Sunday’s Obituary is a daily blogging prompt used by many genealogy bloggers to help them post content on their sites. To participate in Sunday’s Obituary, bloggers post obituaries along with other information about that person. This is an ongoing series developed by Leslie Ann at Ancestors Live Here.
I recently went through the clippings my great-grandmother, Lillie Miller Bennett (Mama Lillie), kept. One was an undated clipping for an obituary for Mrs. Mittie Banks, aged 100. The obituary reads as follows:
“Mrs. Mittie Banks–Grantsboro–Funeral services for Mrs. Mittie Banks, 100, who died Saturday were conducted at 3:30 p.m. Sunday in Rock of Zion Free Will Baptist Church by the Rev. Jerry English. Burial was in the church cemetery. A native of Edwards, she is survived by three daughters, Mrs. J.R. Jones of Dover, Mrs. Will Sawyer of Alliance, and Mrs. DeWitt Mayo of New Bern; one son, B.D. Banks, Jr., of New Bern; 15 grandchildren; 43 great-grandchildren; and nine great-great grandchildren.”
That piqued my interest, as I wanted to know how Mama Lillie knew Mrs. Banks. That’s where another undated clipping she had helped me.
That clipping reads: “Mrs. Aramenta “Mittie” Bennett Banks, above, wife of the late Bryan Banks of Grantsboro, and a patient at the Neuse Forest Convalescent Home, will celebrate her 100th birthday anniversary Friday. Her daughters, Mrs. J.R. Jones, of Dover, Mrs. DeWitt May of Route 1, New Bern, and Mrs. Will Sawyer of Alliance, and a son, B.D. Banks of New Bern, will be present with her at the Convalescent Home for the occasion.
Mrs. Banks is the daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. William Thomas Bennett of the Aurora section of Beaufort County. She moved to Grantsboro in 1886 when she married Mr. Banks and live in the same home until entering the Convalescent Home two years ago. She has 15 grandchildren, 43 great-grandchildren and nine great-great grandchildren.”
I searched my records for William Thomas Bennett, but could find none. Then it dawned on me to check Wiley Thomas Bennett. Sure enough, Wiley Thomas Bennett had a daughter Aramenta, the youngest child in the family born in February 1867. Further searching indicated Mittie J. Bennett married Bryan D. Banks in Pamlico County at the home of Jesse Bennett, a Free Will Baptist minister, on 12 June 1887 [Pamlico County Marriage Register]. She died 17 June 1967, just months after celebrating her 100th birthday [Craven County Death Certificate, 17 June 1967]
Wiley Thomas Bennett was also the father of Jesse Thomas Bennett, the oldest child in the W.T. Bennett family born in March 1843. Jesse Thomas Bennett was the father of Eugene Henry Bennett, Mama Lillie’s first husband. So Mittie Banks turned out to be Mama Lillie’s aunt (by marriage).
Just remember to keep those clippings, just because it is a name you do not recognize, they may turn out to be family.