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The Mysterious Painter of Benton
by Tricia Noel
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An amateur oil painting in the collections of the Yates County History Center has an intriguing origin. A simple landscape, it features a rustic log cabin; a new, stump-filled clearing; a few rows of crops; a log outbuilding; and the small figure of a farmer working. A thick line of pines towers in the background. One can see from the crops scattered amongst stumps and the trees encroaching on the farmland that it depicts a very early settlement, just carved out of a thick forest. This rustic picture was put into a heavy, gold-colored frame. The painting was sold to a donor at an auction that took place nearby, so the painting did not make it too far out of Yates County.
The note that accompanied the painting stated that the daughter of Dr. Caleb Benton painted it when she was 92 years of age, from the memory of her childhood home. Benton (1758-1825) was a prominent early resident of what is now Yates County. A Revolutionary War veteran, he was a manager for the Genesee Land Company. He owned a home in Geneva, but also owned large swaths of what is now Benton, especially in the Bellona area. He had a house in Bellona, and was also known for building the first barn west of Seneca Lake. Caleb, although a doctor, was also a man of business, having interests in a tavern and a mill as well. Eventually, he moved downstate to Greene County and died there in 1825.
His will lists his wife Sarah, his son Lewis, and his daughter Stella, wife of Dr. James Mairs, as well as a few grandchildren. Was Stella the painter of the rustic scene?
Unfortunately, Stella does not fit the description of the painter. She moved to New York City after her marriage and died there at the age of 64 in 1869. Caleb Benton did not list any other daughters in his will, and any who predeceased him would not have lived to the age of ninety-two. Since she lived in New York City, and the painting remained in the Finger Lakes, it is unlikely that Stella was the painter. Neither Stella, nor her brother Lewis, had children who grew up in Yates County, either.
A possible explanation is that a daughter, or even granddaughter, of Levi Benton created the painting. Like his cousin, Dr. Caleb Benton, Levi was a very early resident of what is now Yates County. The Town of Benton, in fact, was named after him. He owned an exceptionally large amount of land around the Havens Corners Road area, and the first Methodist service was known to have occurred in one of his barns. He was a resident by 1790. Levi and his wife, Molly Woodworth Benton, had nine children: Polly, Olive, Levi, Luther, Calvin, Joseph, Nancy, Hannah and Ruby. None of these daughters lived to a very old age either.
Another possibility is that the widow of Dr. Caleb Benton painted it. Although she did not live to 92, she did live to be eighty-three, a good age at that time. Although it would not depict her childhood home, which was in New England, it may be what she remembered upon first arriving in Benton. What the painting features – a raw, scrubby plot with rough-hewn dwellings encircled by woods, is certainly accurate to what would have been seen by an early Benton resident.
It’s not possible to know which of the Benton women painted the picture, but it is a valuable visual depiction of Benton’s history, its formation out of the wilderness, and the backbreaking work that was put into making a home and a community.
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