Mentor joins in the celebration of the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding by honoring the Revolutionary War veterans who settled – or were interred – in the city of Mentor.
Mentor City Council has declared February 22, 2026, as “Benjamin Blish Day” in the city of Mentor.
Benjamin Blish was born on February 22, 1753, in Tolland County, Connecticut Colony. In 1774, he married Phebe Skinner, sister of Captain Abraham Skinner (later of Painesville).
Blish served as a private in the Revolutionary War, one month and nineteen days, in Capt. Micah Hamlen’s Co., Col. Thomas Marshall’s regt. from June 13, 1776, to Aug. 1, 1776; also twenty-five days, from Aug. 1, to Aug. 26 at Castle Island; also thirty-one days in Capt. Sylvanus Martin’s Co., Col. Williams’ regt., from Sept. 29 to Oct. 30, 1777, in Rhode Island; and again at an alarm at the same place for six days under Capt. Israel Hicks, Col. Thomas Carpenter’s regt., from Aug. 1 to Aug. 6, 1780.
About 1780 he moved his family to Middlefield, Hampshire Co., Mass., where they resided until 1805.
On June 20th of that year, Blish, his wife, and their eight children began an arduous journey which would not be completed until they reached Captain Skinner’s home on the Grand River on July 30th.
Along the way, they encountered sickness, bad roads, dwindling supplies, and other hardships. After their arrival, all ten members of the party lived in one room of a log house belonging to Esquire Merry until their own home was completed in December 1805 on land that would long be known as the Blish farm in what was Mentor Township.
Blish died on March 11, 1825, at the age of 72. He and his wife are both buried in the Blish Cemetery on Mentor Avenue in Painesville Township.
We thank Benjamin Blish for his service to our country as well as contributing to the foundation of our community.