Bennie Wooding Mills

Bennie married Living [Group Sheet]

1. Living
2. Living

Rawley married Kittye Ester Holley 11 Mar 1947, Danville, Virginia. Kittye (daughter of Beverly Honor Holley and Martha Ellen "Missy" Reynolds) was born 6 May 1928, Pittsylvania County, Virginia; died 23 Nov 1963, Martinsville, Virginia; was buried , Highland Burial Park Cemetery, Danville, Virginia. [Group Sheet]

Beverly married Martha Ellen "Missy" Reynolds 1 Aug 1909, Henry Co., VA. Martha (daughter of William Barton "Bart" Reynolds * and Nancy Ann "Nannie" Reynolds *) was born 27 Sep 1889, Callands, Virginia; died 9 Sep 1965, Liberty Baptist Church Cemetery, Pittsylvania County, Virginia. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

James Leonard Holley fought in the Civil War at the age of
17. He was in the Johnson C. McIntosh Artillery Battalion
and was at Appomattox when Lee surrendered. It is recorded
that he attended two DAR birthday dinners; one on 30 Sep
1909 and another on 30 Sep 1911. He lived with his wife and family in Callands, Virginia
where he was a miller.



Name:
He was a Confederate Soldier at 17 years of age. He served in the McIntosh Artillery Battalion, Army of Northern Virginia, and was at Appomattox when General Robert E Lee surrendered.

James married Alzeria Ella Gregory 24 Mar 1878, Pittsylvania Co., Virginia. Alzeria (daughter of John Branch Gregory and Martha Jane Eanes) was born 22 Jul 1860, Pittsylvania County, Virginia; died 19 Jan 1941, Pittsylvania County, Viurginia; was buried , Holley Family Cemetery; Liberty Baptist Church, Callands, VA. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Examination of the Census Records for 1900 and 1910 show
that Bart and his family are closely situated to the Joshua
Columbus Manning's (married his sister Mary Permelia
"Bettie" Reynolds. They are shown within two households of
one-another on each Census.

Born 28 Sep 1848 in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, William
Barton Reynolds, was the fourth child of Allen Gilmer
Reynolds and Martha Ann Jackson. Bart was named for his
father's brother, William Barton Reynolds, Sr. (Barton), a
testament of his father's regard for his brother. The name
Barton first appears in our family when Bart's grandmother,
Sarah Philpott named Bart's uncle in 1827, after her
great-great grandmother, Elizabeth Barton Smoot, born in
1701.

"Bart" became his 'distinguishing name', very early. He
had two older brothers, Levi and James Samuel, each named
for his mother's father and his mother's brother; each
instrumental in her upbringing. Older sister Tabitha Ann
and younger siblings John Henry, Cephus Wilson, Elizabeth
"Bettie' and Texanna composed Bart's family. Texanna, was
born after her mother's brother moved to Texas, and was so
named to commerate the event.

We find no evidence of Bart serving in an official capacity
during the Civil War. Too young, to go away, he served at
home, with a thousand chores and fear everywhere. His
uncles, served in the Home Guard, their sons, so many of
them; gone to fight. Loved-ones left at home, to worry and
fear. Bart grows into manhood while the war rages and
claims his cousins. His brother, Levi, leaves home in 1860
to travel to Pennsylvania and marry; Levi is 23, Bart 12.
Brother James Samuel is 16, John Henry is 5 and Cephus is 2
years old. Sister Bettie is 9; Tabitha is 14 and Texanna
is 7. Levi is the only one of his siblings who will leave
Pittsylvania County to make his home.

During his 25th year, Bart marries the very attractive 18
year old Nancy Reynolds in about 1873. His brother James
Samuel "Jim" marries her sister Bet about the same time.
They knew them well. The girls are the daughters of his
Uncle Bartonnd Aunt Rutha Reynolds. Three other of the
girls also married cousins.

Bart and Nancy farmed on Barn Road in Callands. A family
photograph of their log cabin, taken in 1898 shows all of
their children except the last one, Buster, who was in his
mother's belly for the occasion. Bart is 50, Nancy, 44.
They have buried two newborn babies in the last 3 years,
and she is pregnant again. Their private cemetery marks
their sorrows; two infants graves, marked with fieldstones,
In another six years they will bury their oldest daughter.
Dead before her prime, grieved by her parents, siblings
and all of her grandparents, cousins, and a husband.

Weddings and births, christenings and parties mark the
years as they pass. They have 10 children living before
1900; eight will survive into middle age and most will
bring home their own babies.

Bart has had diabetes for a long time. He lost his right
leg below the knee; an infection that would not heal. The
disease would take its toll before his death, progressing
in a now predictable sequence of events; a disease that
would trickle down through his progeny for the next 110
years.

By 1910 the next generation has begun, and the last
generation is a beloved memory. Bart's mother and father
are dead. Nancy's mother and father died with a year of
each other, nearly 20 years earlier. Bart's oldest son has
a son; his eldest daughter is dead. Molly too has a young
son, and is about to remarry in Norfolk; Essie is settled
with several children; Missy is about to have her first
baby; Kate 29, has moved to North Carolina; Jim, 25, is
courting Sally Fannie Wells, and Claira and Ruth are
striking 18 and 20 year-olds, as yet unclaimed by mates.
Ford is 23 and Buster, his baby son is only 12 years old.

The next 100 years see his progeny increase, and the legacy
of this man's integrity, determination, faith, love and
respect find its way from his genes to ours.
~ Mary Frances Reynolds Eggleston
mfeggleston@gmail.com


email dated 20100618

Name:
Married 1st cousin

William married Nancy Ann "Nannie" Reynolds * 26 Nov 1874, Pittsylvania Co., Virginia. Nancy (daughter of William 'Barton' Reynolds, Sr. and Ruth Ann "Rutha" Oakes) was born 3 Jun 1854, Callands, Pittsylvania, Virginia ; died 23 Jan 1924, Callands, Pittsylvania, Virginia ; was buried , Reynolds Cemetery Callands, Virginia. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Name:
Married 1st Cousin