52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks (Week 3) – Lucenda Gentry

This is Week 3 of Amy Crow’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks blogging challenge to write about one ancestor a week for 2014. Amy highlights each weeks’ posts on her blog No Story Too Small every Wednesday.

This week I am writing about my third great-grandmother, Lucenda “Cindie” Gentry. The GENTRY surname is an interesting one to write about. Why? Because it seems like everyone has at least one or two Gentrys in their family. And chances are, they will tell you that their Gentrys all descend from the same immigrant ancestor - Nicholas Gentry.

I have no idea if my third great-grandmother, Lucenda Gentry descends from Nicholas Gentry or not. I’m not even sure what her father’s real name was! Was it William or was it Berry? Well, I’ll come back to that. First, let’s meet Lucenda.

Lucenda Gentry was born April 12th, 1868 in Tennessee [1] and died February 19th, 1905 in Garrett’s Bluff, Lamar Co., Texas [2]. She was the second oldest child born to Manerva Jane O’Neal and William T. Gentry. Well I'm pretty sure it was William T. Gentry. There is some confusion, though, because on the 1880 Scott Co., AR census report, the head of the house hold is listed as "Berry A. Gentry." Berry was actually the name of their first born son. This is the only time I've seen "Berry" mentioned as Manerva's husband or Lucenda's father. I think probably Manerva and William might have been separated at this time and someone in the house just used the oldest son Berry's name as a placeholder for the man of the house.

Manerva and William were married in Roane County, Tennessee on January 5th, 1865 [3]. Manerva was from Blount County and William was from neighboring Knox County. William had just returned home from the war. I am not sure why they went to Roane County to marry; unless it was to evade detection by Manerva’s mother who might have disapproved of the marriage because Manerva was only 14 years old (William was 25). Manerva’s mother had married young as well and was widowed by the time she was 25 years old.

William and Manerva did return to Blount County; however, things might not have gone as well as they had hoped as they were living with Manerva’s mother Lucinda O’Neal and her younger siblings only 5 years into their marriage [4]. By that time, my third great-grandmother Lucinda had been born along with her older brother Allen Berry.

But things got even worse for Lucenda’s family. By the mid 1880’s, Lucenda’s parents had gotten a divorce. Her mother Manerva moved with her brother Allen Berry and her youngest sister Mary Jane to Arkansas. Lucenda and her brothers William and James moved to Paris (Lamar County), Texas with their father who remarried to a woman named Nannie in 1886. Lucenda’s mother remarried as well to a man named George Wagoner in 1889 [5].

While in Texas, Lucenda met and married a farmer named Reuben Dennis in 1886. She was 18 years old. They had four children together: Wallace, Eva, Luther, and Willie. They lived in the small town of Garrett’s Bluff outside of Paris, Texas. According to the 1900 census reports, the children did not go to school, even though there was a school nearby; they were probably too busy tending the farm and working. Lucenda and Reuben were educated though, so they probably gave the children their lessons at home.

Lucenda was a member of the Chicota Baptist Church. Chicota was a small community about 15 miles east of Garrett’s Bluff. The family probably attended church service there every Sunday. Lucenda’s daughter Eva was my 2nd great-grandmother. Since Eva was the only other girl in the house, the two of them were very close. Eva spoke often of how her mother taught her how to cook, iron, and clean the house.

Unfortunately, Eva was left motherless at a young age. Her mother Lucenda died from pneumonia at the age of 36. Eva was 14 years old when her mother died. Her father, devastated, left the farm and moved the children to the “big city” of Paris to be near his brother Liberty. Reuben became a tax collector. Eva married to my 2nd great-grandfather, Barney Benson, who had lived next door to her family prior to their move to Paris.

I chose to write about Lucenda Gentry because very little was known about her. In the course of this writing, I was able to learn some more about her family and to fill in some of the gaps I had in my family tree. I realized that I do have a lot more research to conduct and I’m very much looking forward to it. I also made a connection with a new cousin I found on ancestry.com, but who also happened to be connected to another one of my cousins on Facebook. She is the one who has shared the photo of the Dennis family with me. If you have Gentry ancestors, please contact me so we can share information. I am very interested in learning more about my Gentry ancestors.

