Bluebonnet Country Genealogy

Archive for the ‘Surname Saturday’ Category

Joshua F Bennett (b. 1794 Kentucky) was my fraternal fourth great-grandfather. He and his family came to Texas before 1850, and were living in Travis County for the 1850 United States Federal Census. He is my “oldest” Texas ancestor, having arrived here the earliest (so far…).

According to Ancestry.com, the surname Bennett is English, derived from “the medieval personal name Benedict (Latin Benedictus meaning ‘blessed’). In the 12th century the Latin form of the name is found in England alongside versions derived from the Old French form Beneit, Benoit, which was common among the Normans.”

The Internet Surname Database provides the following information about surname Bennett:

This interesting surname derives from the medieval given name “Benedict”, from the Latin “Benedictus” meaning blessed. This personal name owed its popularity in the Middle Ages chiefly to St. Benedict (circa 480 – 550), who founded the Benedictine order of monks at Monte Cassino, and wrote a monastic rule that formed a model for all subsequent rules. There were many versions of the name throughout Europe, and in England in the 12th Century the Latin form of the name can be found alongside versions derived from the Old French forms “Beneit” and “Benoit”, which were popular among the Normans. The surname dates back to the early 13th Century (see below). London Church Records list the christening of Dennys Bennett on June 15th 1567 at St. Mary at Hill, and the christening of Thomas Bennit on December 1st 1583 at St. John’s, Hackney. One John Bennett was an early emigrant to the New World; he is recorded as sailing in the “Plaine Joan” from London in May 1635, bound for Virginia. A Coat of Arms granted to a Bennett family is silver, a chevron between three red lions’ heads erased. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Benet, which was dated 1208, in the “Charter Rolls of Durham”, during the reign of King John, known as “Lackland”, 1199 – 1216. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to “develop” often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

Most of my Bennetts were cattle ranchers, first in Texas, then in Wyoming in the early 20th century.

One Bennett brother, James Bennett, Jr, grandson of Joshua F Bennett, apparently was a “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” kinda guy, having killed a man in San Saba County, Texas ca 1880, then fleeing to Wyoming, where he robbed several banks there and in Montana and even Canada, and was eventually killed trying to rob a bank in Glendive, Montana.

A second grandson of Joshua F was Thomas Joshua Bennett, who became a physician and was elected as president of the Texas State Medical Association:

Those Bennett boys where certainly an interesting and colorful bunch!

I’ve been doing some maintenance around here. While I have a Flickr account for all my genealogy-related images, I’d really like them all to be housed here at my hosted account. I’ve tried to install a couple of “photo album” programs here, but I’m not really good at all the Geek-isms, so I haven’t been able to get that going.

Then I tried a couple of WordPress plugins, but I’m not happy with the look. But, I’ll keep working on that.

Next, I deleted my Graveyard Rabbits blog. Let’s face it folks: I just don’t have time to maintain it. I have posted to it twice since April. It’s gone.

I added a bit of window dressing to the right sidebar: Everyday Genealogy Fun! (our daily blogging themes).

Following Thomas’ and Randy’s leads, a few days ago I started a separate WordPress.com blog as a journal to post my daily genealogical activies. I think this is a great idea and hopefully will help me stay focused and productive. However, I deleted that blog and will post those daily activities here under the category of “daily journal”. Really trying to simplify things around here.

English: patronymic from Abel, which was a popular Middle English personal name. Compare Aplin.

“Appling.” Dictionary of American Family Names. Oxford University Press, 2006. Answers.com 02 Aug. 2009. http://www.answers.com/topic/appling-1

While the Applings are one of my more minor surnames (married into my major Stanley line), one Appling has been pretty interesting to me:

Dr Francis B Appling lived in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama during the Civil War and was loyal to the United States. Quite a dangerous position to take in Alabama at the time, I would think. I have several physician-ancestors from that time period, and all have served either as military surgeons or as civilian doctors contracted to treat sick or wounded soldiers. All except one: Francis B Appling. I have been able to find no evidence whatsoever of his involvement in the Civil War as a physician.

What is so interesting about Dr Appling is his legal fight with the Southern Claims Commission. His initial claim for the use of his mule by the United States Army, was for $150 and was disallowed in 1873. Dr Appling was apparently not impressed and in 1889 filed suit against the United States of America:

29 years after his original claim was filed (and almost 2 years after he died!), on 27 May 1902, Under the General Claims Appropriation Act (the Bowman and Tucker Acts), authorized by the Court of Claims, Francis B Appling was allowed $130.