An Overview

This photo was included in the 1922 William Henry Stanton 
book; Stanton was obviously told it was the "oldest."   
Known then as the "Jennie Thomas" house, first block 
of Orange Street, the house faced the water and was just 
south of the 1827 Hatsell House.  
Click the image to enlarge.

Born in Newport, Rhode Island 22 May 1688, Henry Stanton (1688-1751) was the son of John Stanton (1645-1713) and Mary Clarke (1641-1711).

In 1707, Henry Stanton married Mary Hull, sister of William Borden's wife Alice; they were parents of five daughters and two sons. 

In April 1721, Stanton purchased 1,992 acres north of Beaufort, around Core and Ware creeks, from Joshua Porter. He evidently traveled back and forth to Newport, R.I., while he prepared a home for his family. By 1733, Stanton sailed his family to the area, where he farmed his acreage, built a shipyard on Core Creek, while operating turpentine stills and a brickyard. 

Henry added to his area landholdings with purchases from George Cogdell and Carey Godby in 1732 as well as from King George II in 1736, 1740 and 1741. 

Henry Stanton had the first shipyard in the new Quaker Colony on Core Creek/Newport River just north of Beaufort. Henry’s wife Mary died after 1742; he married Lydia Albertson in 1745. Their children were Benjamin, Sarah, Avis and John—all born in Beaufort.

The first Quaker meeting in Carteret County, "Friends of Newport River, North Carolina," or "Core Sound Meeting," was organized on August 1, 1733, at the home of shipbuilder William Borden (who had come from R.I. about 1732 and had a shipyard off Harlowe Creek/Newport River). Subsequent meetings were held at the home of Henry Stanton until a meeting house could be erected.

Henry Stanton died about 1751. His son Benjamin, born 1746, added to the Stanton properties. According to Maurice Davis’ History of the Hammock House, Benjamin Stanton owned and used the "White House" as a “townhouse” from 1777 until 1785. Stanton and other Quakers, “made effective use of the hammock/hummock property while they owned it, erecting a windmill to grind grain and using the frontage on Carrot Island Channel/Taylor’s Creek to dock their ships. Part of this was during the period when Beaufort was an important port of supply for the Continental Army. The Quakers were pacifists, but they were not averse to helping in other ways to support a cause in which they had an important stake.”

In March 1790, Benjamin Stanton purchased Carrot Island from Nehemiah Harris. Two years later, Benjamin purchased “Banks land” from Joseph W. Davis.

After son Benjamin’s death in 1798, his wife Abigail, and other Quakers in the area, made their way, by horse and covered wagon, to the Ohio wilderness; Abigail took a brood of still minor children and left behind the few who had married.

Posts below, including images, were compiled from OUR ANCESTORS THE STANTONS by William Henry Stanton, Philadelphia, Privately Printed MCMXXII (1922)

Early Stantons

Excerpts from:
A Book called OUR ANCESTORS THE STANTONS
By William Henry Stanton
Philadelphia, Privately Printed MCMXXII (1922)

“Beginning with our branch in southeastern Ohio in 1922, we find that they came from southwestern Pennsylvania in 1800. They stopped there for only a few months while on their way from Beaufort, Carteret County, North Carolina, to Ohio. After a residence in North Carolina of about seventy-five years, they left that section of the country on account of slavery. They came to Beaufort from Newport, Rhode Island, after residing in that section of country for about eighty years. We find our earliest ancestor, Robert Stanton, was living in Newport in1645. He was born in England in 1599 and was one of the settlers of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, in 1638.

“Robert married Avis, whose maiden name is unknown, and to them a son Robert was born in 1627. Robert and Avis immigrated to America some time between 1627 and 1638. The family account states that their son Robert accompanied them. Boylie’s history of New Plymouth names John and Robert Stanton among the earliest settlers there. Arnold, the historian, says concerning Robert, ‘In 1638 Portsmouth, then called Pocasset, was settled by William Coddington and others who left Massachusetts to avoid persecution on account of their religious opinions…Robert Stanton was one of the names signed to the compact for forming the colony.’ Robert was living in Newport in 1645 and either accompanied or soon followed Governor Coddington when he went to Portsmouth.

“…Robert Stanton died at Newport, aged seventy-three, and was buried Eighth month Twenty-ninth, 1672…

“John Stanton, son of Robert and Avis, was born at Newport, Rhode Island, Eighth month, 1645. He married Mary Horndale, his first wife, in 1667, in Friends’ Meeting. His second wife, Mary Clarke (b. 1641, d. 4-7-1711), was the widow of Governor John Cranston and daughter of Jeremiah and Frances (Latham) Clarke. John Stanton was a prominent man in Newport, Rhode Island, where he died Tenth month Third, 1713.

“By his second wife, Mary (Clarke) Cranston, John Stanton had a son Henry born in Newport, Rhode Island, Fifth month Twenty-second, 1688.

“Henry Stanton, Sr., Henry Jr., and Benjamin, his sons, and three of the sons of Henry Jr., Benjamin, Joseph and John Howard, were ministers of the Society of Friends.

Benjamin Stanton

Printed 1712 in England 
The first recorder was Benjamin Stanton 

“Benjamin Stanton, son of Henry Stanton and Lydia Albertson, was born in Carteret County, North Carolina, Seventh month, 1746, and died Twelfth month Twelfth, 1798. He lived and died in the house which he was born. The house was on Ware Creek, which flows into Newport River, about four miles north of the town of Beaufort, the terminus of a railway. He was minister of the Society of Friends.

“The first wife of Benjamin Stanton, Elizabeth Carver, died young. Their one child, James, born Tenth month Ninth, 1770, married Rebecca Chaddock; they had no children. On Ninth month Twenty-ninth, 1773, Benjamin married Abigail Macy in Friends’ Meeting, at New Garden [Greensboro, Guilford], North Carolina, and they lived the remainder of his life at his home in Carteret County, where all their children were born: 

David b. 11-3-1774 died in infancy
Elizabeth b. 12-24-1775 m. Joshua Scott
Sarah b. 1-12-1778 m. Richard William
Avis b. 12-1-1779 m. Jesse Thomas
Anna b. 1-12-1782 m. Aaron Brown
Henry b. 2-25-1784 m. Clara Patterson
Abigail b. 3-23-1786 m. Benjamin Mitchner
David b. 5-1-1788 m. Lucy Norman
Lydia b. 10-11-1790 m. William Lewis
Benjamin b. 7-28-1793 m. Martha Townsend
Joseph b. 1-1-1797 m. Mary Townsend

This map was created in 1921 for the Stanton book and noted Carrot Island as "Benjamin Stanton's Fishery" 
and at least part of the west end of Shackelford Banks as belonging to Stanton.

“Benjamin acquired a large landed estate in Carteret and Craven counties. The large ordnance used during the Rebellion for taking Fort Macon on Bogue Banks and commanding Beaufort harbor was planted on Shackleford’s Banks, which had been owned by him.

“He owned a shipyard and was engaged for a while in ship-building. He had inherited slaves from his father, but these he had emancipated about the year 1787 when members of the Society of Friends in North Carolina followed the example of Friends in the more northern states and manumitted [freed/emancipated] and cast him or her into prison, and providing that proof being made that such person of color had been manumitted, he or she should be sold at auction. Notwithstanding this barbarous enactment, Benjamin Stanton, and after him his widow and children, succeeded in protecting the slaves set free by him and some of them emigrated to Ohio with the family in 1800.

“One of the slave women set free by Benjamin Stanton once saved the life of his son Benjamin, then a very small child. A boat had been pulled upon the beach and into it the child had clambered. At high tide the boat started out to sea, but fortunately not so far but that the colored woman, who discovered the child’s danger, was able by wading almost her full depth into the water to catch the boat and pull it ashore.

“Some of the colored people set free by Benjamin Stanton took the family name and their descendants still bear the name of Stanton.

“When Benjamin Stanton was twenty-one years old, and living in North Carolina, about forty-five years after his father left the old home town of Newport, Rhode Island, and when his future wife, Abigail Macy, was fourteen years old, living in Nantucket, there was a little social held in Newport that gives insight into the life of that day. The description is taken from ‘Newport Illustrated,’ published in 1854.

“’From the Newport Mercury, of 1767, we extract the following, as giving a lively picture of the manner in which a clergyman’s salary was paid when money was scarce and only to be obtained by the few: “Last Wednesday, thirty-seven young ladies of this town made the Rev. Dr. Stiles’ lady a visit. They sent their wheels and carried flax enough for a moderate day’s spinning, having agreed to have no trial who should spin most, but to spin good, fine yarn, and as much as they could without fatiguing themselves, and, accordingly, they spent the day in a very agreeable, industrious manner, and at sunset made Mr. Stiles a present of about one hundred fifteen-knotted skeins of yarn fine enough for shirts for the best gentleman in America.”

