Joshua (1821) & Jane (1820)

JOSHUA BENTON (b. abt. 1821) & JANE TIPPETT (b. abt. 1820)

Joshua Benton was born about 1821. Based on the 1810 and 1820 Slave Schedules, Joshua Benton was probably born in NC where his father-slave owner, Burrell Benton was also born and living at the time. On the 1880 Census, Joshua’s younger sister Mary (1822) was also born in NC; so it stands to reason that Joshua was born there as well.

Prior to the end of the Civil War, it is difficult to give details about the lives of our slave grandparents. In the early 1850’s, Joshua and his slave-wife Jane Tippett had four children born into slavery: Paralee (1852), Mariah (1853), Burrell (1859), and William Raleigh Benton (1863). William Raleigh Benton is my great-grandfather. His daughter Hattie Josephus Benton is my maternal grandmother.

Joshua named his son Burrell after his slave-owner father (Burrell Benton); and Joshua named his son William after his white half-brother William R. Benton (1810-1850). We cannot find how; or why he died so early in 1850. Cholera was a problem during that time, and it could be the reason for his early disappearance from records. However, the naming of their children after their slave-owner family member is highly indicative of a close relationship between Joshua and his slave-owner father. You see this occurring very frequently throughout the slave descendants of Burrell Benton. I believe they loved and respected their slave-owner father, as opposed to be being forced to use those names. At any rate, we may never know!

Jane Tippett was born about 1820, probably in TN where the Tippett family was living at the time. She was owned by the Tippett family, who’s plantation was across from the Benton’s in Panola County, TX in the 1850’s. According to the Census of 1880, her mother was Chloe Tippett; my 3x-GGM. Chloe was over 100 years old and born in Africa, is also listed in the 1870 Census with another daughter Harriett, who was married to Joshua’s brother Peter. We don’t know much more about Jane yet, and we will keep searching for more clues.