The Daniel Benton Homestead in Tolland was built in 1720 and was home to members of the Benton family until 1932. In 1777, during the Revolutionary War, twenty-four Hessian officers, who had surrendered after the British defeat at Saratoga, were quartered in the house on their journey to Boston, from where they would be shipped back to Germany. Daniel Benton had three grandsons who fought in the war: two died as a result of imprisonment by the British while the third, Elisha Benton, returned home in late 1776, after his confinement on a prison ship, where he had contracted smallpox. Back home, he was nursed by Jemima Barrows, whom he had courted before the war. He died after a few weeks, and she followed shortly after, having contracted the disease during their time together. They were both buried on the property, but were not buried next to each other, as they had not married. The Daniel Benton Homestead is famous as a haunted house and numerous articles with ghost stories about the house have been written on many sites. The house was purchased in 1932 by Florrie Bishop Bowering, a WTIC radio personality, who lived there until she died in 1968. The next owners, Charles B. Goodstein and William A Shocket, donated the house the following year to the Tolland Historical Society to open as a museum.
Have you even wondered about the people that lived in The Daniel Benton Homestead in Tolland, CT? Well now you can venture into their lives through a newly published Historical Fiction Novel written about the lives of Elisha Benton & Jemima Barrows, 1774-1776. It was published September, 2015 and is available through the Tolland Historical Society, Tolland Jail Museum, The Danial Benton Homestead Museum, The Red & White on the Tolland, Green, and from the authors website, Johnjcuffe.com, and Amazon book (under John J. Cuffe, Books.) Proceeds from the book sales are shared with the Tolland Historical Society. Take a look, its worth the trip back in time!