Family history:
Abraham Bennett was born June 17, 1831, probably at home in River Corners, Spencer Twp., then within Lorain County but now in Medina County, Ohio, the seventh child of Lindsey and Rachel Oakley Bennett, who were each descendants of Dutch and Irish parents. The Lindsey Bennett family moved to a farm on Grant Creek, just west of La Fontaine, Liberty Township, Wabash Co., Indiana by mid-1840. They left Indiana in a covered wagon pulled by oxen and crossed the Mississippi River on a ferry boat at Cape Girardeau, Missouri, settling near Washburn, Barry Co., Missouri by 1850, and it was likely there that Abraham met and married Isabell Parker on March 31, 1852, whose family lived nearby.
Isabell Parker (also spelled Isabel and Isabelle, and Belle) was born April 13, 1838 at Honey Grove, Fannin County, Texas. Her parents were Stephen Parker, born in Kentucky, and Martha "Patsy" Hogg, born in Illinois or Virginia, and who were both mostly Pennsylvania Dutch (thus actually German, Swiss, or French Huguenots). Isabell was one-eighth American Indian, having a great grandmother who was a full-blood Cherokee said to have the Indian surname Hogg. Isabell never knew her father, Stephen Parker, who died before she was born as the result of a tragic accident. He was being pursued and attacked by a herd of wild hogs, fell in a canebrake (a thicket of bamboo-like canes), sustained a penetrating injury from a broken cane stalk, and eventually died from his wounds. Her mother remarried Buckner "Buck" Senter Durham, and that family appears on the 1850 Barry County, Missouri census near Lindsey Bennett's family. That census lists Buckner Durham as "age 51, born in N.C., Martha Durham, age 50, born in Va., Elizabeth Durham, 17, born in Tenn., Ann Durham, 6, born in Ark., and Isah Parker, 12, born in Texas". Isah Parker is Isabell, and Ann is her half-sister Joanna (Durham) Blennerhassett (spelled variously) shown with Abraham and Isabell Bennett in a family photograph taken decades later. Joanna or Ann was born Jun 6, 1844 and died Mar 1878. Also, a small note in Abraham's family Bible lists the name Franssice [probably Francis] Parker as a brother of Isabell.
Abraham and Isabell were married March 31, 1852, in Barry County, Missouri, and probably near Washburn. Both of their families lived nearby. Their first two children were likely born in Barry County.
Abraham supported his family by chopping railroad ties, farming, and hauling freight from Cape Girardeau, Missouri in a wagon pulled by four yokes of oxen (eight animals). The freighting round trip of about 500 miles required him to be away from home for six weeks, but Isabell had relatives nearby, including the Lindsey Bennett and Buckner S. Durham families.
On June 1, 1859, a US Land Patent was issued to Abraham Bennet Serial No. MO5580__.097, Document No. 21847, with the description: SE¼ SW¼ Sec. 29, Twp. 22-N, Range 28-W, 5th Principle Meridian, Barry Co., Missouri, 40 acres. Greasy Creek runs diagonally through this property, which is located about a mile west of Washburn, MO just north of highway 90 at the intersection with Greasy Creek Road (see the map in the Lindsey Bennett section).
By the time of the 1860 Census the Abraham Bennett family had moved to Castor Twp., Stoddard County, near Bloomfield, Missouri. They lived there for several years, four of their children were born there, and they were there during the Civil War. A large battle (Price's raid) was fought in and around Bloomfield, and the Stoddard County Court House was burned; fortunately most record books had been removed and secreted in Arkansas, and thus spared destruction. A Civil War cemetery named Oak Ridge is nearby, and it contains some graves with the Bennett name.
On Sep 4, 1867 Lindsey Bennett sold to Isabell Bennett for $300 the following real estate in Stoddard County: SE¼ of NE¼ of Sec 18, and the West 5 acres of the SW¼ of the NW¼ of Sec 17 in Township 26, Range 7 East, containing 45 acres. On Oct 14, 1870, Lindsey Bennett sold to Isabell and Abraham Bennett for $375 43.5 acres of real estate in Stoddard County described as: All of the SE¼ Quarter of the NE¼ Quarter of Sec 18 and the West five acres of the SW¼ of the NW¼ of Sec 17 in the Twp 26 N of R 11 East / except one acre and one half conveyed to the Trustees of Liberty Baptist Church. Abraham and Isabell were still living in Castor Twp., Stoddard Co., Missouri at the time of the 1870 Census. See the Lindsey Bennett section for a map showing the location of Lindsey's properties.
