The Bennett Family of Granville County, NC & their connections - LeMay, Walker, Mitchell

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Introduction

My interest in the Bennett families initially started when Mary Jane Bennett was identified as the first wife of my ancestor Dudley Snead Gooch (1804-1863) of Granville and Nash Counties, NC. Research on the Bennett family revealed numerous family connections between the Gooch family and the Bennett, Walker, and Mitchell families who lived along the Tar River. Research into this family was overshadowed by a pointed lack of family recollection on the Bennetts and their kin, despite their numerous connections and prominant ancestors. Women in the Gooch family applied for DAR membership on their Gooch ancestors who provided public service to the Revolution; however, they ignored their ancestor John Walker who was an officer in the War. A general vagueness to their Bennett ancestors, left many to believe there was a scandal here, but no one knew exactly what that entailed.

It is hardly possible for me to include here a comprehensive account of the Bennett, Walker, and Mitchell families and their relations in Granville County. Rather, I have focused on the Lewis Bennett family and tried to provide a brief outline of the research that I have conducted and that has been given to me.

My first incounter with the Bennett family was the two marriages into the Daniel & Nancey (Sneed) Gooch family of Tar River, Granville County, NC. Mary Ann "Polly" Bennett (1805/6-1848) and her sister Susan W. Bennett (1801/7-1968) married sons of Daniel Gooch. These women are the daughters of Charles & Martha (Walker) Bennett. In addition to the Bennett marriages, their cousin Lucy Ann Mitchell (1827-1904) married another Gooch son. Lucy is the daughter of Robert & Hannah (Walker) Mitchell. There is also a marriage bond between Amos Gooch (1802-1885) and Martha Knight, which family records indicate was a marriage that never took place or if it did, was short lived and without issue. Martha Knight is believed to be the daugther of Jonathan & Christiana (Bennett) Knight. Granville records futher show that the patriarch of the Bennett family, Lewis Bennett was a neighbor and friend of Joseph Gooch (c1732-1810); both men being the grandfathers of the people named above.

Lewis Bennett of Granville County

Lewis Bennett is the son of Richard and Anne Bennett who came to Granville County, NC from Virginia. An important source for the Bennett family history comes from Col. Peter Bennett, Lewis Bennett's brother who was active in Granville and Person County politics [ref: W.B. 1; pp. 268-269]. Col. Peter Bennett states in his Revolutionary War application that he married his wife, Elizabeth, in King William County, Virginia; pointing to King William as the Virginia County of origin for the Bennett family. Other researchers have pointed to Isle of Wright County and the settlement founded by Edward Bennett; however, there is no evidence of this link.

Lewis Bennett lived on the Tar River. He is taxed in the Knapp of Reed and Goshen Districts of Granville County [ref: Tax Records; 1801, N of R 879.5 acres & 5 slaves]. Lewis married first Mary LeMay and had three children:

  • Charles Bennett who married Martha Walker;
  • Christian U[ssay] who married Jonathan Knight;
  • Susannah who married first, Sion Kimball; secondly Thomas Yarborough.

    Lewis Bennett married secondly a widow, Ellender (nee Phillip) Bullock the daughter of Roger and Mary Phillips. Ellender had married first,
    Jeremiah Bullock, and had issue by Bullock. There is no evidence that Ellender and Lewis had children. Lewis' will suggests that he survived his only son, Charles, but mentions in his will Charles’ wife and children [ref: Granville W.B. 1826]. Lewis names in his papers, his “daughter” Martha Bennett, who was in fact his widowed daughter-in-law. Martha's three children Susan, Lewis, and Polly are all named in Lewis' will and are left slaves. Polly (Mary Jane) received a Negro girl, Milly.

    LeMay Family

    Mary (LeMay) Bennett is the daughter of Charles Sr. & Susanna (Turner) LeMay of New Kent County, VA. Mary and her family has been researched and identified by Mary Gregg of Austin, Texas who is my primary source for information on this line. Mary LeMay Bennett's birth is recorded in St. Peter's Parish records on the 19th of November 1752. The LeMay's lived in the part of New Kent which eventually became Hanover County. Charles LeMay died in Hanover before the 1780s, when his heirs moves to Mecklenburg and then finally to Granville County. The LeMays were probably of Huguenot origins. Texas researcher, Mary Griggs has located a deed in Louisa County, Virginia that show Charles selling land he inherited from his father Peter "May". Peter has been identified by Griggs as the same Peter May, named as a servant who brought suit against his Huguenot master in the Virginia Courts and was awarded land in New Kent County. Lewis Bennett is named as an heir and administrator in Susannah Turner LeMay's estates, when the estate is settled in Granville County.

