Married George Washington Benton
18 Aug 1878
Stone County, Missouri

The following is taken from the Marriage Records of Stone County, Missouri 1866-1906, pg 152 (To view the photocopy of the handwritten original document: Click on the link below the visible photos which says: Click here to view all images...).

On August 18, 1878, Nancy married George Washington Benton at the home of her mother, Sarah Rhodes, in Stone County, Missouri.

Transcription of text in document
State of Mo. Stone Co.
Now [Know] all men by thes presents that I RL Bedingfield Minister of the Gosple did dewly solemnize and publish the bonde of matrimony between George W. Benton Age 32 years & Nanca E Rhoades Age 34 years at the residence of Sarah Rhoades in Stone Co. Mo. August the 18th AD 1878. Widtnes my hand this August the 18 AD 1878
R. L. Bedingfield M.G.
Credentials recorded in Marriage Record Book A pages 103-104
Carroll Co. [word illegible] Ark. May the [illegible] AD 1874 widtnes my hand This August the 18 AD 1878.

R. L. Bedingfield M.G.

Nancy Elizabeth Rhodes Benton and
George Washington Benton had three children:

Sarah Jane Benton Kerns (1879-1964)
Lucy Margelia Benton (1880-____)
Albert Austin Benton (1882-1955)


Tribute to Southern Rose and American Pioneer Woman, Nancy Elizabeth Rhodes Benton -- She began her life in Northern Alabama as the oldest daughter and third born child of pioneers, Sarah (Devault) Rhodes(1822-1893) and Absalom T. Rhodes (1815-1862). Nancy spent her early childhood years in Morgan County, Alabama in an environment that was enriched with family relationships; not only did she have a large immediate family, but her grandmother, Nancy Tallent Devault, lived nearby. In addition, James Talant, who was probably her great grandfather, lived in Nancy's home up until the time he died. Nancy Tallent Devault passed away in 1845, and at sometime in the early 1850s James Talant also passed away. The richness of those relationships, and the good examples they were, stood the family well in the years to come as they lived out their lives on the American Frontier.

Not long after James Talant died, the Rhodes family decided to head West. As a young girl, twelve years of age, Nancy traveled in a covered wagon with her parents from Morgan County, Alabama to the Missouri Ozarks. The wagon Nancy and her family traveled in was probably made by her father, Absalom, as according to the 1850 Federal Census, Absalom was a wagon maker.

Rhodes family history passed down through the generations maintains that a former family slave woman and her son accompanied Nancy's family on their journey to the Ozarks. This slave woman had possibly been inherited from James Talent. The family story is corroborated by the fact that a slave woman and James Talant both appear in newlyweds', Absalom and Sarah Rhodes', home in Lincoln County, Tennessee in the 1840 Federal Census. In the year 1850, when Nancy was seven, James Talant is again listed in the Rhode's household in the Federal Census. The 1850 Census shows that by that time the family was living in Morgan County, Alabama. When the slave woman came into the hands of Nancy's parents, Absalom and Sarah, they set her free; a courageous act reflecting a conscience that would deeply impact the future of the Rhodes family -- forever changing their lives. When at last, Nancy's family reached their destination, the former slave woman and her son continued north in search of her husband who was either an escaped or freed slave.

Upon their arrival in the Ozarks, the Rhodes family settled in Stone County, Missouri, near the Arkansas/Missouri border on the western edge of what later became known as the little town of Blue Eye. The Rhodes new home was on the Missouri side of the border; although, part of Blue Eye is actually in Arkansas. According to the Stone County Genealogical and Historical Society, Nancy and her family were some of the earliest pioneers in the area. There original homestead was no more than a half mile east of the famed Wilderness Road.

In 1856, not long after the Rhodes came to Stone County, Nancy's eleven year old sister, Sarah (1844-1856) became ill and passed away. At this time their father, Absalom, donated land for the Blue Eye Cemetery. The land Nancy's father donated lies about a half mile east of the original Rhodes' family homestead. Sarah A. Rhodes became this cemetery's first internment. The Historical Society notes her gravestone as being the earliest to be found in the cemetery. (The entrance to the Blue Eye Cemetery is pictured at the right. To view the cemetery: Click on the link below the visible photos which says: Click here to view all images...).

