Peter was born 17 Jan 1789 in New York. He never married. While few clues as to his ancestry are obtainable, it appears that his last name of BENWAY may be derivative of the surname Benoit, Benneway, or Bennewe – and likely is of French Canadian heritage.
As a 25-year-old, Peter served as a private in Captain Samuel McMath’s Company of the New York Militia, enlisting on 28 Aug 1814 and being discharged 8 Nov 1814. During the Battle of Plattsburg and Battle on Lake Erie he was stationed at Buffalo. His name appears under the command of Colonels John Knickerbacker and Peter Yates of the 14th Regiment of Albany County Militia.
By 1855, Peter had settled in Hampshire, Kane County, Illinois. He applied to the U.S. Pension Office for bounty land under the Act of 3rd March, 1855 but did not receive a Warrant. One year later, he had resettled in Pleasant Grove, Minnesota Territory, where he appeared before a Justice of the Peace in Olmsted County attesting to the fact that he to receive a warrant. His name is recorded in the index of awards on claims of the Soldiers of the War of 1812. A notation acknowledges that the applicant had been granted recompense for his service.
A military warrant land patent was issued to Peter on 1 Jun 1859 for 160 acres in the W-NW of section 4 and N-NE of section 5 of Sumner Township under the ScripWarrant Act of 1855. He is listed in the database of “Military Land Grants in Minnesota for Soldiers of the War of 1812” as having served in the New York Militia.
In 1871 he removed to Fillmore County to reside in the county poor farm on the Amherst-Canton township line. The two-and-a-half story house housed an average of 30 “inmates” and operated from 1868 until 1943, when poor farms were abolished by the establishment of a state welfare system. On the State census enumerated May of 1875, Peter is recorded in a group of a dozen persons listed as “paupers.” He died on 17 Dec 1875 at the age of 86 years and 11 months, of natural causes.
Although no obituary was published at the time of his death, an article in the Preston Republican of 27 Jul 1876 updated the status of his remains:
“A man named Benway who died at the Poor Farm last fall was kindly remembered by his Masonic brethren who had his remains exhumed and buried in Lenora Cemetery. Benway, a veteran of the War of 1812 drew a pension of $96 yearly when he died. He was a Mason in good standing. A. D. Gray and Avery Herrick removed his remains to their new resting place and Father Bryant dug his grave. A stone will be put up to mark his grave.”
A stone was never set. However, I was able to obtain land warrant records archived at: NARA in Washington, DC With this documentation the Veterans Services Office has initiated the expediting of a military-issued gravestone. One hundred thirty-seven years After his death, Peter Benway will finally be properly memorialized.