First found in Oxfordshire, where a Peter de Bensinton was recorded in the Curia Regis Rolls for 1208. Henry de Benson was recorded in that same county in Oseney, in 1269. A family of the name was established from ancient times in the vicinity of Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire.

A great wave of immigration to the New World was the result of the enormous political and religious disarray that struck England at that time. Families left for the New World in extremely large numbers. The long journey was the end of many immigrants and many more arrived sick and starving. Still, those who made it were rewarded with an opportunity far greater than they had known at home in England. These emigrant families went on to make significant contributions to these emerging colonies in which they settled. Some of the first North American settlers carried this name or one of its variants: John Benson, Mary Benson and their two children, who arrived in Massachusetts in 1638; Dirck Benson, who came to New York in 1648; Cutbert Benson, who came to Virginia in 1655.

Motto Translated: If God be with us who can be against us?.

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