By 1860, the Winds of War were blowing across America. The Civil War was to forever change Nancy's life. Nancy's father, Absalom, being an abolitionist, joined the Stone County Homeguard, along with Nancy's two oldest brothers, Benjamin and Joseph, serving on the side of the Union. Early on, in the War, the Federal Government requested that the Homeguard disband and that the members join Federal Units. The Guard did disband and Benjamin and Joseph joined Company I of the 24th Missouri Infantry. Nancy's father, Absalom, did not join the Federal Units, perhaps because of his age, or perhaps being on the border of the Confederate State of Arkansas and the Union State of Missouri, known historically as the Mason Dixon Line, he realized that as the war progressed his family would be in danger. By January 1, 1862, Nancy's second oldest brother, Joseph, was dead of disease at Rolla, Missouri. Her oldest brother, Benjamin, served out his three year enlistment.

On October 15, of the same year that Joseph died, Nancy's father, Absalom, opened the door of their Missouri cabin and was shot dead by Missouri bushwackers. The next morning Nancy helped her mother, Sarah bury her father in a field across the road from their house. Researcher, Cheri Mello, another Rhodes descendant states, "It is known that Alf Bolin and his gang were in the area and it is this researcher's belief that Alf and/or his gang were probably the ones who murdered Absalom." Alf Bolin, a Confederate sympathizer, had formed an outlaw gang while the Southern Missouri men were away at war, and had been terrorizing the border area. Nancy's father was a known abolitionist and was possibly targeted for freeing the slave woman and her son, as well as, serving in the Cause of the Union.

The following is an extract from an article about Absalom's murder written by Absalom's great grandson, Ronald J. Duncan:

"Absalom Rhodes was killed on the night of Oct. 15, 1862, at the age of 47.
He was shot by ‘Bushwackers' when he answered a knock at the door. The ‘Bushwackers' then took what horses and other possessions they desired---. The older sons were away---fighting in the Civil War at the time. His wife, Sarah and daughter Nancy buried him the next morning in one of their fields across the road from their home. They were afraid to go for help. In 1893, Absalom's wife --was buried beside him. These graves are still visible in the open field. The small private fenced Cemetery is on the east side of Doc Miller Rd., west of Blue Eye, Stone Co., MO, in the middle of the field just south of the main Miller house. The inscription on the joint tombstone says:

"Though thou are gone, fond memory clings to thee."

The Civil War was a costly conflict for Nancy's family. It deeply impacted their lives on the Ozark Frontier by depriving them of their primary male protecter and provider.

At last, the Civil War came to an end; then, one by one the Rhodes children came of age and began to marry and establish families of their own. On August 18, 1878, Nancy married George Washington Benton, who had been widowed twice and had a total of four children from the first two marriages. When she married George, she came to live on his homestead in Yocum Township, Carroll County, Arkansas and for the third time in her life pioneered the land, this time under the historic Homestead Act of 1862. Nancy was delighted to be a wife and mother and in the 1880 Federal Census, she claimed all of the children in the household as her own, although she was actually only the biological mother of Sarah Jane (b. 16 Aug 1879). She was to have two more children with George, Lucy Margelia (b. 03 Nov 1880), and Albert Austin (b. 09 Jul 1882).

Around 1884, according to George and Nancy's granddaughter, Elsie (Kerns) Noble, George and Nancy separated. Nancy's children were five, four and two years old; she moved off of George's homestead and set up her own home. It is unknown where George's other children lived after the separation. We do know his eldest daughter, Ida Belle Benton married in 1885, followed the next year by the marriage of his eldest son, "Wash" Benton in 1886. George's second daughter, "Neva" married in 1888, with her younger sister, Cora finally leaving home in 1891 when she married. In 1892 Nancy and George finally divorced. The 1900 Census finds Nancy and her two youngest children living near her brothers. Her house is very near the fifth oldest brother, John W. Rhodes who assisted her and her three children. Nancy Rhodes Benton died in 1919 and is buried in the original part of the Blue Eye Cemetery.

-- Rebecca Benton McKnight