This photo of Cynthia belongs to descendents
of her son Darius in Minnesota.

Cynthia Lane was born in Ontario, Canada, in 1812, the daughter of Benjamin Lane.   She met Elijah Benjamin in Ontario and they married in the late 1820s.

In 1828, Elijah and Cynthia Benjamin became owners of the east half of CL 4/27 Ernestown Township, having purchased the land from Cynthia's father, Benjamin Lane for 50 pounds [Deed registered on December 9, 1828].

In 1845, Elijah deeded the west quarter of CL 4/28, Ernestown Township back to Ezra Lockwood. This property had originally been deeded by Ezra to Elijah in 1842. The latter sale was registered on July 18, 1849, with Elijah signing.

In 1851 and 1852, the Elijah Benjamin family was living in a 1 and 1/2 story wood frame house (24x41) in Ernestown Twp (CL 4/27).  Also on the property was a wood workshop.  According to Fenwick Connoly's FAMILY HISTORY, Elijah, "once married, lived on the Lane farm 1 mile west of Odessa, where all their family were born."

Most records indicate that Elijah and Cynthia had 15 children -- 14 boys, and 1 girl.  Different sources disagree on the names and birth dates of the boys.

In the 1850s, Elijah moved his family to rural Papineau, Illinois, where they took up farming.  This is believed to have occurred in 1856.  On October 13, 1856, Elijah and Cynthia deeded CL 4/27 to Henry Benjamin of Kingston Township, excluding one acre whish was deeded to Elijah's eldest son Jacob in 1851.  (Some sources believe that Henry and Elijah Benjamin are brothers.  In 1872 Henry Benjamin sold this land to Elijah's son, William Henry Benjamin, and in 1882 William Henry acquired a mortgage of $700.00 on the whole of CL 4/27 (200 acres) from his brother, Elijah Wesley Benjamin.)

Two sons are known to have died in Canada before the family moved:  Marshall in 1842, Anson in 1842.  Two older sons, Elijah Wesley and William Henry, continued to live in Ontario for the rest of their lives.  A third son, Joseph, remained in Ontario for some time, but later joined the family when they moved to Minnesota and later Nebraska.  It is not known if Joseph ever lived in Illinois.

The children that moved to Illinois included Andrew, Sidney, Hiram, Cynthia "Eliza," and John.  Though they don't appear on the 1860 census, it is known that Jacob and Stephen also eventually moved to Illinois.

Two sons were born in Illinois:  Darius in 1858, Albert in 1860.

Daughter Cynthia "Eliza" Benjamin died in 1867.

Elijah died in Jackson County, Minnesota on February 20, 1882 at age 74.  After her husband's death, Cynthia moved to live at her son Hiram's home near Hubbel, Nebraska.  She is shown living there in the 1885 Nebraska census.

Cynthia died in Nebraska on September 6, 1896 at age 83.  One record says she died in Nuckolls County, but it seems more likely that her death occurred in either Thayer County or Jefferson County.  Cynthia's obituary indicates that she was buried at Rose Creek Cemetery near Reynolds, Nebraska.   There is currently no gravestone to mark her grave.

Above:  Cynthia's obituary was printed in the
Hubbel Standard on September 25, 1896.

Below:  The Rose Creek Cemetery is located two miles
west and one mile north of Reynolds, Nebraska
Though a number of Benjamins are buried here,
there are no stones to mark their graves.

1. Robert L Benjamin [bobpeg@bevcomm.net]