Descendants of George Washington Jackson

Descendants of George Washington Jackson

Old 2002 Web page on George Washington Jackson for reference.

Generation No. 1

 

1.George Washington³ Jackson (George², John¹) was born 07/09 February 1791 in (West) Virginia, and died 20 August 1876 in Weston, Lewis County, (West) Virginia. Burial: Aft. 20 August 1876, Machpelah Cemetery, Lewis County, West Virginia. He married Hester “Hettie” Taylor 10 October 1816 in Muskingum County, Ohio. She was a daughter to Robert Taylor, who ran a hotel in Zanesville, OH. They were married by Rev. J. Culvetson. She was born Bet. 1799 – 1800 in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and died 21 June 1852 in Weston, Lewis County, West Virginia. She first buried at Arnold Hill and then moved to Machpelah. She is a blood relative to Zack Taylor.

 

George was a Capt. in the War of 1812, 19th Reg. US Infantry, promoted by President Madison. Family settled in McConnelsville, Ohio shortly after George retired from US Army at the close of the war.

 

In 1870 he was living with his son, James Taylor Jackson, in Newark, Licking County, Ohio. He was age 81, retired miller.

 

Children of George Jackson and Hester Taylor are:

+      2                 i.    Margaret Elizabeth⁴ Jackson, born Bet. 1828 – 1829 in McConnelsville, Ohio; died 03 November 1886 in Weston, Lewis County, West Virginia.

+      3                ii.    James Taylor Jackson, born 1829 in McConnelsville, Ohio; died Bet. 1901 – 1907 in Possibly Michigan.

+      4               iii.    Catherine Jackson, born about 1831 in McConnelsville, Ohio; died 25 June 1893 in San Diego, California.

+      5               iv.    Eliza J. “Lida” Jackson, born about 1833 in McConnelsville, Ohio; died 06 February 1874 in Brenham, Texas.

+      6                v.    Alfred Henry Jackson, born 01 January 1836 in McConnelsville, Ohio; died 01 August 1863 in Civil War, wounded Cedar Mountain.

 

Generation No. 2

 

2.Margaret Elizabeth⁴ Jackson (George Washington³, George², John¹) was born Bet. 1828 – 1829 in McConnelsville, Ohio, and died 03 November 1886 in Weston, Lewis County, West Virginia. Burial: Aft. 03 November 1886, Machpelah Cemetery, Lewis County, West Virginia. She married Jonathan McCalley Bennett 07 April 1846 in Lewis County, West Virginia¹. He was born 04 October 1816, and died 28 October 1887 in Lewis County, West Virginia. Burial: Aft. 28 October 1887, Machpelah Cemetery, Lewis County, West Virginia.

***

Portrait of a Lady

Margaret Elizabeth Bennett, who lived during the turbulent Civil War period

written by Harry M. Rice.

 

The marriage of Margaret Elizabeth Jackson to Jonathan McCauley Bennett on April 7, 1846, took Weston by surprise. It might well have . For 10 years Bennett had been one of the town’s eminently eligible bachelors, tall, handsome, important, and prosperous. His name had been romantically associated with a Sophronia, a Charlotte, a Lucy, and a Mollie, all of whose last names have been lost in the mists of the years; very recently rumor had connected him with Cordelia Talbott, daughter of the Clerk of the County and Superior Courts and local minister of the Methodist Episcopal church. At the time Margaret was scarcely more than a child and had lived in Weston only a little more than three years.

 

She was born at Zanesville, Ohio, on July 18, 1828, a child of George Washington and Hettie (Taylor) Jackson. Her mother was a member of the noted Taylor family of Baltimore, and she was said to be collaterally related to President Zachary Taylor.   Similarly, on the paternal side, Margaret Elizabeth was the product of a long line of able and energetic forbears. Her father, at the age of 21, had been appointed a lieutenant of United States Infantry by President James Madison, and 13 months later, in August, 1813, he was promoted to the rank of captain, When the War of 1812 ended he returned to his home in Zanesville where two years later he married Hettie Taylor, a newcomer from the east.

 

His father, George Jackson, was a man of boundless energy and enthusiasm. He was among the first settlers to cross the Alleghenies into western Virginia, he saw service with George Rogers Clark in the Revolutionary War: and in 1782 Governor Thomas Jefferson commissioned him a captain of Virginia militia. He subsequently served in the General Assembly of Virginia and was sent by his constituents to the House of Representatives of the United States Congress. In 1799 he patented 4,200 acres of land on the upper waters of the West Fork of the Monongahela river and became one of the motivating forces in the establishment of “Collins Settlement” in Lewis County. This village later became known as “Bennett’s Mill,” and since the 1850’s has been Walkersville. As the lands about him filled with people the freedom of the frontier beckoned, and in 1807 he answered the call. He moved with his family to Zanesville where he soon again was in politics, serving before his death in 1831 in both the House of Representatives and the Senate of Ohio.

 

Margaret Elizabeth’s uncle, John George Jackson, served in the Virginia General Assembly and was elected to six successive sessions of congress. In addition to being a brigadier-general of Virginia militia he was the first judge of the United States Court for the District of Western Virginia. Another uncle, Edward Brake Jackson, served in one congress but resigned after being elected to succeed himself.,

 

Thus it was that when George W. Jackson decided to move to Weston, Virginia, in 1843, he was going to no strange land but was returning to the region he had left as a lad of 16 more than 35 years before. Nor was his fifteen-year-old daughter to find herself among people who knew nothing of her family. Only very recently her second cousin, Thomas Jonathan Jackson, –later to become immortal as “Stonewall”–had left the home of his uncle four miles from Weston to go to the United States Military Academy at West Point. Indeed, the young man, Gibson J. Butcher, whose resignation from the Academy had made her cousin’s appointment possible, was soon to marry her sister, Katherine, and thus to come within the family circle. With well-known relatives at every turn Margaret must have been meeting and seeing people of whom she had heard her father speak many, many times.

 

George W. Jackson was soon engaged in his work as a carpenter. In the summer of 1844 he was commissioned by Jonathan M. Bennett to repair a house on Court street, which the rising young attorney and business man had recently acquired. Bennett thus soon became acquainted with the newcomers. At first if he gave Margaret a thought at all, it must have been only as the child of one of his friends. But he could not have been entirely unaware of her rapidly blossoming beauty, which soon was fated to ensnare him completely.

 

After the marriage the newly-weds moved into the home but recently repaired by the bride’s father. It was in this house on January 5, 1847, that the young mother looked into eyes of her first-born child, a boy. He was christened William George in honor of his two grandfathers, William Bennett and George Washington Jackson, and thus he personified the flowing together of two family strains that had such a remarkable influence on the fortunes of Trans-Allegheny Virginia particularly.

 

Margaret’s influence on her husband was immediately apparent. He was soon confirmed in the St. Paul’s Protestant Episcopal church, and in 1849 he became a member of its vestry. It was only two short years later that Richard P. Camden, a leading merchant of Weston, reported to Bennett from Wheeling that “Mrs. B. has given you a high reputation (here) as a gentleman of taste.” When Bennett went to Richmond in the winter of 1852-1853 as Lewis county’s delegate in the General Assembly, his wife accompanied him, and there she soon was acclaimed as one of the beauties of the capital.

 

As Bennett’s legal, political, and business duties increased, so did those of Margaret as a wife, homemaker, and mother. Children appeared regularly: Louis in 1849, Gertrude in 1851 and a equal number of years later Mary, the fourth and last. Meanwhile, they had moved into a new and more commodious house. Fortunately, however, all was not work. After her husband was appointed First Auditor of Virginia in 1857, Mrs. Bennett and Mrs. R. J. McCandlish went to Norfolk for a vacation. Shortly thereafter McCandlish, a cashier of the Weston branch of the exchange Bank of Virginia, the presidency of which Bennett had recently resigned, reported to the latter, in humorous vein, that “our wives seem to be ‘hoeing a wide row’ down at Norfolk–wonder if they are not palming themselves off for young widows?”

 

The routine of winters in Richmond and summers in Weston was rudely interrupted in the autumn of 1858. Soon after Mrs. Bennett and the children had gone to Richmond in October, Louis, Gertrude, and their mother all contracted typhoid fever. For a time their lives were despaired of. After they recovered sufficiently, however, to return to the more healthful climate of Weston, and away from the sources of their malady, their recovery was rapid.

 

The duties of auditor kept Bennett more and more in Richmond and this had the effect of giving Mrs. Bennett an ever greater share of responsibility for the successful management of affairs at home. It was truly fortunate that she was able thus to serve such an apprenticeship in her husband’s business affairs, for within a short time the exigencies of troubled times were to unload the entire execution of them into her charge.

 

When she left Richmond in the spring of 1861, as was her usual custom, to return to the west, the storm clouds of secession were appearing on the horizon. There was the portent of powerful change in the air. Hardly had she safely arrived at Weston before the momentous firing on Fort Sumter announced the arrival of the storm.

 

Event crashed upon event with bewildering rapidity, and war came on the wings of summer. Battle lines appeared like an evil mist to separate eastern and western Virginia. The new state movement in the Trans-Allegheny placed Weston within the Union lines, and Mrs. Bennett was relatively safe. But what was happening east of the mountains? Week after week passed and no word came from her husband, nor from her eldest son who had remained in Richmond with his father. News of the Federal repulse at Manassas Junction reached the west, but still no letters arrived from Virginia’s capital. Weeks slowly became months and then, when the silence seemed no longer bearable, it was broken by help from a strange quarter.

 

A means of circumventing the Federal policy of no communication across the lines was devised. A friend of Bennett’s, Reverend E. W. Sehon, of Nashville, Tennessee, worked it out. Bennett placed a letter to his wife in an envelope addressed to her at Weston. This was then placed in another envelope which was addressed to Sehon at Nashville. The latter, upon its receipt, removed it and placed it in still another envelope, addressed this time to Reverend A. H. Redford at Louisville, Kentucky. Here it was taken from its outer covering by Redford, and the original from Bennett was placed in the mail. Thus, with a Louisville postmark, it attracted no unfavorable attention and made its unimpeded way to Weston. Letters from Mrs. Bennett to Richmond reversed this process.

