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Their son Joseph was graduated from Yale
College in 1842, he being the Valedictorian
of his class, and from Yale Divinity School
in 1847.

He was for a time Principal of Brainerd
Academy in Haddam Conn. [Connecticut], and subsequent-
ly engaged in pastoral work in South Malden
Mass. [Massachusetts].

His attention was, however, called to the
Pacific Coast, and leaving New York by sea
he arrived in San Francisco on the ship
Edward Everett on the sixth of July 1849.
There was then no Congregational Church
in California and but one Congregational
Minister, Dr. Benton being the second
of three to arrive in the year 1849.

From the hour he landed he was a
Californian. He proceeded to Sacramento,
and began preaching, gathering audiences
about him under a tree or in a can-
vas tent. In the middle of September
he organized the "First Church of Christ" in
Sacramento, it being the second Congre-
gational Church formed in California