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Dr. A.G. Benedict

Born Nov 13, 1790 Died Oct 4, 1862

Red Hook Methodist Cemetery, Village of Red Hook; Tall obelisk and footstones with first names on them on the east side of the cemetery.

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First it’s important to note (so visitors are not confused) that Dr. Abijah Gilbert Benedict had a son, Dr. Abijah Gilbert Benedict born in 1832 who has his own slightly shorter obelisk on the western side of the cemetery.

Portrait of Abijah by portraitist Ammi Phillips, courtesy of the Springfield Museum of Art

Dr. Benedict (born 1790) was the son of Benjamin (a farmer) and Elizabeth (Gilbert) Benedict from South Salem, Westchester County, NY. The family moved to Patterson when he was young. He studied medicine with a doctor in Pleasant Valley, got his license in Dutchess County in 1815, and married Charlotte Hopper Newcomb a year later in Poughkeepsie. Charlotte was the daughter of Thomas Newcomb and Rachel Hopper of Pleasant Valley and was educated at Sarah Pierce's Female Academy in Litchfield, CT. One can read a diary she kept at age 15 in the holdings of the Litchfield Historical Society. The couple moved to Red Hook in 1818 and in addition to his medical practice, Dr. Benedict was on the Board of Supervisors for Dutchess County and served in the New York State Legislature in 1835 and 1836. It was remarked that “he was a friend to children” and was “cautious and prudent” in his “obstetrical and consultation practice”. He belonged to the Dutchess County Medical Society and served as its president in 1841.

Portrait of wife Charlotte by portraitist Ammi Phillips, courtesy of the Springfield Museum of Art

The Benedicts made their residence at the corner of East Market and Cherry Streets in Red Hook, but they also owned a farm. After his death, Dr. Benedict’s son of the same name sold off his horses, cows, and various other animals and farming equipment.

The doctor and his wife were prominent enough to afford to have their likenesses painted by the well-known nineteenth-century portrait artist Ammi Phillips. The paintings are held by the Springfield Museum of Art. Dr. Benedict is illustrated next to a table with books and a letter addressed to him in Red Hook, Dutchess County.

Dr. Benedict and Charlotte had nine children, Mary E., Cornelia A. (married Asahel Howe), Getrude R., Thomas N. (an Episcopal minister), Charlotte H., Catherine E. (married Edgar Traver), Charles B. (removed to Massachusetts, then went south), Abijah G., and Eugene F. (removed to Ohio), many of which are buried in the cemetery. Three of their daughters never married.

Dr. Benedict had been working the day before he died in his sleep at 72 years of age due to heart disease.

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