History of the City of Grand Rapids, Michigan with an Appendix

History of the City of Grand Rapids, Michigan with an Appendix
By Albert Baxter

Chapter XXXIX

DAVID MARCELLUS BENJAMIN

There is one species of ancestral pride that rests upon a foundation as enduring as the love of liberty in the heart of a true American. No title of nobility can raise a citizen of the great Republic to the honor conferred upon such as can trace their lineage back to active participants in that great and ever memorable struggle for self-government, the war for American Independence. The heritage which consists in examples of lofty patriotism may well inspire every motive to excellence, to great exertion, and superior worth. The subject of this memoir, David Marcellus Benjamin, was born July 28, 1834, in Livermore, Maine, on what for nearly a century has been known as the “Benjamin farm.” His family is one of the most ancient in our country, tracing its ancestry back for eight generations to John Benjamin, who came to America on the ship “Lion,” September 16, 1632. His grandfather, Samuel Benjamin, was born at Watertown, in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, February 5, 1753. He was First Sergeant in the Militia Company of Capt. Daniel Whiting at the battle of Lexington. He was also at the battles of Bunker Hill, Monmouth and Yorktown, and many others in the Revolution, of lesser note. At Yorktown he was Acting Adjutant to Col. Scammel’s regiment. He was commissioned Ensign by John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress. He was made a Lieutenant October 7, 1777. Official documents show that his entire service in the War of the Revolution covered a period of seven years, three months and twenty-one days, without leaving said service even so much as one day. Lieut. Benjamin purchased the lands in Livermore, Maine, comprising the “Benjamin farm,” and occupied them till his death on the 14th of April, 1824. He left ten children, of whom Martha, born October 4, 1792, married Israel Washburn, of Massachusetts, March 30, 1812. David, the father of the subject of this memoir, was born in Livermore, June 3, 1794. In 1820 he married Catherine Chase Stanwood, who was born in Brunswick, Maine, in May, 1800. Her mother was a descendant of Aquilla Chase, as was the late Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase. She died on the “Benjamin farm” in May, 1882, being soon followed by her husband, who died on the same farm in October, 1883, after having occupied it for eighty-four years. They had five children. David M., the subject of this sketch, received his education in his native State; first attending, as was then the custom, the summer and winter district school near the homestead, later a private school in the vicinity, afterward a few terms in the Farmington Academy, followed by a few terms in the Westbrook Academy, finally completing his education at the Litchfield Academy. He resided with his father on the farm till 1859, when he left the paternal roof, going into a lumber camp on a tributary of the Penobscot River, during the winter of 1859-60; providing for his necessities so far as his compensation of $11 per month would permit; but the experience and practical knowledge acquired there, and in a higher grade of service in the winters of 1861-62, laid broad and deep a foundation for a princely recompense in after years. In 1862, with a capital composed largely of energy, experience, and practical sense, he left his native State for Michigan, reaching Muskegon in October of that year. Soon after, he entered into a partnership to do a lumber business with O.P. Pillsbury and Daniel W. Bradley, constituting the firm of O.P. Pillsbury & Co., which firm is still (1889) in active business under the same name, the only change being the death of Daniel W. Bradley, who was succeeded in the firm by his three sons, William H., Edward and James W. On the 16th of June, 1869, Mr. Benjamin married Anna Louise Fitts, of Portsmouth, N.H. They have two children – a son, Fred. Washburn; a daughter, Catherine Chase. Soon after marriage, he removed to Big Rapids, Mich., where he remained until November, 1870, when he removed to Grand Rapids, residing here until November 1887; then, to be in proximity to his large lumbering business, he moved to Milwaukee, Wis., where he now resides, and where he is building for his occupancy one of the most elegant of modern homes. It will be a fitting monument to the success that has crowned an active business life, guided by the hard earned experience acquired in the days of small beginnings in his native Pine Tree State. The indomitable energy that moves so many of the sons of New England to successful results in laudable pursuits, is most fully personified in the business career of Mr. Benjamin. In personal appearance Mr. Benjamin is commanding. Physically, he is a robust and powerful man, being six feet in height and weighing two hundred and eighty-five pounds. In bearing he is dignified, but, as his face indicates, genial and companionable. In conversation, he is fluent and interesting. Sound common sense, with ability to express it, are qualities quickly discerned to be his, by his associates. As a citizen, he has regard for the public weal. In his relations with his fellow-men, he is honorable and just. He admires active, intelligent, honest men, who have the courage of their convictions. Politically, his father was a Whig of the Clay and Webster school; he grew up under that training, and ever regarded them as the ideal statesmen of their time, yet he is a well-informed, outspoken, uncompromising Democrat. In no sense a politician, he has no desire for political preferment; but few men devoted to the requirements of a large business as he is, feel the interest he manifests in the politics of his country. In this respect his example is most commendable, because, being intelligent, and based upon principle, it is honest and unselfish. At the present time, living statesmen for whom he has high regard are few, but Grover Cleveland stands foremost. He is broad enough to see much to admire in the public life of men with whom he differed politically. He admires many of the qualities exhibited by Abraham Lincoln, Peter Cooper, Wendell Phillips, Charles Sumner, William Pitt Fessenden, and his cousin Elihu Benjamin Washburn. In theology, he recognizes no creed. He is not a member of any church, but is identified with the Unitarians, and is represented by the teachings of William Ellery Channing and Theodore Parker. Mr. Benjamin is an excellent type of a transplanted, thrifty, growing New Englander of expansive mind, who justly merits his ancestry, who is an honor to the State of his nativity, and to the States of his adoption. (Copied Verbatim)