Results 1 to 7 of 7

Thread: Noah Bennett

  1. #1
    Sewbusy
    Guest

    Default Noah Bennett

    Hi to all...Happy New Year

    I've torn my hair out trying to track down my 3rd great grandfather, Noah Bennett.

    He came to the US sometime shortly after the 1841 British census. He reported in US census records that he had been born in Wales. In the 1841 census I found a Noah Bennett on Monmouthshire and he reported that he was a collier. There are other Bennetts on the same page but I have no clue how or if they are related.

    The only Noah Bennett I can find in the UK records I have been able to access have a Noah Bennett born April 20, 1820 in Norfolk, Gooderstone, St. George Church, Reg. number 109, file 6878. Father named David and mother named Betsy. Father was reported working as a laborer.

    Noah emigrated to Pennsylvania. I have him in several US census 1860 forward. I have found no immigration records yet. I suspect he was recruited to work in PA in the coal mine but have found no reference to him ever working here as a miner. He got into farming and his descendants seem to have pretty much to PA and farming for the next couple of generations. In the US census records he always reported he was born in Wales and his parents were from Wales.

    Any suggestions where I might find out more about the above noted Noah and his family? It has taken me 3 years to find out this much! I am not even sure the I'm on the right track. Bennett seems to be a name common as dirt in the UK but Noah is unusual from what I can see.

    Help appreciated.

  2. #2
    Brick wall demolition expert!
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Norfolk
    Posts
    3,268

    Default

    I found this on the IGI

    NOE BENNET
    Birth: 30 JAN 1816 Croesyparc-Nc, Peterston-Super-Ely, Glamorgan, Wales
    Father: THOMAS BENNET
    Mother: SISILIA
    Batch C025111

    Gooderstone is just up the road from here and even with 1840's education confusing Norfolk with Wales. Peterston looks to be south of the Valleys where the coal mines were and so could be a farm area

  3. #3
    JAP1
    Guest

    Default

    Sewbusy,

    Just to ensure that we are all working with the same information ...

    You say that you have Noah in US censuses from 1860 on? If he is the Noah born 1819/1820 Wales, with wife Sarah, living in Union Township, Union County, Pennsylvania, then he appears earlier - in the 1850 census ...

    You also say that you can find no reference to him ever working in Pennsylvania as a Miner? If I am looking at the right Noah, then he appears as an unspecified Labourer (1850), Day Laborer (1860), Ore Miner (1870), Farming (1880), Farmer (1900) ...

    Also that he went to the US shortly after the 1841 census? However, in the 1900 census (where his date of birth is given as Mar 1820), his year of arrival in the US is stated as 1840?

    So, perhaps he wasn't in the UK at the time of the 1841 census?

    It might help others to have the full details of the household with a Noah BENNETT in the Wales 1841 census:
    HO107/ Piece 743/ Book 10/ Llanover Upper, Monmouthshire/ ED 8/ Folio 17/ Page 25 (crown copyright)
    (Blaenavon Iron Works) Houses on the north side of River Avon, Blaenavon

    Daniel BENNETT, 25, Collier, No
    Margaret Do, 25, No
    John Do, 4, Yes
    /
    Noah BENNETT, 20, Collier, No
    (?)David Do, 15, Do, No
    /
    John (?)LEEVER, 20, Miner, Yes
    //

    Raffaele's is a good find - though a few years out for the age (dob 1819/1820) consistently given by Noah in the US.
    However, I notice that Noah's first son was named Thomas ...

    Good luck,

    JAP

  4. #4
    Sewbusy
    Guest

    Default Noah Bennett

    Sorry I missed giving information regarding the 1850 census.

    The term "day laborer" in the US can mean anything, even back then. I would have expected a coal miner to say he was a coal miner. I missed reading ore mining in the 1860 census so thanks for pointing it out. However, the Noah you are looking at is the same one I am looking at.

    My main problem is the discrepancy between him saying he came here in 1840 and a Noah Bennett in the 1841 British census. I've been trying to figure out if they are even the same Noah Bennett. It is either a different Noah who happened to be the same age or Noah Bennett in the US census reported the wrong year he arrived.

    I haven't been able to find any other documentation of him in the British records.

    Educational levels in the US back then didn't help. People were counted twice if they were at home one day and visiting a relative another when the census taker happened to come around. Between the census takers not understanding and people not being able to spell their own names, names sometimes came out to be unrecognizable. I have a family named Bayer and I was 100% sure where they were in 1930. I finally found them in the right place by going through every page of that county census. The census taker had the named spelled as Buiyer. The head of household had maybe a 4th grade education. I'd never have thought of that spelling "variation" to do a search.

    So, if the same could have happened in Britain, I will probably never find him.

    Thank you so much for the input!

  5. #5
    JAP1
    Guest

    Default

    Hi Sewbusy,

    Noah is absolutely consistent that he was born in Wales. That's something one suspects that Noah really would have known i.e. that he was born in Wales. And probably have been quite proud of his birthplace.

    So it very tempting to think that he might well be the Noe BENNETT found by Raffaele, and the Noah BENNETT in the 1841 census.
    Especially as that Noah hasn't been found in 1851 or as a death on FreeBMD.

    I don't think that his consistency re age is so important. People didn't have the same care for their age as we do these days.

    And the arrival date of 1840 was given in the 1900 census - he might easily have forgotten his year of arrival by then and have given just an approximate date! Carelessly (shame on you Noah!) not thinking of how important it would be to his descendants!

    I guess that you have thoroughly explored any shipping records of the time (say 1840-1850).

    I suppose you haven't found a record of his marriage (1850?) which might give a clue?

    If he were mine, I think I'd try working from the assumption that he is Noe/Noah in Wales in order to see whether there is any clue at all which might come from exploring that possibility.

    And one has to wonder whether any of the other BENNETTs in the 1841 household ended up in the US ...
    I did look for them (not very carefully) in later UK censuses without, as I recall, any success.

    All the very best,

    JAP

  6. #6
    Sewbusy
    Guest

    Default Noah Bennett

    Noah has been sooo frustrating because I have not found any of his immigration or naturalization records. They may be buried deep in the National Archives. Oh that I had been into the genealogy thing while living near D.C.

    I agree that people were not very careful about their dates. I run into that with people born in the states.

    Thanks for the information. I'll just keep digging.

  7. #7
    Newcomer to Brit-Gen
    Join Date
    Jan 2020
    Location
    pennsylvania
    Posts
    1

    Default

    hello! my family is the bennetts! currently residing in montoursville pa! noah bennett is part of our family, he was born in glamorganshire wales on march 5 in 1820 where he then moved to columbia county (new york) in about 1840, he then married sarah young in 1849, i don’t have too much info on him but that’s what i have written down in our family history!

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Select a file: