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Minerva was the third of seven
children of her parents--
Jesse Payne Hays (1831-1922)
and
Nancy Jane Frazier Hays (1834-1920)

The children of Jesse and Nancy were--
Richard "Dick" Hays (1851-?)
Mary Elizabeth "Ellen" Hays See (1852-1925)
Minerva Frances Hays Bennett (1853-1935)
Henry Preston Hays (1855-1940)
James Linzey "Lin" Hays (1857-1940)
Enoch Payne Hays (1859-1861)
Abigail Frances Hays Yardley (1861-1911)

NOTE:
(1) Alternate spellings of surname "Hays" include: HAYS, HAYES, HAYSE.

(2) Jesse Payne Hays, a widower, passed
away in the home of daughter Minerva Frances
on 17 Mar 1922. Jesse resided in a bedroom
near the stairs in Minerva's home.

About 1921 or 1922, Minerva's youngest
daughter Mary Elizabeth "Betty" (nee- Bennett) Scott
(1897-1980), and Mary Elizabeth's daughter
Margaret Lucille Scott were visiting Minerva in Oklahoma.

Margaret Lucille (nee- Scott) Higinbotham
(1919-2001) said to her mother
Mary Elizabeth, "Who is that man in the bed".

Margaret recalled this event throughout her life
and wrote about it in a letter, saying there was
a big box of toys kept under the stairs for children.
In her later years, Margaret Lucille wrote in a letter,
"I remember going to Gram Minerva Frances Bennett's
in Oklahoma, and Great Grandpa Jesse Hays was in
bed in the room next to the stairs.
Gram Minerva Frances Bennett kept a box of toys under
the stairs. They must have not lived too far
out of town, because they traveled by horse
and buggy in those days."

Jesse Payne Hays died a short time later, and
was laid to rest by daughter Minerva and husband James Jones Bennett, along with other Family and Friends in Rosedale Church of Christ Church yard Cemetery in Alfalfa County, Oklahoma.
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On 6 Aug 1871 in Milan, Sullivan County,
Missouri, James Jones Bennett and
Minerva Frances Hays Bennett were joined
in marriage and remained united in marriage
until their passing.

There were 13 children from this union,
all born in Sullivan County, Missouri--
Thomas Smith Bennett (1873-1959)
Jesse James Bennett (1875-1901)
Ordella Frances "Dolly" Bennett McPhetridge (1877-1959)
Oliver Hughes Bennett (1878-1889) {named after paternal grandfather Oliver Hughes Bennett}
Abigail "Abby" Bennett Riggs (1881-1946)
William Henry Bennett (1884-1912)
Nancy Belle Bennett McKee (1885-1909)
John Preston Bennett (1888-1889)
James Lee Lindsey Bennett (1889-1891)
Edward Stewart Bennett (1893-1964)
Levi Lee Bennett (1895-1982)
Mary Elizabeth "Betty" Bennett Scott (1897-1980) (my maternal grandmother)
Franklin Shelton "Frank" Bennett (1899-1979)


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