52 Ancestors Challenge - Week 14 - Benton Rogers (Jake) Holcomb - Lynn County, Texas

B.R. "Jake" Holcomb
Photo taken about 1941-1945

I can't believe the 52 Ancestors Challenge is already a quarter of the way completed!! The weeks are passing quickly, and I just know I'm going to have several ancestors left to talk about once its over. Maybe I'll have to work on my own 52 Ancestors Challenge part 2! I want to thank Amy Johnson Crow for developing this idea, and letting me be a part of it. It has been an exciting journey, and has awakened my love of family research!

This week is all about Benton Rogers Holcomb, also known as B.R., or as Jake, to family and friends. In this post, however, I'm going to refer to him as Benton...I've always loved this name! He was my great grandfather, father of my grandmother Tennie Belle Holcomb Gibson.




B.R. Jake Holcomb on right, probably
with one of his brothers
Coburn, Alfred, or Charlie



Benton was born December 9, 1885 in Bell County, Texas. He was the youngest child of Thomas William Holcomb and Hannah Jane Coburn. By 1900, Benton, his sister Eva, and their parents were living in Precinct No. 6 of Milam County, Texas. According to the 1900 U.S. federal census, he was 14 years old, and attending school. Other siblings, who were already out of the house were Mary Willie, Zetha Roberta, Wilburn Coburn, William Alfred, Charles Andrew, and Barney (I believe Barney passed away as a young child).








July 21, 1908, in Tarrant County, Texas, Benton married Mamie Estelle Locke. She was born June 15, 1888 in Rosebud, White County, Arkansas and was the daughter of Francis Marion Locke and Nancy Elizabeth Vines. My mother remembers a story about how they met. It seems they both attended a barn dance one evening, where he was playing the fiddle. According to my grandmother, he was quite a fiddle player. Her favorite song was "Faded Love." He even wrote a song for his wife Mamie.



Benton with his siblings and father:
Coburn, Alfred, Zetha, Thomas (father), Eva, & B.R.
Photo may have been taken about 1913-14

By 1910, Benton and Mamie moved to Justice Precinct No. 4 of Shackelford County, Texas. According to the 1910 U.S. federal census, he was a farm laborer. It states the industry he was in was "working out." I'm not sure what this means, but I'm guessing he may have been working on a farm that wasn't his own. Next door to them was Alford Holcomb age 34, widowed, and his son Barney age 7. I believe this was Benton's older brother William Alfred.

Early photo of B.R. "Jake" Holcomb
Standing in the center - not sure who the other 2 men are.



By 1918, Benton was farming for himself, according to the U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 found on Ancestry.com. The card itself is difficult to read, but it says he was living in Lueders, Shackelford County, Texas. The description given on him says he was of medium height, medium build, and had brown eyes and black hair.

The 1920 U.S. federal census shows him, Mamie, and two of their children still living in Precinct 4, of Shackelford County.  Lueders is in Precinct 4. Benton and Mamie's oldest 2 children were Clyde, born in 1913, and Mary Inez (we called her Inie), born in 1915. Something odd about this census is it doesn't list their 3rd child Jake Jr. Jake, or Buck as we used to call him, was born October 29, 1919 and would have been born when they took this census. Of course, Benton's mother's birthplace is listed as Sweden (just as the household listed next door), and we definitely know she was not born in Sweden. This must have been an oversight of the census taker.

Two more children were born to Benton and Mamie: Chester Lee (I remember him as Chet), in 1922, and Tennie Belle (my beautiful grandmother), in 1927. The family remained in Shackelford for a brief time before moving west to Lubbock, Texas prior to Chet's birth. Not sure the exact date they moved, but I do know they moved once again, to New Lynn, Lynn County, Texas. Tennie Belle was born in Tahoka, the county seat of Lynn County.



Benton and son Jake Jr. "Buck" in front
of the store and gas station he owned

Somewhere in my records, I have written that Benton worked as a deputy sheriff in New Lynn, or Tahoka, around 1929. I don't know where this came from, so I'm unable to say its 100% accurate. But I do remember hearing he was a deputy for a short time. He did run for sheriff, but did not get it.

