Individual Details

Note

Grandmother's maiden name was Newton, she married Sterme, had four youngsters -
Richard died, Ed & Jasper were twins, and Charity.

Note-shared

Who are the parents of Charity, William, Jasper and Edward Bennett?

Bennett children discussion, including information about their descendants

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Please send any corrections and updated info to:
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Sources compiled and analyzed by Jill Rigg Johnson.
Comments in red by Jill Rigg Johnson.


Children sometimes shown with either Bennett or Williams surname:
Charity Bennett, 1854
William Bennett, 1856
Jasper Bennett, 1858 (twin)
Edward Bennett, 1858 (twin)
Carrie Bennett, 1861

Additional children names in existence, but with no significant substantiation. I do not include these names with the family tree:
Charles A. Bennett, 1854
I think that the census taker made an error and wrote “Charles, male” instead of “Charity, female”.
The only place I have seen a source for this name is on the 1860 Census, Stark Co., IL. Every future census lists Charity in that birth order and year. There is no further mention of a Charles in documents or in family stories.
Richard Bennett (see Jessie Rigg Bosley correspondence below)
I think Jessie was referring to the son who is listed as Richard on the census.
Deak Bennett (see Eva Rigg Zinn correspondence below)
Deak sounds like a nickname, and may refer to the son who is listed as William on the census.
Tod Bennett (see Eva Rigg Zinn correspondence below)
I have not seen any additional reference to another son.

Parent options:
Unknown husband/father and Lucinda Sturm (b. 1836)
possible marriage about 1854
I think this is the most likely scenario.
Charles T. Bennett (b. 1839) and Lucinda Sturm (b. 1836)
Married March 6, 1860, Stark Co., IL
Charity, William, Jasper & Edward were all born before 1860
1860 Census, Stark Co., IL
Charles, age 21, Lucinda, age 24, and 4 children (named Bennett in census) are living right next to Lucinda's father, Nicholas Sturm.
William M. Williams (b. 1835) and Lucinda Sturm (b. 1836)
Married May 22, 1867, Bradford, Stark, IL
1870 Census, Jefferson, NE
William, Lucinda, 4 children previously named Bennett are now listed as Williams, plus the new baby, Elisabeth
This is the year the family moved to Nebraska to homestead.

Comments regarding parents:
It appears that Lucinda had a previous marriage about 1854, with Charity, William, Jasper, and Ed as children of that union.
Charles was only age 21 in 1860, which makes him an unlikely father for Charity, William, Jasper, and Edward.
Jessie Rigg Bosley mentions that the four children took on the name of Bennett, indicating a marriage before Bennett.
It appears that Lucinda and Charles only had one child together, Carrie Bennett. (see correspondence below.)
Charles abandoned Lucinda around 1861.
Lucinda was a single mother from about 1861 to 1867. She lived near several Sturm families.
Lucinda and William married in 1867, so the Bennett children are definitely not the result of that union, though they were raised in the Williams household.






Correspondence and interviews with grandchildren of Lucinda Sturm:

1962 letter from Jessie Rigg Bosley to Robert W. Rigg, Sr.
Jessie Rigg (b. 1891, daughter of Jessie Mary Williams and John Rigg, granddaughter of Lucinda Sturm and William Williams) personally knew the Bennett children (as adults) and Williams families. She resided in Denver, CO at the time of the letter:

Wm Morris Williams was born Oct 24, 1835 at Canton, Ill. In 1861 he enlisted in Company B 64 Ill Volunteers he was a member of the Yates Sharp Shooters.

May 22, 1867, he married Lucinda Newton Sterme Bennett at Bradford Ill to this union 6 children were born. He and his family came to Nebr. and homesteaded.

Grandmother's maiden name was Newton, she married Sterme, had four youngsters:
Richard died
Ed & Jasper were twins
and Charity.

Sterme died, she married Bennett. The kids took his name. They had one girl. He left grandma just before the Civil War and took the girl with him. Grandpa Williams met him in the war he was killed but asked that grandpa look in to see how grandma was making it he [Grandpa Williams] married her and drove west with the family. Aunt Leslie was born before they came west the rest were born at Hubbell, Nebr. (Chester when they first came out).

