Reuben Bingham (β 1738-04-09 – after 1828) was my likely 6th-great-grandfather, being the probable father of Horatio, and a Revolutionary War soldier who nevertheless later moved to Canada. His wife is recorded as Mary in 1767 and in 1821; these are presumed to be the same woman and the mother of his children, but she has not been identified beyond this name.
Reuben was the great-grandson of immigrant Thomas Bingham; see Bingham origins. He is a distant descendant of medieval English kings; see Royal descent below.
Reuben was baptized in 1738 at Windham, Connecticut, the fourth child of at least five of Abisha (or Abishai) Bingham and Mary Tubbs. Baptisms were done on Sunday, so he could’ve been born in the week or so before. The family’s baptisms are detailed on Abisha’s Find a Grave page.⟮1⟯Find a Grave memorial for Abisha Reuben was in Windham as late as 1767 (see below), although his military service moved him often.
In 1776 he was recorded in the census of Lempster, New Hampshire. Thereafter, he was in Vermont for a time, appearing in 1781 in Bellows Falls (part of Rockingham), in 1787 in Rockingham, in 1790 in Weathersfield⟮2⟯, and in 1800 in Springfield⟮3⟯. The latter two are from the censuses, which show him living only with one woman, presumably Mary.
Reuben’s military career began when he mustered in 1756-04-06, perhaps right around when he turned 18. He fought in both the French and Indian War and the American Revolution.
His last military record was from 1777.
Despite his service fighting for American independence, he later moved to Canada, to a Loyalist hotbed. In 1804 he swore an oath of allegiance to the monarchy. On 1810-11-01, he was granted 105 acres in Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick.⟮4⟯ His son Abner received 310 acres there.
He is recorded on the 1821 census of Grand Manan with wife Mary.⟮5⟯ Abner and his wife Lucy are also recorded. No other household members are shown with either, nor other Binghams, so it is highly improbable that records of any Reuben or Abner in Grand Manan could be any other relation.
On 1828-07-02, Reuben sold land in Grand Manan,⟮6⟯ relying on witnesses (including Abner) rather than filing the deed himself. He would have been 90 at the time and may have been in poor health. The deed was filed on the 14th.
Neither Reuben nor Mary appear in the 1831 census. Given their age, it is likely they had died by then. A search of records, however, failed to turn up any indication of their deaths.
In 1840, Abner started selling pieces of Reuben’s land grant, presumably inherited (Reuben would have been 102 if alive).
Reuben and Mary Bingham were admitted to the church at Windham on 1767-07-17. It is supposed she is the mother of his children, and the same Mary he is living with in Grand Manan 54 years later. We have little information about her; the 1800 census states that she was at least 45 years old, but that is clear from other records.
Munger lists Abner and Samuel as known children of Reuben, and Mary and Thomas as possible children. She does not mention Horatio and may have not considered him, or dismissed his presence in the 1800 Springfield census as insufficient evidence. (Notably, she erroneously says Reuben was in Weathersfield in 1800 instead of Springfield.)
In 2019, a royal descent for Reuben’s ancestor Joanna (Quarles) Smith was published by Robert Battle in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register.⟮7⟯
Per the pedigree below, Reuben descends from Ursula (Hall) Woodgate. Her great-great-grandparents were Robert Hall and Anne Dudley. Anne was the sister of Edmund Dudley and is descended from British noble families. Particularly, her grandfather was John Sutton, the 1st Baron Dudley, whose wife was Elizabeth Berkeley, and both descend from English kings.
Example descent:
This makes the king Reuben’s 17th-great-grandfather and my 25th-great-grandfather, assuming all requisite generations are correct.
Richard FitzRoy was an illegitimate son of King John, and thus this descent would qualify me for the Royal Bastards, except that they would likely find the evidence for Reuben being Horatio’s father not to their standards.
There is a widely published descent of the 1st Baron Dudley from King Edward I, of the same number of generations, but one generation has some dispute⟮8⟯, and other descents are much longer.