Nancy Benbow Kent

Nancy Benbow was born in Luverne, AL in 1865.  Her mother was Ann Benbow.  Her father was unknown but probably was the slave owner, Evan Benbow.   Nancy’s daughter related this story that her mother told her that when she was going to school the other children called her old man Benbow’s daughter.  Nancy was very fair, with a long needle nose, very long straight black hair that came to her knees.

Nancy married Alex Kent in 1885 in Luverne, AL.   By the 1900 census, there were 5 children in the family.  One more child was born in Alabama before the family moved.

By 1905, Nancy and Alex Kent had sold their land in Alabama and moved to Springer Township, OK, where the last child (Twins but one did not survive) was born.

By the 1920 Census, Nancy had lost two daughters in the influenza epidemic and one son.  Only three of the eight children born to Nancy and Alex lived to reach adulthood.

In 1920, Nancy was living and working in Tulsa, OK as a servant and she was listed as a widow on the census.  She had bought some land in Muscogee and Tulsa by quit claim.

Around 1938, Nancy Kent moved to East Chicago, IN to live with her oldest living child, Joseph Kent.  By this time only two of the children were living.  Nancy died in 1950 at the Miller Nursing Home in East Chicago, IN.  She is buried at Fern Oaks Cemetery, Gary, IN.

Sources:

1870, 1880, 1900 U S Census, Luverne, Crenshaw County, AL

1910 U S Census, Springer Township, Oklahoma County, OK

1920 U S Census, Tulsa, Tulsa County, OK