By the 1880 Census Abraham and Isabell owned a 40 acre farm 3.2 miles north and 0.6 miles west of Seneca, Newton County, Missouri (NW¼ SE¼, Sec 11, Twp. 25, Rng. 34, see the map), and their two youngest children were born there. In addition to their own children, five grandchildren came to live in their home. When their oldest son, Scott, died Feb 1, 1889, he left four small children: Nora, Rastus, Steven, and Claude Bennett. Purportedly on the advice of her terminally ill husband, their mother left them to be cared for by their grandparents until they were grown, and reportedly they never heard from her again. Additionally, Nellie Bennett, who was son Walter's child, grew up in her grandparent's home. The family raised much of their food, and sold crops such as beans and fruit, from their orchard. Wild game was plentiful for meat, and an abundance of wild blackberries and plums could be picked in season. A daughter, Edna Bennett, married Granville Durham, they bought the adjacent farm, and the two families were very close in every way. The original Bennett home was a log cabin, but a frame section was added later. W.A. Bennett recalled that the log part caught fire and burned down, but the frame part was saved by heroic efforts that employed a bucket brigade to bring water. In addition to working below, a person was stationed on the roof, probably to extinguish sparks in the shingles. Being burned out was a constant threat from accidents with fireplaces, stoves, lamps and lanterns, as well as lightning-started wildfires. It was up to rural neighbors to aid each other in such times.
The family attended Sunday School and Church at Bethel Baptist Church north of Seneca, Missouri. The original little church building is still standing and in use, although it was re-sided with a rock veneer and classrooms were added in 1946, and later a larger modern church building was built adjacent to it on the north. There are many large trees nearby, and the setting reminded many of the Bennetts of "The Church in the Wildwood" in the familiar hymn. Abraham was an ordained Baptist deacon of the Bethel Baptist Church, and his children were baptized there.
Abraham and Isabell Bennett lived together for 61 years. She died in Newton County, Missouri, on June 28, 1913, at the age of 75, and was buried in the local Kirk Cemetery on Kapok Dr. 1.8 miles east of the Bethel Baptist Church. Abraham had a farm auction July 10, 1913, and moved to Washita County, Oklahoma to live with his two sons, Walter and William. He brought very little with him except his Bible, an Ingraham mantle clock, a dresser, a rocking chair, and a trunk that may have been in his family at the time they crossed the Mississippi River emigrating from Indiana. The William A. Bennett home at that time had one bedroom, a living room, a dining room, and a big kitchen. William and Leona Bennett slept in a bed in the living room with whoever was the baby at the time, and Abraham Bennett slept in the bedroom with the boys, but had a separate, three-quarter size bed. Each morning Abraham walked the short distance through a field to spend the days with the family of his other nearby son, Walter. He enjoyed helping to tend the many small children and did as much as he could at his advanced age. The children remembered him as a kind, gentle person. He liked music and had bought a violin in Missouri, although whether he played it is unknown. Abraham became bedfast for several months and then died at William's home on January 18, 1922, at the age of 90. His sons then took his body back to Missouri by train for burial beside his beloved wife Isabell.
[Excerpted from my book, Family History of William Alford and Leona Houk Bennett, 2005, by Lowell S. Adams, all rights reserved.]
_____________________________________________
Obituary: The Carnegie Herald; Wed., Feb. 8, 1922
Abraham Bennett
Abraham Bennett was born June 17, 1831, in McDonald county, Ohio, and died January 18, 1922, at the age of 90 years, 7 months and 1 day.
Mr. Bennett moved to Indiana in 1837 and lived there 10 years; then he went to Barry county, Missouri, and lived there until 20 years of age, when he married Isabella Parker March 31, 1852. To this union 9 children were born--3 sons and 6 daughters. He came to Newton county, Mo., in 1875 and lived there until 1914, when he came to Oklahoma and remained with his sons, W.A. and W.P. Bennett, until his death.
Those left to mourn are W.A. and W.P. Bennett of Alfalfa, Okla., Mrs. William Durham, of Miami, Okla.; Mrs. Grant Durham, of Seneca, Mo., and Mrs. Jim Brady of Seneca, Miss., and a host of grandchildren.
__________________________________
[From Hazel Durham Dixon via Thelma Durham Bailey]
OBITUARY
Abraham Bennett was born June 17, 1831 in McDonald County, Iowa, went to Indiana in 1837 and lived there ten years, then went to Barry County, Mo., and lived there until he was 20 when he married Isabella Parker, March 31, 1852. To this union 9 children were born, 3 sons and 6 daughters.
He united with the Baptist church in 1863 and was ordained deacon in 1866
He came to Newton County, Mo., in 1875 and lived there until 1914 when he went to Oklahoma and remained with his sons, W. A. Bennett and W. P. Bennett until his death January 18, 1922.
His wife and 4 children, having gone on before, those left to mourn their loss art W. A. and W. P. Bennett of Alfalfa, Okla., Mrs. William Durham of Miami, Okla., Mrs. Grant Durham of Seneca, and Mrs. Jim Brady of Seneca, Mo., and a host of grand children.
Call not back the dear departed,
Anchored safe where storms are o're,
On the borderland we left him,
Soon to meet and part no more.
When we leave this world of changes
When we leave this world of care,
We shall find our missing loved one
In our Father's mansion fair.
-- A Friend.
Funeral services were held at Bethel Saturday afternoon for Grandpa Bennett, who died at the home of his son in Oklahoma on January 18. The services were conducted by Rev. Norris and burial was made In the Kirk Cemetery.