 

This devious scheme permitted of some communication, but it appears to have been discovered by the Federal authorities and was discontinued. About the middle of October, 1861, Mrs. Bennett sent word to her husband to write her no more letters, for she feared receipt of them would lead to her arrest. Moreover, a more direct system had been devised: from this time forward written communications were taken across the lines by scouts who managed to evade the authorities.

 

Meanwhile, Mrs. Bennett’s troubles were increasing. From the beginning it had proved a difficult task for her to take over and operate her husband’s large farming and business interests, but with the help of members of her family, friends, and loyal slaves she had accomplished it. Suddenly there appeared a likelihood that she would lose control of the estate. The coming of January, 1862, brought the news that the United States Marshal was making a list of all property owned or leased by anyone in rebellion or in the service of a state government in rebellion, for all such property had been ordered confiscated.

 

Never knowing from day to day whether the property was to be hers or not, Mrs. Bennett continued to administer it as best she could. In the meantime political, business, and financial conditions were in chaos. Weston had been invaded by a Union force from Clarksburg, and $27,000 of state funds in gold had been taken from the branch of the Exchange Bank of Virginia and transported to the Re-organized Government of Virginia at Wheeling. From time to time detachments of United States troops occupied the town and at various times placed it under martial law. This movement of troops back and forth, together with an occasional raid by local Confederates, despoiled crops and destroyed markets.

 

Such economic conditions made Mrs. Bennett’s task all the harder. She managed to collect enough from old debts to carry her through the most severe crises until the taxes for 1862 came due. In order to pay the levy for that year on five slaves and $782 of other property, she instructed Deputy Sheriff J. W. Hudson to sell “one lot of Brick.” This, however, did not satisfy the demands of the state on four parcels of land embracing a total of 2,230 acres.

 

The amount of this tax, $33.24½, was raised by having the same deputy sheriff sell a buggy.

 

With difficulty piling upon difficulty, Mrs. Bennett must have been looking forward to another year in Weston with something akin to horror, when word was received in May, 1863, that she and her children were to be deported from the United States. On Saturday May 16, she received the following communication:

 

Madam: I have the honor to inform you that yourself and the grown members of your family are hereby required to hold yourselves in readiness to proceed outside the Federal lines on Tuesday morning, May 19th, 1863. The following regulations will be strictly observed:

 

1. No person will be permitted to take with him or her more than sixty pounds of baggage.
2. No person will be allowed to take with him or her more than $100 in United States funds, gold and silver included. No limit placed on Confederate scrip.
3. Persons who cannot provide themselves with transportation will be furnished such by the Government.

By order Brig. Gen. B. S. Roberts

L. Markbrit

A. D. C. and Provost Marshal

 

In accordance with the terms of this order Mrs. Bennett, her two daughters, Gertrude and Mary, and her younger son, Louis, were placed in wagons and ambulances along with 60 other women and children and were transported across the Allegheny mountains into the Valley of Virginia. They reached Kernstown, a little village a few miles south of Winchester, after nightfall and were unceremoniously unloaded. The conveyances which brought them whirled and galloped northward into the darkness toward the Union outposts. Fortunately for the ill-fated travelers the people of the town received them hospitably and then helped them on their way.

 

Mrs. Bennett made her way by wagon and buggy up the Valley to Staunton, from which point she secured rail connections to Richmond. Finally on Wednesday, May 27, 1863, she and her children reached the state capital. There she was met by her husband, who took her to the Powhatan hotel. It became their home until they moved into a house in November.

 

Through the remaining years of the war Mrs. Bennett lived in Richmond. As the Union army’s encirclement of the Confederate capital drew tighter and tighter, late in March, 1865, Bennett tried to get passes for her and the children through the lines to Washington. He failed, but as events were to turn it was a fortunate failure.

 

General Robert E. Lee sent word into Richmond on Sunday, April 2, that he could hold the city only a few hours longer. Shortly before midnight of that same day the Virginia state government evacuated the city and moved to Lynchburg. A chief financial officer of the commonwealth, Bennett withdrew the remaining $35,000 in gold of the state’s funds from the banks of Richmond and carried it with him on his way to the new seat of government.

 

With the departure of her husband Mrs. Bennett was again called upon to take charge of their personal effects.   In addition to her already heavy burdens her father intrusted to her care $1,275 in Confederate currency, which he had collected as the financial agent for Virginia in Lewis County. She was able to absolve herself of this responsibility on April 28, when she gave the money to Second Auditor H. W. Thomas.

 

Meanwhile, the surrender of General Lee had brought with it the disintegration of the governments of the Confederacy and of Virginia, and the high officials of both became fugitives. Mrs. Bennett immediately set in motion a movement to get a passport to permit the return of her husband to Richmond. Early in May she succeeded, and hearing that Bennett was at Lexington she dispatched a friend, W. C. A. Mayo, to overtake him and deliver the passport. On May 14, Bennett appeared before Captain Mark Poore, assistant provost marshal general of the Army of the Shenandoah, in Staunton, and voluntarily took the oath of allegiance to the United States. Soon, thereafter, armed with the passport secured by his wife, he returned to Richmond.

 

The four long years of war were over. Unrestricted communication between the east and west was again possible. In October the Bennetts returned to Weston to make it again their home. They found their house sadly in need of repairs. After Mrs. Bennett’s forced departure from Richmond, in 1863, the United States government had confiscated all the Bennett property, and much of it had been leased to tenants who took poor care of what they used.

 

During the remaining year of her life Mrs. Bennett concentrated her attention on her home. It became known throughout three states as a center of warm, southern hospitality. Political figures, governors, congressmen, senators, and others came and went. And always there were young people, friends of the Bennett children from Baltimore, Richmond, Charlottesville, and West Virginia centers. During summers and especially at Christmas time teas, parties, and dances were frequent occurrences.

 

Mrs. Bennett would get away for a vacation herself occasionally in the company of her husband or one or more of her children. Visits to Baltimore, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Wheeling, and the Mineral Wells near Parkersburg were frequently made. She particularly liked to go to Cincinnati during the opera season, for she was a lifelong lover of music.

 

Even though filled with remarkable energy and apparently tireless in her activity, Mrs. Bennett suffered a great part of her life from a heart affliction. As she grew older the attacks came more frequently. On Monday night, November 1, 1886, she was again stricken. As Tuesday passed and she did not respond to treatment as was her wont, she decided this was to be her last illness. All the family except her youngest, Mary, were at her bedside. The last thought she uttered was the wish that the final moment might be postponed until she could see Mary again. But such was not to be. At 11:15 in the evening of November 3, she quietly passed away, “sweetly and without pain,” said her son, George, in his diary. “To her very last she seemed to have no thought of herself but careful for every other person especially her children,” was the fitting epitaph entered in his memoir. (published in The West Virginia Review, August 1939, pgs. 333, 334, 349 & Weston Independent 3 Jan. 1940.)

***

Obit:

Death of Mrs. Margaret E. Bennett

 

Departed this life in this place on Wednesday night, November 3RD, 1886, Margaret E. Jackson, wife of Honorable Jonathan E. Bennett.

 

Mrs. Bennett was the daughter of Captain George W. Jackson, a soldier of the war of 1812 and son of George Jackson, a member of Congress at the time of the Jefferson-Burr contest for the Presidency; – a niece of Judge John G. Jackson, first Federal Judge of the District of Western Virginia, and of Dr. Edward B. Jackson, who succeeded his father and the Judge in the National Legislature; and cousin of the famous Stonewall Jackson.

 

She was one of a large and numerous family, who contributed much in the first settlement of West Virginia and State of Ohio, and her kindred, fond of adventure, may be seen in most of the States of the Union. Born in Zanesville, she moved with her father to this town in 1843, and was here married to Jonathan M. Bennett, Esq., where she lived up to her death.

 

Mrs. Bennett was a woman of strong mind, cultivated taste, polished manners, a reader of the past and present, and kept abreast of the literature of the day. She was a thoughtful wife, and most affectionate parent; was liberal to the needy and attentive in affliction. The mother of four children, two sons and two daughters (one being absent in a distant city) and her honored husband, were with her when the close came! Like her family, she met death without fear, and calmly surrendered all that was earthly to earth, and that which never dies to God.                        
 
                                                                      W.E.A. (Weston, November 5, 1886 source unknown)

 

Children of Margaret Jackson and Jonathan Bennett are:

+      7                 i.    William George⁵ Bennett, born 05 January 1847; died 08 November 1916.

+      8                ii.    Gertrude B. Bennett, born 01 November 1851; died 26 May 1926 in Buckhannon, Upshur County, West Virginia.

+      9               iii.    Louis Bennett, born 27 November 1849 in Weston, Lewis County, West Virginia; died 02 August 1918 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

10             iv.     Mary or Marie Bennett, born 1853; died 07 July 1931. Burial: Aft. 07 July 1931, Greenmount Cemetery, Baltimore, Maryland. She married Hon. William Duckett Bowie; born 26 July 1854 in Maryland; died 31 December 1920 in Baltimore, Maryland. Burial: Aft. 31 December 1921, Greenmount Cemetery, Baltimore, Maryland.

 

He inherited the family farm “Marietta”, near Bowie, Maryland.

 

He was educated at St. John’s College, Annapolis Maryland. In l89l was elected to represent Prince Georges County in the House of Delegates, In Nov. l893 was elected State Senator. Mr. Bowie enjoys the rather unique distinction of being the fourth member his family, in dreft descent, who has been a State Senator, the same position having been held by his father, grandfather, and great-great grandfather. Member State Legislature in 1892 and in 1894-96 was member of Senate from Prince George Co., Maryland. Source: The Bowies & Their Kindred by Walter Worthngton Bowie.

***

1920 census – Baltimore Ward 11, Baltimore, Maryland

William D. Bowie – 62 – MD MD MD – clerk- trust co.