Photo of Cindy Gentry, Reuben Dennis and their children: 

Eva Mae Dennis, Wallace, Willie "L. C.," & Luther

Shared by my cousin Allison Hurst

Sources:

[1]  Jim Tipton, Find A Grave, Online database, (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 21 January 2014), User Input Bio and Headstone, Luecindie "Cindie" Gentry Dennis, Memorial No. 120766810, created by John and Ruth Clackler, 24 November 2013, citing Garrett's Bluff Cemetery, Garrett's Bluff, Lamar County, Texas, USA: Headstone reads: "Luecindie wife of Rubin Dennis, born 12 Apr 1868, died 19 Feb 1905." Biography includes place of birth as Tennessee and place of death as Garratt’s Bluff, Lamar Co., TX.

[2]  Ibid.

[3]  Ancestry.com, "Tennessee Marriages, 1851-1900," index, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 January 2014), M J O'Neill to W T Gentry; Roane County, Tennessee Marriages, 1851-1900. County court records located at Kingston, Tennessee or Family History Library microfilm #0560087-0560089: "M. J. O'Neal” married “W. T. Gentry," 5 Jan 1865 in Roane Co., TN.

[4]  1870 US Federal Census, Blount County, Tennessee, population schedule, District 4, Friendsville Post Office, Page 112A (stamped), Page 21 (penned), Dwelling 136, Family 137, Lucinda O'Neil; digital image, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : downloaded 20 January 2014); NARA Film M593, Roll 1515, FHL Film 553014.William and Minerva “Gerity” were enumerated in Lucinda O’Neill’s household.

[5]  Ancestry.com, "Arkansas County Marriages Index, 1837-1957," online database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 January 2014), Manerva Jane Gentry and G W Wagoner; Citing: "Arkansas County Marriages, 1838–1957." Index. FamilySearch, Salt Lake City, Utah, from Arkansas Courts of Common Pleas and County Clerks.; FHL film no. 1027124: married 5 Mar 1889, Scott Co., AR.

Tombstone Tuesday - Barney Benson & Eva Dennis

Dbl Headstone of Barney & Eva Benson at Duncan Municipal Cemetery in
Duncan, OK, taken by Audrey Calger, FAG contributer, 22 November 2013. 

Barney Benson and Eva Mae Dennis

They were my 2nd great-grandparents on my Mother's side. Eva Mae Dennis was born December 24th, 1889 in Paris, Texas to Reuben Dennis and Lucenda Gentry. Barney Benson was born February 19th, 1884 in Fort Smith, Arkansas to T. J. Benson and Lulu Bulllington. They met in Garrett's Bluff, Texas and married at the home of Barney's sister May Benson and brother-in-law Bert Wheeler in Boynton, Oklahoma in 1911. 

Eva and Barney lived mostly in Oklahoma where they raised 8 children, including my great-grandmother, Louise Benson. Barney worked in the oil fields and Eva stayed at home and raised the children. Unfortunately, their time together was cut short when Barney died suddenly from a heart attack while visiting with family in California in 1952. His remains were returned to Oklahoma and his wife Eva was buried beside him when she died 30 years later in 1983. 

Headstone of Barney S Benson at Duncan Municipal Cemetery in
Duncan, OK, taken by Audrey Calger, FAG contributer, 22 November 2013.

Headstone of Eva M Benson at Duncan Municipal Cemetery in
Duncan, OK, taken by Audrey Calger, FAG contributer, 22 November 2013.

Other posts you may enjoy:

1. The marriage License of Barney Benson's parents - TJ Benson and Lulu Bullington of Washington County, Mississippi
2. Headstone photo of TJ Benson and Lulu Bullington of Lamar County, Texas
3. Letter from Eva Benson
4. What's in a Name? - post about what really is TJ Benson's name

Keeping Track of My 2nd Great-Grandparents

I have 8 sets of 2^nd great-grandparents with a total of 16 individuals.

Paternal Line:

Set # 1: Claude Rual Smith (1896 - 1975) and Willie Harriet Riddle (1899 – 1985)

Set # 2: Fred Fox (1884 – 1974) and Melvina West (1882 – 1978)

Set # 3: John Milton Binns (1868 – 1961) and Perthinia “Pert” Eula Brooks (1873 – 1942)

Set # 4: Nathaniel Gustaves Hill (1873 – 1944) and Jessie Inez Barton (1875 – 1950)

Maternal Line:

Set # 1: Alvin Theodore Godwin (1879 – 1950) and Louella Davis (1882 – 1947)

Set # 2: William Edward Peters (1874 – 1948) and Dora King (1875 – 1912)

Set # 3: James Franklin Lasiter (1876 – 1968) and Rosalie Putman (1875 – 1961)

Set # 4: Barney Sheron Benson (1884 – 1952) and Eva Mae Dennis (1889 – 1983)

I was born in 1976. As you can see, two of my paternal 2^nd great-grandfathers died 1 or 2 years before I was born and 2 of my paternal 2^nd great-grandmothers lived to hold me in their arms (The obituary of one of my 2^nd great-grandmothers, Willie Harriet Riddle Smith, mentioned that she had 18 2^nd great-grandchildren!)