Abraham Bennett was born June 17, 1831, probably at home in River Corners, Spencer Twp., then within Lorain County but now in Medina County, Ohio, the seventh child of Lindsey and Rachel Oakley Bennett, who were each descendants of Dutch and Irish parents. The Lindsey Bennett family moved to a farm on Grant Creek, just west of La Fontaine, Liberty Township, Wabash Co., Indiana by mid-1840. They left Indiana in a covered wagon pulled by oxen and crossed the Mississippi River on a ferry boat at Cape Girardeau, Missouri, settling near Washburn, Barry Co., Missouri by 1850, and it was likely there that Abraham met and married Isabell Parker on March 31, 1852, whose family lived nearby.
Isabell Parker (also spelled Isabel and Isabelle, and Belle) was born April 13, 1838 at Honey Grove, Fannin County, Texas. Her parents were Stephen Parker, born in Kentucky, and Martha "Patsy" Hogg, born in Illinois or Virginia, and who were both mostly Pennsylvania Dutch (thus actually German, Swiss, or French Huguenots). Isabell was one-eighth American Indian, having a great grandmother who was a full-blood Cherokee said to have the Indian surname Hogg. Isabell never knew her father, Stephen Parker, who died before she was born as the result of a tragic accident. He was being pursued and attacked by a herd of wild hogs, fell in a canebrake (a thicket of bamboo-like canes), sustained a penetrating injury from a broken cane stalk, and eventually died from his wounds. Her mother remarried Buckner "Buck" Senter Durham, and that family appears on the 1850 Barry County, Missouri census near Lindsey Bennett's family. That census lists Buckner Durham as "age 51, born in N.C., Martha Durham, age 50, born in Va., Elizabeth Durham, 17, born in Tenn., Ann Durham, 6, born in Ark., and Isah Parker, 12, born in Texas". Isah Parker is Isabell, and Ann is her half-sister Joanna (Durham) Blennerhassett (spelled variously) shown with Abraham and Isabell Bennett in a family photograph taken decades later. Joanna or Ann was born Jun 6, 1844 and died Mar 1878. Also, a small note in Abraham's family Bible lists the name Franssice [probably Francis] Parker as a brother of Isabell.
Abraham and Isabell were married March 31, 1852, in Barry County, Missouri, and probably near Washburn. Both of their families lived nearby. Their first two children were likely born in Barry County.
Abraham supported his family by chopping railroad ties, farming, and hauling freight from Cape Girardeau, Missouri in a wagon pulled by four yokes of oxen (eight animals). The freighting round trip of about 500 miles required him to be away from home for six weeks, but Isabell had relatives nearby, including the Lindsey Bennett and Buckner S. Durham families.
On June 1, 1859, a US Land Patent was issued to Abraham Bennet Serial No. MO5580__.097, Document No. 21847, with the description: SE¼ SW¼ Sec. 29, Twp. 22-N, Range 28-W, 5th Principle Meridian, Barry Co., Missouri, 40 acres. Greasy Creek runs diagonally through this property, which is located about a mile west of Washburn, MO just north of highway 90 at the intersection with Greasy Creek Road (see the map in the Lindsey Bennett section).
By the time of the 1860 Census the Abraham Bennett family had moved to Castor Twp., Stoddard County, near Bloomfield, Missouri. They lived there for several years, four of their children were born there, and they were there during the Civil War. A large battle (Price's raid) was fought in and around Bloomfield, and the Stoddard County Court House was burned; fortunately most record books had been removed and secreted in Arkansas, and thus spared destruction. A Civil War cemetery named Oak Ridge is nearby, and it contains some graves with the Bennett name.
On Sep 4, 1867 Lindsey Bennett sold to Isabell Bennett for $300 the following real estate in Stoddard County: SE¼ of NE¼ of Sec 18, and the West 5 acres of the SW¼ of the NW¼ of Sec 17 in Township 26, Range 7 East, containing 45 acres. On Oct 14, 1870, Lindsey Bennett sold to Isabell and Abraham Bennett for $375 43.5 acres of real estate in Stoddard County described as: All of the SE¼ Quarter of the NE¼ Quarter of Sec 18 and the West five acres of the SW¼ of the NW¼ of Sec 17 in the Twp 26 N of R 11 East / except one acre and one half conveyed to the Trustees of Liberty Baptist Church. Abraham and Isabell were still living in Castor Twp., Stoddard Co., Missouri at the time of the 1870 Census. See the Lindsey Bennett section for a map showing the location of Lindsey's properties.
