A Bennett Line in Coventry RI

Bennett and Lawrence-Wait Dutchess Co NY and Coventry, Rhode Island

Our Mtdna match Rogers’ ancestry Elizabeth Bennett 1798-1833 of Coventry, Rhode Island was the wife of Weaver Carr. There are a number of possibilities for her ancestry, but, none, so far, have listed a daughter named Elizabeth.

New UPDATE: (March 29, 2020)

You can see the work I was doing below. More research has shown there was likely two wives for Obed Lawrence. The first “may” have been Clarissa Bennett   who may have died between 1825 and 1830, but the second wife was Catherine Kaufman who was born about 1817 and died 1873. More research needs be done on this Bennett line due to the connection to Coventry, RI as well as was Clarissa Bennett being the wife of Obed Lawrence.

One of the trees I found on Ancestry listed both wives as Clarissa Bennett and I straightened them out below as I just stated. One of the trees however erroneously had the parents of what turned out to be Catherine Kaufman as being Benjamin Bentley Bennett Sr 1788-1863 and Ellinor Betterson 1789-1842

That would have been great. I did not do much re-research on this couple but I don’t know that they had a daughter Clarissa. So, this is also not working out.

But what excited me about this Bennett family is that it had Coventry, RI connections and was one of the Bennett families I was looking at our Mtdna match Rogers’ -Elizabeth Bennett-Weaver Carr line. I am, therefore, showning this research while I still have and before I loose it and can not locate it in the future.

Here is the lineage of the Bennett Family I found for The Elizabeth ARM Family and Elizabeth Schweiger Tree on Ancestry .com):

Generation 1

Edward Bennett b London, England died about 1645 Rehobath, Bristol MA married unknown

            Children:

            Samuel I 1628-1684

            Edward II

            Priscilla

            John

Generation 2

Samuel Bennett I born 1627 England died 1684 Rhode Island Married Anna Unknown

            Children:

            Edward III 1654-1735

            Elizabeth died 1721

            William

            Samuel II died 1745 married Sarah Forsman

Generation 3

Samuel Bennett II born unknown died 1745 Ceventry, Kent, RI married 1^st Sarah Forsman who died 1697, married 2^nd Desire Berry who died 1708 and married 3^rd Rachel unknown.

            Children by Sarah Forsman:

            Samuel III Born 1690 married Mary Jane Stafford

            Sarah born 1693

            Hannah born 1699

Benjamin born 1701

John born 1703

William born 1706

Priscilla born 1708

Children by Rachel Unknown:

Mary born 1711

Desire born 1713

Generation 4

Samuel Bennett III born 1690 Coventry, Kent RI died unknown married 1716 Coventry, Kent, RI Mary Jane Stafford

            Children:

            Ephraim born 1725 married Mary Stafford

            Thomas

Generation 5

Ephraim Bennett born 1725 Rhode Island died unknown married Mary Stafford died 1800 Ashland, Chemung County, NY

Children:

            Ephraim Jr born 1762 married Hannah Humility Bentley 1765-1839

Thaddeus Theodore born 1764 died 1834 married Bathsheba Eunice Sheba   Bentley

Daughters

James

Minister Joseph Jonathan

David

Abraham

Thomas

Generation 6

Thaddeus Theodore Bennett born 1760 died 1834 married Eunice Sheba Bentley born 1762 died  1799

            Children with Bathsheba Eunice Bentley 1762-1799

            Mary “Molly” 1782-1855 married Nathaniel Squire

            Thaddeus Jr 1783-   married  Abigail Wait (her parents unknown)

Sarah “Sallie” 1786-1863 married 1 John Wilson 1789-1898 married 2 John Fenton Jr

