Benoni Danks

Benoni Danks (ca 1716 – 1763) was a New England Ranger and political figure in Nova Scotia. His son, Benoni Danks II (d. 1776) represented Cumberland County in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1765 to 1770.

He was born in Northampton, Massachusetts, the son of Robert Danks and Rebecca Rust. In 1745, he married Mary Morris. He commanded a company of rangers in the Chignecto area during the Petitcodiac River Campaign and later the St. John River Campaign of the Expulsion of the Acadians. He was active against the French and their native allies. It is alleged that his unit turned in the scalps of Acadians for bounties, claiming that they were from natives. The rangers carried out raids against French settlers on the Petitcodiac River and also participated in the siege of Quebec. In 1761, he was granted land in Cumberland County. He took part in the Siege of Havana in 1762, where, according to Israel Putnam, he sold his commission and died from illness. Two years later, another Benoni Danks (possibly his son) was named a justice of the peace and militia commander for Cumberland County. In 1767, he was named collector of duties on alcohol, tea, coffee and playing cards.

Sympathetic to the American Revolution, Benoni Danks II was captured after taking part in a rebellion - the Battle of Fort Cumberland - led by Jonathan Eddy and died at Windsor, Nova Scotia from an infected wound.

The father or son (or possibly both) is the namesake of Danks Point in Baie Verte, New Brunswick.

References

• Blakely, Phyllis R (1979). "Benoni Danks". Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. Retrieved 2008-10-03.