Hoffman Cemetery

1 MILE EAST OF HOFFMAN, OKLAHOMA

Surveyed in 1974

Surveyed in 2007 by John & Cassandra Martin

Additions & Corrections by Shelley Lynch April 19, 2008

PAGE CREATED & MAINTAINED BY SHELLEY LYNCH leeshlynch@gmail.com

 

(VIEW HOFFMAN CEMETERY SURVEY)  

 |  HOFFMAN CEMETERY SURNAMES A-M  |  HOFFMAN CEMETERY SURNAMES N-Z  |  TEXT ONLY |

"My Indian Territory School"  |   Past Caretakers |

View Some additions & corrections to 2007 survey 

This Cemetery Survey was done in Loving Memory of Susan Emma Bennefield-Jenkins-Schatt
by John and Cassandra Martin.

Cassandra is the great granddaugter of Suan Emma Bennefield-Jenkins-Schatt

Susan Emma Bennefield-Jenkins-Schatt

17 July 1872 to 29 July 1964

John and Cassandra Martin

Tulsa, Oklahoma

John and Cassandra Martin during the Fall of 2007 Surveyed Hoffman Cemetery.  It took many hours of hard labor.  First cleaning the cemetery digging out the graves by hand or weed eating just to find the graves.  It took many more hours to process the list of names and to organize the photos of the headstones. Both of them deserve thanks for all of their hard work.  But it was a labor of love for them.

 

Susan Emma Bennefield was born 17 July 1872 and she died  29 July 1964.   She spent 92 years on this earth, born in Georgia but a living transplant to Indian Territory, Oklahoma before it was a state.  She married Jesse Robert E. Jenkins in 1895 in McIntosh Co.  They had 23 years together before Papa Jess died of Tuberculosis.  He was also placed in Hoffman Cemetery.  They had had 5 children together and now it fell to Emma to raise her four daughters and one son.  Emma  faced each day, come what may.  She led a tough pioneer life in Oklahoma, and she was a well known midwife in several counties. She later married Otto Schatt, also a widow. Otto treated her children well, being a kind man.  He too, lived with Emma for 23 years before he died.  Susan Emma Bennefield Jenkins Schatt was a powerful influence on her family, neighbors and friends because she was a good and honest woman.  A pioneer woman; an Oklahoman woman, no matter where she was born. 

Susan Emma Bennefield was the daughter of Dock S. Bennefield and Mary Matilda Adeline Bedingfield, all of Carroll Co., GA.   Dock was married before Mary and had three daughters: Fanny, Mary and Minnie Molly, also originating out of Georgia.  When his first wife died, Dock married Mary Matilda and they started their family.  Their first three daughters were born in Georgia.  That would be Susan Emma, always called Emma, Sida Loucindy, called Siddie, and Sarah Bennefield who tragically died in a house fire when she was still a young girl. 

One of our family stories is about Emma, and how she saved the farm for the family.  You see, she overhead Dock telling Mary that they just might lose the farm because they were a little short of money for the taxes.  In those days so many people did lose their property because they were cash poor but lived well on their land.   

It just so happened that Emma had been making extra money skinning ‘cats’ for $.10 a hide.  Now I hope they were talking about small cats, but with Emma you couldn’t be sure! She had begun saving money because she wanted a calf of her own to raise.  She had tucked away her earnings in a little tin, hidden from everyone in the household. 

Emma offered her savings to her dad, Dock, and she made him promise that he would give her a calf from the stock and never sell it, no matter what.  Dock agreed because he thought he could keep his promise.  We have the picture of Emma and her calf that you can see for yourself.  There’s no doubt that the girl loved her calf, she’s dressed in her best clothes for the picture! 

Time passed, but also got worse on the farm, and Dock sold Emma’s calf to raise money for the family.  Emma cried for 3 days and swore she would hate her dad for the rest of her life.  Of course, once she grew up she understood what sacrifices people make for life and limb.  This little story illustrates just what kind

of woman Emma was destined to become.   

The family picked up and moved west in order to find a better situation for themselves.  They lived in Winston Co., AL where the last three of their six daughters were born to Dock and Mary Matilda.  They were: Nancy, Mary Adeline and Zonia Ozania, called Zona for short.  They stayed in Alabama until more of Dock’s family, the Bennefield’s, began to talk about Oklahoma and the fact that it wasn’t a state yet.   

It is historically accurate to say that the Bennefield’s, aka Bedingfield’s in Georgia, were moon shiners of darn good whiskey.  They never lacked for customers, but two of the sons did get caught.  After the trial the men were put in jail.  You’ve heard the story of getting a file in your food?  This actually happened for one of the men.  The other escaped alone and ran straightaway for Oklahoma.  The Bennefield’s, it was wise to change the name slightly, settled in both McIntosh and Okmulgee Counties.  Dock’s family stayed mostly in McIntosh and his brother James Hardy Bennefield’s family was in Okmulgee.  Others soon came and you find the Bennefield name, spelled in many variations, all over Oklahoma. 