OUR ANCESTORS THE STANTONS
By William Henry Stanton

1798 - North Carolina Map Collection (not included in the Stanton book)

Abigail (Macy) Stanton

This image was reproduced from a crayon drawing and included in OUR ANCESTORS THE STANTONS by William Henry Stanton

“Abigail Stanton (1753-1825), wife of Benjamin Stanton, was a native of Nantucket. When nineteen years of age, in 1772, she emigrated with her parents, David and Dinah Macy, to New Garden, Guilford County, North Carolina.

 “After a residence of nearly two years, she was married to Benjamin Stanton, of Beaufort, Carteret County, that state, where she resided during the twenty-five years of her married life, and occupied as a dwelling the house where her husband was born and lived through life, and which was therefore the birthplace of all their children.

“Abigail Stanton, after the death of her husband, which occurred in December of 1798, soon determined to immigrate to Jefferson County, Ohio, with her six minor children. Accordingly, in the spring of 1800, accompanied by her son-in-law and his wife, Aaron and Anna Brown, she left her old home with all its endearing ties, in order to escape the great evil, with its blighting effects, that overshadowed all—taking a part of her husband’s former slaves with her, and leaving behind her three oldest married daughters, Elizabeth Scott, Sarah Williams and Avis Thomas, with their husbands and children. After crossing the Allegheny Mountains, she remained some three or four months near Brownsville, Pennsylvania, awaiting the coming into market of the land where she designed settling, and in the fall of that year, she purchased land from the Government, one mile west of where Mount Pleasant was subsequently located, paying for all squatter improvements thereon, including two log cabins, one of which she occupied a short time. In 1802, she erected a more commodious cabin and occupied it. She was one of the first pioneers in that vicinity. Though her family consisted of six minor children—the eldest being her son Henry, who was but sixteen years old—she kept pace with her neighbors in the improvement of her farm, and hers was among the first bearing orchards. Within two years, her three eldest daughters left the South and came and settled in her vicinity.

“If the property in the South belonging to the heirs of Benjamin Stanton had been in a land of freedom, it would have been of great value; but surrounded by slavery and abandoned by all the kindred, only a small sum was realized for it.

“For the first ten or twelve years following 1802, Abigail Stanton’s children were all located within two miles of her residence, and her house was the great resort of her children and grandchildren. She sold her farm after occupying it for seventeen years, and during the last years of her life, though her home was with her youngest daughter, Lydia Lewis, in Harrisville, she spent much of her time with her daughters Avis Thomas, at Mount Pleasant, and Abigail Mitchner, near Cadiz.

“Her three younger sons, David, Benjamin, and Joseph, studied medicine and became successful practitioners. Sixty grandchildren were numbered among her descendants. All her children, ten in number, arrived at maturity and were married, making twenty in all, and not a death had crossed her threshold.

“Her grandson (the son of Dr. David Stanton) the late Edwin M. Stanton, the great war secretary, in performing such conspicuous part in putting down the Rebellion and sweeping slavery from the land, showed conclusively that the old blood of the exiles was not extinct in her posterity.

“She was a member of the Society of Friends by birthright, had strong faith in the doctrines of that sect, and for many years an Elder in the Society.

“She died at Harrisville, in the month of June, 1825, in the seventy-third year of her age. Her funeral was attended by a large number of relatives and friends. She was buried in Friends’ burying ground, at Harrisville, Harrison County, Ohio.
_______________________________________________________________________ 

Children of Benjamin and Abigail (Macy) Stanton

Copied from Byron Stanton's notes on the Stanton Family.

·    David born 11- 3-1774 died in infancy.
·    Elizabeth born 12-24-1775 married Joshua Scott. 
·    Sarah born 1-12-1778 married Richard Williams.
·    Avis born 12- 1-1779 married Jesse Thomas.
·    Anna born 6-12-1782 married Aaron Brown.
·    Henry born 2-25-1784 married Clary Patterson.
·    Abigail born 3-23-1786 married Benj. Mitchner.
·    David born 5- 1-1788 married Lucy Norman.
·    Lydia born 10-11-1790 married William Lewis.
·    Benjamin born 7-28-1793 married Martha Townsend.
·    Joseph born 1- 2-1797 married Mary Townsend.

Benjamin Stanton married, first, Elizabeth (Carver) Jorden, the daughter of James and Eliza-beth Carver, and the widow of Robert Jorden. They had one son, James, born 10-9-1770, who married Rebecca Craddock. They had no children.

Elizabeth Stanton, married Joshua Scott in North Carolina. They moved to Ohio about 1802 or 1803 and lived for some years near Mt. Pleasant, Ohio, in Jefferson Co. They afterwards moved to Logan Co., Ohio, where many of their descendants now live. She and three of her sisters (Avis, Anna, and Abigail) are buried in the Friends' burying ground near Zanesfield, Logan Co. Their  children were—Job, who married Meriba Straught; Jesse, who married Hannah Watson; Hannah, who died, aged 8 years; Anna, who married John Hall; Rebecca, died unmarried; Stanton, who married Esther Edmundson; Enoch M., who married Rebecca Brown (nee Rea); Elizabeth W., married John Fuson or Fewson; Joshua, who married Sarah Harris; Benjamin S., who married Eliza Ann Harris—ten in all.

Sarah Stanton, married Richard Williams in North Carolina, removed to Jefferson Co., Ohio, in 1802. I remember Uncle Richard as a bright, jovial old man, fond of jokes and full of anecdotes. Their children were — Robert, who died in childhood; Eliza, who married, 1st, Micajah Dillingham, 2nd, Axia Jonston; Abigail, who married Jehu Fawcett, of Salem, Ohio, and died 10-10-1835; Dearman, who married Mary Farmer; Deborah, who married Daniel Osborn; Asa, who married Edith Cadwallader; Mary, who married Joseph Emmons; Benjamin, died unmarried; Lydia, married Joseph Stanley; David, married Hannah Young; Edward, married Hanna Bruff—eleven in all, of whom all are deceased. A son of Micajah and Eliza Dillingham died some years since in the Tennessee penitentiary, to which he had been sentenced for assisting a fugitive slave. The descendants of Richard and Sarah Williams are scattered throughout the West, chiefly in Ohio and Iowa.

Avis Stanton, married Jesse Thomas in North Carolina, removed to Ohio about 1802. He was one of the persons I remember to have seen who wore knee-breeches; he wore to the last the costume worn by Friends at the close of the last century and wore his broad-brimmed hat even at the table. He died at Mt. Pleasant, Ohio, (about 1845), and Aunt Avis went to live with one of her children in Logan Co., where in the burying ground of Goshen Meeting House, near Zanesfield, she lies buried. Their children were—Abigail, who married, 1st, Nimrod Hogue and, 2nd, Joseph Lawrence and died at Bellefontaine, Ohio, aged some years over eighty; William, died in childhood; Nathan M., married Pamela Brown, died at Schoolcraft, Michigan, his wife was from New England, he is the author of the memoir of Abigail Stanton cited above; Jonathan, married Sarah Cowgill; Gulielma, died unmarried; Jesse, married Minerva D. Hollenback; David, unmarried; Ann Eliza, married Joseph Roff; Joseph, married Minerva Roff—nine children in all. Some of the descendants of Jesse and Avis Thomas live in Logan Co., Ohio, others in and about Schoolcraft, Michigan.

Anna Stanton, married Aaron Brown in North Carolina. They came to Ohio with grandmother Stanton in 1800 and lived for some years in or near Mt. Pleasant, Ohio, removing afterwards to Logan Co., Ohio. Their children were—Benjamin S., who was a physician in Bellefontaine, Ohio, who married Rebecca Shaw. Their only daughter died soon after arriving at maturity. Mary, who died unmarried; Zaccheus, married Hannah Marmon; Ira, married Rebecca Rea, who, after his death, married his cousin, E.M. Scott; Ezra, twin brother of Ira, died in infancy; Asa, married Hannah Sands, he is deceased, she and her children live near Zanesfield, Ohio; Anna, married John Outland; James, married Elizabeth Ann Willis; Davis, married Susanna Marmon; Martha died unmarried; Elma, married Edward Kenton—eleven children in all. Many, perhaps most, of their descendants reside in Logan Co., Ohio.