One of my maternal 2^nd great-grandmothers lived to hold me. I wasn’t the only one though. She had several other 2^nd great-grandchildren that she travelled around to visit with. Check out my 5-generation photos:

 Back Row: Sue Lasiter (my grandmother), Marilyn Godwin (my mother), Louise Benson Lasiter (my great-grandmother); Front: Eva Dennis Benson (my 2nd great-grandmother), Ginger R. Smith (me!). Taken March 1976, Fort Smith, Arkansas. From personal collection of Ginger R. Smith, inherited from Louise Lasiter. Copyright 2012. 

Back Row: Claude Rual Smith, Jr (my great-grandfather) and Willie Harriet Riddle Smith (my 2nd great-grandmother); Front: Tim D. Smith (my father), Ginger R. Smith (me), Darrel E. Smith (my grandfather). Taken 1976, Fort Smith, Arkansas. From personal collection of Ginger R. Smith, scanned from photo album of Barbara J. Smith, Copyright 2012. 

L to R: Reba Fox Smith (my great-grandmother), Ginger R. Smith (me),  Melvina West Fox (my 2nd great-grandmother), Tim D. Smith (my father), Darrel E. Smith. Taken March 1976, Fort Smith, Arkansas. From personal collection of Ginger R. Smith, scanned from photo album of Barbara J. Smith, Copyright 2012. 

Most all of my sets of 2^nd great-grandparents lived in Arkansas with the exception of the Bensons. I’m pretty lucky because the Arkansas death certificates started about 1914. I can actually probably take my ancestry back another generation to 3^rd or even 4^th great-grandparents just by using death certificate research!

As I said in my last post about requesting death certificates from the Arkansas Department of Health, it can become quite addicting and difficult to keep up with all of the requests and processing of incoming certificates. I try to space them out. I have employed the following two tables to help me with my research. They track my progress in securing and processing death certificates and obituaries. From looking at these tables I can see from a glance what I am missing.

From the tables I have filled out below, I can see that I have the obituaries and death certificates of 8 of my 16 great-grandparents. I am half way there! The obituaries I obtained either from family members or from various newspapers. My cousin, Doris Hamblin Smith, sent me copies of a bunch of Smith family obituaries in 2010 before she passed away.

In order to understand what the headers Scanned?, Transcribed?, FTF Notes?, and FTF Source? refer to, you must first know my genealogy work flow:

1.       Scan and save obituary and death certificate as a PDF, TIF, and JPG file

2.       Transcribe and save to Word document or Notepad File

3.       Copy the Transcript to the notes file for that person in my genealogy software

4.       Enter the Birth, Death, Burial, Occupation, Marital, etc facts into my genealogy software, including the parents' names

5.       Create a source and attach to the Facts (some call these "Events")

Nos. 3 and 4 are included under the FTF Notes heading in the table. FTF stands for “Family Tree File.”

As I collect more obituaries and death certificates, I can  update this table. I already know which death certificate I plan to order next – that of Rosalie Putman. However, since 6 of the remaining 8 died in Arkansas, I can go ahead and order them all at once.

Dora King died in 1912 in Missouri. I have not found a death record for her yet, probably because she died before deaths were required to be recorded. Family stories say she died of a snake bite. I might be able to find a death notice for her in a local newspaper. But I've found this to be difficult; or at least time consuming when you don't know the month and day. 

Barney Benson died while visiting his son in California. I have not yet ordered a death certificate from California, so this will be my first experience.

