Biographies S
Benjamin Franklin Spilman
Benjamin Franklin Spilman was born in Culpepper Co., Virginia, on March 6, 1765, the son of James and Sarah Spilman. After his father died in 1787, he and his mother moved to Mercer Co., Virginia (present day Kentucky). On April 12, 1790, he married Nancy J. Rice, daughter of James and Mary Rice, at Danville, Kentucky. Nancy was born in Prince Edward Co., Virginia, on August 16, 1773 and was a cousin of Parson David Rice, the prominent Presbyterian minister.
In 1806, Benjamin and Nancy Spilman moved to Muhlenberg Co., Kentucky. They remained in Muhlenberg County in the vicinity of Greenville until 1817. While living in Greenville, they were active in the Greenville Presbyterian Church.
On September 6, 1817, Benjamin Spilman was on 240 acres in Illinois. He made his residence in Galconda, Pope Co., Illinois, but moved to Hillsboro in Montgomery Co., Illinois, in June of 1836.
They were the parents of thirteen children, eight daughters and five sons of which two sons were physicians and three were ministers. Benjamin and his sons were prominent ministers and were instrumental in forming the Illinois Presbytery (as was Nancy Rice Spilman's family in forming the Kentucky Presbytery).
Their first daughter Mary (Polly) Rice Spilman married James D. Martin in Muhlenberg County.
Nancy Spilman died at Hillsboro, Montgomery Co., Illinois, on January 28, 1848, and Benjamin died at Hillsboro on September 15, 1848.
Written & contributed by Harold W. Rarden
Updated July 3, 2018