By the 1880 Census Abraham and Isabell owned a 40 acre farm 3.2 miles north and 0.6 miles west of Seneca, Newton County, Missouri (NW¼ SE¼, Sec 11, Twp. 25, Rng. 34, see the map), and their two youngest children were born there. In addition to their own children, five grandchildren came to live in their home. When their oldest son, Scott, died Feb 1, 1889, he left four small children: Nora, Rastus, Steven, and Claude Bennett. Purportedly on the advice of her terminally ill husband, their mother left them to be cared for by their grandparents until they were grown, and reportedly they never heard from her again. Additionally, Nellie Bennett, who was son Walter's child, grew up in her grandparent's home. The family raised much of their food, and sold crops such as beans and fruit, from their orchard. Wild game was plentiful for meat, and an abundance of wild blackberries and plums could be picked in season. A daughter, Edna Bennett, married Granville Durham, they bought the adjacent farm, and the two families were very close in every way. The original Bennett home was a log cabin, but a frame section was added later. W.A. Bennett recalled that the log part caught fire and burned down, but the frame part was saved by heroic efforts that employed a bucket brigade to bring water. In addition to working below, a person was stationed on the roof, probably to extinguish sparks in the shingles. Being burned out was a constant threat from accidents with fireplaces, stoves, lamps and lanterns, as well as lightning-started wildfires. It was up to rural neighbors to aid each other in such times.
The family attended Sunday School and Church at Bethel Baptist Church north of Seneca, Missouri. The original little church building is still standing and in use, although it was re-sided with a rock veneer and classrooms were added in 1946, and later a larger modern church building was built adjacent to it on the north. There are many large trees nearby, and the setting reminded many of the Bennetts of "The Church in the Wildwood" in the familiar hymn. Abraham was an ordained Baptist deacon of the Bethel Baptist Church, and his children were baptized there.
Abraham and Isabell Bennett lived together for 61 years. She died in Newton County, Missouri, on June 28, 1913, at the age of 75, and was buried in the local Kirk Cemetery on Kapok Dr. 1.8 miles east of the Bethel Baptist Church. Abraham had a farm auction July 10, 1913, and moved to Washita County, Oklahoma to live with his two sons, Walter and William. He brought very little with him except his Bible, an Ingraham mantle clock, a dresser, a rocking chair, and a trunk that may have been in his family at the time they crossed the Mississippi River emigrating from Indiana. The William A. Bennett home at that time had one bedroom, a living room, a dining room, and a big kitchen. William and Leona Bennett slept in a bed in the living room with whoever was the baby at the time, and Abraham Bennett slept in the bedroom with the boys, but had a separate, three-quarter size bed. Each morning Abraham walked the short distance through a field to spend the days with the family of his other nearby son, Walter. He enjoyed helping to tend the many small children and did as much as he could at his advanced age. The children remembered him as a kind, gentle person. He liked music and had bought a violin in Missouri, although whether he played it is unknown. Abraham became bedfast for several months and then died at William's home on January 18, 1922, at the age of 90. His sons then took his body back to Missouri by train for burial beside his beloved wife Isabell.
[Excerpted from my book, Family History of William Alford and Leona Houk Bennett, 2005, by Lowell S. Adams, all rights reserved.]
_____________________________________________
Obituary: The Carnegie Herald; Wed., Feb. 8, 1922
Abraham Bennett
Abraham Bennett was born June 17, 1831, in McDonald county, Ohio, and died January 18, 1922, at the age of 90 years, 7 months and 1 day.
Mr. Bennett moved to Indiana in 1837 and lived there 10 years; then he went to Barry county, Missouri, and lived there until 20 years of age, when he married Isabella Parker March 31, 1852. To this union 9 children were born--3 sons and 6 daughters. He came to Newton county, Mo., in 1875 and lived there until 1914, when he came to Oklahoma and remained with his sons, W.A. and W.P. Bennett, until his death.
Those left to mourn are W.A. and W.P. Bennett of Alfalfa, Okla., Mrs. William Durham, of Miami, Okla.; Mrs. Grant Durham, of Seneca, Mo., and Mrs. Jim Brady of Seneca, Miss., and a host of grandchildren.
__________________________________
[From Hazel Durham Dixon via Thelma Durham Bailey]
OBITUARY
Abraham Bennett was born June 17, 1831 in McDonald County, Iowa, went to Indiana in 1837 and lived there ten years, then went to Barry County, Mo., and lived there until he was 20 when he married Isabella Parker, March 31, 1852. To this union 9 children were born, 3 sons and 6 daughters.
He united with the Baptist church in 1863 and was ordained deacon in 1866
He came to Newton County, Mo., in 1875 and lived there until 1914 when he went to Oklahoma and remained with his sons, W. A. Bennett and W. P. Bennett until his death January 18, 1922.
His wife and 4 children, having gone on before, those left to mourn their loss art W. A. and W. P. Bennett of Alfalfa, Okla., Mrs. William Durham of Miami, Okla., Mrs. Grant Durham of Seneca, and Mrs. Jim Brady of Seneca, Mo., and a host of grand children.
Call not back the dear departed,
Anchored safe where storms are o're,
On the borderland we left him,
Soon to meet and part no more.
When we leave this world of changes
When we leave this world of care,
We shall find our missing loved one
In our Father's mansion fair.
-- A Friend.
Funeral services were held at Bethel Saturday afternoon for Grandpa Bennett, who died at the home of his son in Oklahoma on January 18. The services were conducted by Rev. Norris and burial was made In the Kirk Cemetery.
