Our colleague Patrick Tisdale at Mt Zion-Female Union Band Cemetery in Georgetown, DC, recently recovered a headstone lying in the earth, face down, near the Doughty family monument, that is to say on the Mount Zion cemetery side of the burial ground. Inscribed within a “Civil War’ style military headstone shield are the words
GUY BENNETT
BORN DEC. 1854
DIED JAN. 7 1928
AT REST
Curiously, a 2020 photograph, evidently taken by a cemetery volunteer, does show the front face of the headstone; it is not clear how the headstone was later turned face down, vanishing from public view for several years.
It should be noted that unlike the standard military headstone design utilized between 1873 and World War One for Union veterans of the Civil War and veterans of the Spanish-American War, the inscription does not list the deceased’s unit or the war in which he served. This suggests that Bennett was a civilian. As it happens, Congress did in 1904 auhorize the shield motif for some civilians, interred within miitary posts. Mt Zion of course was not a military post, but perhaps his widow or other family members, Lodge members, co workers, or well-wishers wished to honor Mr. Bennett in an unofficial capacity. Records indicated that Guy Bennett worked for many years for the Quarteraster Corps of War Department at Fort Myer in Virginia as a teamster, evidently as a civilian employee teamster. Perhaps his supporters wished to honor him in a quasi- military fashion.
A further puzzle posed by the headstone is the date of death given January 7, 1928. Guy Bennett’s newspaper death notices indicate that he in fact died January 7, 1929. The discrepancy may suggest that the headstone was created some years after his death, when memories of his death date may have grown dim.
NOTE: I should note that my collaborators Katherine Walters (James Madison University) and Rev. Avis Williams and I are developing a program in which Putnam County GA middle schoolers will undertake research on participants in the Great Migration from Georgia to Washington DC. We hope one of the showcased individuals will be Mr. Bennett, and that the young people will be able to visit Mt Zion-FUBS next year and see Mr Bennett’s headstone in person.
Guy B Bennett: Apparent Enslaved Background
The first reference we see to Guy Bennett is in 1877, employed by the white farmer ”L Burnley “ (likely to be James Lawrence Burnley) in the Ponds Militia District, Warrenton, Warren County, Georgia (in the east central part of the state). James Lawrence Burnly was a son of Perry Jackson Burnley, who according to the 1860 slave schedule owned 20 slaves,
including a six year old boy who might be Guy.
Of possible relevance, the 20 May 1837 will of Perry Jackson Burnley’s father Stephen W. Burnley (Warren County) lists the following slaves willed to Perry Jackson Burnley: “one negro man named Moses , one negro man named John , one negro man named London , one negro boy named Irwin , one negro Girl named Tilphy & her increase . Negro woman named Dorcas & her increase.” It is possible that Guy’s parents were among those listed in this will, proved about 18 years before the birth of Guy Bennett.
Later Life of Guy B Bennett
The 1880 census has Guy in the same location, Ponds, Warren County, Georgia
married to Falby Burnett. They are living adjacent to the white woman, Elizabeth Jane (nee Hamilton) Burnley, widow of the former enslaver Perry Jackson Burnly, who must have died at some point after 1870 and prior to 1880.
Guy’s first wife, Falby is likely to be Falby Tarver, from adjacent Hancock County, Georgia, daughter of Frank and Abigail Tarver. She evidently died before 7 January 1889 when Guy married his second wife Mary Mamie Roberts in Augusta, Richmond County, Georgia.
Guy and Falby had at least one daughter, Mary Francis Parker, born 1883 in Georgia, died 16 Jul 1928 in Blythe, Richmond County, Georgia.
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From 1889-1902, Guy resided in Augusta, Richmond County, GA, working as a porter and then driver, with the CT Punds Company. (It would not be unusual for a black man coming up in the world, to move from Warren County to Richmond and pursue more skiled work than sharecropping).