Mary B. – wife – 50 – WVA VA VA

 

3.James Taylor⁴ Jackson (George Washington³, George², John¹) was born February1829 in McConnelsville, Ohio, and died Bet. 1901 – 1907 in possibly Michigan. He married (1) Phoebe Ann Wilson 1853, daughter of Col. J. D. Wilson. She was born 13 January 1829 in Clarksburg, Harrison County, West Virginia, and died 26 October 1882 in Newark, Licking County, Ohio: married about 1888 (2) Henrietta born May 1829 in New York.

***

Obit: “Was a handsome man. Had store on west side of Weston’s main street in 2 story house, later location of the Willima L. Demington’s, later Kaplan;s. Moved to Newark, Ohio. After Phoebe’s death James T. moved to Detroit, Michigan and married again.” They were living in Detroit in 1900, both age 71, married for 12 years.

***

Obit: Death of Mrs. Jackson

 

The death of Mrs. Phebe A. Jackson, wife of James Jackson of the Lansing House, occurred after a protracted illness, at their residence on Fourth Street, near Church, in Newark, on Thursday morning of this week, Oct. 26th, 1882, at the age of fifty three years. Mrs. Jackson was a native of Clarksburg, West Virginia, born there in 1829. She was a grand daughter of the late Col. Benjamin Wilson of Clarksburg, West Virginia, who was prominently identified with the varied interests, the history, politics and statesmanship of Western Virginia for a period of fifty years, and highly influential in shaping the character and institutions of that section of the United States. And the gentleman bearing the same honored name and who has served a number of years as member of Congress from the Clarksburg district, is a brother of Mrs. Jackson. Her father,(the late Col. J. D. Wilson) was a brother of our esteemed fellow citizen, Daniel D. Wilson, who has resided in Licking county many years.

 

Mr. and Mrs. Jackson have had a married life of a little more than thirty years, nearly half of it spent in Newark and in several other Ohio towns. The deceased was the mother of six children, four sons and two daughters, who mourn the death of one of the kindest and most affectionate of mothers. Mrs. Jackson was in communion with the Episcopal Church, and sustained the reputation of an exemplary woman who was faithful in all the relations of life. She was of cheerful temperament, genial, always kind, pleasant, resigned, disposed to look on the bright side of things, reconciled to the unavoidable ills of life. Many friends bear the deceased in kindly remembrance. Funeral service tomorrow, (Saturday) at three o’clock. pm. (Nov. 4, 1882 Weston Democrat, from the —Newark Daily Advocate.)

 

Children of James Jackson and Phoebe Wilson are:

+      11               i.    Hetty Georgiana⁵ Jackson, born about February 1853 in Clarksburg, Harrison County, (West) Virginia; died Aft. 1920.

+      12              ii.    Benjamin Wilson Jackson, born about 1855 in West Virginia.

+      13             iii.    Mary Jackson, born about 1857 in Lewis County, West Virginia.

14             iv.    Josiah Davisson Jackson, born about 1859 in West Virginia.

15              v.    Thomas Stonewall Jackson, born about 1863 in West Virginia.

16             vi.    Despard Jackson, born September 1869 in Ohio.

 

4.Catherine⁴ Jackson (George Washington³, George², John¹) was born about 1831 in McConnelsville, Ohio, and died 25 June 1893 in San Diego, California. She married Gibson J. Butcher about 24 October 1848 (bond date) in Lewis County, West Virginia. He was born 1823 in Weston, Lewis County, West Virginia, and died 29 August 1877 in Weston, Lewis County, West Virginia. Burial: Aft. 29 August 1877, Arnold Hill, Weston, Lewis County, West Virginia. He was a tanner, owned a tannery on Town Run.

 

History of West Virginia and the People

Chapter XXXV

Members of the Constitutional Convention 1872

 

The debates which occurred while the new constitution was in process of formation were never printed. The president was Samuel Price, of Greenbrier county; secretary, Gibson J. Butcher, of Lewis county; first assistant secretary, Barney J. Galligan, of Ohio county; enrolling clerk, John H. Woods, of Barbour county; sergeant-at-arms, Jacob B. Cunningham, of Hardy county.

 

Children of Catherine Jackson and Gibson Butcher are:

17               i.    Hugh⁵ Butcher, born about 1852 in Lewis County, West Virginia.

He went west and died single.

+      18              ii.    Hetta Jackson Butcher, born 1853 in Lewis County, West Virginia; died 1905.

19             iii.    Margaret “Maggie” Butcher, born about 1858 in Lewis County, West Virginia. She was a prominent school teacher in West Virginia, attended the first institute held by John Strange Hall at Jacksonville; taught WV, KS, Utah, NM; Principal of school in Raton, NM; died single. Burial: Arnold Hill, Weston, Lewis County, West Virginia

+      20             iv.    Belle T. Butcher, born December 1861 in Lewis County, West Virginia; died Aft. 1924 in Probably Washington DC.

 

5.Eliza J. “Lida”⁴ Jackson (George Washington³, George², John¹) was born about 1833 in McConnelsville, Ohio, and died 06 February 1874 in Brenham, Texas. She married Corneleus “Neil” Hurley 02 December 1850. He died about 15 May 1871 in Brenham, Texas.

 

He speculated in Lewis County Wild Lands, owned 700 acres on Hacker’s camp Run, Collins Dist – later J. M. Bennetts.

 

Confederate Soldier: Lived at Weston several years; moved toTexas, was merchant in Brenham, Texas. Committed suicide there on account of losses in cotton speculation shortly before 15 May 1871. Obit: reprint: Weston Democrat 16 December 1987.

 

Children of Eliza Jackson and Corneleus Hurley are:

21               i.    Daniel⁵ Hurley, born about 14 June 1854.

He died at age 4.

22              ii.    Katherine Hurley. She married Mr. Bolling.

23             iii.    George Hurley, died in Died single.

+      24             iv.    Margaret “Maggie” Hurley.

+      25              v.    Mary Hurley.

 

6.Alfred Henry⁴ Jackson (George Washington³, George², John¹) was born 01 January 1836 in McConnelsville, Ohio, and died 01 August 1863 in Civil War, wounded Cedar Mountain. He is buried near Stonewall Jackson in Lexington. He was a member of his staff but was fired because he wouldn’t get up in the morning. He married Mary Blair Paxton November 1858. She was born 1841 in Rockbridge County, Virginia, and died 07 July 1918 in Elkins, Randolph County, West Virginia.

 

“Alfred became the highest ranking officer in the confederate army. Co I 31 Virginia Infantry; Enrolled 2 June 1861, age 25; Cpt. Appointed Adj. General on T. J. Jackson’s staff 12 November 1861; Battle of Greenbrier, McDowell; 9 august 1862 severely wounded at battle of Cedar Mountain. Shortly before his death he made Brigadier General. “Roy Bird Cook Collection

 

Children of Alfred Jackson and Mary Paxton are:

+      26               i.    Ella Bennett⁵ Jackson, born 23 September 1859; died 05 May 1904.

+      27              ii.    May Paxton Jackson, born 1863 in Virginia.

 

 

Generation No. 3

 

7.William George⁵ Bennett (Margaret Elizabeth⁴ Jackson, George Washington³, George², John¹) was born 05 January 1847, and died 08 November 1916. Burial: Aft. 08 November 1916, Machpelah Cemetery, Lewis County, West Virginia. He married Alice Brannon 27 March 1872, daughter of John Brannon and Amanda Bland. She was born 03 May 1849, and died 27 August 1924. Burial: Aft. 17 August 1924, Machpelah Cemetery, Lewis County, West Virginia

 

Children of William Bennett and Alice Brannon are:

+      28               i.    Margaret “Madge”⁶ Bennett, born 08 October 1874; died 22 December 1940 in Hartford, Connecticut.

+      29              ii.    John Brannon Bennett, born 13 April 1873 in Weston, Lewis County, West Virginia; died 26 November 1933 in Buckhannon, Upshur County, West Virginia.

+      30             iii.    Hunter McCauley Bennett, born 30 November 1876; died 17 January 1962.

+      31             iv.    Bertha Bennett, born 02 February 1879 in Weston, Lewis County, West Virginia; died 23 November 1982 in Weston, Lewis County, West Virginia.

32              v.     William George Bennett Jr., born 05 April 1881; died 24 February 1882. He is buried beside his Brannon grandparents. Burial: Aft. 24 February 1882, Machpelah Cemetery, Lewis County, West Virginia.

 

Letter from J. M. Bennett to G.D. Camden: 3/9/1882. ” My son George’s youngest child died since you left and Wirt Camper’s daughter is scarcely expected to live. It seems to be a southern type of scarlet fever brought by Mr. McDonough from Tennessee. ”

 

33             vi.    William Bland Bennett, born 10 September 1883; died 02 December 1918. Burial: Aft. 02 December 1918, Machpelah Cemetery, Lewis County, West Virginia

 

8.Gertrude B.⁵ Bennett (Margaret Elizabeth⁴ Jackson, George Washington³, George², John¹) was born 01 November 1851, and died 26 May 1926 in Buckhannon, Upshur County, West Virginia. She married Dr. Fleming Howell 30 September 1891. He was born 31 May 1849 in Monongalia County, (West) Virginia, and died 1941.

 

In 1908 he was President of the West Virginia State Medical Association.

 

Child of Gertrude Bennett and Fleming Howell is:

+      34               i.    Margaret⁶ Howell, born 17 September 1893 in Clarksburg, Harrison County, West Virginia; died 26 August 1979 in Lakewood, Colorado.

 

9.Louis⁵ Bennett (Margaret Elizabeth⁴ Jackson, George Washington³, George², John¹) was born 27 November 1849 in Weston, Lewis County, West Virginia, and died 02 August 1918 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Burial: Aft. 02 August 1918, Machpelah Cemetery, Lewis County, West Virginia. He married Sallie Maxwell 16 January 1889, daughter of James Maxwell and Ruth Ray. She was born 02 June 1857 in Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia, and died 19 May 1944 in New York City, New York. Burial: Aft. 19 May 1944, Machpelah Cemetery, Lewis County, West Virginia.

