Baptist minister. Pastor in Rhode Island.

BENEDICT, Rev. David, D.D., the “venerable historian of the Baptists,” was born in Norwalk, Fairfield County, Connecticut, on 10 October 1779, being the oldest of a numerous family of children. His parents were Thomas and Martha (Scadder) Benedict. His father, who served as a soldier in the war of the Revolution, was an enterprising farmer and a man of gentlemanly bearing. He removed from Norwalk to Saratoga County, New York, afterwards to New Lisbon, Otsego County, and in 1933 to Rhode Island, where he died. The mother, who was a woman of rare worth, died in 1786, while her eldest son was a mere lad of seven years.

The subject of this sketch was early taught to work with such scant opportunities for education as a country school of the last century afforded. At the age of fourteen he left home, and was apprenticed to a shoemaker in the town of New Canaan, adjoining Norwalk. For seven years he applied himself diligently to his trade, working always with a book on the shelf within reach, and devoting his spare moments to reading, for which he had a remarkable fondness. While here he became interested in religious truth, and on the 8th of December, 1799, was baptized by the Rev. Stephen Royce, and united with the Stratfeld Baptist Church.

At the expiration of his apprenticeship he engaged himself as a journeyman in a large shoe establishment in the city of New York, where he remained one year. Having decided on a collegiate course, he, in 1802, relinquished flattering business prospects, and entered the academy of Rev. Stephen S. Nelson, at Mount Pleasant, now the seat of Sing Sing Prison. Here he remained two years; during which time he defrayed his expenses in part by teaching the younger pupils. One of the lads whom he thus instructed in the rudiments was Francis Wayland, afterwards, the distinguished president of Brown University.

By the most intense application he was not only enabled to prepare himself for college while with Mr. Nelson, but also to enter an advanced class. He thus overtaxed his mental and physical powers, in consequence of which he injured his eyes, and impaired for the time being his health.

In the fall of 1804, he entered the junior class of Brown University, under the presidency of the Rev. Dr. Messer. One of his instructors was Calvin Park, father of the distinguished Andover professor and divine. Another was the Hon. Judge Howell, who, for more than a quarter of a century, gave lectures on jurisprudence in the University. He was graduated in 1806 in a class of nineteen members, delivering at commencement an oration on “Ecclesiastical History,” which attracted much attention at the time.

Immediately after his graduation, he was ordained as pastor of a Baptist Church in Pawtucket, which had been gathered through the instrumentality of his labors while a student in college. Numerous and powerful revivals were the result of this faithful preaching, and the infant church grew to be large and flourishing. It is today one of the strongest Baptist churches in the State. In the early part of his ministry Dr. Benedict began to collect materials for his History of the Baptist Denomination in America. Had he realized in the outset all the difficulties of this great undertaking, it is doubtful whether he would ever have commenced it.

He soon found that if he persevered he must travel extensively, and gather facts from fireside conversations with aged people, as did Morgan Edwards and Isaac Backus of precious memory, collecting here and there what few pamphlets and documents were to be had. In journeys made for this purpose, he travelled on horseback nearly four thousand miles, through all the states and Territories of the Union. In the work of final revision he was assisted by Rev. George H. Hough, afterwards missionary to India. It was published by subscription in 1813, making two octavo volumes of nearly 1200 pages. It is now a scarce book, and commands a high price. An abridgment was published in 1820. Dr. Benedict also published the following: The Watery War, a poem; Conference Hymn Book; an abridgment of Robinson’s History of Baptism; History of all Religions; General History of the Baptists Continued, a royal octavo of 1000 pages; Fifty Years Among the Baptists; History of the dunatists. This last work, upon which he was engaged almost at the dime of his decrease, was published by his only surviving daughter, Miss Maria M. Benedict, as a memorial of her honored and revered father.

In addition to all these publications he was during his protracted life a frequent contributor to various papers and periodicals, some of which he edited. He was an active member of the corporation of Brown University, having been elected a trustee in 1818. From that time until his death, with an exception of a single year, he attended all the annual and special meetings, affording an instance of long-continued punctuality and zeal truly remarkable. He was a sincere and faithful member of the Masonic fraternity, as was also his father-in-law, Dr. Gano, Bishop Griswold, the late Dr. Taft, and others of that school. During the Anti-masonic excitement which so convulsed society in New England and the Middle States, he remained true to his convictions, regarding the institution as the oldest and best of all human organizations, not as Christianity itself, but as her handmaid and helper.

He died in peace, Saturday afternoon, 5 December 1874, in the ninety-sixth year of his age. His funeral was on Wednesday following, and the Baptists church was filled with mourners, friends, and fellow citizens, among whom he had so long dwelt. Dr. Benedict married, 4 May, 1808, Margaret Hubbel Gano, daughter of the celebrated Dr. Stephen Gano, for thirty-six years pastor of the First Baptist Church in Providence. She died 28 November 1868, in the eight-fourth year of her age. Twelve children were the fruits of this marriage, of whom three sons and a daughter are now living (1881).

Source: The Biographical Cyclopedia of Representative Men of Rhode Island, Providence: National Biographical Publishing Company (1881), P. 96-97