    The John Walker family of Granville County, NC

    Martha Walker Bennett, is from a prominent family in Granville. The Holman Collection at the NC State Archives has numerous notes concerning this family and their connections. Granville records also hold many wills and deeds, which appear to clearly identify these individuals. Capt. John Walker is the patriarch of this Walker family in the Granville region and was a large landowner and an officer in the Revolution. Capt. John Walker is identified by researchers as the son of Thomas and Judith (Taylor) Walker of Craven county, North Carolina [ref: Inez McNabb]. Capt. John Walker married Susannah "Ann" Mitchell. John's son, Solomon Walker (Martha's father), was also a large landowner owning 2,000 acres in Granville County in 1788. Solomon Walker was the first husband of his cousin Martha Mitchell daughter of David and Hannah (Satterwhite) Mitchell. After Solomon's death, Martha remarried to William Pannill another prominent man in Granville county, whose surname is appears among the names of the Gooch children. The Mitchell family included Sheriffs and representatives of the county with origins from Lunenburg county, Virginia.

    Charles & Martha (Walker) Bennett

    The marriage of Charles Bennett and Martha Walker was announced in the "Raleigh Minerva" of Monday the 2nd of September 1805, which states that, "a few days ago, in Granville County, Mr. Charles L. Bennitt, to Miss Martha Walker, both of said county..." [ref: Neal, Lois S.; Abstracts... (1979); p.32]. Their marriage bond is dated the 14th of August 1805. The marriage date raises some questions as to their relationship before the marriage. The tombstone of thier daughter, Mary Jane "Polly" Gooch, states her birth as the 27th of January 1805; however the DAR record of Lornie Currin Tyree dates her birth as the 27th of January 1806. The records of Polly's sister Susan, who married Joseph Gooch, appears to be born out of wedlock as her own Bible gives her birth year in 1801, which is also quoted in the DAR papers of Lizzie Gooch Hardison [ref: Bible records, copy in NC State Library; DAR application #149404]. Upon seeing a Xerox of the original Gooch Bible record, it is unclear whether the year is 1801 or 1807. It is clear that the number was changed, either to correct a genuine error or to conceal the status of illegitimacy. Charles posted no bastard bond, that I have found, but there is evidence that Martha may have been unwed for the birth of at least one and maybe two of her children by Bennett. This might suggests that the two ran off together and later returned to Granville and married under pressure of their parents. It has been suggested that Martha Walker may have not been of age in 1800 when she first became pregnant. This is conjecture, since there is no known tombstone or Bible record for Martha Walker Bennett or any of the Bennetts of Granville County.

    The intimation of the turbulent beginings of Martha and Charles' marriage foreshadows events yet to come. The story that folds explains Charles' disappearance from the records and disappearance from collective memory of his Gooch descendants. In the William R. Perkins Library at Duke University, a letter has survived relating the murder of a man in Wilson County, TN. The victim's name is Hicks and he died at the hands of Charles Bennett [ref: Owens to Owens; Campbell Papers; 14 Oct 1816]. It is not clear why Charles Bennett was in Tennessee, though it seems likely that he deserted his wife at this point. A William K. Bennett is found in Wilson County and was later called to testify in the 1818 trial of Charles Bennett. Owen's letter does not mention that Charles is married with children, but clearly states that he is the son of Lewis of Granville County. The writer of the letter, John Owens Jr., is also a native of Granville County, who was apparently not aquatinted with the Bennetts, but recognized their name. The Owens appear to have been a wealthy family in Granville that intermarried with the Christmas, Amis and Gorden families. Owen's letter recounts that:

    "...there was a man very badly stabbed in this Place a week ago and at or about the same time we hear (not positive but generally believed) that Charles Bennett, we expect from Granville, in Willson killed a young man who came with him out form Gran=ville, whose name is stated was Hicks, from [near?] the Court house, it is a fact I suppose that [four?] per=son from that county as [were] killed and that it were by Bennett: he is now in Gaol at Lebanon. and I understand manifested considerable guilt when apprehended, and the circumstances are very strong against him; I expect he will be hanged but the trial will not take place untill March or April. I understand that he [Hicks] was staying a while with Bennett to rest himself and mare & that before he started he went with Hicks to a shop to get Hicks mair shod that she was wild and **ck and that when they returned B. proposed to H. to go to a [Brown's?] shop 4 or 5 miles off when there was a **ck in the [money;morning?] when they started B. took an old ax to have repaired they passed on and went a blind path through the cedars by a house both *** together and shortly after B. *** coming back on the mare that H. rode with the ax & *** his. it was 5 or 6 days before H. was found...it was generally understood that Hicks had money 2 or 3,000 dollars...I hear that Benett is a son of Lewis Bennett near the court house in Granville..."

