From Proud Heritage, Volume III by DCPA. This 352 page hardcover book is available online.
Enoch Noah Bennett was born 4 November 1854 in Dallas County, to Sarah Dougan (Bennett) and Hiram Bennett. He was the fourth child of his mother and the fourteenth child of his father. When he was about ten years old, his family moved to White River Township, Washington County, Arkansas, which was about ten miles southeast of Fayetteville. Among the closest neighbors were the Vinzant family: mother, father, and six daughters.
Jehu Milton Vanzant/Vinzant, born in 1825 in Tennessee, probably McMinn County, was the son of Jacob and Elizabeth Vanzant, both born about 1790 in North Carolina. They were residing in Carroll County, Arkansas in the 1860s. Sarah (Paris) Vanzant was the daughter of Dorcas (Pickens) and William M. Paris. Her mother was the daughter of Dorcas (Hallum) and Robert Pickens (captain in the Revolutionary War and cousin of General Andrew Pickens). Her father was the son of Elitha (Payne) and Henry Paris.
Jehu also owned land in Marion County, Arkansas, and died on one of his trips there in 1868. That left Sarah with six unmarried daughters to support.
Sarah’s sister and brother-in-law, Lucinda and John J. Payne, lived near her. (John’s grandfather was a brother to Sarah’s and Lucinda’s grandmother, Elitha.) Enoch’s older brother, Solomon Monroe, married Elvy Narcissus Payne, daughter of Lucinda and John. The three families were close, both as family and as neighbors.
Enoch married the third Vanzant daughter, Mary Ann, on 23 September 1872, about five weeks before his eighteenth birthday. Mary Ann was born on 8 January 1854 in McMinn County, Tennessee. Their only child, William Paris, was born on 27 January 1874, and Mary Ann died on January 30th. Sarah took the infant grandson and raised him.
Two years later, on 12 March 1876, Enoch married Jane, the fifth Vanzant daughter, who was born in 1858 in Washington County, Arkansas. Their only child, Jehu Milton, was born on 17 January 1877 in Washington County and Jane died a few days after his birth.
William “Willy” told his granddaughter that his father had proposed to a third sister, who promptly told Enoch that she wouldn’t marry him if he were goldplated and studded with rubies. Enoch took his son, “Mit,” and moved to Franklin County, Arkansas, and returned to Dallas County after 1880. “Willy” remained with Sarah in Washington County.
Enoch married Rachel Josephine Beckner, daughter of Rachel Brooks and Benjamin Beckner, in Dallas County on 29 June 1883. Rachel was born in Dallas County on 13 March 1857. Rachel and Enoch had no children.
Enoch lived close to his brothers in Mesquite. “Willy” remained with his grandmother until her death 7 December 1889, when he returned to Dallas and lived with his father, stepmother, and brother.
“Willy” married Hattie Middleton on 13 January 1901 in Dallas County. She was born on 24 August 1883 in Rylie, Dallas County, the daughter of Lovenia Johnson and George Albert Middleton. They had five children, all deceased. Hattie died on 17 October 1951 in Dallas County and “Willy” died on 13 January 1962 in Collin County. Parents and four of the children are buried in Bennett Cemetery, now part of Laurel Oaks Memorial Park. One child is buried in Oak Grove Cemetery.
Jehu Milton Bennett married Mamie S. Barrentine in January 1900 in Dallas County. She was born 20 October 1882 in Mississippi, Carroll County, since that is where her parents, Melissa J. George and J.D. Barrentine, were married.
“Mit” and Mamie Bennett had three children: Hiram Henry, Lorena Gertrude, and Iva Jane. Iva Jane (Bennett) Burch is the sole survivor of her family. Parents, Henry and Gertrude, are buried in Mesquite City Cemetery.
Enoch died on 1 November 1905 and is buried beside his parents in Old Bennett Cemetery. Rachel, his wife, married W.J. Hull and was widowed a second time.
This information was obtained from marriage records, Middleton and Bennett family Bibles, and interviews with William Paris Bennett, Henry and Gertrude Bennett, Marguerite (Guest) Middleton (sister-in-law of Hattie Bennett) and Iva Burch.
By Lynell Bennett Moss
