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- The Bennett Family of Granville County, NC & their connections - LeMay, Walker, Mitchell
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Farm/4162/bennett.html
mahard@jps.net
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 suggest 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 tombstoneor 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 Granville, whose name is stated was Hicks, from [near?] the Court house, it is a fact I suppose that [four?] person 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 do 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.
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