***

Wheeling, West Virginia

Weston Democrat 3 Apr. 1914

The West Virginia Hillbilly – February 7, 1981

 

“Louis Bennett, one of the most distinguished citizens of Weston, was born at Weston, West Virginia, November 27th 1849, and passed to his heavenly reward August 2nd, 1918. He was the second son born of the marriage of Jonathan McCally Bennett and Margaret Jackson whose ancestors came to Virginia from New jersey. His father was Auditor of Virginia from the out-break of the Civil War until its close. His mother was a daughter of Captain George W. Jackson, who was appointed a Lieutenant in the war of 1812 by President James Madison, and a granddaughter of George Jackson who was a member of Congress from Virginia at the time of Burr and Jefferson contest for the Presidency.

 

He was educated in private schools in Weston and at Richmond and Fredericksburg, in Virginia. In 1871 he graduated in law from the University of Virginia. After serving as principal of the State Normal School at Glenville for three years he engaged in the practice of the law at Weston and taught in the public schools of that city. For eight years he was prosecuting attorney of Lewis County. He was elected to the Legislature in 1890 and became Speaker of the House of Delegates in 1891. For years he was prominent in the leadership of the Democratic party. In 1904 he was a Parker and Davis elector at large. In 1908 he was the Democratic nominee for Governor of West Virginia.

 

In 1889 he married Sallie J. Maxwell, a daughter of the late James and Ruth Maxwell of Wheeling. To this union three children were born, James Maxwell Bennett, deceased, Agra Bennett, now the wife of Johnson C. McKinley of Wheeling, and Louis Bennett Jr. who lost his life in the world war in the aviation service.

 

He was a very prominent member of the Masonic Fraternity. His Masonic record is of interest. He was initiated an Entered Apprentice July 6th, 1874; passed to the degree of Fellow Craft, July 20th 1874; raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason August 17th, 1874, in Weston Lodge No. 10 A.F. & A. M. at Weston, West Virginia. Exalted to the degree of Royal Arch Mason, September 27th 1883, in Bigelow Chapter No. R, R. A. M. at Weston West Virginia.

***

Bennett – Maxwell

Jan 19, 1889, Weston Democrat

 

The “Register” of the 17th inst., in speaking of the marriage of Mr. Louis Bennett says: The elegant home of Mrs. Ruth Maxwell, on South Market street, was the scene last night of a most happy and interesting event. It was no less than the marriage of Mrs. Maxwell’s daughter, Sallie, to Hon, Lewis Bennett, of Weston. By half past seven the relatives and a few friends of the two contracting parties had assembled in the south parlor of the spacious mansion, where Mrs. Maxwell and her daughter, Miss Mim., assisted by Judge and Mrs. Bennett and the Misses Bennett, of Weston, received the quests.

 

The interior of the residence was made unusually charming by the floral decorations so abundantly and tastefully distributed in every apartment. Potted azaleas, red and white carnations, roses and hyacinths, and smilax met the guest at every turn.

 

At half-past seven Mendelssohn’s wedding march resounded from the hall above, where the orchestra was stationed, and presently the attendants, Messrs. J. R. Davenport and James P. Adams, entered, followed by Rev. R. Rush Swope. D. D. Arrayed in surplice and stole. Lastly came the bride and groom. On reaching the positions assigned them the beautiful marriage ritual of the Episcopal Church was begun and in a few minutes the twain were made one.

 

The bride’s toilet was a most exquisite one, composed of heavy white armure silk, combined with silver brocade, made cn-Princess with train. It was cut V-shape at the throat and filled in with point lace; slashed sleeves of the armure, filled in with brocade and finished with point lace; point lace handkerchief and fan. Her veil was held in place with a superb diamond star, the gift of the groom, and about her throat she wore a beautiful diamond necklace, a present from her sister, Miss Mim Maxwell.

 

Hearty congratulations followed, and when these were over refreshments were served in the dining room, and while being discussed pleasant strains of music kept the guests company. AT 9:40 o’clock Mr. And Mrs. Bennett took the Panhandle train for the East to be absent for an indefinite period. On their departure Mr. W. L. Hearne, with an ample supply of rice, was chosen to speed the parting couple.

 

The high contracting parties are well known to Wheeling society. Mrs. Bennett was a great favorite in her set. Having a gentle disposition, vivacious temperament, and highly cultivated mind, she made a most delightful friend and companion. Mr. Bennett is one of the most popular lawyers in the county of Lewis. He has been Prosecuting Attorney several terms, and could have had the office again, but declined to be a candidate.

 

The groom and attendants wore full evening dress, and some of the toilettes of the ladies present were very elegant.

 

Floral decoration by Laupp, the Island florist; music by Dramer and refreshments by Ziegenfelder.

***

Louis Bennett Sr. was the first President of Glenville (then) Normal School. Bennett Hall there is named in his honor. Thus., two of William Bennetts descendants have halls at Glenville College names for them. The other is Clark Hall named in honor of Humbolt (H.Y.) Clark, who taught there for many years. (Glenville is in Gilmer Co., WV)

 

Louis Bennett Public Library in Weston, WV was given by Sallie Maxwell Bennett in memory of her husband and her son. (This was their home). She also donated a room in a NY Museum but not as a memorial.

 

She had great difficulty in gaining permission to donate a window in Westminster Abbey in memory of her son and his comrades who gave their lives in WWI She was an American and not a native of England but she finally told them that since her son had given his life fighting for England it was the least they could do to permit his mother to give the window in his and his comrades name. p. 156 Holt (Bennett Family History)

***

Obits: p. 6, Bennett, Hon. Louis died in Atlantic City. Body arrived Monday and funeral will be held this evening at 6 o’clock. Deceased is survived by his widow, a daughter, Mrs. Johnson Camden McKinley of Wheeling and a son Louis Bennett Jr. in the British Aviation service (Weston Independent, Tues. 6 Aug. 1918.)

***

MRS. LOUIS BENNETT, SR.

 

WESTON, May 22 – Mrs. Sallie Maxwell Bennett, 87, whose husband was a nominee for governor in 1908 and who bestowed many philanthropies upon the cities of Wheeling and Weston, died yesterday in a New York city hospital.

 

She was the widow of Louis Bennett, former Lewis county prosecutor and one-time head of the old Glenville Normal school who made an unsuccessful race as the Democratic gubernatorial nominee thirty-six years ago.

 

Mrs. Bennett was a native of Wheeling where she and her only surviving sister, Mrs. Emily Maxwell, of Washington, donated the Maxwell property as the site for the present city library and museum.

 

To Weston Mrs. Bennett donated the Bennett mansion to be used as a library and war memorial to her son, Louis Bennett, Jr., a lieutenant in the Canadian air force who was killed in action in World War 1.

 

Mrs. Bennett leaves a daughter, Mrs. Douglas Williams of Wheeling.

***

 

MRS. LOUIS BENNETT OFFERS FINE COURT AVENUE HOME TO THE CITY

“Weston Democrat” December 30, 1921

REQUESTS THAT A SUFFICIENT SUM BE RAISED AS AN ENDOWMENT. ASKS THAT

PROPERTY BE FITTED FOR WELFARE CENTER

 

PROBABLY THE MOST GENEROUS OFFER THAT HAS EVER BEEN MADE ONLY PROVISION IS THAT IT BE NON-SECTARIAN.

 

The City of Weston has been offered the old Bennett Homestead on Court Avenue as a memorial library and social center by Mrs. Louis Bennett in commemoration of her husband, Hon. Louis Bennett, long one of Weston’s most prominent and beloved citizens.

 

The property in question is probably the most desirable piece of residence property in the city of Weston. It has a frontage of 225 feet on Court Avenue, and extends clear thru to High street, where it also has a 225 foot frontage. The property is improved by a 17-room house of the most sturdy construction and handsome appearance, and the entire ground area about the house has been improved by beautiful lawns, trees, arbors and shrubbery. The present valuation of the property has been placed conservatively at $50,000.

 

TO BE NON-SECTARIAN

 

Mrs. Bennett’s offer is made without any provisions other than that the memorial library and social center shall be purely non-sectarian, and that a sufficient sum shall be raised as an endowment to properly care for the upkeep and maintenance the establishment. The gift would be known as the “Louis Bennett Public Library and Welfare Center.”

 

It is Mrs. Bennett’s wish, if the gift is accepted, that all community activities shall center in the building. A library would be built up–the Bennett library is offered as a nucleus–there would be a reading room, a room for the children, a room for social purposes, and various meeting rooms where societies, clubs and church organizations could hold meetings. The yard would be used for playground, rest and recreation purposes.

 

MRS. BENNETT’S LETTER

 

Paris, December 9, 1921

To the Mayor and City Council of Weston, West Virginia.

Gentlemen:

 

After traveling more than 40,000 miles by sea and land since I left home I have arrived safely in Paris and send you Christmas Greetings.

 

In Australia, South Africa and New Zealand — all of which are new countries resembling our West — I found almost everywhere, in towns smaller than Weston, a public library and reading room, often a Museum of the country.

 

As you know, we have no “race suicide”; our streets are full of young people and children who, after school is out, have nowhere to go excepting the “movies” where there is nothing to improve their minds and much beside the close atmosphere to ruin their health.

 

When a Y.M.C.A. is spoken of it is objected to on account of being sectarian. Clarksburg has a Y.M.C.A., a library and a Country Club – have we not enough public spirited citizens to support a public Library and welfare center in Weston?

 

Both Hon. Louis Bennett and his son, Lieutenant Louis Bennett, Jr., were born in Weston and the latter always said he intended to live there. We expected him to carry on his father’s affairs. Now they are both gone, but I do not want you to forget them. The Homestead was not left to me, and if I take it from the estate I must count it in my share, and I would not be able to endow it. Mr. Carnegie, as you know, always demanded that each town to which he gave a library should raise a sum sufficient to support it. Now this is the proposal I make to the city of Weston as a Christmas greeting:

 

I will give the Homestead on Court Avenue to be held in perpetuity as “The Louis Bennett Public Library and Welfare Center” on condition that from $50,000 to $100, 000 be raised and placed on interest, such interest to be an annual income for salaries, books and papers and upkeep. Any income not needed to be added to the principal or put on interest as a nest egg for future growth.

