Benjamin ALTON

Name of Patriot: Benjamin Alton NSSAR Patriot # P-331901

Submitted by: Henry L. Ruf III

Benjamin Alton was born about 1762 probably in Baltimore County, Maryland the son of Joseph and Mary (Buckley) Alton. He died before Jun 1849 in Monongalia County, (West) Virginia. He was thought to have been married three times, the first two wives unknown, but his third wife was Jane (Miller) Armstrong. His children were: Catherine Morgan, Hannah Stine, Jesse, Samuel, Jane B Alton, Margaret Clark, Elizabeth Santee. His children by Jane were: Mary Brookover, David, Joseph, and Miller Alton.

He served as a private, as did his brother, John, in the Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania Militia, Capt John Dean's company and Rangers on the Frontier. On Col. William Crawford's expedition against the Indians at Sandusky, Ohio, he, according to family legend, had hand-to-hand combat with an Indian and won. He was a farmer and lived in Fayette County, Pennsylvania and then purchased land in Monongalia County, Virginia in 1809 where he later settled after 1810 and lived until his death.