Benoni Garfield

Building Weston’s meetinghouse

Benoni Garfield helped oversee construction of the new meetinghouse at Weston, west of Boston in Massachusetts. A surviving fragment of the 1720 construction agreement, described in Daniel Lamson’s town history, names him among the men acting for the town. The contractors were Randall Davis and Benjamin Rand.

The project continued over several years. In March 1721 Benoni was sworn in as a selectman and assessor. At the August 3, 1722 town meeting, residents voted to cover and enclose the new meetinghouse with materials already obtained. Benoni was appointed to the committee responsible for managing that work. By November, the town was considering the committee’s spending, the labor and carting already supplied, and the money needed to continue.

His public work followed a difficult family beginning. Born on December 4, 1675, he lost his mother, Mehitable Hawkins Garfield, five days later. In January 1706/07 he married Abigail Stearns in Watertown; the minister Samuel Angier performed the marriage. Their daughter Abigail was born in March 1707/08. His wife died in July 1710.

By 1717 Benoni had a wife named Mary. Weston recorded the birth of their daughter Mary on October 19 that year.

The meetinghouse records belong to the next decade of his life. They show Benoni handling a specific public responsibility, alongside the assessment and government of a recently separate town. He died in Weston on July 25, 1725.