Bennett Family

The Bennett Branch

Bennett - Roberts Branch / Calhoun - Garnsey Branch /VanDyk - Jenkins Branch

(See also B.J. Hughes' Web site at: http://www.bjhughes.org/ for more information on the Thomas Bennett Family)

BENNETT DOCUMENTATION From BJ Hughes' Web site

BENNETT WILLS From BJ Hughes' Web site

The two men below are my great-grandfather, Golden Bransford Bennett (better known as Branch Bennett) and his son, my grand father, Marshall Jasper Bennett (also known as Three Finger Jake Bennett).

Bransford Bennett was a descendent of an English family that settled in the early colony of Jamestown and Isle of Wight, Virginia.

His son Marshall, in his younger years was a violent drunk who went to jail for knifing his own son.

Marshall's son Vestel was my father. He left our home in 1948 when I was three and I met up with him again 43 years later. In 1991 we met in Tennessee and I met three of his brothers and many of my cousins in and around central Tennessee. Growing up, all I knew was that my grand parents, uncles, aunts and cousins lived around Sparta, Tennessee when my mother met them in 1946.

The drawing of Branch Bennett was done by one of his grandsons. Along the side it says "Grandpa Branch Bennett." His 5th great-grandfather, Thomas Bennett arrived in Virginia Colony in 1621 or 1622 on the vessel Sea Flower.

Marshall Jasper Bennett (aka Three Finger Jake because he lost two fingers in an accident) tried to kill his son Ernest by cutting his throat. Ernest (my Uncle) was a preacher in Sparta, Tennessee and his Daddy (Marshall) got drunk one Sunday in the mid-1940's and was threatening people.

Uncle Ernest and his family were on the way to church when someone told them about the trouble. He drove to his Daddy's house and confronted the old man. My cousins, Ernest, Jr., Eugene and Dean were all in the back of the truck watching as Marshall whipped a razor sharp knife across his son's throat and yelled that he would "do what he damn well pleased" with no back talk from his boy. Uncle Ernest recovered from serious neck wounds and grandpa Marshall went to jail.

When I met my Uncle Ernest in 1991 I asked him if his Daddy ever apologized for cutting his throat? He said "No but I forgave him anyway because he was my Daddy."

I found my Bennett family almost by accident in 1990. A friend of mine heard me comment that I wondered about my Bennett family in Tennessee. I had thought about it but didn't know how to go about finding my Dad or his family. My friend had a friend in Tennessee and in one of those small world moments his friend said "I know a man named Bennett who lives in Sparta." The man he knew turned out to be my cousin and he remembered seeing me in 1946 when my parents visited Marshall and Janie Bennett in Sparta. He also happened to know where his Uncle Vestel (my Dad) was living at the time. They looked up his phone number and had it sent to me.

Dad wasn't very happy that I found him but my cousins were very happy about it. They opened their arms and hearts to me and we have spent many happy hours visiting since then. It was my great pleasure to meet and be embraced by three of my Dad's brothers before they died. Dad kept his distance from me and died in 1993.