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The Treaty of Paris, signed by the British in 1763 reshaped the map in a manner that infuriated the Colonists. It drew a western line roughly down the Allegheny Mountains, called the Proclamation Line of 1763, and pledged to the Indian Nations that none of the Colonists would be permitted to migrate westward into Indian Territory. Just as the Colonists had begun to flex their growing muscles they suddenly were bottled up. They felt betrayed and from that time forward increasingly found fault with everything Britain did. On December 22, 1763 at the age of 26, Benoni married Lurana Leavens, his second cousin. She was born on November 18, 1743, the fourth child and eldest daughter of Joseph Leavens Jr. and Alice (Eaton) Leavens. Lurana was a bright, vivacious and energetic girl who always had been old Justice Leavens' favorite granddaughter. She brought a generous dowry with her. Benoni and Lurana took up farming in Killingly and settled down to raising a family. Their first child, Charles, was born on May 7. 1765 (named after Lurana's younger brother); Theophilus was born on October 9, 1767; WILLIAM was born on April 13, 1770, just five weeks after the Boston Massacre; Joseph was born on March 18, 1772 (named after Lurana's father) and Rebecca was born in October, 1774. By now the Colonists were heading for trouble that had been a long time brewing. From the earliest days of settlement these people had been strong individualists who had opposed the king in every attempt to establish centralized control over their affairs. While braving the dangers of the frontier and setting their own way of life these people had become a nation apart long before the Revolution. Americans reflected a casual independence that grew out of the frontier. Fewer than 5% of the people lived in cities, with the rest living on farms or in tiny communities like Killingly, widely scattered and exposed to many dangers. They lived with trouble. The typical American was lean and rugged, possessed of a broad sense of humor, and nothing delighted him quite as much as a clever bit of political hokum, particularly if directed at his British "superiors." Someone labeled British taxation as "tribute" and this struck a responsive chord with most Americans. A powerful and humorless British king made little attempt to understand this character. Relations between Britain and the American leaders grew increasingly bitter between 1763 and 1775 as misunderstandings compounded and nerves grew thin. Tenseness became so great by 1775, that every small village in New England had a store of powder and a "battle plan" in the event they were attacked by Redcoats. On April 18, 1775 when British Regulars were sent from Boston to arrest John Hancock and Samuel Adams, this spark ignited the Colonists. Paul Revere set out on his famous ride and a small band of Minutemen met the British the next day at Lexington, on the village green. When the first blood of the Revolution was drawn at Lexington, on April 19, 1775, the "shot heard round the world" was fired a mere stone's throw from the place where James Cutler had built the first house in town over a century before. |