Benajah Beardsley was born Sep 27 1749 in New Fairfield, Connecticut. His parents were Obadiah Beardsley and Mercy Jackson. He married Rebecca Taylor, (born 1751), Feb 12 1772, in Fairfield, Connecticut. They had seven children.

Benajah served in the Revolutionary War as a Sergeant in Capt. Daniel Beebe's Company, Colonel Roger Enos' Regiment, Connecticut State Troops. Afterwards, Benajah Beardsley and his family moved to Otsego County (later called Delaware), New York, and bought land there, September 22 1794, a 118 acre plot and on February 20, 1795, another 105 acres of land, on the northerly side of the Delaware River.*

The county of Delaware was newly settled, and had been uninhabited until 1784. A year later in 1785 the village of Delhi was begun, but it wasn't until March 23, 1798, that the Town of Delhi was officially formed, from part of the Towns of Walton, Kortright, and Middletown. At this time, it included part of what later became the Towns of Meredith, Bovina, Andes, & Hampton (later renamed Hamden). The town of Kortright was formed from Harpersfield, March 12th, 1793. *

Benajah lived in Kortright and became the first town supervisor in 1798. He also served Jury Duty in Delhi in 1799, listing his occupation as Yeoman (Wikipedia: Yeoman usually refers to a farmer who cultivates his own land, historically a lesser freeholder of England, below the landed gentry but with political rights). In March of 1798 Benajah was issued a Tavern Keeper's Permit in Kortright.*

In the winter of 1809 Benajah Beardsley and son Daniel and eldest son, Barna, traveled over rough roads, with a team and wagon, from Delhi, Delaware County, New York, to Licking County, Ohio, locating six miles east of Newark, the county seat, on the Rock Fork of the Licking River. Here they built a double log cabin suitable for two families and made a "clearing" by grubbing out the small trees and underbrush, girdling the larger trees, and then planting corn and potatoes, on which to live the coming winter. In August,1810, Benajah died there.** Rebecca died sometime after 1810 Census.*

Benajah and Rebecca's children...
Daniel Beardsley (1773-1849)
Abel Beardsley (1775-1832)
Charles Beardsley (abt 1780-____)
John Odel Beardsley (1780-1842)
Benajah Beardsley (1781-____)
Rebecca Beardsley (abt 1786-____)
Phebe Ann Beardsley Grant (1790-1877)


* Source: Delaware County NY Genealogy and History Site
http://www.dcnyhistory.org/
** Source: "Genealogical history of the Beardsley-lee family in America"
By Isaac H. Beardsley, Published 1903.
-------------------------------------------
Benajah Beardsley of Delaware County (formerly Otsego), NY, on February 20, 1795, purchased from Gerard Bankes and Philip Livingston, land in lot 3 8 on the northerly side of the Delaware River, 105 acres with allowance. Witnesses Anthony Marvine and Billy Trowbridge. Recorded July 24, 1797. Pages 28-30.
------------------
From Jury Duty in Delhi, 1799
Benajah Beardsley Trade: Yeoman Town of Kortright 1799
-------------------
Hugh Murphy of Newtown, Ct., on January 11, 1802, purchased from Benajah Beardsley and Rebecca his wife of Kortright, Delaware County, NY, Esquire, land in the Little Patent, lot 37, 105 acres. Witnesses George Foot and Anthy Marvine. Recorded June 29, 1808. Pages 485-487.