 

The house is well fitted for such a purpose as the rooms are large, the parlor and billiard room connect and could be used for social purposes, a meeting place for the various Women’s Clubs and activities and if we make it truly a “welfare or hospitality center” each church could contribute a certain sum and use the rooms instead of a parish house, thus eliminating their several expenses and making it really “a City of Brotherly Love.” A room could be set aside for reading room and library, and another for a children’s room. My son Louis has boxes of books suitable for juveniles, and our own library I would give as a nucleus, the books not to be taken away. You would raise a lending library.

 

Most of the young married people were children with my children and played on the lawn. I would like to feel that their children and grandchildren would continue the custom. If I give you the vacant lots also it would be for park and playground. In summer the mothers could bring their small children to play safely. We could have music once a week in the evening. In the garage we could have a training school for trades the boys could be busy instead of on the street comers. You remember how busy Louis always was with his automobile and how the other boys enjoyed helping him. Remember the boys and girls of today are our future citizens.

 

How much did your High School cost? How much would a library building cost? Think of that and then subscribe that amount to endow this project which otherwise is a free gift to you and your children. Kindly put this matter before your people.

 

I understand you have a Chamber of Commerce as well as the Rotary Club and that institution has shown you what social co-operation will do. This is to be for the Catholics and Protestants. Something that will grow with the growth of Weston, something to open the vistas of books, pictures, lectures, travels. The beautiful world we live in has more to offer than “three meals a day and household cares”.

 

I should like to hear from you definitely early in the new year so that I can make my plans accordingly.

 

(signed) MRS. LOUIS BENNETT

Care American Express Co.

I I Rue Scribe, Paris, France.

 

Note: The Louis Bennett Public Library has been placed on West Virginia’s National Register of Historic Places.

 

Children of Louis Bennett and Sallie Maxwell are:

35  i.    James Maxwell⁶ Bennett, born 27 October 1891; died 10 July 1892 in Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia. Burial: Aft. 10 July 1892, Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia.

The Baptismal Font at St. Paul’s Church in Weston, Lewis County, was given in his memory. (William George Bennett diary)

 

P. 7 1846 Obits: James Maxwell Bennett, s/o Hon. Louis Bennett died of chorea infantum, Sunday July 10 and was interred in the Greenhill Cemetery on Tues. by the side of his mother’s family. (Weston Republican 16 Jul. 1892)

+      36              ii.    Agra Bennett, born 09 April 1893 in Denver, Colorado; died 13 January 1968 in Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia.

37  iii.  Louis Jr. Bennett, born 22 September 1894 in Weston, Lewis County, West Virginia; died 24 August 1918 in France. He was first buried on 25 August 1918 in Wavrin, France, Lot 82, body later returned to Weston for final interment. Burial: Aft. 24 June 1918, Machpelah Cemetery, Lewis County, West Virginia.

 

Tombstone: RAF Lt. Bennett 40th Squadron Royal Air Force was shot down in flames over the lines on Aug. 24, 1918 after he had destroyed two German observation balloons. His record Aug. 15-24 being 3 enemy planes, 9 balloons destroyed 4 in one day for which he was recommended for the Distinguished Flying Cross. The Germans buried him with military honors at Wavrin near Lille France where a memorial church in his honor was dedicated on Aug. 24, 1919.

 

“Louis Bennett who lost his life in the air service in France was brought back for burial in Machpelah Cemetery. Weston Independent 13 April 1930)

 

11.Hetty Georgiana⁵ Jackson (James Taylor⁴, George Washington³, George², John¹) was born about February 1853 in Clarksburg, Harrison County, (West) Virginia, and died after 1920. She married Eli Marsh Turner before June 1884, son of Uriel Marsh and Mary Rebecca. He was born December 1844 in West Virginia, and died 01 March 1908.

 

She possibly died in Morgantown, where she was living with her daughter, Phoebe, in 1920, age 66 years, widow.

 

Eli was a representative from Harrison County to the House of Delegates 1877-’79.

He was an insurance agent and president of West Virginia University.

 

“In March, 1844, Mary Rebecca became the wife of Uriel M. Turner, a lawyer, of Culpepper county, Virginia, who practiced his profession at Clarksburg after their marriage; and the one child of this union was the late Prof. Eli Marsh Turner, of the Morgantown University, who died on March l, 1908, at the age of sixty-four years, leaving a wife, (nee Miss H. Georgia Jackson, of Newark, Ohio) and four children; viz., Mary R., Phoebe, James J., and Wirt M. Turner, all of Morgantown.”

 

Children of Hetty Jackson and Eli Turner are:

+      38               i.    Mary Rebecca⁶ Turner, born 30 June 1884 in Morgantown, West Virginia; died 18 January 1961 in Murfeesboro, Tennessee.

39              ii.    James J. Turner, born about March 1886 in West Virginia.

40             iii.    Mallory Wirt Turner, born about March 1886 in West Virginia.

+      41             iv.    Phoebe Ann Turner, born about March 1886 in Morgantown, West Virginia.

 

12.Benjamin Wilson⁵ Jackson (James Taylor⁴, George Washington³, George², John¹) was born about 1855 in West Virginia. He married Corrinne Reynolds.

 

Child of Benjamin Jackson and Corrinne Reynolds is:

42               i.    George Reynolds⁶ Jackson, born 15 October 1890 in Harrison County, West Virginia. George was at Chateau Thiery, St. Mihiel as Lt. U. S. Marines; made Capt. was gassed; awarded Crois de Guerre; was lawyer in New York; died single.

 

13.Mary⁵ Jackson (James Taylor⁴, George Washington³, George², John¹) was born about 1857 in Lewis County, West Virginia.

 

Child of Mary Jackson is:

43               i.    Henry Turner⁶ Jackson.

 

18.Hetta Jackson⁵ Butcher (Catherine⁴ Jackson, George Washington³, George², John¹) was born 1853 in Lewis County, West Virginia, and died 1905. She married Hugh Bankhead. He was born 1850. In 1880 she is living with her mother in Weston, WV, with the boys..no husband listed, but she is listed as married. The boys ended up in Topeka, Kansas at a later date.

 

Children of Hetta Butcher and Hugh Bankhead are:

44               i.    Russell⁶ Bankhead, born about 1877 in West Virginia.

45              ii.    Cecil Bankhead, born about 1878 in West Virginia.

46             iii.    Marguerite “Reta” Bankhead, born in Augusta, Kansas. She married Edward A. Vandeventer. He was a prominent newspaper man in Salt Lake City, Utah.

 

20.Belle T.⁵ Butcher (Catherine⁴ Jackson, George Washington³, George², John¹) was born December 1861 in Lewis County, West Virginia, and died Aft. 1924 in Probably Washington DC. She married James E. Hurley about 1884. He was born June 1868 in Iowa, and died 1921.

 

He was general manager of Atchison, Topeka, Santa Fe RR; lived Topeka, KS and also lived in Utah.

***

Washington Post, Washington, DC. December 16, 1921: Estate of James E. Hurley, letters of administration granted to Belle B. Hurley bond. $1000.

3 December 1921 – estate of James E. Hurley, permission to sell business.

 

Children of Belle Butcher and James Hurley are:

47               i.    Harlow⁶ Hurley, born 17 June 1889 in Kansas.

In 1910 he was a roomer in Topeka, Kansas

48              ii.    Hildegarde Hurley, born July 1893 in Iowa.

She was part of Society in Washington DC and is mentioned in several newspaper articles attending affairs and bridge parties. She was a member of the Stonewall Jackson Chapter 20 United Daughters of the Confederacy and Capt. Mollie Pitcher Chapter D. A. R.

 

24.Margaret “Maggie”⁵ Hurley (Eliza J. “Lida”⁴ Jackson, George Washington³, George², John¹). She married Charles P. Moore.

 

Children of Margaret Hurley and Charles Moore are:

49               i.    Thomas G.⁶ Moore.

Residence Florida in 1958; retired, married twice, no issue.

50              ii.    Margaret Moore.

Res. Huntington, WV.

51             iii.    Amy Moore.

52             iv.    Mary Moore, Died single.

53              v.    Florence Moore, Died single.

 

25.Mary⁵ Hurley (Eliza J. “Lida”⁴ Jackson, George Washington³, George², John¹) She married Lacky.

 

Children of Mary Hurley and Lacky are:

54               i.    Mary⁶ Lacky.

55              ii.    Floride Lacky.

 

26.Ella Bennett⁵ Jackson (Alfred Henry⁴, George Washington³, George², John¹) was born 23 September 1859, and died 05 May 1904. Burial: Aft. 05 May 1904, Machpelah Cemetery, Lewis County, West Virginia

 

She married Dr. Matthew Jr. Edmiston about 1892. He was born about 20 December 1856 in Weston, Lewis County, West Virginia, and died 26 April 1894 in Weston, Lewis County, West Virginia. Burial: Aft. 26 April 1894, Machpelah Cemetery, Lewis County, West Virginia.

***

Obit:

April 28, 1894

Dr. Mat Edmiston Dead

 

One of the saddest deaths that has occurred in our midst for a long time was that of Dr. Matthew Edmiston on Thursday morning, at 8:40 o’clock, of heart failure resulting from typhoid fever.

 

In his untimely departure the end of his life came too soon. He had just entered upon a useful career and in the midst of a promising future was cut down. For several years he has held the position of assistant physician at the Hospital for the Insane, where he had so endeared himself to the employees that his death there is mourned not only by them, but by many inmates to whom he had administered so tenderly during his connection with that institution. He was peculiarly adapted to the sick room — kind, gentle and sympathizing. It would be difficult to pay such tribute to his memory as his professional life deserved. He was a physician by nature, possessing in addition all of the qualifications that thorough educational advantages could bestow. His life work had just begun.

 

On the 17th day of April 1890 he was united in marriage to Miss Ella Jackson, a daughter of Mrs. Mary B. Jackson, who was so long a matron at the Hospital. By their marriage one child, a beautiful bright boy, was born, who, together with its mother, survives him.

