Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

lope, the youngest daughter, was married
to John Herbert, Esq., youngest son of
PhiHp, Earl of Pembrook and Montgomery
; remarried to John Wentworth, Esq.
She died in 1657, without issue.
This estate became the property of the
Earl of Oxford and his Lady (Newcourt,
Vol. II, p. 52). They caused to be pulled
down the stately and magnificent seat of
Bentley Hall, which had been erected by
Paul Bayning, Esq., in the reign of King
James I, and sold the materials, wherewith
many houses in Colchester and elsewhere
are still adorned.
Phineas Banning came from England
and settled in Dover, Delaware, where his
son, John Banning, was born in 1740, and
there died February 15, 1791. John Ban-
ning was a member of the Council of the
State of Delaware from 1777 until his
death ; treasurer of Kent County ; military
treasurer; town commissioner; member
of the Council of Safety, and member of
the first Electorial College, casting Dela-
ware's vote for George Washington as
President of the United States. In the
Revolution he was one of the foremost
patriots, "Contributing liberally both in
money and services to organizing and
establishing the State government of Del-
aware, and is said to have been considered
the 'banker of the State.' When the Con-
tinental Army was disbanded, and the
soldiers had nothing but the depreciated
script, it is said that he stood on the steps
of the old Academy of Dover and gave
them hard money for their notes, thus trying
to redeem his nation's credit." He
married, in 1766, Mrs. Elizabeth (Alford)
Cassius, daughter of Philip and Charity
Alford. She was a woman of great
beauty ; "indeed," a gentleman of note
said "she was the most beautiful woman
he had ever seen in Europe or America.
. . . Sarah
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
Banning, her daughter by
37
her second husband, who married Hon.
Henry Moore Ridgely, was highly edu-
cated and accomplished, and inherited
much of her mother's beauty. When Mr.
Ridgely was in the United States Senate
they were spoken of as the handsomest
couple in Washington society." Mrs.
Banning married (third) Dr. William Mc-
Kee, many persons and families of prom-
inence being represented among their de-
scendants.
For examples of the sheer power of in-
domitable wills, fierce courage, and unconquerable
persistence in the moulding
of careers out of the untried resources of
virgin fields we must turn to the Great
West and Middle West. No other section
of the country has given us such shining
examples of work of strong men, true in
coping with the almost overwhelming
forces of nature and circumstance. The
history of the Western Reserve is one of
romance and achievement incomparable
with that of any other part of the country.
"Self-made, self-reliant, sturdy and rugged
men have been its product, and it is to
these men that the upbuilding and development
of the West into the important
factor in the world's work which it is today
is due." To every man who has con-
tributed a share toward the great task of
bringing the West out of a vast wilder-
ness, teeming with opportunity, yet offer-
ing untold resistance before it was har-
nessed to the uses of man, is due a deep
gratitude and thankfulness, which can be
no more adequately expressed than in
preserving for later generations the story
of his work and achievement.
Since the opening of the Western Reserve
to settlers, the family of Banning
has been prominent. The late David
Banning, one of the prominent business
men and financiers of the city of Cincinnati,
Ohio, during the latter and mid-