Elisha, Jemima and the Benton Homestead Ghosts of Tolland

Reviewed by Josh N · Updated August 14, 2026 · How we verify

Two people who loved each other died of smallpox in this house five weeks apart, and custom would not allow them to be buried side by side. That is the story at the root of the Benton Homestead ghosts, told in a plain colonial Cape Cod in Tolland, Connecticut, that has been standing since 1720. The graves are on Benton land, set a discreet distance apart. The house is now a museum, and it is open to visitors.

Quick orientation: the Daniel Benton Homestead is a historic house museum and the oldest house in Tolland. It was built in 1720 and has been operated by the Tolland Historical Society as a museum since 1970. Along with the Old Tolland County Jail and Museum, the Tolland County Courthouse, and the Hicks-Stearns Family Museum, it is one of the town’s four major historic landmarks.

Forty Acres, Six Generations of Bentons

Daniel Benton, son of Samuel Benton, one of the first settlers in Tolland, built the family homestead on 40 acres of farmland in 1720. The house stayed in the Benton family for six generations, and it was the ancestral home of U.S. Senator William Benton.

The building itself is a colonial Cape Cod with an ell: ten rooms, five fireplaces, and a spacious cellar. It has been restored and repainted in its original colors. The original paneling in the parlor was painted with simulated walnut wood grain, a decorative trick typical of early Georgian architecture and worth a close look when you are standing in front of it.

Twenty Hessians in the Cellar

During the American Revolutionary War, twenty Hessian soldiers were imprisoned in the homestead’s cellar. Their marks are still there. The cellar rafters carry intricate scrolls, now undecipherable, carved by the Hessians to pass the time during captivity. By the account that survives, the prisoners were well treated, and several chose to remain in Tolland after their release, which is not the ending most captivity stories get.

That detail matters when you hear the ghost stories. The Hessians are among the figures the house is said to be haunted by, though the historical record describes men who were treated decently and some of whom stayed on in town by choice.

Elisha Benton and Jemima Barrows, January and February 1777

This is the episode the homestead is best known for, and unlike most haunted house romances it is anchored in dates.

Daniel Benton’s grandson Elisha Benton, born in 1748, fell in love with Jemima Barrows, born in 1759, eleven years his junior and the daughter of a local cabinetmaker. Both families frowned on the match because of the differences in age and social class. Elisha and two of his brothers enlisted in the Continental Army. They were captured at the Battle of Long Island and held for months on squalorous British prison ships. Elisha’s two brothers died in captivity.

Elisha was released in a prisoner exchange and came home in January 1777 carrying smallpox. Jemima attempted to nurse him back to health. He died on January 21. She died of smallpox herself on February 28. Because custom prohibited the burying of an unmarried couple side by side, the two were buried a discreet distance apart on Benton land.

None of that is legend. It is the documented history of the property, and it is the reason the house has the reputation it does.

What People Say They Have Seen Here

The house is reputedly haunted by the ghosts of the Hessian soldiers and of Elisha and Jemima. The best-known account comes from the twentieth century: a maid working for owner Florrie Bishop Bowering reportedly saw the specter of a young woman in a bridal dress wandering through the house and weeping. Other visitors have reported unexplained lights, sounds, and apparitions.

Those are reports, not findings. There is no verified evidence of paranormal activity at the homestead, and the bridal dress detail sits neatly enough with the Jemima story that it is worth holding lightly. What can be said is that the reputation has been attached to this house for a long time, and the Benton Homestead was featured on Episode 20 of the history podcast Lore, which introduced the story to a much wider audience.

How the Homestead Became a Museum

In 1934 the Chapin family, descended from the Bentons, sold the house to Florrie Bishop Bowering, a WTIC radio host and University of Connecticut dietetics instructor. Bowering restored the house and lived in it until 1968, when she sold it to William Shocket and Charles Goodstein. The new owners donated the property, house, and furnishings to the Tolland Historical Society on December 13, 1969, and the house opened as a museum the following year.

Visiting the Daniel Benton Homestead

The homestead is open for tours on Sundays from June through September. That is a narrow window, so plan around it rather than turning up on spec. This is a small historical society museum rather than a paranormal attraction: expect period rooms, restored paint colors, the parlor paneling, and the cellar with its Hessian carvings, presented as history first.

Address: Tolland, Connecticut

See Daniel Benton Homestead for Yourself

Sources

• Report Adds Color to Life at Benton Homestead
• Daniel Benton Homestead Museum | Tolland Historical Society
• podgist.com
• GeoHack – Daniel Benton Homestead
• Wikipedia: Daniel Benton Homestead

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