 

There is none perhaps more painfully prostrated by the severe blow than the aged mother of the deceased. To her and to the heart broken young widow, brothers and sister, the expressions of our people go out in sympathy. The interment will most likely take place this (Friday) afternoon.

 

Child of Ella Jackson and Matthew Edmiston is:

+      56               i.    Andrew ⁶ Edmiston, Jr. born 13 November 1892; died 28 August 1966 in Weston, Lewis County, West Virginia. The “Jr.” was given to distinguish him from his uncle.

 

27.May Paxton⁵ Jackson (Alfred Henry⁴, George Washington³, George², John¹) was born 1863 in Virginia. She married Blain Ward Taylor 13 February 1889 in Lexington, Virginia. He was born 15 December 1859 in Elkins, Randolph County, West Virginia. In 1900 they were living with his folks in Leadsville, Randolph County, WV.

***

Blain W., son of Andrew and Louise Dyer (Ward) Taylor, was born December 15, 1859, near Elkins, Virginia. He received his early education in the public and private schools of his native county, and began teaching in the public schools when only fourteen years of age. He graduated at the Fairmont State Normal School, one of the leading educational institutions of West Virginia, and was afterwards employed as a teacher in that school. He served during two sessions as a committee clerk in the West Virginia legislature when the question of education was under consideration, and was twice elected superintendent of the schools of Randolph county. In the year 1882 he was appointed to re-value the lands of Randolph, being assessor for the second assessment district, and continuing in office for a year, and was made chief clerk of the state department of West Virginia during Governor Fleming’s administration. In 1885 he was appointed clerk in the railway mail service between Baltimore and Grafton, West Virginia, on the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, and remained here during the years 1886 and 1888, being removed when Harrison became president of the country. In January, 1894, he was appointed chief clerk of the dead letter office at Washington, holding that position for nearly two years, and in September, 1895, he was promoted to the position of superintendent of the division of postoffice supplies. In January, 1897, he was promoted to the office of chief clerk of the postoffice department, holding this position for eight years, and resigning in order to enter the campaign in behalf of Henry Gassaway Davis, in which he had charge of a part of the state of West Virginia.

 

Mr. Taylor was secretary of the second district congressional committee during the campaign of Colonel Thomas B. Davis, and upon his election to congress accepted the offer of the position of private secretary, thereafter taking up the active practice of law. He received his degree of LL.B. and LL.M. at Columbian University, and during his senior year at the university he was unanimously elected chairman of the executive committee of his law class, one of the highest honors to be conferred. After having passed the bar examination in the District of Columbia, he was admitted to practice in all the courts of that jurisdiction, in the circuit court of Randolph county, and in the supreme court of the state. Mr. Taylor has been elected president of the Elkins board of education, which position he still holds, and has advanced the Elkins schools to first place in the state. He was appointed by Governor W. E. Glasscock, state delegate to the deep waterways commission, and in this capacity attended the meetings at Providence, Rhode Island, and Norfolk, Virginia. Since his graduation in 1907 with the degrees of LL.B. and LL.M. at Columbian University, Washington, now the George Washington University, he has been a member of the State and Randolph County. Bar associations. He is president of the Highland Park Development Company, at Elkins, and laid out the Taylor sub-division to the city of Elkins. He has had extensive dealings in real estate, is secretary and treasurer of the Elkins Manufacturing and Implement Company, and has other corporate business interests. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and has held chairs through encampment.

 

On February 13, 1889, he was married at Lexington, Virginia, to May Jackson, daughter of Colonel Alfred H. Jackson, of Weston, West Virginia, who was a major on Stonewall Jackson’s staff, a colonel of the Thirty-first Virginia Regiment, and was killed during the civil war at the battle of Slaughter Mountain; his wife, Mrs. Taylor’s mother, was Mary Blair Paxton. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor became the parents of the following children: 1. Mary Louise, a graduate of the western high school, Washington, D. C., and the Shepherd Normal College, at Shepherdstown, West Virginia; she is now a teacher in the Elkins schools. 2. Elizabeth Jackson, a graduate of Elkins high school and Shepherd College; also a teacher in the Elkins schools. 3. Beatrice Washington, died May 25, 1911, at the age of sixteen years. 4. May Jackson, now a student in the Elkins high school. 5. Jean Stuart, died at Mountain Lake Park, Maryland, aged three years.

 

Mrs. Taylor is regent of the Randolph Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, at Elkins, having been one of its organizers; she has also held the office of historian in the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor are members of the Presbyterian church, in the affairs of which Mrs. Taylor and her daughters are very active. West Virginia History, Vol. 3.

 

Children of May Jackson and Blain Taylor are:

57               i.    Mary Louise⁶ Taylor, born 1892 in West Virginia. She married Roy Fenton. She was a grad of Western High School, Washington, DC; Shepherd Normal College, Shepherdstown, WV; Teacher Elkins, WV schools.

58              ii.    Elizabeth Jackson Taylor, born 1894 in West Virginia. She was a grad of Elkins High School, and Shephard College and a teacher in Elkin school.

59             iii.    Beatrice Washington Taylor, born 1896 in Washington DC; died 29 May 1911.

60             iv.    May Jackson Taylor, born 1897 in Washington DC. She was single in 1920 living with her folks in Palm Beach, Florida.

61              v.    Jean Stuart Taylor, born 1899 in Washington DC; died about 1902 in Mountain State Lake Park, Maryland.

 

Generation No. 4

 

28.Margaret “Madge”⁶ Bennett (William George⁵, Margaret Elizabeth⁴ Jackson, George Washington³, George², John¹) was born 08 October 1874, and died 22 December 1940 in Hartford, Connecticut. Burial: Aft. 22 December 1940, Manchester, Connecticut. She is buried with the Cheney family. She married (1) Robert Crain 20 April 1898 in Lewis County, West Virginia. He was born 12 November 1865, and died 26 August 1928. She married (2) Lewis Richmond Cheney.

 

Children of Margaret Bennett and Robert Crain are:

62               i.    Robert⁷ Crain. He married Maxine.

+      63              ii.    William George Bennett⁷ Crain (Margaret “Madge”⁶ Bennett, William George⁵, Margaret Elizabeth⁴ Jackson, George Washington³, George², John¹) was born 20 June 1905, and died 09 November 1978 in Mt. Victoria, Maryland. He married (1) Hellen “Hetty” Young, daughter of Dr. Young. Hettie’s father is considered the “Father of Urology” and was Diamond Jim Brady and Woodrow Wilson’s doctor, started Brady Urilogical Institute at the John Hopkins Hospital and discovered mercurochrome (See http://urology.jhu.edu/about/young.php). They were divorced and Hellen married #2 Tommy King. Bennett and Heddy had a son Bennett Crain, Jr (b. 1 Oct 1930; d. 3 Sep 2006) and a daughter. William married #2 Eloise Miller and had one daughter. [Submitted by Elizabeth Crain, granddaughter of W. G. Bennett Crain.]

+      64             iii.    Eleanor Morgan Crain, born July 1910.

65             iv.    Margaret Bennett Crain, born 20 August 1914. She married (1) Vernon Pitroff. She married (2) Robert Downs.

She had two children: Peter and Amanda.

 

29.John Brannon⁶ Bennett (William George⁵, Margaret Elizabeth⁴ Jackson, George Washington³, George², John¹) was born 13 April 1873 in Weston, Lewis County, West Virginia, and died 26 November 1933 in Buckhannon, Upshur County, West Virginia. Burial: Aft. 23 November 1933, Masonic Cemetery, Weston, Lewis County, West He married Ethel Hayhurst. She was born 1888 in Braxton County, West Virginia, and died April 1931 in Walkersville, Lewis County, West Virginia². She died from injuries received in an accidental shooting near home in Walkersville.

 

Children of John Bennett and Ethel Hayhurst are:

+      66               i.    Jonathan McCauley⁷ Bennett, born 28 October 1910; died 24 November 1982 in Morgantown, West Virginia.

+      67              ii.    Margaret Jackson Bennett, born 05 July 1918 in Lewis County, West Virginia; died 1984.

+      68             iii.    George Brannon Bennett, born May 1919 in Lewis County, West Virginia.

 

30.Hunter McCauley⁶ Bennett (William George⁵, Margaret Elizabeth⁴ Jackson, George Washington³, George², John¹) was born 30 November 1876, and died 17 January 1962. Burial: Aft. 17 January 1962, Masonic Cemetery, Weston, Lewis County, West Virginia. He married Madge Hinzman 11 April 1925 in Lewis County, West Virginia, daughter of G. Hinzman and Avis Reger. She was born 04 April 1892 in Laura Lick Run, Lewis County, West Virginia, and died 16 October 1974. Burial: Aft. 16 October 1974, Masonic Cemetery, Weston, Lewis County, West Virginia

 

Children of Hunter Bennett and Madge Hinzman are:

+      69               i.    Living born 07 February 1926 in Weston, Lewis County, West Virginia.

+      70              ii.    Alice Lee Bennett, born 11 May 1927.

+      71             iii.    Mary Bland Bennett.

 

31.Bertha⁶ Bennett (William George⁵, Margaret Elizabeth⁴ Jackson, George Washington³, George², John¹) was born 02 February 1879 in Weston, Lewis County, West Virginia, and died 23 November 1982 in Weston, Lewis County, West Virginia. Burial: Aft. 23 November 1982, Machpelah Cemetery, Lewis County, West Virginia.

She married (1) T. T. Vandergrift.   She married (2) George Ira Keener.

 

Child of Bertha Bennett and T. Vandergrift is:

+      72               i.    Alice⁷ Vandergrift, born 03 December 1908; died 14 June 1979 in Jacksonville, Florida.

 

Child of Bertha Bennett and George Keener is:

73               i.    George I ⁷ Keener Jr..

Confusion with this child: he may be Joseph Keener who married Joan Trinkle and had a son Joseph. Lived Arlington, Texas.