Henry Stanton, married Clary Patterson, of Mt. Pleasant, Ohio, 3-30-1809. They lived on a farm in the southern part of Belmont Co., Ohio, not far from Barnesville, where Clary died, May 25, 1860, in the 73rd year of her age. She was born in North Carolina, probably in Guilford Co. Their children were—James, who married, 1st, Rachel Schofield, 2nd, Charity Bundy; Joseph, married Mary Hodgin; Anna died unmarried; Edmond, married Sarah Hoyle; Jordan, died unmarried; Mary, married Joel Dawson; Henry, died unmarried; David died, aged 17 years. Some of their descendants live in Belmont Co., Ohio, others in Iowa and Nebraska. All of the children of Henry and Clary Stanton are deceased except Mary Dawson, who lives (1885) in Barnesville, Ohio, and who writes in June, 1897—"I have been the lone and only surviving one of father's children for 34 years and I can truly say that goodness and mercy have followed me through a long and chequered life."

Abigail Stanton, married Benjamin Michener. She is buried at Goshen Meeting House near Zanesfield, Ohio. Their children were—Levi, who died young; Susanna, who married John Brown and died June 24, 1888, at Zanesfield, aged 78 years and 38 days; John, married Mary Ann Brown; Lydia, married Kersey Graves; Henry, married Lydia Warner; David married Elizabeth Michener; Isaac, married Martha P. Gause; Edwin, married Eliza Anne Smith; Martha, married 1st, William Taylor, 2nd, Allen Williams; Elma, died unmarried. Many of their descendants live in Logan Co., Ohio.

David Stanton, married Lucy Norman. He was a physician in Steubenville, Ohio. She was from Virginia. She was a daughter of Thomas and Mildred Tutt Norman.

Children:
Edwin McMasters born Dec. 19, 1814 died 12-24-1869. *see below...
Darwin Erasmus born July 17, 1816
Lucretia born Nov. 30, 1818 died Aug. 1820
Lucy born Apr. 13, 1820 lived only one day
Oella born May 4, 1822
Theophilus born Nov. 27, 1824 lived 12 hours
Pamphila born Feb. 20, 1827 died Feb. 1899

David Stanton came with his mother to Ohio when a boy of 12 years. With his brothers Benjamin and Joseph he studied medicine in Mt. Pleasant, Ohio, with Dr. Hamilton, married and went to Steubenville, where he practiced his profession.

In 1897 his daughter Pamphila writes: "Their first home was on the south side of Market St., above Fifth. Here their sons Edwin and Darwin were born—the house on the south side of Third St., between Market and Washington."

David Stanton was greatly loved and admired both as a physician and as a man. His son Darwin is said to have resembled him in appearance. Lucy Norman came to Ohio with friends of her mother by the name of Starr, whose daughter was her intimate friend, and a widow of the Rev. David McMasters. They probably arrived not earlier than 1813.

Lucy Norman was a Methodist and the marriage was opposed by the Friends and was the cause of David Stanton leaving the Society. They were married by the Rev. David McMasters, a warm personal friend for whom they named their eldest son, but substituted the name of Edwin for David.

The day Dr. Stanton was buried the schools were dismissed that the children might attend the funeral as a mark of the respect in which he was held.

Lydia Stanton married William Lewis of Washington Co., Pa. They had six children, five of whom died in infancy.
Children:
Morris died aged 3 years.
Mary Anne married _____ Burns and had one daughter.
Essie married _____ Marsh.
Lucinda died aged 5 years.
Susanna,died aged 3 years.
Lucinda Susanna died aged 1 year.
David died an infant.

William and Lydia Lewis lived for many years on a farm in Hennipen Co., Illinois.

Benjamin Stanton, married Martha Townsend, who was born in Washington Co., Pa., 4-18-1794, died 1-12-1885, aged 91 years.
Children:
Rebecca born 1- 9-1819 married Chas. Weaver.
Laura born 9-20-1820 married Barnaby.
Oliver born 7-26-1822 unmarried, died 11-1-1898.
Joseph born 5-30-1824 married Mary H. Fry, died 1885.
Caroline born 6-28-1826 married Geo. W. Addams.
David born 6- 9-1829 married Lydia M. Townsend.
William born 8-28-1832 married Ellen Irish.
Dalton born 8-14-1834 died aged 10 years.
Byron born 8-14-1834 married 1st, Edith M. Weaver, 2nd, Harriet Alice Brown.
Benjamin Lundy born 10-19-1839, died 2-0-1841, aged 16 months.

Joseph Stanton, married Mary Townsend. If related to Martha Townsend, who married Benjamin Stanton, the relationship was distant.
Children:
Thomas Townsend, unmarried Died 1857.
Joseph Stanton was a physician and lived in Springboro, Warren Co., Ohio.

About 1832 or 1833 he went as one of a committee of the Warren Co. Medical Society to Wheeling, Va., to investigate the nature and treatment of Asiatic Cholera then prevailing there. He took the disease and died, leaving a widow with one son, Townsend. The latter, after his mother's death, went to California, where he died unmarried. 
________________________________________________________________________

Edwin McMaster Stanton
The Great Civil War Secretary ▪ Born 12-19-1814 ▪ Died 12-24-1869

▪ Son of David Stanton (born in Beaufort, NC 1788) and Lucy Norman
▪ Grandson of Benjamin and Abigail Macy Stanton

It is not possible here to do justice to such a character, but it is earnestly hoped that some one will collect and record the facts concerning this great man. However, we cannot pass without noting some selections from "Edwin McMasters Stanton," by F.A. Flower, giving some glimpses of his character.

"William H. Whiton, who was chief clerk in the office of Military Railways during the Rebellion, and knew the inner workings of the War Department intimately, relates this incident:

"I went to the War Office after 10 o'clock, one night, to consult Mr. Stanton. I found the mother, wife, and children of a soldier who had been condemned to be shot as a deserter, on their knees before him pleading for the life of their loved one. He listened standing, in cold and austere silence, and at the end of their heart- breaking sobs and prayers answered briefly that the man must die. The crushed and despairing little family left and Mr. Stanton turned, apparently unmoved, and walked into his private room. My own heart was wrung with anguish. It seemed to me that Mr. Stanton must be a demon—the very incarnation of cruelty and tyranny.

"I was so dazed that, forgetting myself, I followed him into his office without rapping. I found him leaning over a desk, his face buried in his hands and his heavy frame shaking with sobs. 'God help me to do my duty; God help me to do my duty!' he was repeating in a low wail of anguish that I shall never forget. I quickly withdrew, but not until I had seen a great light. I have loved, almost reverenced Edwin M. Stanton ever since. His own heart perhaps was suffering more intense agony than the hearts of his humble petitioners, but he was compelled to steel his outward face for the bloody duties of war, while within, his soul was warm with sympathy and sorrow for its victims.

"Whenever Lincoln moved away from the White House he knew of it and provided one or more trustworthy officers to watch and protect him; he sent warnings to him by telegraph to keep away from the missiles of battle at the front; he frequently advised almost commanded, Grant to avoid exposure to death; while watching Lincoln's life-blood ebb away at midnight he lifted himself out of the confusion of the hour to telegraph precautions for the safety of Grant, when en route from Philadelphia to Washington; he created time to visit or write to every sick or wounded officer and, when battles were in progress, stood at the telegraph instruments night and day urging extra energy in bringing away and caring for the wounded. 

"Adjutant-General Townsend remembers that soon after hostilities ceased he laid before Stanton the findings of a court martial which condemned a soldier to be shot. 'Usually,' says the General, ‘which fact gave commanders such great strength in the field, the Secretary never reversed the findings of his officers; but this time he drew back in horror. 'Blood enough, blood enough,’ was all he said, and the man was not shot. In armed conflict he was the ideal embodiment of aggressive ferocity, of the spirit of war, but 'in peace shuddered at the sight or thought of blood and his heart was wrung by the pains and sorrows even of strangers.’”

An attractive picture of the real Stanton is drawn by Mrs. General Rufus Saxton, of Washington, as follows:

''Secretary Stanton was our guest at Beaufort, South Carolina in January, 1865. On arriving he said that fatigue would compel him to retire early; but after dinner, entering our bare, uncarpeted sitting-room, with its few dim candles but a large wood fire on the broad hearth, he sat down in front of the blaze and chatted brightly. Examining the books on the table, his face crew animated and he exclaimed: 'Ah, here are old friends,' and taking up a volume of Macaulay's poems, he turned to me saving, 'I know you love poetry. Pray read us something—anything. Poetry and this fire belong together.' I read ‘Horatius at the Bridge,’ and returning the book to him said: 'I know you love poetry, Mr. Stanton; please read to us.' He at once complied, reading finely 'The Battle of Ivry' and other poems.

"He was in his most genial mood. Every nerve seemed relaxed, and as one after another of the numerous guests departed, he still sat in front of the dying embers till long after midnight, repeating snatches of poetry or indulging in that 'leisurely speech or the higher power of silence—the quiet evening shared by ruminating friends.'

