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- Benjamin Hall was commissioned Lieutenant by the Crown; his son Benjamin was probably also a Lieutenant; on a list of a company of foot soldiers in 1773, were Lt. Benjamin Hall, Samuel Hall, Jesse Hall and Ziba Hall; on the alarm list 1773, were Benjamin Hall, Jr. and Nathan Hall; among the signers of the Association Test of 1776, were Jesse Hall and Samuel Hall, but Lt. Benjamin Hall refused to sign it; Lt. Benjamin preserved a coat of arms.
In 1785, among the purchasers of pews in the new meeting-house in Keene, were Benjamin Hall, Esq., Benjamin and Hannaniah Hall. In 1800, Dr. Ziba Hall protested against being taxed for support of the minister, being a Universalist (he lived one time in Lebanon). In 1789, Benjamin Hall, Esq., was on a committee in Winchenden to obtain materials for bulding a meeting-house, and Dr. Ziba Hall was on a committee to select the place or site for its location.
Benjamin, along with the children known by name, also had a daughter whose name is not known at this time, who married Maj. Ames of the Rising Sun Hotel, Boston, MA. Lt Benjamin Hall and his sons James, Hannaniah, and Josiah, being tories, removed to Canada and settled near Toronto. He was a large man weighing some 400 lbs.
The following is from the History of Keene, Biographical Sketches:
"Lieut. Benjamin Hall. His name first appears in the records in 1761, when he bought of William Smeed and his wife Phebe (who had removed to Walpole), six original house-lots - numbers 12, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27 - and seventeen other lots of the several divisions of land in the township. He also owned, afterwards, house-lots numbered 16, 17, and 18 and much other land in town, amounting to several thousand acres. In 1768, he sold to Jesse Clark a farm of 100 acres 'lying in the crotch of Ash Swamp Brook,' where Mr. Clark and his son, Jesse, Jr., kept tavern for many years, and built the house west of the small pond, since known as the Ingersoll house. In 1783, he bought of Dr. Gideon Tiffany, then of Hanover, NH, a farm of sity acres, with saw and grist mills, on the North branch - the mills since known as the peg factory.
"His wife's name was Melatiah, and his children were: Nathaniel, Ziba, Hannaniah, James, Benjamin, Josiah, Bela; and a daughter Betty, who married Maj. Luther Eames, who kept a public house with Aaron Eames.
"Lieut. Hall was selectman nine years between 1762 and 1774, and again in 1784-5-6. He represented the town in the legislature in 1771-2-3-4, and again in 1784-5 and 1787. He was a lieutenant of the militia company here in 1773, but in 1776 he refused to sign the Association Test, and was dropped from all official positions. He was not, however, actrive against the patriots, was considered a man of sound judgment and discretion, and after the war was again entrusted with responsible offices, as appears above. He died in 1805."
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