Emma Boyce was born April 3, 1862 near Berlin, Jackson County, Ohio. She was the daughter of Benjamin Boyce and Eliza Exline Boyce. In about 1869, her family migrated from Ohio to Moundville, Vernon County, Missouri when she was a small child.

That is where she met Philander Scott Bennett. Emma and Philander were married September 16, 1879 in Moundville. Shortly after they were married, Philander and Emma moved to Crawford County, Kansas at about the same time that Philander's brothers Alva and Alonzo moved to that county to purchase land.

Philander and Emma farmed in Crawford County, Kansas on a rented farm.In 1861, Philander used the proceeds of his hay crop to get a mortgage on that land. In the spring of 1886, Philander and Emma and their four young sons, moved to the Pacific Northwest where another brother, John P. Bennett, had reported good income working in the logging camps. The family had only been in Washington Territory a few weeks when Philander fell off a raft of logs and drowned in the Columbia River near Camus. Emma had to find work to earn money for railroad tickets for her and the children to get back home to Kansas. One of John P. Bennett's daughters cared for the children so that Emma could work.

After returning to Kansas, Emma married Philander's older brother Zadok Alonzo Bennett, April 7, 1887. They farmed on Emma's property in Crawford county for about 10 years and Alonzo paid off the mortgage on the land. In 1895, they moved to Oklahoma Territory near Vinita and rented a farm. One of their daughters, Nora Minerva, was born in Oklahoma Territory. Another daughter, Margie Viola, died of burns suffered in a brush fire in 1897 while they were there. They returned to Crawford County in 1898 and their farm there.

Lon purchased his father's farm, which was adjacent to his own land, and they remained there until 1906 when they sold the farm to one of Emma's older sons, Ernest. They then tried homesteading 160 acres in Seward County, Kansas. By 1911, Lon was very sick with cancer and they sold the homestead in 1912 just before they were elgible for the homestead patent. The family moved to Lawrence, Kansas and lived with their oldest son, Emmett Leslie, who was working and attending the University of Kansas. Emmett Leslie obtained employment in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Lon and Emma and the younger children moved with their oldest son to Minnesota. Alonzo died in Minnesota. Emma later moved to Virginia and lived with her daughter Mabel Esther for thirteen years.

Emma had eleven children. Four were sons of Philander Bennett; seven children were born to Emma and Alonzo Bennett. The children were: Philander Haskell (1880-1945); Ernest Scott (1882-1977); Ferdinand Elmer (1883-1957); Orville Ross (1885-1949); Emmett Leslie (1889-1978); Emily Angeline (1892-1974); Margie Viola (1894-1897); Nora Minerva (1896-1983); Mabel Esther (1899-1993); Benjamin Alonzo (1901-1975); and Preston Theodore (1904-1982).

Emma Boyce Bennet died June 25, 1949 in Arlington, Virginia.
(bio by Darlene Hightower)