Daniel was born the son of Arnold and Abigail Babcock on 12 Jan 1795 in Cranston, Rhode Island. A cabinet maker and carpenter by trade, Babcock enlisted as a private in Captain William Lampson’s Company of the New York Militia. Auditor’s reports show he served from 7 Sep 1812 to 20 Sep 1812, from 3 Feb 1813 to 19 Mar 1813, and again from 28 Jul 1814 to 21 August 1814. A bounty land warrant of 160 acres was issued to him for his service under the ScripWarrant Act of 3rd March, 1855 – an amendment that granted land to qualifying veterans. In 1860, Daniel applied for a warrant through H. G. Bristol of Chatfield. His pension file contains briefs, submitted by Preston attorney Reuben Wells, for claims of an $8.00 per month allowance filed subsequent to the Act of February 14, 1871.
Daniel married Mary Mathews in Canton, St. Lawrence County, New York on 20 Jan 1817. The couple’s son George and daughter-in-law, Antonette, left New York for the western frontier in the fall of 1853. Arriving in Fillmore County, they were among the earliest settlers of Carimona where they erected the first frame house in the township. By the 1860 census, 65-year-old widower Daniel, having followed his son to southeast Minnesota was enumerated in the 1860 Federal census in Preston Township. A decade of years later, he’d joined George’s family in Lanesboro where the Babcock clan did business as “furniture dealers.” According to the History of Fillmore County 1882, George had settled in Lanesboro in 1869, where he built the first warehouse in the community. The younger Babcock served as Lanesboro mayor for one year, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, and city marshal before he headed further westward to Dakota Territory.
Daniel Knight Babcock died at Lanesboro 16 Jul 1873 at the age of 83 years and was buried at Lanesboro Cemetery. His obituary referred to him as “Captain Babcock” and stated he served as an officer in the War of 1812. He was remembered as an “old resident of the county and a consistent Christian.”
Daniel has two gravestones above his burial plot at Lanesboro Cemetery. The original marker of either limestone or marble lies encased flat in cement from an earlier primitive restoration attempt. The weather-worn inscription is barely legible. A gray granite replacement stone is inscribed with his full name and years of birth and death.
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