"The next morning we drove him out on the 'Shell Road,' where the live-oaks were draped with graceful gray moss, the birds singing and the air was soft and bland. His capacity for enjoyment seemed intense. He leaned back silent in the carriage, gazing at the blue sky, seeming in spirit to 'soar with the bird and flutter with the leaf.' The Titan War Secretary was replaced by the genial companion, the man of letters, the lover of nature—the real Stanton, who expressed again and again his rapturous enjoyment of the surroundings.

"He was racked by asthma from childhood; denounced and assailed incessantly during his entire career as Secretary of War; crowded out of office after a stormy but patriotic struggle in which he prevented President Johnson from seizing the army, shackling Congress, and renewing the war; and, then, worn out, poor, and broken-hearted, laid down to die—only 55 years old." 

From:

OUR ANCESTORS THE STANTONS
By William Henry Stanton

Anecdotes Concerning Abigail (Macy) Stanton

In 1919, Robert Smith, Barnesville, Ohio, wrote, “Soon after her husband’s death, Abigail Stanton turned her face towards the remote and almost unexplored wilderness west of the Ohio River. She made the journey with a considerable body, all members of the Society of Friends, who, like herself, felt the gall of slavery’s presence too keenly to remain under its shadow. They crossed the river at Portland, now known as Rayland. The trees had to be felled before the teams could proceed. Abigail Stanton’s wagon is said to have been the first to enter this section of the country. They got to Concord, now called Colerain, by First-day. Here they stopped, rolled some logs together, sat down, and felt they had a very good meeting.

“The Stantons located one mile west of Mount Pleasant, Ohio, on a tract of land containing four hundred and eighty acres. Surrounded by the difficulties of pioneer life, Abigail established a home under an administration so wise that as her children grew and passed out into the world, it was to positions of honor and usefulness.

“Her son Henry was the first person to do his harvesting in Mount Pleasant Township, Jefferson County, Ohio, without furnishing his men with liquor. He told them one morning that he felt that he could not do it. They all left, but two of them came back the next morning and with some other help he got his harvesting done more easily than usual.” 
_______________________________________________________________________

In 1919, Byron Stanton, Cincinnati, Ohio, wrote, “Of the children of Benjamin and Abigail Stanton, all except David married members of the Society of Friends. At the time of the division of that Society, Sarah Williams and Henry Stanton and their families sided with the branch called Orthodox and the others with the branch known as Hicksites.

“Of the eighty-two grandchildren of Benjamin and Abigail, sixty-eight arrived at the age of majority, fourteen died between the age of a few months and seventeen years.”
_______________________________________________________________________

An unknown author wrote, “Abigail Stanton was a widow twenty-seven years. She had in her time five broken bones, the first when thirty years old. She, with her husband and other Friends, were going horseback to New Garden to attend their Yearly Meeting, a distance of two hundred miles. When they were about half way there, her creature stumbled and threw her off and broke her wrist. They splintered it with oak leaves and she put it in a sling and sent on, rather than be left alone or have her husband stay from meeting.

“About the year 1794 she fell at the doorstep and broke her ankle very badly. Then, soon after she came to Ohio, she was going to a neighbor’s and went to get over the fence and the top rail rolled off and threw her back and she fell on her wrist and broke it. Some time between that and 1810 she got on horseback and the horse reared and threw her off, breaking both bones of one leg below the knee, which always remained crooked, so she used a crutch or crutches as long as she lived.

“The summer of 1810 she [about 57] was walking in the yard and fell and broke her thigh, but with all her cripplements she rode on horseback. I well remember seeing her and father start off to ride eight miles to Harrisville about three weeks before her death [1825 at 82]. She rode on one creature and he or another, carried her crutch and in a pair of leather saddle bags on the saddle under him was her wardrobe, a very common way of transportation in those days."
______________________________________________________________________

Debora H. Webster wrote, “Great-great-great-grandmother Abigail (Macy) Stanton, when she and her children were moving from North Carolina to Ohio, camped at night. Grand-mother, to make her Quaker bonnet safe for the night, pulled down a limb of a nearby tree and tied her bonnet to it. During the night the bonnet was stolen and she had to continue her journey without one.”

Benjamin Stanton, M.D.

“Benjamin Stanton [b.1793], son of Benjamin Stanton (1746-1798) and Abigail Macy, was born in Carteret County, North Carolina, Second month Twenty-eighth 1793. His father died when Benjamin was only five years old. His mother moved to the Territory of Ohio in the year 1800, taking all her minor children with her. He spent his boyhood on his mother’s farm near Mount Pleasant, Ohio. He studied medicine at Mount Pleasant and removed to Salem, Columbiana County, Ohio, in the year 1815, where he married Martha Townsend on Eighth month Twenty-first, 1816.

“Some months after their marriage Benjamin and Martha Stanton moved into a frame house near the corner of Main and Chestnut Streets, Salem, Ohio, and there all their children were born. They lived there until 1854, when they moved to a brick house he had just built at the corner of Green and Chestnut Streets, where he died Second month Twenty-seventh, 1861, in his sixty-eighth year.

“He was a skilled physician; a student not only in his profession but also in other branches of learning. He was a member of the Society of Friends (Hicksite). Hew was public-spirited and highly-esteemed citizen, prominent in all good works. He was quiet and reserved, retiring and domestic in his habits, but hospitable and fond of his family and friends.

“He was one of the earliest Abolitionists at a time when Abolitionists were but a handful of people, hated and despised, and when to be an Abolitionist required a degree of moral as well as physical courage. His home was a place of rest and refuge for many a fugitive slave on the way to Canada. He died just at the beginning of the struggle which was to result in the overthrow of slavery—a struggle he had often predicted. He often said he had no hope that the slavery question would ever be settled in America, except through war between the North and South; he did not expect to live to see it, but sooner or later it must come.

“Of his father’s family, some were tall and slender and others short and stout. They were familiarly spoken of as ‘the long Stantons’ and ‘the short Stantons.’ His sisters Avis and Lydia and his brother Henry were of ‘the long Stantons,’ as was Benjamin himself, his height being six feet and two inches, as also was that of his son Joseph. Three other sons were five feet eleven and one-half inches to six feet in height."

OUR ANCESTORS THE STANTONS
By William Henry Stanton

The Old Stanton Clock

“The old Stanton clock is ticking away in the room in which I am now writing, as faithfully and as correctly as it has for the last two hundred years or more.

“I am not able to give the full early history, but according to tradition the clock was brought to this country from London by a seafaring descendant of Robert Stanton, the first one of our family to come to America. The only descendants of Robert Stanton who were mariners were Robert’s son Robert and his grandson Henry. As Robert never married, it is not probably that he brought the clock to America, but Henry was a man of family and possessed a large estate. It seems, therefore, probable that he was the original purchaser. As Robert Jr., died in 1712 and Henry abandoned his seafaring life before the  year 1736, the clock was, no doubt, brought to this country before or early in the eighteenth century, so there can be no question as to its early Americanization.

“Henry was born in Newport, Rhode Island, May twenty-second, 1688, and removed to Carteret County, North Carolina, before 1736, for the records of the Monthly Meeting of Friends of Newport River, North Carolina, for that year, show that the meetings were ‘to be held at the house of Henry Stanton until otherwise ordered.’ He, no doubt, took the clock with him on his removal to North Carolina, where it descended to my grandfather, Benjamin Stanton, after whose death it was the property of his widow, Abigail (Macy) Stanton, by whom it was brought to Harrisville, Jefferson County, Ohio, in 1800. On her death, June fifth, 1825, the clock was left to my father, Benjamin Stanton, of Salem, Ohio, who died in 1861, and by him was left to me.

“It was made by Joshua Wilson, who, I have learned from a book on horology in the Boston Public Library, was a clockmaker in London before the year 1700. From the fact that Joshua Wilson was of sufficient prominence to be mentioned in works on horology as a clockmaker, in London, in 1700, it would seem probable that he had been there a number of years before that time, so there is little doubt that my clock ante-dates the year 1700, and as the pendulum was not used for the regulation of timepieces until the year 1662, it is evident that no pendulum clock in the world is forty years older than the one in my possession.

“The works, which are of brass, the weights, and the pendulum, are the same as in the original. The pinions are of brass and the verge of steel. As Abigail Stanton and her family came north in ox-carts, the clock case, owing to its size and weight, was left in North Carolina and from 1800 to 1825 the clock ‘hung on the old cabin wall.’

