The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-06-12
WRECKED BY LIGHTNING
Stone Walls Cracked and Glass
Broken But Five Persons
Escape Without Serious
Injury
Especial to the Farmer.)

Injury
Especial to the Farmer)
Stratfor June 12-During the fierce
thunder storm Saturday night the
stone house owned and occupied Dy
Lester Lesnic, in Reeds Lane, was
struck by lightning and wrecked Mt
Lesnic with his wife and three chill
dren were in bed when the crash came.
All were shocked but escaped without
serious injuries. The stone walls Oh
the house were cracked from top TO
bottom, almost every window In the
house was broken and the plaster IN
every room torn off. Mr.. Lesn1c was
burned on the ends of the fingers OF
his left hand but otherwise no one was
injured The family took refuge with
.neighbors and remained for the night.
Limbs were torn from the trees In the
yard and never before in this town
has lightning created so much havoc.
The owner has been unusually unfor-
tunate in acquiring a home. A rev
years ago he built house OF WOOD
which burned. Later he built of stone,
STAYING that he would have a mouse
that would not burn. Before the
house was finished the walls gave
again. The structure which was
struck Saturday night was his last
venture. 1t is believed that it can
never be repaired so as to be ten
able The owner is a hard working
man and has been in the employ OF
Reed Bros, cattle buyers 1t was
said this morning that a movement
was on foot to help out the sufferer
by subscription. There was no IN
. surance on the building.
Capt. Leander j. Watts of the
schooner Moffatt. now at Port Jeffer-
son, was in town Saturday looking up
old friends. Capt. Watts is in the
oyster trade. e
A son was born to Mr.. and Mrs.
Harry wilcoxson, Sunday morning,
and the father Is naturally jubflant
DR.. Rowland, who off1ciated, says that
the youngster is the perfect picture Of
his father
Mr.. and Mrs. Louis e. Peck ano
family passed Sunday with relatives
Work was begun this morning in
preparation for the removal Of the
bakery building recently vacated by
John Assam. The work will be car
ried on at night to accommodate the
various companies who have wires on
the street.
Mrs. F. S. Pritchard Who suffered
relapse last week, was able to visit
Stamford yesterday.
In the death of VIM. Henry Benja-
min, which occurred at about day.
break yesterday. Stafford loses an
other representative of one OF It's early
families. Mr. Benjamin was the sec
ond of the six children of William
Henry Benjamin, born in Stafford in
1895, and Cynthia Ann McEwen, of
which family John Benjamin of
Bridgeport, is the sole surviving mem
Der. Although christened with the
name Charles Henry Benjamin, the
OH, hi
and has been known to all the older
citizens of the town either as Will
liam Henry Benjamin or as Henry
Benjamin. Mr. Benjamin was never
heard to boast of his ancestry, but he
had a family history of which any
man might we'll be proud, and made
it a consistent aim of his life to be
worthy of his ancestry. On his moth
er's side there was direct line to the
two McEwen brothers who left Scot
land at about the time Stratford was
founded and, hearing of the religious
liberties of Connecticut colony, left
Perth Amboy, n. J., to make STRAIT
ford their home. They married into
well known families and in the early
days of the town their children inter-
married with the most prominent lam
lilies. On his fathers side Mr.. Benja-
min traced his lineage through Gideon
BENJAMIN, keeper of the inn in STRAIT
IOGC DIT NnICl w IOL SNOPPNN'
Captain George Benjamin, a hero Of
the Revolutionary war; to John Benja-
min who married Mary Smith, daught-
er of Philip Smith of East Hartford,
first to bear the Benjamin name in
Stratford. Coming to Stratford with
his brother, Samuel, in ITO, this John
BENJAMIN bought of Richard Rogers
the right to maintain the ferry at
what is now Washington bridge. This
right was subsequently sold to Josiah
Curtiss and remained in the Curtiss
family until the building of the bridge
across the river made the ferry I'M
necessary.
The father of John and Samuel
BENJAMIN was another John Benjamin,
who married Lydia Allen of Boston,
and his father was the John Benjamin
who sailed from England with his
wife, Abigail, in the ship Lion, July
Is. 1880, the personal friend of Cover
nor Winthrop who mentions In his VIII
the manuscript in John Benjamin
possession. Through this John Ben
jamin the family is traced back to it's
Norman ancestry under William the
Conqueror. william Henry BENJAMIN
was born on the sixteenth of Febru-
airy, 1880, and made Stratford his life
home. AS young man he followed
the sea and shipped in various vessels
that touched ports in every quarter
of the globe. At the breaking out OF
the Civil War he was a Douglass
Democrat" When the John Brooks"
was chartered by the government for
service on the Potomac river and
Chesapeake Bay, he was engaged to
accompany the vessel as first mate.
In this capacity he had the privilege
of giving President Lincoln the first
tfdings of the battle of Falmouth. AT
the close of the war Mr.. Benjamin re-
turned to Stratford, still a pronounce
ed Democrat, and began market gar
dening in which he attained almost
phenomenal success. In 1855 he mar
ried Sarah Meachen, by whom were
born two daughters. Susia, deceased
wife of the late Wallace Sturgis, and
Fannie, wife of Frank Russell of
Bridgeport After the death of his
first wife in 1897. Mr.. Benjamin on
the 24th of August, 1898, married the
mother of Rev. c. Seymour Bullock,
pastor of the Neighborhood church.
her maiden name having been Almira
Livingston.
The f1ftieth birthday anniversary of
Mrs F. S. Webb was observed at her
home at Peck's Mill, yesterday. Her
sons and a number of friends from
out of town passed the day with her.
She Is receiving the congratulations of
many friends here
Photographs of the anniversary COM
mittee of Okenuck tribe of Red Men
were taken yesterday by John Ora
ham, who had remarkable success.
The Taxpayers Improvement Club
will meet this evening at the Swedish
chapel in the North End to ratify and
adopt the constitution and bylaws