Benjamin H. Croft was born on August 12, 1836, in Pennsylvania to John Croft and Barbara Herr. His father was a merchant. He married Elizabeth Cousley, and the couple apparently had no children. Croft moved to Alton, Illinois, around 1857, and he worked as a carpenter. By 1870, he owned $2,000 of real estate and $2,000 of personal property. They moved to Sedalia, Missouri, in the early 1870s. He died there of typhoid pneumonia on April 2, 1883.