Family history:
Abraham Bennett was born June 17, 1831, probably at home in River Corners, Spencer Twp., then within Lorain County but now in Medina County, Ohio, the seventh child of Lindsey and Rachel Oakley Bennett, who were each descendants of Dutch and Irish parents. The Lindsey Bennett family moved to a farm on Grant Creek, just west of La Fontaine, Liberty Township, Wabash Co., Indiana by mid-1840. They left Indiana in a covered wagon pulled by oxen and crossed the Mississippi River on a ferry boat at Cape Girardeau, Missouri, settling near Washburn, Barry Co., Missouri by 1850, and it was likely there that Abraham met and married Isabell Parker on March 31, 1852, whose family lived nearby.
Isabell Parker (also spelled Isabel and Isabelle, and Belle) was born April 13, 1838 at Honey Grove, Fannin County, Texas. Her parents were Stephen Parker, born in Kentucky, and Martha "Patsy" Hogg, born in Illinois or Virginia, and who were both mostly Pennsylvania Dutch (thus actually German, Swiss, or French Huguenots). Isabell was one-eighth American Indian, having a great grandmother who was a full-blood Cherokee said to have the Indian surname Hogg. Isabell never knew her father, Stephen Parker, who died before she was born as the result of a tragic accident. He was being pursued and attacked by a herd of wild hogs, fell in a canebrake (a thicket of bamboo-like canes), sustained a penetrating injury from a broken cane stalk, and eventually died from his wounds. Her mother remarried Buckner "Buck" Senter Durham, and that family appears on the 1850 Barry County, Missouri census near Lindsey Bennett's family. That census lists Buckner Durham as "age 51, born in N.C., Martha Durham, age 50, born in Va., Elizabeth Durham, 17, born in Tenn., Ann Durham, 6, born in Ark., and Isah Parker, 12, born in Texas". Isah Parker is Isabell, and Ann is her half-sister Joanna (Durham) Blennerhassett (spelled variously) shown with Abraham and Isabell Bennett in a family photograph taken decades later. Joanna or Ann was born Jun 6, 1844 and died Mar 1878. Also, a small note in Abraham's family Bible lists the name Franssice [probably Francis] Parker as a brother of Isabell.
Abraham and Isabell were married March 31, 1852, in Barry County, Missouri, and probably near Washburn. Both of their families lived nearby. Their first two children were likely born in Barry County.
Abraham supported his family by chopping railroad ties, farming, and hauling freight from Cape Girardeau, Missouri in a wagon pulled by four yokes of oxen (eight animals). The freighting round trip of about 500 miles required him to be away from home for six weeks, but Isabell had relatives nearby, including the Lindsey Bennett and Buckner S. Durham families.
On June 1, 1859, a US Land Patent was issued to Abraham Bennet Serial No. MO5580__.097, Document No. 21847, with the description: SE¼ SW¼ Sec. 29, Twp. 22-N, Range 28-W, 5th Principle Meridian, Barry Co., Missouri, 40 acres. Greasy Creek runs diagonally through this property, which is located about a mile west of Washburn, MO just north of highway 90 at the intersection with Greasy Creek Road (see the map in the Lindsey Bennett section).
By the time of the 1860 Census the Abraham Bennett family had moved to Castor Twp., Stoddard County, near Bloomfield, Missouri. They lived there for several years, four of their children were born there, and they were there during the Civil War. A large battle (Price's raid) was fought in and around Bloomfield, and the Stoddard County Court House was burned; fortunately most record books had been removed and secreted in Arkansas, and thus spared destruction. A Civil War cemetery named Oak Ridge is nearby, and it contains some graves with the Bennett name.
On Sep 4, 1867 Lindsey Bennett sold to Isabell Bennett for $300 the following real estate in Stoddard County: SE¼ of NE¼ of Sec 18, and the West 5 acres of the SW¼ of the NW¼ of Sec 17 in Township 26, Range 7 East, containing 45 acres. On Oct 14, 1870, Lindsey Bennett sold to Isabell and Abraham Bennett for $375 43.5 acres of real estate in Stoddard County described as: All of the SE¼ Quarter of the NE¼ Quarter of Sec 18 and the West five acres of the SW¼ of the NW¼ of Sec 17 in the Twp 26 N of R 11 East / except one acre and one half conveyed to the Trustees of Liberty Baptist Church. Abraham and Isabell were still living in Castor Twp., Stoddard Co., Missouri at the time of the 1870 Census. See the Lindsey Bennett section for a map showing the location of Lindsey's properties.