Obituary Resources
Name	Scanned?	Transcribed?	FTF Notes?	FTF Source?
Claude Smith Sr	yes	yes	yes	yes
Willie Riddle	yes	yes	yes	yes
Fred Fox	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Melvina West	No	No	No	No
John M Binns	No	No	No	No
Eula Brooks	No	No	No	No
Gus Hill	No	No	No	No
Jessie Barton	No	No	No	No
Alvin Godwin	No	No	No	No
Louella Davis	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
William E Peters	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Dora King	No	No	No	No
James F Lasiter	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Rosalie Putman	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Barney Benson	No	No	No	No
Eva Dennis	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Death Certificates
Name	Scanned?	Transcribed?	FTF Notes?	FTF Source?
Claude Smith Sr	yes	yes	yes	yes
Willie Riddle	No	No	No	No
Fred Fox	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Melvina West	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
John M Binns	No	No	No	No
Eula Brooks	No	No	No	No
Gus Hill	No	No	No	No
Jessie Barton	No	No	No	No
Alvin Godwin	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Louella Davis	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
William E Peters	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Dora King	No	No	No	No
James F Lasiter	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Rosalie Putman	No	No	No	No
Barney Benson	No	No	No	No
Eva Dennis	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

How do you stay organized? Does your genealogy work flow look like mine? If not, how does it differ? How is it similar? I’m looking forward to hearing how other people process the obituaries and death certificates they receive. 

SNGF - Matrilinial Madness

Randy Seaver has given us another Saturday Night Genealogy Fun mission and it goes like so:

1) List your matrilineal line - your mother, her mother, etc. back to the first identifiable mother. Note: this line is how your mitochondrial DNA was passed to you!
2) Tell us if you have had your mitochondrial DNA tested, and if so, which Haplogroup you are in.
3) Does this list spur you to find distant cousins that might share one of your matrilineal lines?

Here is mine:

1) My Matrilinial Line - I can only go back 6 generations including myself. The oldest direct female ancestor is Lucendy "Cindy" Gentry who was born April 12, 1868 in Tennessee and died February 19, 1905 in Lamar County, Texas.

1. Ginger R. Smith
2. Marilyn Godwin Smith
3. Sue C. Lasiter
4. Thelma Louise Benson
5. Eva Mae Dennis
6. Lucendy Gentry

2) I have had my mitochondrial DNA tested and I am in haplogroup H

3) Although I seem to have a good handle on what to do with my Family Finder autosomal DNA results, I have no clue what to do with my mtDNA results. Most of my autosomal matches have been for my Father's side of the family. I haven't been able to find any connections to my Mother's side of the family as of yet. I don't think this is very uncommon however because researching the females lines can oftentimes be very difficult.

Treasure Chest Thursday: Letter from Grandma

On March 15, 1963, Sue Lasiter Godwin received a birthday card in the mail from her maternal grandmother, Eva (Dennis) Benson. It was addressed to Sue at the home of her parents: "Mrs. Sue Godwin, 3720 Park Ave, Ft Smith, Ark." and the sender's address was "602 S. 2nd St., Marlow, Okla." It was postmarked "Marlow, Okla, Mar 12 1963" and had a 5 cent stamp on it.

The card was textured and slightly discolored, even though it had remained in the envelop for the past 47 years. The front cover displayed a nice flower bouquet and greeting of "For Granddaughter on Her Birthday." The back of the card displayed the card manufacturer to be Laurel Cards, Inc out of Waukegan, Illinois, USA.

Inside the card the left side boasts another smaller flower display and the right side with an inscription of the following: "A Birthday "Hello" To a girl who's so dear She's loved a whole lot Every day of the year! Happy Birthday." Sue's grandmother Eva added in her own hand, an address "To Sue" and "Loads of Love, Grandmother" with a small note at the bottom "over."

You might have guessed by now that this was one of those cards that was folded over and comprised a total of 8 pieces instead of just the 4 you see in most cards today. Grandmother Eva took advantage of this to add a letter to her card. She wrote the following:

Dear Sue - How are you and Marilyn getting along? Sure wish you send a line my way some time and give me your address. Hope to see you all sometimes this summer. Yet don't no what time but should real soon. Say Hi to your Bud & all rest for me tell Louise I love her. Also give me add & name Company you work for. Love you all. 

My Grandmother Sue was married to a Marine in 1956. She decided military life was not for her or her little girl, so they moved back home to Fort Smith, Arkansas. Her grandmother might have tried writing to her in the middle of all this when Sue had not yet settled down which is why she mailed her card to her parents' house. The "Louise" she told her to say hello to above is Sue's mother and Eva's daughter.

Eva Benson lived until 1983. In fact she was still around until I was 6 years old. You can see 5 generation pictures of us here. She had several grandchildren and great-grandchildren who lived near her in Oklahoma to keep her busy enough, but she still found time to come to Fort Smith to visit with my family. I was fortunate enough to connect with this part of my family in OK via email and Facebook, even though they are somewhat scattered throughout the world.