“After the death of Abigail Stanton, the clock was taken to Salem, Ohio, where Dr. Benjamin Stanton caused a new case to be made as nearly like the original as he was able to draw it. It is of poplar, painted black, and is seven and one half feet high; the hood lifts off; the face is of brass, twelve inches by twelve inches. Within the polished brass hour circle are black figures to indicate the hours, and between these are black arrow heads to show the half-hours, and the days of the month are shown in a small square opening below the hands. In the corners outside the hour circle were brass fretwork ornaments, which were lost many years ago, so that the entire face is of polished brass except within the hour circle, where it is of unpolished brass of dark color.

“The pendulum is thirty-nine inches long, of apple wood, which is but little affected by atmospheric conditions. Unfortunately it has been broken more than once, but as it would be difficult to replace with so good material, it has been fastened together and still does duty as well as ever. It hangs by a steel spring, which allows it to swing without friction, and carries a heavy iron bob.

“The long pendulum and the brass wheels, which have borne the wear of two centuries, have made the clock an unexcelled timekeeper.”

Byron Stanton
Cincinnati, Ohio 1919

OUR ANCESTORS THE STANTONS
By William Henry Stanton

Purchases and Sales of Land by Stantons in Carteret County, NC

As found by Willis V. & Thomas Webster, June 1921 and included in the 1922 Stanton book:

·    Joshua Porter & wife to Henry Stanton, 1992A. near Bogue Inlet, 4-28-1721.
·    George Cogdell to Henry Stanton Shipweight, 150A. on the north side of Newport river, 3-6-1732.
·    Geo. Cogdell to Henry Stanton Shipweight, 440A. between Eastman's & Bell's Creeks, and known as the "Swimming Poynt," 3-6-1732.
·    Carey Godby & wife to Henry Stanton, 437A. on Core Sound, on the east side of Broad creek on Newport river, 1-13-1732.
·    George II to Cap. Henry Stanton, 380A. east side of Newport river, south of Powell's creek, 3-8-1736.
·    George II to Cap. Henry Stanton, 480A. on the headline of Captain Henry Stanton, between Ware & Russells creeks, 9-25-1741.
·    George II to Henry Stanton, 640A. on north west side of Black creek, on north side of Newport river, 8-4-1740.
·    Henry Stanton Sr. to Son Henry Stanton Jr. 300A. on N. E. side of Newport river, between Powell & Ware creeks, 9-27-1745.
·    John Small to Joseph Stanton, 122A. on W. side of Harlows creek, 7-15-1759.
·    John Bell to Henry Stanton, 80A. on head of Harlows creek, 5-14-1754.
·    Joseph Borden to Joseph Stanton, 500A. E. side of Core creek, 3- -1764.
·    John Russell to Benj. Stanton, 80A. uppermost tract on North river, 11-18-1767.
·    Robert Williams to Henry Stanton, lA. on W. side of Black creek. Saw & Grist mill, 2-6-1771.
·    George P. Lovick to Henry Stanton, 400A. on N. side of Newport river, on Black creek, 6-17-1771.
·    David Shepard to Henry Stanton, lA. on Black creek, including Stanton's mill, 5-7-1773.
·    David Shepard to Henry Stanton, an island below the mill, on Black creek, 6-24- 1774.
·    Hope Stanton to Benj. Stanton, one half of 300A. on W. side of Core creek, part of my father, Benj. Borden's land, 3-20-1779.
·    Thos. Bratchard to Benj. Stanton Jr. lOOA. on N. side of Newport river, between Powell and Ware creeks, on Core creek, 2-21-1785.
·    David Hall to Benj. Stanton Jr. lOOA. on N. side of Newport river, on Core creek, 4-1-1785.
·    James Peartree to Benj. Stanton Jr. lOOA. on N. E. side of Newport river, on E. side of mouth of Core creek, between Powell 6t Ware creeks, 9-7-1785.
·    Diedrich Gibble to Benj. Stanton, lOOA. on N. side of Newport river, 3-22-1786.
·    James Bell to Benj. Stanton Sr. & Jr. one fourth part of 300A. near head of Harlows creek, 11-30-1785.
·    James Bell to Benj. Sr. & Jr., 50A. on head of Harlows creek, 11-30-1785.
·    Nehemiah Harris to Benj. Stanton, 50A. Carrot island, 3-25-1790.
·    John Stanton to Benj. Stanton, 200A. on W. side of North river, 11-14-1791. Part of 300A. patent to Richard Russell.
·    State to Benj. Stanton Jr. 50A. east of Core creek & north of Eastman creek, 1789.
·    State to Benj. Stanton Jr. 50A. joining Core creek, & N. of Eastman creek, Patent issued 11-17-1789.
·    Joseph W. Davis to Benj. Stanton 50A. of Banks land, between Old Topsail inlet & Drum inlet, 10-7-1792.
·    Francis Mace to James Stanton, 50A. on Bogue Banks, between Old Topsail inlet & Bogue inlet, 10-31-1796.
·    Joseph King to James Stanton, 1/2 Lot & House in Beaufort 8-23-1800.
·    Joshua & Elizabeth Scott and Richard & Sarah Williams to James Stanton their interest in land on North river, willed to unborn child by Benj. Stanton, 11-10-1801.
·    Benj. Stanton Jr. to Benj. Stanton Sr. & Dedrich Grebble, 480 A. on east side of Newport river, between Ware & Russell creeks, the land pat. by Capt. Henry Stanton, 9-25-1741, but never taken out and costs paid until Benj. Stanton Sen. finished the work and obtained it by heirship &: purchase and now owns the most of it, 6-1-1785.
·    State to Owen Stanton, 200A. on North river, west side, 3-8-1817.
·    Owen Stanton to Otway Burns, land on Core creek whereon I now live & 200.A. on North river, joining the land of Otway Burns, 12-15-1820.
·    Adm. of Abram Pigott to James Stanton, one negro boy named Isaac, 1- -1813. Consideration 275.00 dollars.
·    State to Benj. Stanton Sr. & Lemrick Harris, on W. side of Parrots bay, 1788.
·    State to Benj. Stanton Sr. 50A. on W. side of North river, by his own entry, 3-13-1788.
·    State to Owen Stanton 120A. within the reputed bounds of the lands he now lives on, patented by Thos. Austin, including vacant land at N. end, 4-7-1788.
·    State to Benj. Stanton Jr. 80A. on E. side of Core creek, joining his own land, 3-29-1788.
·    State to Benj. Stanton, lOA. on Ware creek just above my shipyard, 5-22-1792.
·    James Stanton to Stephen Fulford, house & 1/2 lot, Beaufort, 12-1-1804.
·    Henry Stanton to Silas Carpenter, 300A. on which I now live, between Powell & Ware creeks on Core creek, N. of Newport river, 3-13-1745.
·    Henry Stanton to James Easton, 437A. on Core sound, on the E. side of Broad creek, on Newport river, 1-13-1732.
·    Henry Stanton to Son Richard Russell, lOOA. near Core creek, 3-11-1737.
·    Henry Stanton to Isaac White, 150.A. on N. side of Newport river, 11-7-1751. (Isaac White married Catherine Stanton.)
·    Henry Stanton Jr. executor of Henry Stanton Sr. to Henry Chew Sr. 640A. on N. side of Newport river, on Black creek, 3-7-1753.
·    Benj.Stanton to John Russell, 50A., 11-18-1767.
·    Benj. Stanton to John Shepard, 80A. near head of North river, 6-17-1772.
·    Benj. John & Sarah Stanton to Peter Starkey, 266A. part of 800A. on Bear bank, 1-25-1769.
·    Henry Stanton to Isaac Scriven; 80A. near head of Harlows creek, 11-4-1768.
·    Henry Stanton to Wm. Borden, 200A. on Bogue banks, 6-17-1776.
·    Henry Stanton to Son John Stanton, by will, 5-1-1751, 190A. on N. side Newport river.
·    John Stanton to Henry Dickson, 190A. on N. side of Newport river, 1-23-1773.
·    Henry Dickson to Henry Stanton, 190A. N. side of Newport river, 11-6-1775.
·    Benj. & Hope Stanton to James Scrivens, 80A. E. side of Harlow creek, 12-17-1779.
·    Hope Stanton, widow & sole Executrix of Henry Stanton, deceased, and Benj. Stanton eldest son of Henry Stanton to Robert Williams, 1A. & all the Saw mill & M of the Grist mill purchased of David Shepard, also a piece of marsh land below the mill, between the tail race and main creek, also 400A. above the mill on both sides of Black creek, 9-24-1777.
·    Benj. Stanton to Elizabeth Tomlinson, 75A. adjoining Beaufort, 6-17-1783.
·    Benj. Stanton Sr. to Nehemiah Harris, a part of old patent whereon Benj. Stanton now lives, 3-17-1790.
·    Owen Stanton to Peter Piver, 120A. on west side of Harlow creek, 3-29-1793.
·    Benj. Stanton to Joseph W. Davis, 2CX1.A. between Powell & Ware cks., 1-22-1794.
·    Benj. Stanton to Jonas Small, 150A. W. side of Core creek, 6-1-1793.
·    Benj. Stanton to Wm. Gardner, 24A. N. side Newport river, near Deep creek, 11-22-1796.
·    Benj. Stanton to Edward Kennedav, 300A. on N. side of Newport river W. of Little Deep creek, 2-20-1798.
·    Benj. Stanton to Jonas Small, 150A. on N. side of Core creek (pt. of Wm. Borden patent of 1747), 2-17-1796.
·    Abigail Stanton, by Atty. lease to Ludwig Roberts, 300A. her homestead, 10-27- 1800. Yearly rental of $50.10 for seven years beginning 1-1-1801.
·    Abigail Stanton to Benj. Cheney, Power of Atty., 5-7-1800.
·    Benj. Cheney appoints George Read Atty. in his stead, 12-1-1804.
·    Abigail Stanton to J. W. Davis, her right in land willed her by her father, Benj. Stanton.
·    Henry Stanton to J. W. Davis, his right in land willed him by his father, Benj. Stanton, including the Hummock field and Shipyard, 9-2-1805.
·    Benj. Stanton, son of John, to Jacob Davis, lOOA. (part of 300A.) on west side of North river, 12-12-1807.
·    David Stanton to J. W. Davis, 50A. willed me by father Benj. on E. side of Core creek & S. side of Ware creek, 1-8-1810.
·    David Stanton to Benj. Thomas, Power of Atty., 11-1-1809.
·    Benj. Stanton, by Bryant Hellen Atty. to J. W. Davis, on east side of Newport river, 1/2  the plantation on which father last lived, & my interest in North river farm willed to the unborn child, 2-5-1816.
·    John Stanton to Wm. Davis, lOOA. (part of 300A.) on west side of North river, 3-10-1814.
·    Henry Stanton to Quakers, 3A. for a pasture south of Quaker meeting house, 9-23-1737. (At Powell creek & the public road.)
·    Nicholas Briant to Quakers, the land upon which stood Core Sound meeting house. (Just north of the 3A. for pasture.)
·    State to Benj. Stanton et. al. lOA. being a cockle shole on the east side of Newport Channel on the west point, running down the said channel including a small island marsh, 8-27-1793.
·    State to Jonathan Stanton, 90A. Bounded on west by Mallard Dickerson's land & on south by Wm. H. Dickerson's land, 12-31-1847.
·    State to Horton Howard, 75A. Lying near or joining Benj. Stanton's land and in or opposite the mouth of Core creek and joining the east side of the channel of said creek including the Green Bank. 9-7-1789.
·    State to Benj. Stanton, 50A. of marsh land, being an island on the west side of Newport channel & on the east point of the Great shole opposite to his own landing near David Coopers & Enoch Wards entry, 4-1-1784.
·    State to Benj. Stanton, 7A. on the east side of Newport river, at the south side of the mouth of Core creek, joining his own land including his shipyard, 4.-1-1784.
·    State to Benj. Stanton & Didrich Gibble, -A. on west side of North river joining their own land, 5-17-1785.
·    State to Benj. Stanton Jr. 30A. marsh land, being part of sundry small islands adjoining each other on the west side of Newport channel & on the north east point of the Great shoal opposite Benj. Stanton Sr. landing joining his entry, 12-8-1786.
·    State to Benj. Stanton Jr. lOA. marsh land, on the east side of the main channel in Newport river, being two small islands joining each other lying opposite the mouth of Island creek, 12-8-1786.
·    State to Benj. Stanton Jr. lOA. on the east side of Core creek, joining the lands of John Easton & his own, 12-8-1786.