            Benjamin Bentley Sr 1788-1863 married Ellinor Batterson

            Rhoda 1790-1874

            Mahitabel “Hetty” 1792-   married Daniel Dodge

Rev Joseph 1794-1868 married 1 Anna Crain McCoun married 2 Elizabeth Mills

            Eunice 1797 married Elijah Gaston

            Jehial 1799-1892 married Lafayette Wise

            Children with Rachel Mead

            Elizabeth Ann “Betsy” 1810-1886

            Catherine

            Thomas

            Jyse

Ira

A brother was Ephraim Bennett born 1762 RI died Dix, NY 1843 was a Revolutionary Soldier married Hannah Bentley born 1765 died 1839 Tioga, PA

            Children:

            Samuel married Susanna Coryer

            Thomas (Strait) married Peggy Curtis

            Abner married Elizabeth Mills

            Greene married Polly

            Harry married Sally McClure

            Brant married Milly Parks

            Charles

Generation 7

Benjamin Bentley Bennett born 1788 Chemung County NY died 1863 Jo Daviess Co, IL  Marred Ellinor Batterson 1789-1842 Portsmouth, OH

            Children:

            Christine Tricky 1813-1885

            Aurilla 1816-1843

            Jehail 1819-1892

            Jasper F 1821-1904

            Denarzed 1826-1902

            George Clinton 1832-1895

Below continues the flawed research on the wife of Obed Lawrence.

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However, as I continued work on Steelman, another of our match’s ancestors, we find Patsy (Martha) Wait 1753-1848, wife of Oliver Lawrence 1757-1848 also has a Bennett connection. Unfortunately for us this Bennett connection is not on the Mtdna lineage because it stems from a male, but it “may” help us on the Rogers match as it has a Coventry, RI Bennett link:

One of Patsy-Martha Wait and Oliver Lawrence’s sons, Obediah Abel Lawrence was born in 1792 or 1793 (Find a Grave) at Rensallaerville, Albany County, New York. He may have been married twice (it is difficult to tell from the family trees I found on Ancestry)

In one tree he married about 1817 to Clarissa Bennett who died 1832 and the second wife (same name) Clarissa Bennett born 1800 and died 1842. So, are they the same wife with different dates or two different women?

In another tree “Obed Abel” Lawrence born 1793 Albany County, NY married  1^st Unknown Lawrence with no dates and then a second marriage to Catherine Clarissa Bennett (1817-1873). With both wives, the same children are named. So, were there two wives or one?

If this were my ancestor and I were trying to work it back, I would study each of the children. They are listed under each wife, in fact, several are named more than once, some with varying dates. So, there may be some truth to the naming of two wives. There may be a separation between the births of some of the children, so, it may leave credence to him having two wives.

There are some cemetery records from Find a Grave:

Obediah Able Lawrence was born 1762 and died 9 March 1862 buried Linesville, Crawford County, Pennsylvania

Catherine Clarrissa “Clara” Bennett Lawrence was born 5 June 1817 Chemung County, New York and died 24 March 1873 Linesville, Crawford County, Pennsylvania

As an update, I went to Find a Grave and located Obed Lawrence’s grave at Linesville Cemetery, Linesville, Crawford County, PA. He is buried in Section X Plot 23 grave 2.

There is a link to his wife’s grave in the same cemetery, Section X Plot 23 Grave 1, They are buried next to one another.  Catherine Kaufman Lawrence born 5 June 1817, died 24 March 1873. I failed to write down her parents names but they were Kaufman, not Bennett. This is likely a second wife and if the first wife may actually have been Clarissa Bennett. But it needs to be researched.

Children of this couple in on both their pages:

William N Lawrence born 1815 which is likely a wrong William, due to the early birth date inconsistent with the other children

Obed Knight Lawrence 1830-1909

Amanda Melvina Lawrence Sippy 1832-1907

Cordelia A Lawrence Brooks 1834-1901

Eliza Fidelia Lawrence Stevens 1840-1899

So, if Clarrisa Bennett was actually Obed’s first wife, she would have died between 1824-1825 the birth of Isaac J Lawrence and 1830 , the birth of Obed Knight Lawrence. I found no record of a grave for Clarissa.