Saturday, May 4, 2013

Family Tree "Oopses"


Greetings and Happy Cinco de Mayo tomorrow!
Sarah Dawson
Benight's Headstone

My Bennight line currently ends with William (1795) and Sarah Bennight (1804), both born in South Carolina. Other than their children’s names, that is all we know about them. A few years ago my brother found a marriage record for William D. Bennight and Sarah Jane Dawson, married November 11, 1866, and we were so excited!

In my "on-again-off-again way," I started researching this family more to see what else I could discover. It didn’t take long to notice that if this was the marriage record for our William and Sarah, a few things weren’t lining up quite right. For example, they would have been 71 and 62 years old when they got married. Hmm, this was going to require some more digging. 

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

A Family Tree Chart

Hi there, 
Elizabeth Jane (Lizzie) McCormick Cox was quite a remarkable woman. I’m proud to call her my great-grandmother. I’ve posted pictures (here) and articles (here) about her in the past. 

Today, I took a few minutes to make up this chart using my Legacy Charting software. It shows Lizzie's ancestors at the top and works its way down through the family tree to her name at the bottom. This chart goes back to 1704, Robert Hudnall. The Hudnall family has actually been traced back to the mid 1500s in England by other genealogists, so this chart includes a lot of their work, as well as some of my own. 

Friday, March 15, 2013

One Choctaw Mystery Solved

Mosholatubbee, painted by George Catlin

Hi everybody!

I hope you're having a great day, I sure am. I finally figured out how I'm related to Chief Mushulatubbee: According to Ancestry.com, he is the "great grandfather of the wife of my great grand uncle." Before you start comparing his face with mine, we're related by marriage (haha).  

It all started with this court case that involved some of my family members:

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

One More Generation, Please?


Hi there fellow genealogy seekers! If you have been doing this for a while, you have probably had the thrilling experience, like me, of finding the next generation back in your family tree. Such a rush, right? Genealogy nerd heaven! Especially after being "stuck" for a long time.

What follows is the information I have for the end of my Bennight line currently, William Bennight and his wife, Sarah. I've been trying to push through to the next generation for a long time, but so far, nada. 

Friday, February 15, 2013

Peter P. Bennight

Hi Dear Readers, How do you like this new look for Bennights Unite? 

There is quite a lot of information out there about this great-uncle of mine, including a few versions of his name: Peter Patchlin, Peter Pitchland. It seems obvious that he was named after the Choctaw Chief, Peter Pitchlynn. 

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Obituary, Tandy Kidd Cox


Hello, Here is my great-grandfather's obituary. I guess whoever transcribed it had some difficulty reading the full name, but one can see from reading it that it was Tandy because of the family members mentioned. Note that his marriage date was incorrect (should be Dec 25, 1887).

From a newspaper clipping, no date:
________COX PASSES AWAY

Mr. T. K. Cox, one of the best known and highly respected citizens of Chant died at his home in North Chant at 3 o'clock Nov. 17th.

Mr. Cox had been in ill health for some time and his death was not unexpected though very much regretted by his friends and neighbors whose numbers were limited only by his acquaintances.  Mr. Cox was born in Grandby, Missouri, May 19, 1857 and was therefore 51 years old the 19th of last May.  The principal part of his life was spent at Vesta, Ark.  He was married to Miss Lizzie McCormick on Christmas Day, 1897, at Vesta,  Miss McCormick being at that time postmistress of Vesta.

The family moved to Chant about the time the establishment of the Chant Post Office and Mrs. Cox was the first postmistress and in fact it was through her instrumentality that Chant was given a post office.  Mr. Cox was sworn in as assistant postmaster and it was during his service in this capacity that he contracted a severe cold that soon developed into lung trouble, which finally proved fatal.

Besides his host of friendships, he leaves his wife and two daughters, Misses Molly and Myrtle, to mourn his departure.  The funeral was held from the residence at 1:30 p.m., Reverand White assisted by Reverand Teeters having charge of the services.  At the grade, Reverand Teeters concluded the service.  The local undertakers, Moody and Craig, had charge of the funeral, which was the largest ever seen in Chant.      A. FRIEND

Friday, February 8, 2013

James Jerome Bennight


Greetings.  Here is the family of my g-grandfather's brother, Jerome.  I believe this is the same person mentioned in a petition to be included in the Dawes Roll, namely James J. Bennight. (See that post here.)

There are a few different versions of this family on Ancestry.com.