Lake County Ohio GenWeb

Benjamin Blish

The following article is from A HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF MIDDLEFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, 1670-1850 by Edward Church Smith. Menasha, Wis. Priv. print. 1924.
It was transcribed by Coralynn Brown for Jane Devlin's site. Much more on this family was available there, but the link is broken.
It was submitted for use here by Gary Silverstein.

Benjamin, (Benjamin, Tristram, Joseph, Abraham), son of Benjamin and Mary (Adams) Blish, was b. Colchester, Conn. 2-11-1753; d. Mentor, Ohio, 3-11-1825; m. 1774, Phebe, dau. of Abram and Phebe (Stong) SKINNER of Glastonbury, Conn., who was b. 1753; d. 10-5-1844. Mr. Blish and his wife are both buried in the Blish Cemetery in West Painesville, Ohio.

Benjamin Blish, after serving in the Rev. War for four years, moved to the region of Middlefield, settling first on Lot 19, III Div. Becket, located on the windswept summit of Johnnycake Hill. Not finding this a fetile farm he moved to the upper end of Ridgepole Road, Lots 214 and 198 Worthington.

At the first town meeting in Mid. he was chosen fence viewer. In September 1783, he was appointed on a committee to find the proper place for the meetinghouse. In April, 1784, he and his uncle Joseph Blush, were appointed on the school committee which founded the first public school established by the town.

Benjamin Blish left Mid. for Ohio in February, 1804, with his brother-in-law, Captain Abraham Skinner. They traveled on the snow to Buffalo, and on the ice of the lake the latter part of the way. Blish bought land and made some preparations for moving his family, returning in the fall to Mid. He moved 6-10-1805, leaving his oldest daughter, the wife of Orris CLAPP, his family consisting of himself and his wife, six daughters, and two sons aged 21 and 12. They had great suffering and privations, illness from ague, and encountered bad roads and little food. One time Blish had to cut down a tree that the horses might get food off the foliage.

They reached Erie July 16, and Painsville, Ohio, July 30. They lived with Esq. Merry until their house was finished in Dec. 1805, on land yet known as the Blish Farm in Mentor. There for twenty years lived Benjamin blish, rejoicing even amid the privations incident to a new settlement, that he had placed his children in a more desirable location than the Green Mountains of Massachusetts, where his entire life had been one of severe labor and close economy, with no better outlook for them.

Children:

Phebe, b. 1775; m. 12-29-1791, Orris CLAPP.

Hannah, b. 1779; d. 1813; m. Benjamin HOPKINS.

Benjamin, b. Mid. 6-9-1784.

Milicent, bap. 9-22-1793; m. Ebenezer NYE.

Sophia, bap. 9-22-1793, m. Grant PERKINS.

Clarissa, bap. 9-22-1793, m. 1st Luther KENT; m. 2nd, Luther DILLE.

Zenas, b. 10-20-1793.

Philena, bap. 5-29-1796; m. Isaac MOORE.

Nancy, bap. 9-14-1801; m. Lester PERKINS.