Re: Jeepe Jesse Bynum
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In reply to:
Re: Jeepe Jesse Bynum
Annita Powell 7/31/02
I think the answer to the question depends on when Polly Bynum Box was born.
Jesse Bynum was married to a woman named Sarah Ann Benefield by the time of a 1784 deed.She bore several children.One of the older daughters later wrote in her family Bible that her younger sister (born in 1798) was the daughter of "Jesse Bynum and Sarah his wife".So we know they were still married as late as 1798.But the 1800 census shows no sign of a wife, leading us to believe that Sarah Ann Benefield died sometime between 1798 and 1800.
Jesse Bynum married again and had another set of children.A Bynum historian, writing in 1916, stated that his (second) wife's name was "Jane" but gave no maiden name.Her maiden name is unknown.There is a plausible theory that she was the widow Jane Green who was living a few households away from Jesse Bynum in that census.
The existence of a "Jane Benefield" is a myth.This is an assertion that first appeared in print in 1958 with absolutely no evidence given.It appears to be the result of "combining" the first wife and the second wife.
So the answer to which wife was the mother of Polly Bynum depends on whether she was born before or after 1800.As best I know (based only on census records) she was born after 1800, thus was likely a daughter of Jane X.