The Bentons - The Later Years

A little before 1920, the Thomas Benton and John Benton families moved to Okmulgee, Oklahoma. In the years that followed, Thomas and Sally raised their children.

Shortly after they arrived, their oldest daughter Alice Mae married Lester Godwin, a doughboy recently returned from service in the American Expeditionary Force in France. They took up residence near his parents in Shawnee, Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma, and had four children.

Thelma married Hugh Mooney of Bristow and they had a child. Sadly, Thelma died at age 32 of tuberculosis.

William married and moved to Guthrie, Logan County, Oklahoma, and had a large family.

Mary married Alvin Tennison and returned to Cooke County, Texas, with him and raised a family.

Varney married Mary Alvirta Sanders and took up residence in Oklahoma City. They had no children.

During the 1930s, possibly in response to the Dust Bowl and Great Depression, the John Benton family moved to San Diego County, California. There the children married and started families of their own.

The Thomas Bentons enter the Age of the Automobile. Thomas (l.) operating the starter and Sallie (r.) with two of her grandchildren, Doris Godwin (l.) and Eunice Godwin (my mother)(r). ca. 1928

A mini family reunion. (l-r) Ephraim D. Kimble, son of Mary Elizabeth Benton by her first husband, his wife, Rebecca Jane, Sallie Scott Benton, Alice Benton Wells, and Thomas H. Benton. ca. 1930s.

The "missing" daughter of Francis Ren Benton, Leatha. She married the boy next door, Jess Bagby in 1914. The couple moved to the Okmulgee, Oklahoma area along with John & Thomas (her half brothers). Later the Bagbys returned to western Oklahoma, where Jess died in 1939. Leatha passed away in 1957 in Dumas in the Texas panhandle, where she lived with one of her daughters. Her remains were returned to Beckham County, Oklahoma for burial. Her brother Charles, from whom she was separated in infancy remained in Texas with her mother's family, the Shoemakes. He apparently was laid to rest in Fannin County in 1964 by Uncle George Shoemake. There is no indication that either Leatha or Charles ever knew of the other's existence.

Stones marking the final resting place of Thomas Hart and Sallie Scott Benton in Okmulgee Cemetery. Thomas passed away in 1949. I attended the funeral at age 8. A few years later, the State of Oklahoma seized Sallie's home under imminent domain proceedings to use the land for a new highway. Sallie was crushed by her loss of her home and died shortly thereafter in 1953.

After four children and some thirty years of marriage, Alice and her husband Lester decided they were incompatible and divorced. Alice remarried to Rome Edward Buoy of Meeker, Oklahoma, and spent the remainder of her life on a red dirt farm atop a hill there.

J.T. passed away in 1970. His wife Dorothy still resides in Okmulgee.

William passed away shortly thereafter.

Alice passed away in 1984 and is buried in Meeker, Oklahoma.

Varney died in 1986 and was laid to rest alongside his wife Alvirta near his parents.

In 1986 Mary was struck by an 18-wheeler while crossing a highway on foot near her home in Texas. She is interred alongside her husband Alvin in Wise County, Texas. With her death, another generation slipped away.

Alice Mae Benton Godwin in 1944, holding her first granddaughter. The photo was taken at the Benton house. The guy on the right is me. That was before I grew a mustache, so you might not have recognized me right away.