    Wilson County records doe not survive to give us great detail of Bennett's trial; however the Circuit Court Minutes find Charles L. Bennett incarcerated in the Davidson County jail in 1817, for murder. Bennett was apparently tried in 1818, when William K. Bennett & his wife Sarah, William Walker Jr., William Robb, Richard Henderson, and Humphrey Donaldson were called to testify in the case of State vs. Charles L. Bennett [re: Wilson Co. Rec.; Circuit Court Minutes]. Unfortunately, the outcome of the trial is not recorded in the Minutes; however, it appears to be clear that Bennett never returned to Granville. The list of persons called to testify were some of the most prominent and politically powerful families in Tennessee, suggesting that it is unlikely Bennett ever hanged. There is no evidence he returned to Granville or stayed in Tennessee, but disappeared probably to the West. Henderson was the Granville land speculator, or a descendant of the man, who first tried to colonize Tennessee with the Transylvania Company, but had to settle for 200,000 acres. Robb and Donaldson are both names of politically influential families. Donaldson is the maiden name of Andrew Jackson's wife. The scandal may have initially effected his daughter's marriage status; however both his daughters married well. Mary Jane married in her 30s and her sister Susan married at age 25, a year after she receives the inheritance of her grandfather giving her property. Both at ages past the average marriage age.

    Martha (Walker) Bennett does not remarry and no court records are found in Granville that mention guardianship of the children or mentioning any property that Charles Bennett owned. The only deed found concerning Martha is a deed in 1850 to her nephew James A. Russell, who she gives 190 acres, a slave Dolly, and Dolly's two children John and Edmund [ref: DB 16, pg. 136; 06 Dec 1850]. Martha deeds this property to Russell for the token sum of $5.00, probably in exchange for support she may have received from him in her old age. Martha Bennett does appear in Granville Tax records as late as 1858, when she is taxed in the Knapp of Reeds district on 216 acres worth $540.00 on the Tar River. This is certainly a portion of Lewis Bennett's estate. Evidence of Martha surviving into the 1850s would mean that Dudley S. Gooch's children would have known their grandmother well and would have known their Bennett-Walker background.

    Hannah (Walker) Russell Mitchell

    The Bennett-Walker union was not the only marital trouble in the Walker family. Martha's sister Hannah seems to have had a distressing second marriage, involving another family closely linked to the Gooch family. Hannah Walker married first, John C. Russell whose farm bordered the Gooch plantation on North Fork Creek. Russell died in 1814 leaving Hannah a wealthy widow. Hannah's second husband was her maternal first cousin Robert, a son of Elijah Mitchell. Elijah Mitchell had been a Sheriff of Granville County. It is said that Robert spent the Russell's money and then deserted her [ref: Holman Collection (Raleigh) & Hays Collection (Oxford)]. Hannah eventually, filed for divorce, upon charges of desertion and was awarded, but she appears to have never remarried. Martha and Hannah Walker's lives show the difficulty woman had, even with wealth and position.

    Lewis Bennett Jr.

    The Bennett name resurfaces in Gooch family matters, when Dudley Snead Gooch's brother Amos, is involved in a court case against "Hancock and Bennett" over a shady tobacco shipment. Amos' estate papers show that in the 1870s he spent hundreds of dollars over several years in court trying to regain his money. This Bennett may be Mary Jane's only brother Lewis, who left records in Granville County indicating financial problems. Lewis left debts to Dudley Gooch's estate which were deemed unlikely to be collected. The name Lewis Bennett is found off and on in the Granville records, though it is possible that there were more than one by this name. There is at least two bastards bonds naming his children in Granville. In March of 1832 Lewis Bennett is named on a bastardy bond concerning Lucy Parrish; no marriage bond between the two has been found. In 1851, there are two bastardy bonds naming Lewis in connection with the child of Louisa Melton; again there is no indication that he married Melton. A 1864 marriage bond of Lewis Bennett to Margaret Lawson may indicate his marriage at this time.

    © 1999 mahard@jps.net