Bennie Hil, the Wiley Coyote, and his Family Tree

Letter from Wiley Benj. Hill, Jr.
Dated 25 Fewbruary 1966
Addressed to Mr. Albert L. Allen of
Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Dear Mr. Allen:

I am most grateful for the information sent.

Mr. Vogtle sent me many helpful clues, but the one vital bit of information was in your letter! I am looking for all of Benjamin Bennett's sons and daughters, so I am inclosing a family group sheet for you to fill out on Drury Bennett. All I had on him was from the 1850 & 1860 census of Lawrence Co. [Possibly you have all that, but if you don't, I will send it later].

Mr. Allen, even though you cannot devote as much time to genealogy as you would like...neither do I, but you are real close to the vital records, cemeteries, etc., where you could be obtaining a lot of real stepping stones along the path of your forebears.

Would like to strike a bargain with you. I have several microfilms of Lawrence Co., Marion, Lincoln, Covington, and a small but quite efficient reader. If you will furnish me with a pedigree chart which I have inclosed for you to fill out, I'll help you get started...before you retire!

IN return, I would appreciate your filling in all you know about the other brothers and sisters of Langston and Drury.

Do you by chance have a will or the administration of the estate of Drury? Or do you know where he died and is buried? Anything else regarding Benjamin's family. According to the standards of Drury's day, he was definitely well off! So he should have left a will, and it should be located in Lawrence Co., if that is where he died. He was not a survivor of Benjamin who died Feb. 1864, but he was on 1860 census. So he must have died between 1860-1864.

Will be glad to help you in any other way I can. I expect to come over there on nite of Saturday, 5th of March for the celebration of Robert Benton M. King, who is the son of Delilah Jane Bennett, one of Langston's daughter. He (Robert) will be 100 years...young! Since he is quite feeble, and not too well, I think they will have a quiet gathering at his home at 1842 Compress Ave., in Laurel, at the home of Emma Mae Barnes, his daughter. Robert Benton King's father was James Washington King and my he was my grandmother's brother.

I had better get this in the mail. Let me hear from you. With my best wishes to you and your wife and family, I am, Yours very truly, Wiley Benj. Hill, Jr.
[So, it would seem that the link to the Bennett family is more than that of one man's curiosity. I had always thought that my dad was just researching the Bennett's because of his grandmother's first husband who was killed in the Battle of Peachtree Creek--because of that incident, my dad's grandmother met up with his grandfather and hence, my dad came about].