By the 1880 Census Abraham and Isabell owned a 40 acre farm 3.2 miles north and 0.6 miles west of Seneca, Newton County, Missouri (NW¼ SE¼, Sec 11, Twp. 25, Rng. 34, see the map), and their two youngest children were born there. In addition to their own children, five grandchildren came to live in their home. When their oldest son, Scott, died Feb 1, 1889, he left four small children: Nora, Rastus, Steven, and Claude Bennett. Purportedly on the advice of her terminally ill husband, their mother left them to be cared for by their grandparents until they were grown, and reportedly they never heard from her again. Additionally, Nellie Bennett, who was son Walter's child, grew up in her grandparent's home. The family raised much of their food, and sold crops such as beans and fruit, from their orchard. Wild game was plentiful for meat, and an abundance of wild blackberries and plums could be picked in season. A daughter, Edna Bennett, married Granville Durham, they bought the adjacent farm, and the two families were very close in every way. The original Bennett home was a log cabin, but a frame section was added later. W.A. Bennett recalled that the log part caught fire and burned down, but the frame part was saved by heroic efforts that employed a bucket brigade to bring water. In addition to working below, a person was stationed on the roof, probably to extinguish sparks in the shingles. Being burned out was a constant threat from accidents with fireplaces, stoves, lamps and lanterns, as well as lightning-started wildfires. It was up to rural neighbors to aid each other in such times.
The family attended Sunday School and Church at Bethel Baptist Church north of Seneca, Missouri. The original little church building is still standing and in use, although it was re-sided with a rock veneer and classrooms were added in 1946, and later a larger modern church building was built adjacent to it on the north. There are many large trees nearby, and the setting reminded many of the Bennetts of "The Church in the Wildwood" in the familiar hymn. Abraham was an ordained Baptist deacon of the Bethel Baptist Church, and his children were baptized there.
Abraham and Isabell Bennett lived together for 61 years. She died in Newton County, Missouri, on June 28, 1913, at the age of 75, and was buried in the local Kirk Cemetery on Kapok Dr. 1.8 miles east of the Bethel Baptist Church. Abraham had a farm auction July 10, 1913, and moved to Washita County, Oklahoma to live with his two sons, Walter and William. He brought very little with him except his Bible, an Ingraham mantle clock, a dresser, a rocking chair, and a trunk that may have been in his family at the time they crossed the Mississippi River emigrating from Indiana. The William A. Bennett home at that time had one bedroom, a living room, a dining room, and a big kitchen. William and Leona Bennett slept in a bed in the living room with whoever was the baby at the time, and Abraham Bennett slept in the bedroom with the boys, but had a separate, three-quarter size bed. Each morning Abraham walked the short distance through a field to spend the days with the family of his other nearby son, Walter. He enjoyed helping to tend the many small children and did as much as he could at his advanced age. The children remembered him as a kind, gentle person. He liked music and had bought a violin in Missouri, although whether he played it is unknown. Abraham became bedfast for several months and then died at William's home on January 18, 1922, at the age of 90. His sons then took his body back to Missouri by train for burial beside his beloved wife Isabell.
[Excerpted from my book, Family History of William Alford and Leona Houk Bennett, 2005, by Lowell S. Adams, all rights reserved.]
_____________________________________________
Obituary: The Carnegie Herald; Wed., Feb. 8, 1922
Abraham Bennett
Abraham Bennett was born June 17, 1831, in McDonald county, Ohio, and died January 18, 1922, at the age of 90 years, 7 months and 1 day.
Mr. Bennett moved to Indiana in 1837 and lived there 10 years; then he went to Barry county, Missouri, and lived there until 20 years of age, when he married Isabella Parker March 31, 1852. To this union 9 children were born--3 sons and 6 daughters. He came to Newton county, Mo., in 1875 and lived there until 1914, when he came to Oklahoma and remained with his sons, W.A. and W.P. Bennett, until his death.
Those left to mourn are W.A. and W.P. Bennett of Alfalfa, Okla., Mrs. William Durham, of Miami, Okla.; Mrs. Grant Durham, of Seneca, Mo., and Mrs. Jim Brady of Seneca, Miss., and a host of grandchildren.
__________________________________
[From Hazel Durham Dixon via Thelma Durham Bailey]
OBITUARY
Abraham Bennett was born June 17, 1831 in McDonald County, Iowa, went to Indiana in 1837 and lived there ten years, then went to Barry County, Mo., and lived there until he was 20 when he married Isabella Parker, March 31, 1852. To this union 9 children were born, 3 sons and 6 daughters.
He united with the Baptist church in 1863 and was ordained deacon in 1866
He came to Newton County, Mo., in 1875 and lived there until 1914 when he went to Oklahoma and remained with his sons, W. A. Bennett and W. P. Bennett until his death January 18, 1922.
His wife and 4 children, having gone on before, those left to mourn their loss art W. A. and W. P. Bennett of Alfalfa, Okla., Mrs. William Durham of Miami, Okla., Mrs. Grant Durham of Seneca, and Mrs. Jim Brady of Seneca, Mo., and a host of grand children.
Call not back the dear departed,
Anchored safe where storms are o're,
On the borderland we left him,
Soon to meet and part no more.
When we leave this world of changes
When we leave this world of care,
We shall find our missing loved one
In our Father's mansion fair.
-- A Friend.
Funeral services were held at Bethel Saturday afternoon for Grandpa Bennett, who died at the home of his son in Oklahoma on January 18. The services were conducted by Rev. Norris and burial was made In the Kirk Cemetery.
