18th century Benson non-paternity?

Mendon land records identify that descendants of Dennis Darling lived on the farm immediately adjacent to the farms of Benoni Benson and his son, Joseph Benson. Other descendants of Dennis Darling lived in close proximity of the Benson family during this same time period. Therefore, there seems to have been opportunity for a descendant of Dennis Darling to have fathered a son who for some reason ended up being claimed by a Benson father as his own. Joseph Benson was always referred to as the eldest son of Benoni Benson, and Moses Benson was always referred to as the eldest son of Joseph Benson. One possibility may be that the biological mother of either of these two men had been impregnated by a Darling man prior to her marriage to a Benson husband.
The birth of Moses Benson and his siblings appear as a group and in between births which occurred generally around the time of Moses' twenty-first birthday. The marriage of Martha Taft (daughter of Thomas Taft) to Joseph Benson as provided in the Taft manuscript (NEHGS collection) is dated seven weeks after the birth of Moses as a son of Joseph Benson and his wife Martha. These apparent conflicts suggest an opportunity to explain the non-paternity.

Mendon Town Records identify that [#1] Joseph Benson was a son of Benoni and Sarah Benson [b. 14 Oct 1712] and he had a brother, [#2] Benoni Benson [b. 18 July 1724]. They also identify that [#3} Moses Benson was a son of Joseph and Martha Benson [b. 20 May 1732] and he had a brother, [#4] Joseph Benson [b. 22 Oct 1735]. Family Bible records identify that [#5] Peter Benson was a son of Moses and Eunice Benson [b. 16 July 1763] and had a brother, [#6] David Benson [b. 23 Dec 1756]. Brookline, Vermont Town Records identify that [#7] Lyman Benson [b. 30 March 1783] and [#8] Amori Benson [b. 12 Feb 1799] were both sons of Peter Benson. Descendants of Lyman7 Benson and Amori7 Benson have matching yDNA, but they do not match descendants of Benoni3 Benson thru his son, Benoni4 Benson, who match others who were descendants of John1 Benson of Colonial Massachusetts. Therefore, from a scientific point of view, the non-paternity occurred at either the birth of Peter6 Benson, or Moses5 Benson, or Joseph4 Benson.

One possibility?

A review of Mendon town records identifies that there was a Darling male who was in the likely age range as well as unmarried at the time of the conception of Moses5 Benson. Daniel3 Darling (Daniel2, Dennis1) was born in Mendon, Massachusetts on 28 March 1709. He married Mary Hunt of Smithfield, Rhode Island, in Mendon, on 7 September 1732. Their first child, Abner Darling, was born in Mendon on 7 March 1732/3, or only six months after their marriage.
Martha Taft (daughter of Thomas Taft), Joseph Benson (son of Benoni Benson) and Daniel Darling (son of Daniel Darling) lived within about three miles of one another in the southwestern area of Mendon. The Benson and Darling families were in the vicinity of Chestnut Hill Mtg House and Millville, while the Taft family was a couple miles north [refer to location map]. Therefore, they were all in the same vicinity at the same time during the summer of 1732, which is the time of the Benson-Taft and Darling-Hunt marriages. Refer to the timeline below. Without much speculation, these dates and events all seem to fit together in a manner to suggest the possibility of these individual events being linked together.

At this point in our research, we can say that Daniel3 Darling (Daniel2, Dennis1) is a potential candidate for the biological father of Moses5 Benson who was born in Mendon on 20 May 1732.

Copied from the Taft genealogy manuscript - R. Stanton Avery Special Collections, New England Historic Genealogical Society.

Table 1 identifies that the descendants of Peter Benson (1763-1838) do not share the same yDNA as known descendants of John1 Benson who came to this country from Oxfordshire, England on the Confidence in 1638.

Table 2 identifies that the descendants of Peter Benson (1763-1838) do share the same yDNA as known descendants of Dennis1 Darling of Mendon, Massachusetts. Note that for illustrative purposes that only the first twenty-five markers tested have been provided for these comparisons. These conclusions are supported for tests at 37 markers for descendants of John1 Benson and for tests at 67 and 111 markers for descendants of Dennis1 Darling when compared to descendants of Peter Benson (1763-1838). Additional Benson and Darling descendants are encouraged to have their yDNA tested in order to further refine the conclusions. It would be most helpful to have a descendant of a brother of Moses5 Benson (Joseph4, Benoni3, Joseph2, John1) and a descendant of a brother of Peter6 Benson (Moses5, Joseph4, Benoni3, Joseph2, John1) take a yDNA test.

Investigation into an eighteenth century non-paternity event - Why do some Benson males have Darling yDNA?

We are seeking Benson males whose lineage would fit that shown on this chart for "G" Benson and "H" Benson in order to determine, from a scientific point of reference, whether it was Joseph4 Benson, Moses5 Benson or Peter6 Benson who was born to a non-Benson father.

"A" Benson, "B" Benson and "C" Benson have yDNA which match one another. "D" Benson, "E" Benson and "F" Benson have yDNA which match one other. But, the two groups of Benson men who tested their yDNA do not match one another at all [refer to Table 1 below].

"D" Benson, "E" Benson and "F" Benson were found to have yDNA which matches descendants of Dennis Darling of Mendon, Massachusetts [refer to Table 2 below].