Joseph S. Benfield

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Joseph S. Benfield

Birth
Lincoln County, North Carolina, USA
Death
24 Jan 1884 (aged 75)
Burke County, North Carolina, USA
Burial
Burke County, North Carolina, USA Add to Map
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Joseph Benfield was a Baptist church leader who started several churches in North Carolina. He was a Justice of Burke County Court of Pleas and Quarter sessions. He was a staunch Unionist in the midst of Confederate territory. In 1873, he filed a claim for a mare that was stolen by Union soldiers in 1865. As a farmer, the mare was his livelihood. The claim was supported by NC governor Tod Caldwell, but in the end the claim was declined. In the claim, he states that both the Confederate and Union sides stole from him, the Confederate Army threatened to burn down his home and take his life for refusing to provide weapons. Eight of his sons were conscripted into the Confederate Army. Two died. He tried to keep all of his sons out of the War. During this time, he hid, fed and transported Union soldiers who fled from prison camps in Charlotte, NC. His grave still stands in the woods near Morganton along with his wife Eleanor and other members of his family. His picture and bio are in the Morganton Historical Museum.
Joseph Benfield was a Baptist church leader who started several churches in North Carolina. He was a Justice of Burke County Court of Pleas and Quarter sessions. He was a staunch Unionist in the midst of Confederate territory. In 1873, he filed a claim for a mare that was stolen by Union soldiers in 1865. As a farmer, the mare was his livelihood. The claim was supported by NC governor Tod Caldwell, but in the end the claim was declined. In the claim, he states that both the Confederate and Union sides stole from him, the Confederate Army threatened to burn down his home and take his life for refusing to provide weapons. Eight of his sons were conscripted into the Confederate Army. Two died. He tried to keep all of his sons out of the War. During this time, he hid, fed and transported Union soldiers who fled from prison camps in Charlotte, NC. His grave still stands in the woods near Morganton along with his wife Eleanor and other members of his family. His picture and bio are in the Morganton Historical Museum.

Inscription

Joseph Benfield,
Died January 23, 1884
Aged 76 years , 5 mo, 3 days
Asleep in Jesus, blessed sleep
From which none ever wake to weep.

Benfield Cemetery, 2013

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