Abraham Bennett was born June 17, 1831, probably at home in River Corners, Spencer Twp., then within Lorain County but now in Medina County, Ohio, the seventh child of Lindsey and Rachel Oakley Bennett, who were each descendants of Dutch and Irish parents. The Lindsey Bennett family moved to a farm on Grant Creek, just west of La Fontaine, Liberty Township, Wabash Co., Indiana by mid-1840. They left Indiana in a covered wagon pulled by oxen and crossed the Mississippi River on a ferry boat at Cape Girardeau, Missouri, settling near Washburn, Barry Co., Missouri by 1850, and it was likely there that Abraham met and married Isabell Parker on March 31, 1852, whose family lived nearby.
Isabell Parker (also spelled Isabel and Isabelle, and Belle) was born April 13, 1838 at Honey Grove, Fannin County, Texas. Her parents were Stephen Parker, born in Kentucky, and Martha "Patsy" Hogg, born in Illinois or Virginia, and who were both mostly Pennsylvania Dutch (thus actually German, Swiss, or French Huguenots). Isabell was one-eighth American Indian, having a great grandmother who was a full-blood Cherokee said to have the Indian surname Hogg. Isabell never knew her father, Stephen Parker, who died before she was born as the result of a tragic accident. He was being pursued and attacked by a herd of wild hogs, fell in a canebrake (a thicket of bamboo-like canes), sustained a penetrating injury from a broken cane stalk, and eventually died from his wounds. Her mother remarried Buckner "Buck" Senter Durham, and that family appears on the 1850 Barry County, Missouri census near Lindsey Bennett's family. That census lists Buckner Durham as "age 51, born in N.C., Martha Durham, age 50, born in Va., Elizabeth Durham, 17, born in Tenn., Ann Durham, 6, born in Ark., and Isah Parker, 12, born in Texas". Isah Parker is Isabell, and Ann is her half-sister Joanna (Durham) Blennerhassett (spelled variously) shown with Abraham and Isabell Bennett in a family photograph taken decades later. Joanna or Ann was born Jun 6, 1844 and died Mar 1878. Also, a small note in Abraham's family Bible lists the name Franssice [probably Francis] Parker as a brother of Isabell.
Abraham and Isabell were married March 31, 1852, in Barry County, Missouri, and probably near Washburn. Both of their families lived nearby. Their first two children were likely born in Barry County.
Abraham supported his family by chopping railroad ties, farming, and hauling freight from Cape Girardeau, Missouri in a wagon pulled by four yokes of oxen (eight animals). The freighting round trip of about 500 miles required him to be away from home for six weeks, but Isabell had relatives nearby, including the Lindsey Bennett and Buckner S. Durham families.
On June 1, 1859, a US Land Patent was issued to Abraham Bennet Serial No. MO5580__.097, Document No. 21847, with the description: SE¼ SW¼ Sec. 29, Twp. 22-N, Range 28-W, 5th Principle Meridian, Barry Co., Missouri, 40 acres. Greasy Creek runs diagonally through this property, which is located about a mile west of Washburn, MO just north of highway 90 at the intersection with Greasy Creek Road (see the map in the Lindsey Bennett section).
By the time of the 1860 Census the Abraham Bennett family had moved to Castor Twp., Stoddard County, near Bloomfield, Missouri. They lived there for several years, four of their children were born there, and they were there during the Civil War. A large battle (Price's raid) was fought in and around Bloomfield, and the Stoddard County Court House was burned; fortunately most record books had been removed and secreted in Arkansas, and thus spared destruction. A Civil War cemetery named Oak Ridge is nearby, and it contains some graves with the Bennett name.
On Sep 4, 1867 Lindsey Bennett sold to Isabell Bennett for $300 the following real estate in Stoddard County: SE¼ of NE¼ of Sec 18, and the West 5 acres of the SW¼ of the NW¼ of Sec 17 in Township 26, Range 7 East, containing 45 acres. On Oct 14, 1870, Lindsey Bennett sold to Isabell and Abraham Bennett for $375 43.5 acres of real estate in Stoddard County described as: All of the SE¼ Quarter of the NE¼ Quarter of Sec 18 and the West five acres of the SW¼ of the NW¼ of Sec 17 in the Twp 26 N of R 11 East / except one acre and one half conveyed to the Trustees of Liberty Baptist Church. Abraham and Isabell were still living in Castor Twp., Stoddard Co., Missouri at the time of the 1870 Census. See the Lindsey Bennett section for a map showing the location of Lindsey's properties.
