Mary Bennett
Mary
Bennett
died
July 20, 1914
75 yrs
L.B.C.
Gone but not forgotten
Photo Credit: Rosa G. Gonzales
Mary Bennett
The death certificate of Mary Bennett gives very little information about her. It does indicate that she was a widowed housewife, an elderly African-American woman who was 65-75 years old, who died of senility and was to be buried in Old Bayview Cemetery. It seems that she is the “Mary J. Means†who is listed in the 1870 census of Nueces County. That record reports her as a 28 year old mulatto from Kentucky with a 3 year old girl (Milly) and a 2 year old boy (Frank) living with her in the same house with Gabril (sic) Marshall and his wife and children (1870 Nueces County census, p. 147A). In the 1880 census of Nueces County, Mary is living with Silva Lincoln and her son in a “not numbered†street in a “not named†suburb of the town. They too are listed as mulatto, and Mary is working as a laundress. With Mary is Milly who is taking in laundry. A gentleman named Aaron Bennett, a 32 year old negro man, resides in the same household, and possibly for that reason Mary lists her age as 35 (rather than 38 or 40 as expected) to seem younger. In the census she also says she comes from Louisiana rather than Kentucky, and Milly is listed from Texas (1880 census of Nueces County, p. 33). Mary lists herself as a widow. Mary subsequently married Aaron Bennett on February 14 (Valentine’s Day) of 1882 (Nueces County Marriage Records, vol. E p. 175) with Elder Moses H. Sinclair officiating. However, by the 1900 census she is again widowed. Now she lives on Buffalo Street, with another widow (E. Toreau), and they are partners in the laundry business. In this census Mary says she was born in April 1850 in Virginia and that she has two children (1900 census Nueces County, E.D. 133 sheet 3B). By 1910 (Nueces County census of 1910, E.D. 102, p. 17A) Mary is in her own home and her daughter (the widow Walker) and 2 grandchildren (Robert and Mary) are living with her. Now she lists herself as black, 60 years old, a native of Kentucky, who has 2 living children (presumably Milly and Frank). The daughter’s full name appears to be “Ira Bass Walker†whose death record at Dunne’s Funeral Home lists her mother as “Mary Bennett†and her father as “Jake Bassâ€. Ira’s birthplace is Cotulla, Texas in that record.
This would mean that her mother Mary may have originally had “Means†as her maiden name and returned to it after the death of Mr. Bass, or she may have married a Mr. Means prior to her marriage to Aaron Bennett. There is indeed a “John Bass†listed in the 1870 Nueces County census, but he is a prisoner in the county jail, and both Mary and her children are going by the name of “Means†rather than “Bassâ€. Mary’s daughter Ira also married prior to her union with Mr. Walker as their wedding record indicates that Elijah Walker married a “Mrs. Ira Cook†(Ira Bass) on February 7, 1900 (Nueces County Marriage Records, vol. F p. 521) before Rev. R. E. Brown.
After a hard and doubtlessly difficult life Mary Bennett was able to lay down her burdens on July 20, 1914 and rest from her labors. Her burial in Old Bayview was the following day, July 21. Her daughter Ira Bass Walker is also listed among the burials of Old Bayview, and it may mean that their husbands, Aaron Bennett and Elijah Walker, are also buried there.
Research and transcription: Michael A. Howell