Abstract of Minutes of Core Sound Monthly Meeting

Taken from the original minute book by Willis V. Webster, 8-3-1921 and included in the 1922 Stanton book:

·    8-1-1733. Core Sound Meeting organized. Monthly meeting every first third day in the month successively for time to come, and that the first day before the monthly meeting shall be a representative meeting and to be kept at the house of Henry Stanton till the meeting orders it other ways. Nickolas Briant for men, and Mary Stanton for women, to inquire into the order of Friends in respect to the minute of our yearly meeting held at Perquimans, North Carolina.
·    1739. Record book ordered made.
·    1742. 50 shillings per year for care of the meeting house and yard.
·    1742. Henry Stanton and wife given certificate to visit their friends in the other county.
·    1742. Henry Stanton, Senior appointed clerk of the monthly meeting.
·    11- -1742. Certificate to Henry Stanton Junior.
·    1743. Received a certificate for Henry Stanton, Senior.
·    7-3-1745. Henry Stanton Senior and Lydia Albertson laid their intentions of marriage before the meeting.
·    1746. Henry Stanton and Henry Stanton Junior sign the wedding certificate of John Small and Elizabeth Small.
·    4-12-1750. Henry Stanton son of Henry and Mary his former wife, and Hope Borden daughter of Benjamin Borden and Ruth his wife, late of, and from Boston in New England, now of Carteret County, North Carolina, married. Witnesses—Lydia, Mary, Catherine, Benjamin, Henry and Joseph Stanton and 21 others.
·    3-7-1751. Henry Stanton Senior, lays a plan to visit Rhode Island before the meeting.
·    9-10-1752. Henry Stanton gives up his plan to visit Rhode Island.
·    1754. Henry and Hope Stanton sign a wedding certificate.
·    1755. Joseph Stanton and Miriam Small declare their intentions of marriage.
·    1758. Henry and Joseph Stanton to help find shingles to repair the meeting house roof.
·    6- -1759. John Tomlenson and Henry Stanton desire a certificate to visit Rhode Island.
·    1760. Hope, Joseph and Henry Stanton and others appear on a marriage certificate.
·    1-28-1761. Henry Stanton appointed clerk.
·    1761. Henry and Joseph Stanton with others sign marriage certificate.
·    11-24-1761. Henry Stanton returns from a visit to Nantucket and Rhode Island.
·    1762. Henry and Joseph Stanton mentioned in meeting records.
·    1762. A meeting is proposed for Clubfoot's creek by Bishops bridge.
·    3-17-1762. Joseph, Henry, Miriam and Hope Stanton sign papers.
·    1-19-1763. Henry and Joseph Stanton and John Tomlinson appointed Trustees of meeting house, burying ground and yard.
·    1764. Henry Stanton requests a certificate to visit Rhode Island.
·    1765. Miriam, Hope and Joseph Stanton sign papers.
·    2-29-1766. William Britton and Alice Stanton publish intentions of marriage.
·    7-9-1766. Henry Stanton's name appears.
·    1767. Sarah, Avis, Hannah, Henry, Hope, Joseph and Benjamin Stanton appear on Bartholomew Howard and Ruth (Stanton) Howard's marriage certificate as witnesses.
·    10-18-1767. Two certificates were produced for Benjamin and Sarah Stanton.
·    1768. Henry and Joseph Stanton mentioned.
·    2-12-1769. James Newby and Sarah Stanton announce their intention of marriage.
·    7-11-1769. James Newby and Sarah Stanton married. Witnesses, Miriam, Hannah, Benjamin, John, Henry and Joseph Stanton et. al.
·    1771. Henry Stanton and Parmenas Horton should wait upon the Governor in regard to church matters.
·    6-12-1771. Joseph and John Stanton and John Mace representatives to Quarterly meeting.
·    4-7-1771. John Tomlinson and Elizabeth Albertson (widow) married. Witnesses, Owen, Benjamin Junior, Hannah, Henry Junior, Joseph, Henry and Benjamin Stanton et. al.
·    3-11-1772. John Stanton applies for a certificate. Joseph and Benjamin appointed to make inquiry.
·    6-10-1772. Henry Stanton requires a certificate.
·    1-13-1773. Benjamin Stanton having requested a few lines by way of a certificate to New Garden monthly meeting, the same is ordered to be got ready ag. next first meeting.
·    7-14-1773. Robert Williams and Benjamin Stanton son of Henry appointed representative to Quarterly meeting.
·    7-14-1773. Benjamin Stanton requests a certificate to New Garden Monthly meeting. Ordered that Joseph Stanton and William Britton make inquiry.
·    8-11-1773. Certificate ordered signed. (Benjamin Stanton and Abigail Macy married at New Garden 9-27-1773.)
·    1774. Henry, Benjamin and Joseph Stanton et. al. sign the denial papers of Robert Williams.
·    1-10-1776. James Bishop and Hannah Stanton declare intentions of marriage and were married. Witnesses, Abigail, Abigail, Joseph, Henry, Benjamin, Benjamin Junior and Owen Stanton.
·    8-14-1776. Benjamin Stanton son of Henry and John Tomlinson appointed rep. to Quarterly meeting.
·    10-8-1776. Henry Stanton Junior requests a certificate to Pasquotank Monthly meeting. John Tomlinson appointed to prepare it with Henry Stanton.
·    1-8-1777. It was ordered that John Tomlinson prepare a certificate for Henry Stanton signifying his parents and friends approbation of his intentions of marriage to Hannah Nixon of Little River.
·    11-12-1777. At a Monthly meeting, Owen and Benjamin Stanton Junior, appointed to represent the state of the meeting to Quarterly meeting. Benjamin Stanton Senior is appointed to prepare certificate for William Bishop. Benjamin Stanton Junior appointed clerk. Also Joseph and Benjamin Stanton Senior to visit those who want membership with us.
·    1-14-1778. Henry Stanton is requested to record births and deaths as collected by our members. (Only a few pages of this record remains.)
·    2-11-1778. Joseph Bishop and Abigail Stanton declare their intentions of marriage. Married 3-22-1778. Witnesses, Joseph, Benjamin, Benjamin Junior, William, Henry, Borden, Henry, and Hope Stanton and Ruth Howard, Abigail Stanton and Lydia Bishop.
·    5-13-1778. Benjamin Senior and Junior Stanton appointed to attend Quarterly meeting.
·    6-10-1778. Owen Stanton and Elizabeth Bishop declare intentions of marriage. Benjamin Stanton clerk, 8-7-1778, they did not know the meeting approved on account of sickness.
·    6-12-1778. Joseph Bishop and William Stanton to attend Quarter meeting. Owen Stanton and Elizabeth Bishop married. Witnesses, Joseph, Henry, Benjamin, Benjamin Junior, William, Borden, Mary, Hope, Abigail Stanton et.al.
·    6-9-1779. Benjamin Stanton Junior returns his certificate given him Third month.
·    7-14-1779. Benjamin Stanton Senior and Joseph Bishop appointed representatives to Quarterly meeting. John Tomlinson and Benjamin Stanton Junior are appointed to draw papers recommending Benjamin Stanton .Senior as minister to the select meeting. Representatives ask for Quarterly meeting to be settled at Contentney.
·    8-11-1779. Recommendation for Benjamin Stanton signed.
·    8-22-1779. William Stanton and Lydia Bishop married. Witnesses, Benjamin, Joseph, Borden, Henry, Owen, Hope, Abigail Stanton and Ruth Howard et.al.
·    12-8-1779. Benjamin Stanton Senior, to visit Adams creek meeting. Benjamin Stanton Junior and Jesse Thomas to go with him. 3-8-1780. They give an account of visit.
·    4-12-1780. Benjamin Stanton Junior, and Alice Macy (or Mace) declare intentions of marriage.
·    9-13-1780. Benjamin Stanton Junior, recommended minister. Is accepted.
·    5-9-1781. Henry Stanton son of Henry being about to move to Contentney, requests a certificate.
·    3-13-1782. Jesse Thomas marries Huld Bell. Witnesses, Owen, Benjamin, Benjamin, Junior, William and Abigail Stanton et.al.
·    8-14-1782. Henry Stanton produced a certificate from Contentney Monthly meeting which was read and accepted and he and Nelly Melton declare their intentions of marriage. Benjamin Stanton Junior et.al. are appointed to inquire, etc. Susannah Stanton also produced a certificate and was accepted.
·    10-9-1782. Friends appointed to attend report the marriage accomplished. As the last named Henry Stanton died some one or more years before this transcript was made out we think this notice of marriage sufficient.
·    11-13-1782. Boundary line between Contentney and this as follows: Begin at head of Dawson Swamp; along said swamp to Trent River, and down Trent River to the mouth of Resolution branch, and up the said branch to the head and said boundaries are agreed to by Contentney monthly meeting.
·    1-8-1783. Benjamin Stanton the younger wants to take a trip to some northern Counties.