The 1900 census has Guy living with “mother” Jane Roberts, his wife Mary, son Richard Bennett in Augusta. Given that Guy’s wife was Mary nee Roberts, it seems likely the census enumerator was incorrect and Jane Roberts was Guy’s mother in law, that is to say the mother of his wife Mary.
In 1902, Guy Bennett is still working as a porter in Augusta, Georgia. However,s tarting the next year, 1903,he appears in the Federal Register as employed at Fort Myer, Virginia, working as a teamster in the Quartermaster’s Departmant. He continued to reside in the vicinity of Fort Myer for the remainder of his life.
In 1905 he is a teamster employed by the War Department at Fort Myers in VA. (I do not see any evidence of him having been on active military duty in the Spanish American War or other service.)
In 1907 Guy is a driver living at 2704 P Street, Georgetown, that is to say near Mt Zion Methodist Church. I am not sure if he held or retained membership at Mt Zion.
In 1909, according to the 1910 census he married Emma Johnson, b, 1879 in the District of Columbia, daughter of Thomas and Mary Johnson.
Multiple listings have Guy in subsequent years living in Arlington, Virginia, or in “Radio,” the hamlet at Fort Myers where the US Army had one its earlier radio installations.
As noted Guy’s headstone gives the date of death for Guy Bennett of 7 January 1928, but newspaper death notices indicate he actually died 7 January 1929.
A 1929 death notice for Guy Bennett noted that was a member of the J. McC Crummill Lodge, 1437, GUOOF (Grand United Order of Oddfellows, a Masonic orders that predominantly served African Americans, who had been denied entry into white dominated lodgers). James MC Crummill was a prominent African American printer and activist in Philadelphia, who served as a grandmaster with the GUOOF and who was later honored by having a lodge named for him. Guy Bennett’s headstone does not contain any of the standard Oddfellows insignia, such as the three linked chains stamped with the letters F, L, and T honoring “Friendship, Love, and Truth”, or the familiar motif of the heart in hand. Headstones for members of the Knights of Pythias, an allied African American benevolent order,sometimes feature shields, but not the particular military style motif found on Mr. Bennett’s headstone.
One year after his death, on 9 January 1930, his widow Emma placed the following notice, “In Memoriam. Bennett, Guy B. In remembrance of Guy B Bennett, husband of Emma A Bennett, who died on year ago, January 7, 1929. One year has passed but stil you are missed, EMMA”
His widow Emma Johnson Bennett continued to work as a domestic in Alexandria, Virginia. She died 6 January 1940, was funeralized at Bulah Baptist Church, and was buried in Alexandria’s Douglass Cemetery. It is not clear if she had any relationship with Mt Zion Church or Mt Zion Cemetery. It does appear that she and Guy Bennett had children.
Descendants of Guy B Bennett
Guy B Bennett had at least two children
1.with his first wife Falby (Tarver): Mary Francis Bennett. (1883-16 Jul 1928). She married Charles Story in Warren County, 21 June 1897. Mary Francis and Charles Story had at least one child, Ethel Pauline Story, and evidently also Annie May Story, Lula Story, and Farrer Lee Storey.
Ethel Pauline Storey married James M Chambers Jr. (Birth 17 Jun 1908 • Bronx, New York City, New York, Death 12 May 1961, Hempstead, Nassau, New York). They had at least one child, Mary Jeanette Edwards (Birth 11 Oct 1929 • Georgia; Death December 1995). Her children include Peggy Edwards Washington, who died Nov 2022 in Maryland.
- with his second wife, Mary Mamie Roberts, Guy Bennet had aa son Richard Livingstone Bennett (sometimes Richard W Bennett) b 21 May 1890 in Augusta, Georgia. Richard served as a wardroom steward on the Coast Guard Manning in 1911 and perhaps also during World War One.
Richard married Emma Bennett, and had the following children, Richard Bennett, b 1917. Julia Bennett, b 1919, Leonard Bennett, b 1920, Harold Bennett, b 1930, Lois Bennett b. 1932.
Mark Auslander 