 

34.Margaret⁶ Howell (Gertrude B.⁵ Bennett, Margaret Elizabeth⁴ Jackson, George Washington³, George², John¹) was born 17 September 1893 in Clarksburg, Harrison County, West Virginia, and died 26 August 1979 in Lakewood, Colorado. She married Samuel Wilson Caesar 30 April 1919. He was born about 1885 in Scotland.

 

He was a banker. He immigrated from Scotland, arriving at the port of Boston, on the ship Mumidian, from Glasgow, Scotland on 10 Oct 1911. They lived in Essex, Maplewood County, New Jersey in 1930.

 

Children of Margaret Howell and Samuel Caesar are:

74               i.    Gertrude Bennett⁷ Caesar, born 17 November 1921 in New York City, New York. She had diabetes from childhood.

+      75              ii.    Winifred H. Caesar, born 14 August 1924 in New York City, New York.

 

36.Agra⁶ Bennett (Louis⁵, Margaret Elizabeth⁴ Jackson, George Washington³, George², John¹) was born 09 April 1893 in Denver, Colorado, and died 13 January 1968 in Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia. She married Johnson Camden McKinley 14 April 1914 in Washington, DC, son of John McKinley and Amanda Camden. He was born 31 January 1877 in Parkersburg, Wood County, West Virginia, and died 09 July 1927 in Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia.

 

In August 1993, the Johnson Camden McKinley home was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The 1914 mansion was built for coal owner and operator, Johnson C. McKinley and is a fine example of early 20th century baronial architecture.

 

Willow Glen is located at 147 Bethany Pike, Wheeling, West Virginia.

 

A WEST VIRGINIA MANSION – NOW A MUSEUM

 

Editor’s Note: The following story was taken from “West Virginia Hillbilly”, September 6, 1969, p. 13. Refer to “Jackson Brigade”, Vol. 3 #4, August 1995 for more on Agra Bennett and Johnson McKinley. This family is from the George Jackson/Elizabeth Brake line.

 

A Job You Can Help Do for West Virginia

Make THE WEST VIRGINIA BOOK Possible

 

History Is Story of Families

 

A Reader Reports on the Weston Bennetts

 

Quite naturally, the history of West Virginia is the story of families. It is equally natural that the proposed encyclopedia will draw its material greatly from family history. One family which has intrigued the encyclopedia makers down the years has been the Bennett clan of Weston. For this purpose we asked a grandson of Agra Bennett to supply us with source material on this family. David B. McKinley of Willow Glen, Wheeling has obligingly submitted the following:

 

My biggest problem is where to begin. For this informal purpose I would like to start with my grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Johnson Camden McKinley of Wheeling. For his wife, the former Agra Bennett of Weston, he built what could be the largest private home in West Virginia – 48 rooms on an estate of nearly 100 acres. From there and the now Wheeling Steel Building he managed 11 coal companies, a street car terminal, and an ice plant before his sudden death in 1927. His wife, Agra (after the town of Agra, India) continued living in the mansion up until the time of her death in 1968. Since then the home has become a museum, but that story is to come late.

 

In fact the town of McKinleyville near Wellsburg was named for my grandfather and his local coal operations.

*                      *                      *

Agra led an adventurous and carefree life. She became one of the leading hostesses of the Wheeling society – introducing Fred Waring to the area many years ago. Some of the parties she and her husband had are still remembered by visitors now of the museum. South America was as familiar to her as Elm Grove in keeping with the “travel” blood of her mother and aunt, Sallie and Mary Maxwell of Wheeling. During the depression she ran a nursery in the attic of the mansion and wrote a column, “Reveries and Romance,” for the Wheeling newspaper.

 

Years ago, and now lost in time, she explained to me how Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis both were on the family tree.

 

Johnson C. McKinley’s grandfather, Captain John McKinley, was a Revolutionary soldier from Virginia in the 1770’s. For his efforts the Commonwealth of Virginia, after the war, granted the Captain 280 acres of land at the mouth of Wheeling Creek, or the site of the present downtown Wheeling! His uncle was Johnson Newlon Camden, whom you have mentioned in your newspapers. My grandmother once said that distantly he was related to Dolly Madison and William McKinley.

 

Agra McKinley came from a very interesting and philanthropic family in Weston. Her home there is now the library for the surrounding area.

*                      *                      *

…. Some of Jackson’s and Bennett’s furniture have been preserved and are on exhibit here.…. To continue, hopefully, to whet your appetite for West Virginians who did their share, I would like simply to mention some of the outstanding furniture that is here in the museum to enjoy. In the major room by room tour a visitor will find the following:

 

Library: Henry II and Jacobean Period chairs; Chinese Chippendale chairs; Italian Renaissance desk and global stand; Rare collections of books; 30” globe from early 1900’s; Jacobean fireplace.

 

Living Room: Italian Renaissance tables and gallery seat; Spanish Chippendale chairs and settee; Lord Salisbury’s fireplace; Japanese household shrine 1890; Sheraton half-round tables 1790; Victorian square grand and baby grand-player pianos; Italian bridal chest 1600’s; Japanese cabinet 1890; Flemish oak table 1617 period; Persian rug.

 

Dining Room: English Chippendale chairs; pre-Civil War table and buffets; Belgium lace curtains.

Front Hall: Italian Renaissance chest; Charles’ Lamb’s grandfather clock; Japanese warrior 1700’s.

Side Hall: Bennett’s pre-Civil War grandfather clock (wooden organ pipes).

Billard Room: Flemish buffet 1700; Spanish wine closet 1500’s; Flemish tapestry late 1600’s.

Master Bedroom: French bedroom suite (French government wedding present in 1914).

Jackson Room: Bed – wood from Stonewall’s boyhood home; File cabinet – Jonathan Bennett’s in Richmond during war.

Doll Room: Doll collection from 1890’s.

Bennett Room: Massive Victorian bedroom set from Weston home of Bennetts; Spool crib 1894; Private dining table – President and Mrs. Jefferson Davis’ in Richmond during Civil War.

Lafayette Room: Liberty rug 1918; Lafayette collection – Charleston, South Carolina’s gift to the general on his visit to America in 1826 (couch, bed, desk, tables).

Franklin Room: Buelle furniture from 1600’s, a gift of the French government; to Ambassador Benjamin Franklin when he was in Paris by appointment of George Washington.

 

As I said earlier, this is just a sampling of the collection that the families have added to the home over the years. Looking over the list of the furniture not included, I feel as though I failed to introduce an old friend. The furniture, the home, the family would welcome you and all other West Virginians as they have down through the years.

***

Johnson Camden McKinley:

 

The initiative and constructive powers which ever make for definite accomplishment and worthy success have been well exemplified in the career of Mr. Johnson C. McKinley, who is numbered among the alert and progressive young business men of Wheeling and who is a representative of one of the old and honored families of this section of the state, as may well be understood when it is stated that his great-grandfather, Captain John McKinley, received from the historic old commonwealth of Virginia the original grant of land on which is now situated the city of Wheeling, the patent to this property having been given him in recognition of his service as a patriotic soldier of the continental forces in the war of the revolution, in which he served as lieutenant and captain.

 

The family lineage is traced back to the McKinley clan of Scotland and the name became identified with the annals of American history in the early colonial epoch, when representatives of the same founded a home in the colony of Virginia.

 

Johnson Camden McKinley reverts with satisfaction to the fact that he can claim West Virginia as the place of his nativity, though at an early age his parents removed to Kansas, in which state he was reared almost to maturity. Mr. McKinley was born at Parkersburg, Wood county, West Virginia, and is a son of John S. and Amanda (Camden) McKinley, both of whom were born and reared in that part of Virginia that is now the state of West Virginia.

 

John Stringer McKinley continued to be identified with business interests at Parkersburg until he removed his family to Kansas–this change being made principally for the sake of securing a change of climate, by reason of his impaired health. In the Sunflower state he established his home at Wichita and Gueda Springs, and he became one of the prominent business men and honored and influential citizens of that section of the state, where he built up a large and prosperous enterprise as a buyer and shipper of grain and where he was called upon to serve in various offices of distinctive public trust. He continued to maintain his home in Kansas until his death, which occurred in 1898. John S. and Amanda (Camden) McKinley became the parents of four children, of whom Johnson C., of this review, and his sister Caroline reside in Wheeling, another daughter, Virginia, being the wife of Daniel Belford, of Andover, Kansas, and the other daughter died in Orlando, Florida, in 1904. The father was unswerving in his allegiance to the Democratic party, and, reared in its faith, the son likewise has accorded equally staunch support to the principles and policies for which the sterling old party stands sponsor.

 

As has already been noted, Johnson C. McKinley was a boy at the time of the family’s removal to Kansas, where he was reared almost to adult age and where he was afforded excellent educational advantages. In 1893 he returned to West Virginia and entered the employ of the Monongahela River Railroad & Coal Company. He thus identified himself with a line of industry in which it has been his to gain marked success and precedence in an individual way. He was made general agent and paymaster of the company noted and continued in its employ for a period of five years, at the expiration of which he severed his connection therewith and initiated an independent business in Wheeling, West Virginia, in 1898, by establishing an agency having sole control of the handling of the output of the Monongah Coal Company in Wheeling and its vicinity. In the summer of the same year Mr. McKinley became one of the organizers of the Highland Coal & Coke Company, which built up a prosperous business and which was finally absorbed by the Fairmont Coal Company. In 1899 he effected the organization of the Alexander Coal Company, and this corporation likewise was merged with the Fairmont Coal Company, on the first day of January, 1901. In October, 1900, Mr. McKinley organized the Wheeling Steam Coal Company, operating on the Terminal Railroad of the Pennsylvania lines in Ohio county, near the corporate limits of Wheeling.

 

The following coal companies were later organized by Mr. McKinley, to which he was elected president and general manager, and which offices are still held by him: Mound Coal Company, organized in 1902; Richland Coal Company, organized in 1903; Raven Coal Company, organized in 1905; Highland Coal Company, organized in 1906; and the Dorsey Coal Company, organized in 1908.

