vital records sources
Benjamin became a freeman on "the 3rd Tuesday of February" 1723 (now 1724),(1) having turned 21 the previous October. In May 1735 He received the commission of ensign in Capt. John Eldred's (3rd) North Kingstown company in the 3rd Regiment of Kings (now Washington) County militia.(2) In June of the following year he turned down a renewal of that commission.
He proposed an "exchange" that involved using a road by his house rather than one nearby that was too steep for safe passage (did they eliminate the other road?). At a town meeting on 26 August 1746 a committee was appointed. Benjamin and the committee did a site visit and a report was made at another meeting on the 29th.(3) The impassable road may have been a public road, the other private. This proposal had the proviso that he be allowed to hang gates at his corner house and at the plain where the road curves south. This may describe Shermantown Road, to the west of where his wife and parents-in-law lived.
children of Benjamin Congdon and Elizabeth Sweet (the North Kingstown records were damaged by a fire in 1869):
Stukely b. 11 December 1722? not confirmed
James
Elizabeth b. 28 May 172-
Margaret b. 6 January 172-
Benjamin b. 28 November 173-
son b. 11 April 173-
child b. 17 July ----
child b. 3 October ----
son d. 1740
daughter d. 1741
son d. 1743
son d. 1746
vital records sources: Benjamin's marriage is in James Arnold's Vital Records of Rhode Island, 1636-1850, vol. 5 (), p. , performed by Elisha Cole, "assistant," indicating this was a civil ceremony. His birth date has been published, but it wasn't found in the published RI vital records by Austin. The earliest appearance of the date may be a printed sheet of genealogy, undated (but thought to have been printed about 1870) and by an unnamed author, that was re-printed in Boston in 1918 by Frank J. Wilder as Congdon Family of Rhode Island. This is a compilation including information from the will of Benjamin (1) and vital record dates that may have been taken from the North Kingstown records before they were damaged by a fire in 1869. Others were likely taken from a family Bible, given the personal detail (for instance, the time of death of one family member). This document follows only one line of descent, including siblings, from Benjamin (1), through Benjamin (2), John (3), John (4), Thomas Rose Congdon (5) and ending with his children, further indicating private records were at least partially used.
1. Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, vol. (), p. 338.
2. Civil and Military List of Rhode Island, 1647-1800 (), p. 71-74.
3.Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, vol. (), p. 295.
all text and photographs © 1998-2010 by Doug Sinclair unless where otherwise noted