My maternal 7x-great grandfather, Thomas Benedict, was born in 1617 in Nottinghamshire, England. His family originated in France, then went to Germany and finally to England to escape Huguenot persecution. As a young man he apprenticed as a weaver, but at age 21 (1638) decided to set sail for a new life. He initially resided on Long Island and later helped found several towns and churches in the region that became Connecticut. He was educated, serving as a government magistrate, town commissioner and surveyor, and died about 1690. It’s amazing to know so much about a man who lived 400 years ago! This information was captured in a 2-volume Genealogy of the Benedicts in America. Starting in the mid-1800’s until publication in 1969 (well before the advent of the Internet and Ancestry!), various Benedict family members labored tirelessly to assemble this detailed genealogy of the many thousands of descendants of this one man. I will never forget the day my mother sat me down and proudly showed me her name, along with her parents and brother, on Page 169 in Volume 2. When I hold this book, I feel a connection to her and to all the Benedicts before us. 

– Joan Smrtic

Relationship:  Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more