Ancestors

Benjamin Wager

Benjamin Wager was a farmer of Plymouth Township, in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, on the Schuylkill below Norristown. He is in the 1800 census beside Jesse and Charles Wager. The Plymouth tax lists of 1834 to 1845 name three Wagers in a row: Jesse, Benjamin and Jacob.

He made his will on 18 February 1843, "being weak in body but of sound mind memory and understanding." He asked to be buried "in the burial ground of the Presbyterian Church of Norristown." His executors were to "cause to be placed over my grave, a tomb similar to the one over the grave of James Ward deceased." He left twenty dollars to the First Presbyterian Church of Norristown.

He provided for two married daughters through small trusts. His executors were to hold one hundred dollars and pay the interest "to daughter Abigail wife of Charles Shoemaker." At her death the principal was to go to her son, Charles Shoemaker. Another hundred dollars was set aside for his daughter Elizabeth, and after her death the principal was to be paid "to all her children then living." Her husband's name is garbled in the copy of the will book.

His grandson William Wager was to have one thousand dollars at twenty one. All his real estate went "to my son Jacob for and during his natural life, and after his decease to my said grand son William." The rest of the estate went "unto my son Jacob his heirs and assigns." He named as executors "my son Jacob Wager and my friend, Benjamin F. Hancock." The witnesses were Chas. M. Diehl and Hilary B. Hancock. The will was proved on 21 March 1843, and letters went to Jacob and to Benjamin F. Hancock.

His son Jacob was very probably the Plymouth farmer of the 1850 census, who bought Wayne County timber land with Jesse Bean and sold seven hundred acres of it to George Abraham. Hilary B. Hancock, who witnessed Benjamin's will, also witnessed the Norristown deed of "Jacob Wager and Jesse Bean" in 1850. The grandson William was probably Jacob's son.

His wife is not named in the will. A history of the Shoemaker family published in 1975 agrees that "Abigail was the daughter of Benjamin Wager. Lived Plymouth Township, Montgomery County." His house stood below Norristown, and it was remembered there for its brass door knocker.

Jesse Wager of Plymouth, taxed beside him, was probably his brother. A Walker family genealogy of 1896 says Jesse lived "on a small, well-kept, and valuable farm on the banks of the Schuylkill River, near Conshohocken." He had inherited it when he was two and was "never farther away from it than to Philadelphia in his long life time." The same book says "His sister, Elizabeth, was grandmother to the American novelist, James Fenimore Cooper." In fact Elizabeth Wager was the second wife of the novelist's grandfather, James Cooper, whom she married in 1778. She was born on 22 February 1749, a daughter of Jacob and Gertrude (Supplee) Wager, "descendants of early Swedish settlers on the Schuylkill river, near the present site of Norristown." If Benjamin and Jesse were sons of that couple, Benjamin's son Jacob was named for his grandfather. No record makes the link.

If Benjamin Wager is in your family, start your own tree.

Cite: Heirology, "Benjamin Wager (d. 1843)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/benjamin-wager-1843-0f9891.