By the 1880 Census Abraham and Isabell owned a 40 acre farm 3.2 miles north and 0.6 miles west of Seneca, Newton County, Missouri (NW¼ SE¼, Sec 11, Twp. 25, Rng. 34, see the map), and their two youngest children were born there. In addition to their own children, five grandchildren came to live in their home. When their oldest son, Scott, died Feb 1, 1889, he left four small children: Nora, Rastus, Steven, and Claude Bennett. Purportedly on the advice of her terminally ill husband, their mother left them to be cared for by their grandparents until they were grown, and reportedly they never heard from her again. Additionally, Nellie Bennett, who was son Walter's child, grew up in her grandparent's home. The family raised much of their food, and sold crops such as beans and fruit, from their orchard. Wild game was plentiful for meat, and an abundance of wild blackberries and plums could be picked in season. A daughter, Edna Bennett, married Granville Durham, they bought the adjacent farm, and the two families were very close in every way. The original Bennett home was a log cabin, but a frame section was added later. W.A. Bennett recalled that the log part caught fire and burned down, but the frame part was saved by heroic efforts that employed a bucket brigade to bring water. In addition to working below, a person was stationed on the roof, probably to extinguish sparks in the shingles. Being burned out was a constant threat from accidents with fireplaces, stoves, lamps and lanterns, as well as lightning-started wildfires. It was up to rural neighbors to aid each other in such times.
The family attended Sunday School and Church at Bethel Baptist Church north of Seneca, Missouri. The original little church building is still standing and in use, although it was re-sided with a rock veneer and classrooms were added in 1946, and later a larger modern church building was built adjacent to it on the north. There are many large trees nearby, and the setting reminded many of the Bennetts of "The Church in the Wildwood" in the familiar hymn. Abraham was an ordained Baptist deacon of the Bethel Baptist Church, and his children were baptized there.
Abraham and Isabell Bennett lived together for 61 years. She died in Newton County, Missouri, on June 28, 1913, at the age of 75, and was buried in the local Kirk Cemetery on Kapok Dr. 1.8 miles east of the Bethel Baptist Church. Abraham had a farm auction July 10, 1913, and moved to Washita County, Oklahoma to live with his two sons, Walter and William. He brought very little with him except his Bible, an Ingraham mantle clock, a dresser, a rocking chair, and a trunk that may have been in his family at the time they crossed the Mississippi River emigrating from Indiana. The William A. Bennett home at that time had one bedroom, a living room, a dining room, and a big kitchen. William and Leona Bennett slept in a bed in the living room with whoever was the baby at the time, and Abraham Bennett slept in the bedroom with the boys, but had a separate, three-quarter size bed. Each morning Abraham walked the short distance through a field to spend the days with the family of his other nearby son, Walter. He enjoyed helping to tend the many small children and did as much as he could at his advanced age. The children remembered him as a kind, gentle person. He liked music and had bought a violin in Missouri, although whether he played it is unknown. Abraham became bedfast for several months and then died at William's home on January 18, 1922, at the age of 90. His sons then took his body back to Missouri by train for burial beside his beloved wife Isabell.
[Excerpted from my book, Family History of William Alford and Leona Houk Bennett, 2005, by Lowell S. Adams, all rights reserved.]
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Obituary: The Carnegie Herald; Wed., Feb. 8, 1922
Abraham Bennett
Abraham Bennett was born June 17, 1831, in McDonald county, Ohio, and died January 18, 1922, at the age of 90 years, 7 months and 1 day.
Mr. Bennett moved to Indiana in 1837 and lived there 10 years; then he went to Barry county, Missouri, and lived there until 20 years of age, when he married Isabella Parker March 31, 1852. To this union 9 children were born--3 sons and 6 daughters. He came to Newton county, Mo., in 1875 and lived there until 1914, when he came to Oklahoma and remained with his sons, W.A. and W.P. Bennett, until his death.
Those left to mourn are W.A. and W.P. Bennett of Alfalfa, Okla., Mrs. William Durham, of Miami, Okla.; Mrs. Grant Durham, of Seneca, Mo., and Mrs. Jim Brady of Seneca, Miss., and a host of grandchildren.
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[From Hazel Durham Dixon via Thelma Durham Bailey]
OBITUARY
Abraham Bennett was born June 17, 1831 in McDonald County, Iowa, went to Indiana in 1837 and lived there ten years, then went to Barry County, Mo., and lived there until he was 20 when he married Isabella Parker, March 31, 1852. To this union 9 children were born, 3 sons and 6 daughters.
He united with the Baptist church in 1863 and was ordained deacon in 1866
He came to Newton County, Mo., in 1875 and lived there until 1914 when he went to Oklahoma and remained with his sons, W. A. Bennett and W. P. Bennett until his death January 18, 1922.
His wife and 4 children, having gone on before, those left to mourn their loss art W. A. and W. P. Bennett of Alfalfa, Okla., Mrs. William Durham of Miami, Okla., Mrs. Grant Durham of Seneca, and Mrs. Jim Brady of Seneca, Mo., and a host of grand children.
Call not back the dear departed,
Anchored safe where storms are o're,
On the borderland we left him,
Soon to meet and part no more.
When we leave this world of changes
When we leave this world of care,
We shall find our missing loved one
In our Father's mansion fair.
-- A Friend.
Funeral services were held at Bethel Saturday afternoon for Grandpa Bennett, who died at the home of his son in Oklahoma on January 18. The services were conducted by Rev. Norris and burial was made In the Kirk Cemetery.
Inscription
"Abraham Bennett, June 17, 1831, Jan. 18, 1922." Headstone has clasped hands at the top and "Asleep in Jesus" at the bottom. Kirk Cemetery, Seneca, MO.
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