Jacob was a son of Preston C. and Sarah Ann Lucas Benson. I have seen his middle name spelled various ways, the most common being Higgonbotham. According to his WW1 draft registration card he was born Apr. 15, 1875 in Rockbridge Co., VA. According to his headstone, he died in that county on Jan. 25, 1949.Sarah Coffey was his first wife. She was the daughter of Alfred and Martha Ann Bradley [photo below] Coffey and was born Jan. 22, 1865 in Nelson Co., VA and died in Rockbridge Co. on Dec. 19, 1906.
From census records it appears that Jacob and Sarah only had two living children: Cornelia, born Dec., 1898 and Jacob Stuart, born c1906, both in Rockbridge Co. Given Sarah's death date and Jacob's apparent birth year, it appears that she may have died giving birth to him.
In about 1908 Jacob H. married Etta W., last name not known. Apparently no children were born to this union. They first appear together in the 1910 Rockbridge Co. census where they report a marriage of two years. Jacob was age 35 while "Eddie W." was 46 and had been married once before.
Jacob registered for the draft on Sep. 12, 1918 in Rockbridge Co. He was age 43 and reported his birthdate as Apr. 15, 1875. He worked as a farmer for Jas. W. Searly [?] near Brownsburg. He named "Mrs. Etter Benson" as his nearest relative and described himself as being of medium height and build with black hair and dark brown eyes.I have not located them in 1920, but in 1930 they were in the Walkers Creek district of Rockbridge Co. Jacob was 54 and Eddie [sic] was 76 years old. Stewart [sic], age 24 was living with them. He gave his occupation as laborer at odd jobs.
Alfred Coffey was a son of Garland G. and Nancy Coffey Coffey. Garland was a son of William and Betsy Giles Coffey while Nancy was the daughter of Reuben, brother to William, and his wife Nancy Giles, sister to Betsy.
Martha Ann Bradley was a daughter of William Franklin and Elizabeth Wood Bradley of Nelson Co.
Please contact me if you can add to or correct any of this information.
Photos courtesy of Connie Coffey Dorsey
1 comment:
Hi Jack,
Their Rockbridge Co. marriage license shows her as Eddie Brown, age 43, single, daughter of Wm.(?) & Frances Brown. Jacob is listed as 32 years old, laborer, widowed. Date of marriage July 15, 1907 in Lexington, VA, Chas. Manly, Baptist Minister officiated.
According to a message that I had from one of Jacob & Sarah's descendants, they think that she might have had a stroke or something of that nature, as she had complained of a severe headache the day that she died. She did not die from child birth.
By the way, I didn't contribute the photo of that lady. Is that supposed to be Eddie Brown Benson?
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