·    2-12-1783. Benjamin Stanton Senior and Owen Stanton are appointed to labor with such as have slaves.
·    5-14-1783. Benjamin Stanton wants to visit meetings.
·    6-11. Returned from visit. Monthly meeting sometimes at Core Creek and sometimes at meeting house on the Neuse River.
·    3-11-1784. Benjamin Stanton, Junior, son of Henry Stanton late of Carteret County and Hope Stanton his wife, married to Mary Moore, daughter of John and Mary Moore of Mattamuskeet, of Hyde County. Witnesses, Benjamin Senior, Owen and Elizabeth Stanton et.al.
·    1-1-1785. Owen and Benjamin Stanton appointed to visit families.
·    6-4-1785. William Stanton appointed overseer. Appoint a committee to see about building a shed to accommodate the women for preparative and monthly meeting.
·    8-7-1785. Joseph Bishop and Elizabeth Bundy marry. Witnesses, Joshua Bundy, Borden, Owen, Benjamin, William, Hope, Susannah and Abigail Stanton and Ruth Howard et.al.
·    9-3-1785. Owen Stanton and Jesse Harris to procure a workman and material and construct a partition in the meeting house.
·    1-7-1786. Benjamin Stanton Junior wishes to visit Trent and other meetings.
·    1786. Benjamin Junior, Borden, Owen, Benjamin, William, Mary and Susannah Stanton are mentioned.
·    4-1-1786. Monthly Meeting held at Clubfoot Creek upon Neuse River.
·    3-4-1787. Josiah Bundy son of Moses Bundy and wife, Jane, marries Methia Owen. Witnesses, Owen, Benjamin Junior, Benjamin, Hope, Abigail, Lydia and Nellie Stanton.
·    8-4-1787. Benjamin, Owen, and Borden Stanton appointed to attend Quarterly Meeting and Benjamin Stanton Junior, if he is able to go desires to visit Friends meetings generally.
·    10-6-1787. At a Monthly Meeting held for Core Sound upon Neuse, Benjamin Stanton, Junior, informs this meeting that he visited and had meetings at all the meeting houses in Pasquotank, and Perquimans Counties. Also Contentney Monthly meeting. Also Tar River and Jack Swamp meetings and Northampton Monthly meeting, and that it was considerable to his own mind.
·    11-14-1787. Benajah Steele marries Sarah Bundy, daughter of Joshua Bundy of Craven County. Witnesses, Borden and Susannah Stanton, Abner Hall and Hannah Bundy et.al.
·    5-3-1788. Our last yearly meeting held at Guilford.
·    7-5-1788. Owen Stanton appointed to collect subscriptions instead of Benjamin Stanton who desires to give up.
·    10-12-1788. Daniel Frazier Junior, marries Nellie Stanton widow of young Henry Stanton deceased. Witnesses, Benjamin Junior, Owen, William, Benjamin Senior and Joseph Stanton.
·    1-3-1789. Appoint Benjamin Senior, Borden and Owen Stanton and William Mace representatives to First Quarterly Meeting, to be held on Contentney the Third Seventh day of this month.
·    3-7-1789. Owen Stanton requests to be released as overseer.
·    11-8-1789. Jesse Thomas of Jones County upon Trent marries Martha Briant.
·    3-6-1790. Last Yearly Meeting held at Center, Guilford County. James Stanton accused of fornication which he doth not deny.
·    2-5-1791. Friends of the lower First day meeting on Trent conclude on a place to build a meeting house on north side of Trent River near the mouth of Buck Horn branch.
·    3-5-1791. Yearly Meeting alternately at Symons creek and New Garden meeting houses.
·    2-6-1791. Aaron Brown marries Mary Howard. Witnesses, Owen, Benjamin, Senior and Junior, Borden, William, Elizabeth, and Sarah Stanton et.al.
·    1-1-1791. Meeting adjourned to 1-5 on account of a severe snow storm. Very few Friends met.
·    1-5-1791. Friends meeting house built on Buck Horn branch.
·    4-7-1792. William Stanton has removed to Trent. Abigail Stanton recommended as an elder.
·    1-5-1793. Josiah Bundy goes to Trent (Certificate 4-6-1793).
·    3-2-1793. Hepsibah Stanton assists with the meeting.
·    6-1-1793. Benjamin and Owen Stanton et.al. to select a site for a meeting house at Mattamuskeet, agreed it should be located at the lower end of James Hall's plantation near a grave yard, by a large mulberry tree. This meeting concurs.
·    1-5-1794. Joshua Scott, son of Adam and Hannah Scott, and Elizabeth Stanton daughter of Benjamin and Abigail Stanton marry. Witnesses, Benjamin, Owen, Sarah, Avis, Anna Stanton et.al.
·    6-7-1794. Benjamin and Owen Stanton et.al. appointed to devise some means so women friends can have more conveniences for holding business meetings.
·    10-4-1794. Benjamin Stanton et.al. appointed representative to Quarterly meeting.
·    3-7-1795. Benjamin Stanton informs this meeting that he expects to go to Philadelphia on account of his outward business and requests a few lines to friends, he being a minister. The clerk is directed to furnish the same. Jesse Thomas was disowned for marrying a woman not of our society in less than two weeks after the death of his wife.
·    5-2-1795. Benjamin Stanton returns from his voyage.
·    1-12-1796. Benjamin and Owen Stanton et.al. appointed to attend Quarterly meeting.
·    2-6-1796. Horton Howard appointed clerk.
·    3-5-1796. Benjamin Stanton expects to go to Philadelphia on outward business and requests a few lines. He got them. Quarterly meeting at Contentney, Wayne County, and Yearly Meeting at New Garden.
·    4-2-1796. Owen Stanton and Horton Howard representatives to Quarterly meeting.
·    11-6-1796. Richard Williams, son of Robert Williams and his wife, deceased and Sarah Stanton daughter of Benjamin and Abigail Stanton married. Witnesses, Benjamin, James, Owen, Owen Junior, Abigail, Avis, Anna Stanton, Horton Howard, Joshua Scott, Jesse Thomas and Elizabeth Scott.
·    9-3-1797. Jesse Thomas Junior, son of Jesse Thomas of Jones County, marries Avis Stanton daughter of Benjamin and Abigail Stanton. Witnesses, Benjamin, Abigail, Owen, Anna, Miriam, Elizabeth Stanton et.al.
·    1798. Yearly meeting at Little River and Piney Woods.
·    2-25-1798. Horton Howard marries Mary Dew. Witnesses, Elizabeth Scott and Avis Thomas, etc.
·    3-31-1798. Benjamin Stanton and Horton Howard representatives to Quarterly Meeting.
·    5-3-1798. Enoch Harris marries Lany Dew. Witnesses, Benjamin, Owen, Elizabeth Stanton, Horton Howard, Sarah Williams, Elizabeth Thomas et.al.
·    3-30-1799. Horton Howard given a certificate as he expects to travel into the back parts of Virginia, Pennsylvania and Northwest Territory. 7-27. Back from trip.
·    8-31-1799. Certificate to Horton Howard and two sons Henry and Joseph to Westland Monthly Meeting, Pennsylvania. Josiah Bundy and three sons, Benjamin, Moses and Stanton, same place.
·    9-29-1799. Aaron Brown, son of Edward Brown and Sarah, of Jones County, North Carolina, marries Anna Stanton daughter of Benjamin and Abigail Stanton, Carteret County. Witnesses, Borden, Owen, Henry, Owen Junior, Abigail, Miriam, Abigail Junior, Hannah, Elizabeth Stanton, Elizabeth Scott, Avis Thomas, Sarah Williams et.al.
·    3-29-1800. The sons of Abigail Stanton request certificates to western Pennsylvania and Northwest Territory.
·    2-8-1801. Owen Stanton Junior, son of Owen Stanton Senior, and wife Elizabeth marries Abigail Davis, daughter of Joseph W. Davis and wife Susuhenna.
·    3-30-1804. Owen Stanton and Jesse Harris representatives to Quarterly Meeting.
·    1805. Great Contentney became Contentney.
·    6-28-1807. Abigail and Owen Stanton appear on a marriage certificate.
·    5-1-1808. Jacob Davis, son of Joseph Wicker Davis, marries Mary Stanton, daughter of Owen and Elizabeth Stanton. Witnesses, Rebecca, Owen, Elizabeth, Junior, and Anna Stanton et.al.
·    3-26-1809. Aaron Lancaster, son of William marries Miriam Stanton, daughter of Owen Stanton. Witnesses, Ruth, Elizabeth, Owen, Elizabeth, David, Owen Stanton Junior et.al.
·    1810. Owen Stanton representative to Quarterly meeting.
·    1810. Owen Stanton and James Stanton are witnesses to a marriage.
·    7-31-1814. Elijah Harris marries Ruth Stanton, daughter of Owen and Elizabeth Stanton. Witnesses, Owen, Elizabeth, Anna Stanton et.al.
·    1818. Elizabeth and -Anna Stanton et. al. witnesses to marriage.
·    1819. Same.
·    1820. Contentney Quarterly Meeting to be held once a year at Core Sound.
·    9-27-1828. Jonathan Mace marries Susannah Stanton, daughter of Owen Stanton, Witnesses, Jonathan and Abigail Stanton et.al.
·    3-28-1829. Jonathan Stanton disowned for selling slaves and liquor.
·    7-8-1829. Abigail Stanton's name appears on a marriage certificate.
·    10-30-1841. Core Sound Monthly Meeting laid down.