Comments:
I think Jessie confused the Newton name with Lucinda's step-mother, Sarah Snell Sturm Newton.
Lucinda's stepmother, Sarah Sturm Newton, was alive until 1903 so Jessie may have met her and presumed that Newton was Lucinda's maiden name.
“Richard died”
I have not seen any census record with the name Richard.
It's possible that the 4^th child is William (listed in 1860 and 1870 census) rather than Richard.
I cannot find further reference to William Bennett after 1870, and it may be that he died, and that Jessie's memory of his name was incorrect.
Lucinda may have married someone before Charles Bennett in 1860, as the 4 children were born before 1860.
Jessie's comment that “the kids took his name” may be true and indicate that Lucinda did indeed have a previous marriage, though I have not been able to find her name in any earlier marriage records in the region.
“He left grandma just before the Civil War and took the girl with him.”
This may refer to a new baby born to Lucinda and Charles.
Carrie Bennett, d. 1861, Caldwell Co., MO would fit this description. If so, she would have been born in Stark Co., IL, and been less than 1-year-old at death if she was conceived after their marriage.
There is a photo of the headstone on findagrave, but I cannot read the age.
William Williams (her Grandpa Williams) and Charles Bennett were in the same unit in the Civil War, Company B, 64^th Illinois Volunteer Infantry.
Jessie's story about William and Charles meeting in the war may be true.
“He was killed” has proven to not be true, as Charles went on to have two more marriages and several more children.
In the following segment, Jessie gives updates on the adult Bennett siblings and their descendants. Jessie knew them personally and corresponded with them.
Note, that she considered them aunt and uncle.

Jessie Rigg Bosley 1962 letter continued:

Ed Bennett md. Laura Aunt Laura lives here in Denver, is 94 years old.
Lulu Elizabeth Wright Denver, two children
Willa Denver
Jane Texas
Edna Gillen [or ?Tillen] La Junta, in a wheel chair
Millicent unmarried, died
Lesta Pettengil
Jake Denver and Granby
Hugh Bennett died
Carl Bennett died, two children

Jasper Bennett md. Cora (check with Eva [Zinn]), had 3 children, Cora is still in Idaho

Charity Bennett md. John Hahn
2 Boys
Allie Hahn md. Bert Bullock Sonora, Calif., no children
Rosa Hahn never married, is in Portland

Ed Bennett's wife Laura Hollingsworth, 94 yrs., 925 S. Leyden, Denver, CO

Alla Hahn Bullock, 88 yrs old, 327 Washington, Sonora, Calif.
1975 correspondence from Eva Rigg Zinn to Jill Rigg [Johnson], though the pages were prepared several years earlier.
Eva Rigg (b. 1911, daughter of Leslie Elizabeth Williams and Joseph Rigg, granddaughter of Lucinda Sturm and William Williams) personally knew the Bennett children (as adults) and Williams families. She resided in Grand Junction, CO at the time of the correspondence:


Lucinda Sturm (Bennett) Born March 29, 1836, Bradford Ill. Stark County
Died July 22, 1901 at Hubbell, Nebraska.
Lucinda Sturm was married on March 6, 1860, by Peter Sturm, her grandfather's brother, a Methodist Minister, to Charles T. Bennett.
She married the second time to William Morris Williams on May 22, 1867, Stark County, Illinois. They homesteaded at Hubbell in1870.

Lucinda Sturm married Mr. Bennett and the following children were born: Deak Bennett Charity Bennett Jasper Bennett Edward Bennett (Jasper and Edward were twins) Tod Bennett and a girl who Mr. Bennett took as a baby and went back east to live.

Charity Bennett married John Hahn and the following children were born:
Alla Hahn Rose Hahn Lester Hahn
Alla Hahn first married Guy Casey they were divorced and she married Bert C. Bullock. Her address of 1-1-62 is Sonora, California.

Rose Hahn first married a man by the name of Crosswaith. They were divorced and she remarried a newspaper man who works for the Oregon Journal. His name is E.L. Hill and their address of 1-1-62 is S.E. Carlton St., Portland, Oregon.

Lester Hahn passed away of TB.

Deak lived with Grandma [Lucinda Sturm] and Grandpa [William M. Williams] for a while and then went back to Illinois to live with the Bennetts. However Grandpa Williams raised Jasper, Ed, and Charity Bennett as his own.

Comments:
“Lucinda Sturm married Mr. Bennett and the following children were born”
The 1860 census shows that Charity, William, Jasper & Ed were all born before the marriage of Lucinda and Charles.
Charles is age 21 in 1860. It would be highly unusual for him to have had four children by then.
Lucinda is age 24 in 1860. It is reasonable for her to have had four children (including a set of twins) by that time.
This supports the idea that Lucinda had a marriage before Charles Bennett.
Deak Bennett
Could this be William Bennett as listed on the census?
Could this be Richard Bennett as named by Jessie Rigg Bosley correspondence? She indicated he had died, presumably without marriage.
Tod Bennett
I have not seen this name listed anywhere else.
“a girl who Mr. Bennett took as a baby and went back east to live.”
This fits the description of Carrie Bennett, who died in 1861 and was buried in Caldwell Co., MO.