Sufferers’ Land

High Hopes for a Bright Future

by Dave Barton

For Henry Buckingham, August 1839 was a time of promise and anticipation. He looked forward to again becoming a grandfather, and to finally achieving success in business.

Since coming to Norwalk almost twenty years before, Henry had become a respected member of the community. For many years, he was Treasurer of Huron County. He was also an active member of the Presbyterian Church and the Masons and a leader of the American Bible Association.

Henry and Harriet Buckingham lived in a house on East Main Street with their son George and his family. Henry’s brother John Buckingham lived on a farm outside the village. Their daughter Fanny was married to Jonas Benedict, son of the most prominent man in Norwalk, Platt Benedict. She was pregnant and due to deliver any day. This birth, although looked for with hope, was also a cause of concern.

Jonas and Fanny had not always had good fortune when it came to children. Their first child, Platt, named for Jonas’s father, burned to death from an accident at the age of two. Their second son, young Dave Benedict, about to turn six, was a bright and healthy boy. However, their third child, a daughter named Mary Starr Benedict, had been the victim of a terrible accident that crippled her. She was born healthy, but had fallen and broke her back while an infant. Now she walked bent over, supporting her upper body with her hands on her knees.

In late August, Fanny gave birth to a baby girl, which she and Jonas named after her — Fanny Boughton Benedict. [1] The Buckingham’s were happy to see this new arrival, and hoped that the couple’s luck had changed. Henry perhaps saw this birth as a good omen, promising success to a business venture that he expected would make his fortune at last.

Henry had not achieved all he had hoped for when he arrived in the village. Although he had started many ventures, none had been a great success. He had not rebuilt the fortune he had lost in Pennsylvania because of the War of 1812. Now he felt his luck was about to change. His hope for the future rested on the reopening of a company that had so far been a disappointment — The Norwalk Manufacturing Company.

Footnote:

[1] From the Family History: Wickham, Benedict, Preston & Deaver, (unpublished), by Agnes and Harriott Wickham, edited by Dave Barton, 2006, pp. 17-18.

Image of 1846 Norwalk is from Howe, Henry (1907). Historical Collections of Ohio, The Ohio Centennial Edition. 2. The State of Ohio. , page 229. As treasurer, Henry Buckingham would have worked in the Courthouse and his home would have been down the street to the east (left of the courthouse).

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This post was first published on this blog in 2009.

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