Inventory - Estate of Benjamin Stanton

included in the 1922 Stanton book.

Last Will & Testament - Benjamin Stanton

5 Nov 1798
State of North Carolina
Carteret County

Be it Remembered that I Benjamin Stanton of the State and County above said being now weak of Body but of sound mind and memory Do for the settlement of my temporal affairs make and ordain This to be my last Will and Testament First I Desire all of my just Debts be paid by my Executors out of my moveable property and the remainder thereof to be disposed of in manner and form following.

Item: I give my Son James Stanton one fourth part of what he sold the Schooner Sally for and the cargo she carried out when he sold her that is to say the one fourth part of the cargo which part of vessel and part of cargo he hath as I suppose already received but the true and full settlement must be made when my estate is settled this being I think a large portion of my estate for what he did in building and all that he can expect the other three quarters to be considered as the rest of my moveable Estate which said moveable or personal Estate to be disposed of by my Executors and Executrix as they think best for the raising and schooling my Children and to be divided amongst them as equal as possible.

Item: I lind unto my beloved wife Abigail Stanton the plantation whereon I now live with and equal priviledge with the Children to my other woodlands during her natural life and after her Decease I give and bequeath the same to be divided between two sons Benjamin Stanton and Joseph Stanton them their Heirs and afsigns for ever also therewith an equal priviledge of all my wood lands.

Item: I give my Clock unto my son Benjamin Stanton after the Decease of his mother who is to have the use thereof during her natural life.

Item: I give my Shipyard with fifty acres of land including the hummock field to my son Henry Stanton with the buildings and Still after he comes of lawful age with an equal priviledge to my wood lands for plantation use to him and his heirs and afsigns for ever.

Item: I give the land and buildings that Joseph Chadwick now lives on with fifty acres of land and all the improvements with an equal priviledge of my wood land for plantation use to my son David Stanton and to his heirs and afsigns for ever.

Item: I give my Fishing place and lands on Cart Island and also on Shaklefords Banks unto my four sons Henry, David, Benjamin and Joseph only reserving the use thereof unto their Mother during her natural life after which I give the same to them all and to their heirs and afsigns for ever.

Item: I give and bequeath unto my Child that my beloved wife is now pregnant with whether Son or Daughter my lands on North River whereon Negro Jerry now lives, to my said child and his, or her, heirs and afsigns for ever.

Item: I give unto my two Daughters Elisabeth Scott and Sarah Williams my lands in Craven County whereon Joseph Dew now lives to them their heirs and afsigns for ever.

Item: I give unto my Daughter Avice Thomas fifty acres of land whereon she now lives to be bounded by the Road where it now is and the lorrel swamp also binding on Rigges and Foremans lines so as to include the fifty acres also an equal priviledge of my wood lands for Plantation use with the other children to her her heirs and afsigns for ever.

Item: I give to each of my Daughters not herein before this particularly named Fifty Acres of land each, on any part of my land not herein before mentioned to choose for them Silver as they may want it to be laid off by my Executors  to them their heirs and afsigns for ever with the same priviledges of my wood lands as my other children to them and their heirs and afsigns for ever.

Item: My Will and devise is that all the poor black people that ever belonged to me to be intirely free when ever the laws of the land will allow it, until which time my Executors I leave as guardians to protect them and see that they be not deprived of their right or any way misused.

Lastly I nominate and appoint my beloved Wife Abigail Stanton Executrix and my friends Owen Stanton and Horton Howard Executors whole and intirely of this my last Will and Testament hereby revoking and disannulling all other wills by me made ratifying this and no other to be my last Will and Testament this Fifth Day of the Eleventh Month one Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety and eight

Pronounced and Declared by the said Benjamin Stanton to be his last will and testament in presence of us then Present
    John Marshall
    Joseph Dew
Benj Stanton – SEAL
Carteret County
Feby. Term1799
The above Will was proved in open Court
By the oath of John Marshal
Saml. Leffers - Clk