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April 9, 2011

Preston C. & Sarah Ann Lucas Benson

Notwithstanding the heat and the fact that we had to turn on the A/C today, I can tell that summer is upon us.  New blogs from those that I follow are few and far between and, genealogy related e-mails are down to nearly zero from as many as 20+ per day during the fall and winter.  Even my own urge to write has been suppressed and I've been reduced to  correcting syntax and spelling errors in my Edward Coffey Project file.  I'm forced today to write this blog just to keep in practice and, had to stretch my imagination a bit to hopefully come up with something of interest.




Abraham Lucas had a daughter named Sarah Ann "Sallie" Lucas, born c1840 in VA.  I believe she is buried in Newport, Augusta Co., VA at the Mount Hermon Lutheran Church Cemetery, but have no confirmation of that.

She married twice.  Her first was to Andrew Lucas in Rockbridge Co. on Oct. 1, 1860 and, on July 14, 1864 to Preston C. Benson, also in Rockbridge Co.*  Benson was born on Jan. 15, 1838 in Rockbridge Co. and died Sep. 17, 1908 in VA.  He was also buried at Mount Herman.  Andrew Lucas appears to have died young, probably in the Civil War.  I have found no children for them.

Sally and Preston had at least 10 children, three (at least) of which married into the Coffey family.

Their first child was James Franklin, born Mar. 5, 1865, died Sep. 14, 1939.  He was followed by John William, born in 1866.  John married Lucy Rebecca Berry of Augusta Co. on Mar. 21, 1888 in Middlebrook, Augusta Co.*

The first of Preston and Sallie's children to marry a Coffey was Henry Jackson, born Jan. 1, 1869 in Rockbridge Co.  He married Mary Frances "Molly" Coffey, the daughter of Alfred James and Martha Ann Bradley Coffey.  Molly was born Apr. 6, 1872 in Nelson Co., and died in 1949.  She and Henry were married on Mar. 29, 1893 in Rockbridge Co.*

Robert Lee followed brother Henry into the Coffey clan when he married Molly's sister, Martha Beveridge Coffey on Oct. 4, 1893 in Rockbridge Co.*  Martha was born c1879 in Nelson Co.

Child number five was Jasper A. "Newton," born c1873.  He was followed by Jacob Higgonbotham, born Apr. 15, 1875, died Jan. 25, 1949, both events in Rockbridge Co.  He married another sister to Molly and Martha.  She was Sarah Elizabeth "Sally", born Jan. 22, 1865 in Nelson Co., died Dec. 19, 1906 in Rockbridge Co.  That marriage occurred on Nov. 24, 1897 in Rockbridge Co.*

Jacob and Sally had at least two children:  Cornelia, born Dec., 1898 and, Jacob Stuart, born c1906, both in Rockbridge Co.

The last three children of Preston and Sally - known to me - were Lucinda Ann, born 1877; Marshall "Morris," botn 1881 and Maggie Bell, born 1885.  I have found no other information on them.

There was one other child whose birth order is not known.  He was Dan "Dap" Benson.  Like the last three, I have found no other information on him.




I wonder if anyone has made a study of the real naming conventions amongst our ancestors?  I know that some followed the tradition of naming the first son after the paternal grandfather and, the first daughter after paternal grandmother.  Other sons and daughters were given names to similarly honor maternal grandparents.  But really!  Do you think parents did not know that there were already a few dozen of their neighbors with daughters named Sarah Elizabeth, Martha and Mary, each nicknamed Sally, Polly or Molly?  What do you supposed followed when mother leaned out the kitchen window and yelled:  "Molly, dinner's ready!"

The boys did not fare much better, if at all.  Of course, there was the occasional Salathiel, Saylor, Rutherford, Wetzel, Harrison and such.  But, any researcher knows there were more boys named James and Edward than there were named Saylor.

One day I'm going to count all the James' and Edwards.  That will be a big number!

Happy summer, yaw'll!








*Virginia Marriages, 1785-1940

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Jack,
Imagine my surprise when I checked your blog for the first time in a long time, to see the names of my great, great-grandparents, not on my Coffey side, but on my Benson side. Anyway, since there it was, right in front of me, I thought I'd make a couple of comments. "Sallie" Lucas Benson is indeed buried in the Mount Hermon Cemetery at Newport in southern Augusta County. Her first husband, Andrew did die early in the War Between the States, I believe at Camp Greenbrier. Sarah died Dec. 8, 1915. Her headstone shows that she was 72 years old, however, in her Confederate widow's pension application, she stated that she had no record of her birth, but thought she was about 65. If I'm reading it correctly, that application was made March 3, 1909.
Before marrying Jacob Higgonbotham, Sarah Coffey had been married to and divorced from an Allen (I have that info somewhere!).
And good ole Dap isn't just a mystery to you! I have found no record of him other than that he is buried in an unmarked grave, as are his unnamed wife and son, at McElwee Chapel near Rockbridge Baths in Rockbridge County.
Talk to ya later!
Connie