George H. Nichols.
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1828 - 
d. 22 Sep 1853, Ledyard, Cayuga county, New York, United States