In 1930, he was working as a farmer, according to the 1930 U.S. federal census. The family was living in Justice Precinct No. 2, which I believe was New Lynn or Tahoka. In 1940, they were still in Lynn County, but this time it was Precinct No. 1. By this time the two oldest children were married and living out of the house.  However, they were still living in the same precinct. In fact, Clyde lived right next door with his wife Birdie.


Then around 1941, Benton and Mamie bought a grocery store and gas station. However, by 1946, Benton was suffering so bad from asthma that he had to go elsewhere to find some help. According to his obituary, he spent about 4 weeks in Ruidoso, New Mexico to try to find relief for it.  Unfortunately, it didn't help, and he passed away suddenly, March 11, 1946. His son, Buck, was with him.

Benton was buried at the Tahoka Cemetery, in Tahoka, Lynn County, Texas. He is buried next to his wife Mamie, who passed away some 26 years later in California.



Grave of B.R. "Jake" Holcomb and Mamie Estelle Locke Holcomb
Tahoka Cemetery, Tahoka, Texas



Obituary found in family files



If you have any questions, or concerns, about the information in this post, please leave me a comment. I'd be happy to answer any questions, or share what information I have on the individuals listed above. Thanks for reading!!


























#52Ancestors Challenge - Week 1 - Tennie Belle Holcomb

I recently ran across a blog on Ancestry.com by Amy Johnson Crow called "The 52 Ancestors Challenge" and decided it would be a wonderful way to take my years of genealogy research to a new level.  I'm not a professional genealogist, but I've been researching my family for about 13 years.  To be quite honest, it's a bit of an obsession of mine, but I've accumulated about 2000 people in my records!!

I do not claim to be a great writer, and writing this has taken me completely out of my comfort zone!!  This is my very first blog...ever, so please bear with me. 

The first ancestor I'd like to write about is my beautiful grandmother, Tennie Belle Holcomb.  Don't you just love her name!!  I remember everyone calling her Tennie Belle, not just Tennie.

 

Tennie Belle Holcomb was the youngest of 5 children born to Benton Rogers Holcomb (or Jake as he was known) and Mamie Estelle Locke.  She was born on June 2, 1927 in Tahoka, Texas and shared a birthday with her older sister Mary Inez (aka Inie).  Her father was a farmer and owned a store.  In 1929 her father also worked as a deputy sheriff.  I remember a few times when her, and her brother Jake, or Buck as we knew him, would talk about when they were little.  One of the stories was about a horse named Tony.  Buck, and their brother Chester (aka Chet...everyone seems to have had a nickname), used to tease Tennie Belle and have the horse chase her around the outside of the house!!  The horse would even follow her into the house, at which point Mama (what everyone called Mamie, their mother) would shew him back outside.

 

 

 

 

 

After the death of her father in 1946, she went to California with Mama to visit some family who had moved there.  There at a dance, she met William (Bill) Frank Gibson.  He was in the navy and stationed in the area.  They wrote many letters to each other after that, and then on December 19th, 1946 they were married in Tahoka, Texas.  The ceremony was a double ceremony with her good friend Winnelle Meeks who married R.M. Dodson.

 

William Frank Gibson and Tennie Belle Holcomb 1946

 

Eventually, Tennie Belle and Bill would make their home in Baldwin Park, California.  There they raised 3 children.  She lived in Baldwin Park for about 50 years, until she became sick and had to move in with her daughter.  On December 30, 2001 Ms. Tennie Belle died in Kirkland, WA.

 

 

Mary Inez Holcomb Meeks and Tennie Belle Holcomb Gibson

 

My grandmother was a remarkable lady.  She could sing and play the guitar.  My grandfather and her were known to be pretty good on roller skates, and really great dancers too!!  Not to mention, she was a great cook!!  Everyone loved her fried chicken and homemade tacos.  Whenever I'm making tacos, the smell takes me back to her house, and every time I have a glass of sweet tea, I am reminded of her!  She was loved by everyone and is dearly missed.