 

It will thus be seen that Mr. McKinley is confining his attention entirely to the coal business and has been very successful in his operations. He is held in high esteem in business and social circles in his native state, is a bachelor and resides in the city of Wheeling. West Virginia History, Vol. 3

***

 

Children of Agra Bennett and Johnson McKinley are:

76               i.    Agra⁷ McKinley, born 1916 in Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia. She married Edgar Kirk Thompson.

+      77              ii.    Johnson Bennett McKinley, born 21 September 1920 in Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia; died 18 October 1996 in Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia.

78             iii.    Louis Bennett McKinley, born 30 December 1923 in Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia. He died 11 November 1998 Dallas, Texas. He married June G. 09 June 1949 in Charleston, Kanawha County, West Virginia.Born 17 June 1924; died 31 October 2002 Florida.

 

38.Mary Rebecca⁶ Turner (Hetty Georgiana⁵ Jackson, James Taylor⁴, George Washington³, George², John¹) was born 30 June 1884 in Morgantown, West Virginia, and died 18 January 1961 in Murfeesboro, Tennessee. Burial: 19 January 1961, Evergreen Cemetery, Murfeesboro, Tennessee. She married Gordon Handy McCoy about 1909. He was born 15 July 1882 in Baltimore, Maryland, and died 07 January 1947 in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia. Burial: Aft. 07 January 1947, Bradenton, Florida.

***

Obit:

 

Died at 10 am. at Rutherford Hospital now Middle TN Medical Center. Occupation: Homemaker. Founder of PTA, Murfreesboro, Rutherford County, TN.

 

Religion: Presbyterian. She was said to be a member of the Society of the Daughters of American Revolution, and the United Daughters of the Confederacy (by way of her grandfather) in 1947 after Gordon Handy McCoy died. She was a 2nd Cousin twice removed of General “Stonewall” Jackson.

 

Children of Mary Turner and Gordon McCoy are:

79               i.    Marsh Turner⁷ McCoy, born 28 August 1910 in Morgantown, West Virginia; died 17 August 1986 in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Burial: Eastern Neck Wildlife Refuge on Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, USA . He was married four times and has living children.

Note: Cremated. Ashes spread in beloved country area.

 

Occupation: Attorney ; Education: American University – BA, Columbus Law School (now Catholic University of America Law School), Washington D.C. – Bachelor of Law 1938. Worked at the Library of Congress for a couple of years in the 1930’s. 24 years of Federal employment including Military and U.S. Civil Service.

 

Military Experience: WWII – Quartermaster Corp. Was known in War Time France shortly after arriving in Normandy (1944) as “Monsieur Cigar” (he smoked cigars at that time) for providing local populations with necessities.

 

Judge Advocate Generals Office: Prosecuter of War Crimes – of German Officers in Salsburg, Austria. Didn’t like the job.

 

After that assignment, he was assigned to aide the German Import/Export Office to get Germany back on it’s economic feet.

 

Later, as Judge Advocate U.S. Civil Service, he advised U.S. Generals on French Law.

 

Retired in 1964 and returned to USA with family.

 

In retirement, he worked as private/public/corporate attorney, substitute judge, accountant.

City Judge – Pigeon Forge, Tennessee (1975).

 

80              ii.     Edward McCoy, born 23 December 1915; died before30 May 1977 Falls Church, Virginia, cremated. Burial: 3 June 1977 Evergreen Cemetery, Murfreesboro, TN ;Occupation: Engineer? – U.S. Civil Service.

81             iii.    Douglas Grey McCoy, born 18 October 1917; died August 1978

Occupation: Vice President of Harris Paint, Company

 

Education: Gulf Coast Military Academy – Miss St. or LA State Univ. married Blanche b. 1920. Has living child.

 

41.Phoebe Ann⁶ Turner (Hetty Georgiana⁵ Jackson, James Taylor⁴, George Washington³, George², John¹) was born about March 1886 in Morgantown, West Virginia. She married Michael J. Malamphy. He was born 16 November 1883 in Maryland.

 

Member of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution Volume 72

 

page 239. Lived in Washington D. C.

 

Children of Phoebe Turner and Michael Malamphy are:

82               i.    Richard N.⁷ Malamphy, born 1911 in West Virginia.

83              ii.    Elizabeth C. Malamphy, born about 1915 in West Virginia.

84             iii.    Stanton or Thomas Jackson Malamphy, born about 1919 in West Virginia.

 

56.Andrew ⁶ EdmistonJr.(Ella Bennett⁵ Jackson, Alfred Henry⁴, George Washington³, George², John¹) was born 13 November 1892, and died 28 August 1966 in Weston, Lewis County, West Virginia. (The “Jr.” was placed on his name to distinguish him from his uncle. Burial: Aft. 28 August 1966, Machpelah Cemetery, Lewis County, West Virginia. He married (1) Elizabeth “Beth” Gage, daughter of Wesley Gage and Mary Evans. She was born 09 June 1914 in Oklahoma, and died 04 March 1991. She was from Sapulpa, Oklahoma, met Andrew in Washington, DC when she was working for Sen. Thomas of Oklahoma. Burial: Aft. 04 May 1991, Machpelah Cemetery, Lewis County, West Virginia. He married (2) Merle W. Williams³ 21 April 1920 in Clarksburg, Harrison County, West Virginia⁴, daughter of Thompson Williams and Olive Conway. She was born 27 January 1897 in Bristol, Harrison County, West Virginia, and died 21 December 1951. Burial: Aft. 21 December 1951, Machpelah Cemetery, Lewis County, West Virginia. They have a child and grandchildren.

 

Andrew had 6 terms in Congress. Officer WWI cited for “extraordinary heroism on the night of August 1 and 2 as a result of which he was awarded the distinguished Service Cross in 1923. Was 1st Commander of Weston Post #4, American Legion.

***

EDMISTON, Andrew, a Representative from West Virginia; born in Weston, Lewis County, W.Va., November 13, 1892; attended the Friends’ Select School, Washington, D.C., Kentucky Military Institute at Lyndon, and the University of West Virginia at Morgantown; engaged in agricultural pursuits 1915-1917 and in the manufacture of glass at Weston, W.Va., since 1925; served overseas as a second lieutenant with the Thirty-ninth Infantry, Fourth Division, 1917-1919; awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster, and the Distinguished Service Medal of West Virginia; editor of the Weston (W.Va.) Democrat 1920-1935; mayor of Weston, W.Va., 1924-1926; delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1928 and 1952; State chairman of the Democratic executive committee 1928-1932; elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-third Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Lynn S. Horner; reelected to the Seventy-fourth and to the three succeeding Congresses and served from November 28, 1933, to January 3, 1943; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1942 to the Seventy-eighth Congress; resumed his former business pursuits; appointed State director of War Manpower for West Virginia on June 28, 1943, and served until his resignation on June 30, 1945, to return to private business; died in Weston, W.Va., August 28, 1966; interment in Machpelah Cemetery. Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present

 

Generation No. 5

 

63.William George Bennett⁷ Crain (Margaret “Madge”⁶ Bennett, William George⁵, Margaret Elizabeth⁴ Jackson, George Washington³, George², John¹) was born 20 June 1905, and died 09 November 1978 in Mt. Victoria, Maryland. He married (1) Hellen “Hetty” Young, daughter of Dr. Young. Hettie’s father worked at John Hopkins hospital in Baltimore and discovered mercurochrome. They were divorced and Hellen married #2 Tommy King. Two Crain children. William married #2 Eloise Miller and had one daughter.

 

64.Eleanor Morgan⁷ Crain (Margaret “Madge”⁶ Bennett, William George⁵, Margaret Elizabeth⁴ Jackson, George Washington³, George², John¹) was born July 1910. She married Howard McPeck. Two children.

 

66.Jonathan McCauley⁷ Bennett (John Brannon⁶, William George⁵, Margaret Elizabeth⁴ Jackson, George Washington³, George², John¹) was born 28 October 1910, and died 24 November 1982 in Morgantown, West Virginia. Burial: Aft. 24 November 1982, Masonic Cemetery, Weston, Lewis County, West Virginia. He married Gladys Methany. She was born 1919. Burial: Masonic Cemetery, Weston, Lewis County, West Virginia

 

He died at his home “Imperial Woods”. Grad of the love Field Flight School, Dallas Texas, employed 30 years by WVU as flight instructor and then as manager of the aviation department. Two children and grandchildren.

 

67.Margaret Jackson⁷ Bennett (John Brannon⁶, William George⁵, Margaret Elizabeth⁴ Jackson, George Washington³, George², John¹) was born 05 July 1918 in Lewis County, West Virginia, and died 1984. Burial: 1984, Masonic Cemetery, Weston, Lewis County, West Virginia. She married Herman Lynn Warner. He was born 1919, and died 1974. Burial: 1974, Masonic Cemetery, Weston, Lewis County, West Virginia.

 

One child.

 

68.George Brannon⁷ Bennett (John Brannon⁶, William George⁵, Margaret Elizabeth⁴ Jackson, George Washington³, George², John¹) was born May 1919 in Lewis County, West Virginia. He married Mary Elizabeth Swecker. Six children.

 

72.Alice⁷ Vandergrift (Bertha⁶ Bennett, William George⁵, Margaret Elizabeth⁴ Jackson, George Washington³, George², John¹) was born 03 December 1908, and died 14 June 1979 in Jacksonville, Florida. She married Alton Augustus Register. She was married several times and has children.

 

77.Johnson Bennett⁷ McKinley (Agra⁶ Bennett, Louis⁵, Margaret Elizabeth⁴ Jackson, George Washington³, George², John¹) was born 21 September 1920 in Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia, and died 18 October 1996 in Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia. He married Millie Hamilton. Two children.

 

Endnotes

 

1. Lewis County Marriage Records, Bk2:116.

2. Weston Democrat, 24 April 1931.

3. Joan Williams of Colorado.

4. West Virginia Blue Book, p. 253, give marriage date to Merle.

 

 

Compiled and submitted by Linda B. Meyers, January 2007

Many thanks to Hunter M. Bennett for sharing his research on this family.

Submitted by Linda Meyers, January, 2007.

Page maintained by Dan Hyde, hyde at bucknell.edu Last update January 12, 2007