John W. Benney
Born 1793
Died
April 1, 1853
Aged
60 Years
Buried in
Smithland Cemetery. Tombstone photograph provided by David Boswell of
Livingston County. This tombstone is recorded in Livingston County, Kentucky Cemeteries 1738- 1976, compiled by the Livingston County, Kentucky Homemaker
Clubs in 1977, but had fallen and was
covered with dirt until uncovered in 2017.
John W.
Benney came to Livingston County from Graves County, Kentucky after 1841. He is
found on the 1840 and 1841 Graves County tax lists. In 1840, he owned land on Clarks River. He also appears on the 1840 Graves County
census with one male aged 15/19, one male age 40/49, 1 female under age 5 and
one female aged 20/29.
John W.
Benney shows up on Livingston County tax lists in 1848 - 1853 as the owner of land in Graves County. He does
not appear on the 1850 census in either Livingston County or Graves County.
On Monday, 2
May 1853, James T. Benney was granted letters of administration
on John W. Benney's estate with William Gordon as his surety on the
administrator's bond. Blount Hodge, Samuel A. Kingman and Sterling M. Barner,
or any two of them, were appointed to appraise the estate.[1]
The estate record provided the first clue to the occupation of John W. Benney. Among the items inventoried were 23 bedsteads, five bureaus and 21 Windsor
chairs,[2]
all items needed if one were operating an inn or hotel. My guess is that John W. Benney came to
Smithland to run a hotel, likely for someone else as he did not buy or sell
land in Livingston County. Because of the heavy traffic on the Ohio and
Cumberland Rivers at Smithland, there were several hotels during the 1850s.
Now, some
searching needs to be done to determine which hotel he operated. James T. Benney also remains a mystery. Was
he a son, or perhaps a brother, to John W. Benney? More work is needed to answer these
questions.
[1]
Livingston County, Kentucky Court Order Book L, p. 142.
[2]
Livingston County, Kentucky Inventory, Appraisement and Sale Book E
(1852-1859), p. 61, 4 May 1853.
Published 5 April 2018, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog, http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/
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