My great-grandmother, Lucy Jane Hyder, had the foresight to record two reminiscences in 1940 and 1945 for posterity. In these remarkable documents she told the stories of her ancestors extending back to the late 18th century. Her memory was excellent, and her accounts are accurate except for two points, one of which is outright incorrect and the other unverifiable. Here is the first document, which she dictated to my late Aunt Joanne Korpinen Hoover (1929-1998) in 1940.
Here is a transcript of the document:
Originally written
November 21, 1940
My maiden name was Lucy Jane Bentley. Born at Big Stone Gap, Virginia, October 2, 1875. My father's name was Squire Benjamin Martin Bentley. His father was named Benjamin Bentley, Sr., Both born in North Carolina. His father, Benjamin Bentley, Sr died in North Carolina. My grandmother on my father's side, her maiden name was Mary Davis, Polly for short. Her father's name was Jerry Davis. Her mother's maiden name was Nancy Modcap.[1] Jerry Davis and wife and the unmarried children moved from North Carolina to Illinois about the time of the Civil War, leaving two married daughters in North Carolina. Their names were Mary Bentley (my grandmother) and Fanny Bentley (who married my great uncle Squire Bentley, for whom my father was named.) When Mary Bentley's husband, Benjamin Bentley, Sr., died, she and her children moved to Big Stone Gap, Virginia, not long after the Civil War, until they all died there. The oldest son, William Rufus Bentley married Rachel Odem [Odum? Oldham?], who died shortly after. He then married Louise Bentley (a second cousin) of Letcher County, Kentucky. Her parents' names were Mary Bentley (maiden name, not my grandmother) and Davis Bentley. The next oldest, Henry Harrison Bentley married Gerusha Elkins at Big Stone Gap, Virginia. The next son, Benjamin Bentley, my father, married Virginia Elizabeth Wells at Big Stone Gap, Va. The next son, Newton Thomas [sic] Bentley, married Jeanette Wells at Big Stone Gap, Virginia. Nancy Katherine Bentley, the youngest and only daughter married James Chandler of North Carolina at Big Stone Gap. They all lived and died there. My mother, Virginia Elizabeth Wells was the daughter of David and Nancy Elkins Wells. My grandmother's father's name was Joseph Elkins, who died very suddenly shortly after the Civil War at Big Stone Gap, Virginia. On the 9th day of April 1865, (the day the surrender was made) during the Civil War my grandfather, David Wells, and my uncle, Hiram Creech, were murdered (shot) by the Raiders or Ku Klux Klan as they were sometimes called. They first removed his (David Wells') Sunday vest which he was wearing, and then shot him. I do not remember my great grandfather Wells' name,[2] but my grandfather Wells had a brother James, Jack, Elington, and Brickey, also a sister, Agnes Wells Cooper. Brickey went to Texas as a young man. When I last heard from him in about 1923, he was 86 years old. I had a brother, William, and a sister, Mary, usually called Molly. They are both now dead.
Written by my grand daughter as I told her.
signed—Lucy Jane Hyder
Squire Benjamin Bentley owned a general store near East Stone Gap at a place called Iron Furnace. [JKH]
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