Beeks line: Benjamin Slot Locke 1721-abt 1795

 Benjamin is a very difficult man to trace, not least because his name changed sometime between birth and death.  Much of what I have found is based on the research of Judith Rill, so she gets the credit for everything that's correct in this post and I get the blame for mistakes, and for my own speculation.  Benjamin is worth studying, not least because he was part of a vanishing subculture, the "Low Dutch" of Kentucky.

Benjamin didn't start out in Kentucky, though.  He was born probably in May (christening date is May 18, 1721 at or near the Dutch Reformed Church in Hackensack, New Jersey.  His parents were Jacobus and Maria Demarest Slodt (her name is seen as De Maree, but it's the same family as the Demorests), and he was one of at least 10 children born to the couple.  In general, these Dutch families, who in the Slodt case had been early settlers in New Amsterdam, were very hard workers.  Church and family were at the heart of their society, and most of them were contented and reasonably prosperous people.  Benjamin would have had a good childhood, we think.

That's why it's confusing that his marriage didn't take place until 1759.  I am certainly willing to be convinced, if someone has documents, that he was married prior to the April 17, 1759 marriage to Sarah Demarest.  She was 20 years younger than he, and it seems more likely that a (speculative) first wife had died prior to this marriage.  But there is no proof, so for now we'll just say that this was a marriage with a great age difference.  Sarah was the daughter of Samuel David and Lea Demarest, who were likely distant cousins.  These Demarest lines are intertwined to a great extent, due to the relatively small number of acceptable partners in their culture.

At some point, Benjamin and Sarah and their growing family (they're believed to have had at least five children) may have gone to Conewago Township, Adams County, Pennsylvania by 1772, with a group of the "Low Dutch".  It appears that the group may have been given its name in Pennsylvania, to avoid confusion with the "High Dutch" (Germans) who were already there.  Some sites say that Benjamin died in Adams County in 1772, but that must have been a different Benjamin, because this Benjamin died during 1795-1796 in Mercer County, Kentucky.  

We don't know when the group actually traveled to Kentucky.  There may have been prolonged stops along the way in Berkeley and Jefferson Counties, Virginia, but they were in Kentucky by the early 1790s.  This was not long after the Revolutionary War, and about the time that Kentucky became a state.  Native Americans had contested control of Kentucky since the days of Daniel Boone, and memories of the deaths of about 1500 Americans were fresh, but the Low Dutch settled in Mercer County, anyway.  

It appears to be here that Benjamin, either officially or unofficially, changed his name to Lock, which was the English translation of Slot or Slodt.  He is on some tax lists through 1795, and the following year it is Sarah who is taxed, so it's believed Benjamin died during that time period.   We don't know for sure what attracted the Locks and other families to Mercer County, but for most settlers, it was inexpensive, fertile land.  

I've not been able to figure out whether Benjamin served in any of the military conflicts of the time.  He was certainly of the right age to be involved in the French and Indian War, and possibly in the American Revolutionary war.  Records in several states would need to be studied to determine any involvement, and of course many records, particularly of local militia, are missing.  If he didn't serve, he at least would have been following the news and keeping an eye out for the safety of his family. 

Much research remains to be done regarding Benjamin and his family, but there is enough here to be intriguing.  

The line of descent is"

Benjamin Slot Lock-Sarah Demarest

William Lock-Elizabeth Teague

Sally Lock-Jeremiah Folsom

Leah Folsom-Darlington Aldridge

Harvey Aldridge-Margaret Catherine Dunham

Cleo Aldridge-Wilbur Beeks

Mary Beeks-Cleveland Harshbarger

Their descendants