Samuel L. Bennett and Ruby Elizabeth Bullock Bennett
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Sam and Ruby Bennett
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Biography

In the early 1800´s my grandparents left Tennessee in a mule-drawn covered wagon to settle in Farmersville, Texas. In 1898, Samuel Jepther Bennett married Suzie E. King and they moved to Emma, where Samuel was a school teacher. In a few years they bought and moved to the Bennett farm seven miles from Ralls. Samuel continued to teach school and later moved to Ralls, where he was also local Justice of the Peace. The JP was a law unto itself, and many different types of criminals were brought to our house to be fined or sentenced. There, I, Samuel Lawest Bennett, oldest son, finished school and went on to Dallas and entered law school. Samuel returned to Ralls and began farming the Bennett home place. The fields were worked by mule or horse drawn implements. Then he met and married Ruby Elizabeth Bullock. They were married sitting in their car in the front of the courthouse. Of this marriage, five children were born, Lawest Dete, Billy C. "Bud", Leota Marguerite, Leatha Mae, Don Rue. During the depression years clothes were made from 50 pound flour sacks, which also were used for curtains, table cloths, etc. Christmas time was a gathering of neighbors as families were too scattered to visit much.

Lawest Dete has been with the Civil Service since she got out of high school. She is listed in "Who´s Who in the South" for her religious work and oil paintings. She has traveled to Europe and many states.

Billy "Bud" served in the U.S. Navy. Then he married and had four children, Sharon K., Billy D., Sheryl and Sherry, and one stepson, Allen Reid. Bud is in construction work and resides in Lubbock. He married Jodie C. Thompson.

Leota M. married Ira Douglas Hudgens. Douglas is a farmer and they have three daughters, Audrey Lois, Debra Mae, Margaret Ann. Audrey L. married Glenn Landsdown and had five children, Michelle, DeeAnn, Carolyn, Brandon, and Kevin. Debra married Archie Holt and has one son, Douglas.

Leatha M. married Francis Edwin Foster and had one son, Samuel Edwin, who was born in Itazuke Air Force Base, Japan. Later, Leatha married John A. Smiley, Jr. and Samuel´s name was legally changed to Smiley. Leatha is a noted artist in oils and has been listed in "Who´s Who" for her art works,. Samuel married Mary Shields in Morrilton, Arkansas and they have one son, Jeremy Scott. John A. Smiley, Jr. passed away in Morrilton.

Don R. married Mary Ann Roznosky and they have one son, Darren Ryan. Don is in irrigation pipe line business and they reside in Goodland, Kansas. Don served a tour in the U.S. Army and attended Paris Junior College in Paris, Texas.

John Bullock married Maude E. Ray in 1902, moving from Belton County, to the Old Emma area. John passed away on their Golden Anniversary day in 1952. Of this marriage all their children´s names begin with an "R", with the boys three letters names and the girls four letter names. They were Roe, Rex, Rue, Roy, Ray, Rose, Roxy, Ruth, Rena, Reva, Ruby. Ruby married Samuel L. Bennett. Maude Bullock resides with Samuel L. Bennett family in Ralls.

Samuel and Ruby bought the old Bennett home in Ralls where they now reside and are retired from farming. The farm where Samuel was born and all his children were born was sold to Don Anderson. Ruby Bullock´s ancestry has been traced to Germany and England and includes such notables as Teddy Roosevelt, the Rough Rider, and President Franklin Roosevelt.

(Submitted by Samuel L. Bennett and Lea Smiley)

Crosby County History Book, 1876-1977

Transcribed by Cheryl McDonald

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RALLS (Special) - Services for Ruby Elizabeth Bennett, 73, of Ralls will be at 2 p.m. today at Emma Church of Christ in Ralls with Roy Shave, pastor, officiating.

Burial will be in Ralls Cemetery under direction of Carter-Adams Funeral Home.

She died about noon Friday at her residence. Crosby County Justice of the Peace Jim Scott Travis of Ralls pronounced her dead at the scene and ruled that she died of natural causes. She had been under a physician´s care.

The Moody native moved from Bell County to Crosby County about 60 years ago. She married Sam L. Bennett March 28, 1925, in Crosbyton.

Survivors include her husband; two sons, Billy "Bud" of Lubbock and Don of Goodland, Kan.; three daughters, Dete Bennett of Belton, Leota Hudgens of Ralls and Leatha Mae Smiley of Morrilton, Ark.; two brothers, Buster Bullock of Ralls and Roy Bullock of Roswell, NM; three sisters, Roxy Heaton of Buena Park, Calif., Ruth Allen of Thoreau, NM, and Reva Davis of Connecticut; nine grandchildren; and 15 great grandchildren.

Lubbock Avalanche Journal, December 19, 1982
Record provided by Crosby County Pioneer Memorial Museum

RALLS (Special) Services for Samuel L. Bennett, 85, of Ralls will be at 1 p.m. Monday in Emma Church of Christ with Dennis May, pastor, officiating.

The Rev. Jim Morrow, pastor of First Baptist Church, will assist.

Burial will be in Ralls Cemetery under direction of Carter-Adams Funeral Home.

Bennett died at 4:14 a.m. Friday in Lubbock´s Methodist Hospital after a lengthy illness.

He was a lifelong Ralls resident. He married Ruby Elizabeth Bullock on March 28, 1925, in Crosbyton. She died in 1982. He was a farmer and a member of the Church of Christ.

Survivors include two sons, B.C. "Bud" of Lubbock and Don of Goodland, Kan.; three daughters, Dete Bennett of Belton. Leota Hudgens of Ralls and Leatha Mae Smiley of Morrilton, Ark.; three sisters, Ellen LeHew of Lubbock, Leatha Thomas of Wellington and Bill Darden of Lorenzo; nine grandchildren; 24 great grandchildren; and two great great grandchildren.

Lubbock Avalanche Journal, December 11, 1988
Record provided by Crosby County Pioneer Memorial Museum





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