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BENONI CUTLER (Timothy⁴ John³ James² James¹)

Benoni Cutler, the only son of Timothy Cutler was born on August 17, 1737 under tragic circumstances. His father was dead and his young mother was at her parents' home.

Young Benoni was fortunate in two important respects, however. His father left an estate that was large enough for him to maintain community identity, and his family was of sufficient stature to assure a sound upbringing. He was never bound out.

During most of his first seven years Benoni lived with grandfather James Leavens, one of the town's original developers and certainly the best commercial operator in the area. Here he learned his "numbers" and other practical measurements of value.

Part of the time Benoni stayed with uncle Hezekiah Cutler, the administrator of his estate, and occasionally with grandmother Cutler who had married Deacon Eleazer Bateman. Both exerted a very strong influence over Benoni, stressing family identity and traditions that would be in evidence throughout his life.

Often Benoni stayed on the neighboring farm of uncle John Leavens, who had eight sons. Uncle John was a strong personality who served as Deputy for Killingly in the Colony of Connecticut's General Assembly. John's wife (the former Mary Winter) may have been somewhat of a matchmaker as Benoni’s mother Elizabeth Cutler and Samuel Winter, Jr. were married on April 12, 1744 in a ceremony performed by Justice Joseph Leavens.

Other changes marked Benoni's seventh year as special. That summer grandfather James Leavens died; and on December 23, 1744 his half-sister Marsilva Winter was born (in later years Ephriam Winter would be born on April 16, 1750; Patience Winter on September 18, 1752 (but lived only four years); Elizabeth Winter on April 5, 1755).

Despite the large number of close relatives, Benoni grew up somewhat as an orphan. In those days the ties between father and son were very strict. There was little real wealth, and families were large; girls carried a dowry which was their part of family responsibility, and most other wealth was channeled to the sons. Indeed it was common for families to concentrate everything they had on one son in a desperate attempt to build family standing. While Benoni had much to be thankful for, gaining many advantages from family association, he was left to his own devices to build upon what he had and advance his station in life.

There is no evidence of formal education in Benoni's early years as the only schools in the area were the tutoring classes held informally by the ministers. Uncle Hezekiah Cutler put all of the family's assets into cousin Manasseh Cutler's education, having him tutored by Rev. Aaron Brown, and then sent through Yale College (this launching later proved most successful as Manasseh moved into the elite circles of Boston, became a minister, surgeon, diplomat, congressman and foremost American naturalist).

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