Dock was a Bennefield, and Mary’s people were Bedingfield’s, so no matter whose people were on the shady side, Oklahoma was a good choice.  We are talking about the post-Civil War era for this move west because money was hard to be made.  At least in Oklahoma there was a hope of building a future, and not having trouble with the law over past indiscretions.   

The family settled in and Emma fell in love with the young and handsome, Jesse Robert E. Jenkins, born in Town Creek, AL but now living in Oklahoma.  At the same time, her half sister Minnie Molly fell in love with Lee B. Davis.  They shared a double wedding at Dock’s house on 02 Feb 1895.  But their daddy wasn’t there.  

This is the newspaper article that describes what happened to Emma’s daddy, Dock.  “Instantly Killed” led the story about Dock’s death.  “At a dance at Mr. J.H (James Hardy) Benefield’s, about ten miles northwest of Eufala, Monday night, Mr. D.S. (Dock) Benefield, a brother of the host, was instantly killed by John Sheppard, who came there drunk and made himself very obnoxious by his unruly conduct.  As near as we can get them, the particulars are about as follows: When the crowd began to gather, Mr. Benefield extended a cordial greeting to all inviting them in and telling them that they were perfectly welcome to dance all night if they so chose, his only request being that they keep sober and behave themselves.  Everything moved along very nicely for a while, until Sheppard began to flourish his pistol around the house and had to be carried out.  They took him outside of the gate and started him home.  Instead of going he began shooting, the first ball striking Mr. (Dock) Benefield, who was standing at the gate talking to his brother, right above the nipple, coming out under his arm.  The wounded man gave two shrieks and dropped to the ground dead.  …”  This excerpt is taken from an unidentified Eufala, OK newspaper.  But it shows that violence was a regular part of life in early Oklahoma.  The sad thing is that the party was on Christmas Eve 1894, so Dock was not alive to walk his daughter’s down the aisle. 

We know, because of census records, that most of Dock and Mary’s children lived in both McIntosh and Okmulgee Counties.  Dock and Mary are buried in one of the two counties.  Their daughter, Emma and husband Jessie had 5 girls and 1 boy.  She delivered her twins, Della Mae and Stella Faye by herself because the doctor Jesse went to get didn’t get there in time.  They found one twin each cradled on each of mama Emma’s arms, comfortable on pillows, peacefully sleeping.  Had Emma not been schooled in midwifery she might not have survived the birth of her daughters on 07 Jul 1909.  This took place in Morris, OK.  Her other children were: Lillie Viola, Ernest Elmer, Zellie (Zillie) Iona, and Allie Faire Jenkins.  Sadly, little twin Stella Faye Jenkins died of pneumonia before she was 2 years old and is buried with her father in Hoffman Cemetery, Okmulgee Co.  The stronger twin, Della, thrived. 

After Jesse’s death of tuberculosis in 1918, Emma had little luck in the husband department until she married a widow from Germany named Otto Schatt.  He was a kind man, and our beloved Emma deserved someone to help shoulder the responsibility of raising her children.  Otto and his first family are all buried at Lackey-Hitchita cemetery.   

Now, Emma’s daughter, Della took after her mother, Emma, more than some of the others.  She was always a petite woman, unlike Emma, but she could work circles around her children and grandchildren just as her mother had always done.  Della passed this little story about Emma down to us grandchildren.  It’s short and proves how strong willpower can be in our lives.   

Emma had always loved to grow her garden.  It was the one real pleasure she had as she aged.  She was approaching her 90s when Della asked her if she didn’t think it was time to put the hoe down.  Emma was diabetic, you see, so Della was worried.  Her mother turned to her and said, ‘the day I don’t get up to work in my garden is the day I will die.’   Technically it was a day and a half; but her self prophesy was true enough to make a good story all these years later.  I hear her laughing in heaven!  Emma Bennefield Jenkins Schatt is buried in Hoffman Cemetery, too.  So our roots run deep, here in Oklahoma. 

We have so many other family stories because we have so many interesting characters.  They grew up during hard times, and they made a living for the next generation. Emma’s last sister is still alive at 100 years old in 2007.  As you can imagine it was a great party! 

All of these pioneering mothers taught their children good strong values that have been passed along.  Of course, one or two of us have the ‘gift’ as we call it in our family.  And all I’ll tell you at this time is that it most definitely comes from the matriarchal line.  Some say it comes from a long lost Cherokee Grandmother.  It is true that some of our relatives are from a line that split in Georgia, and they were part Cherokee.  Emma’s family doesn’t seem to tie into that line. But, if we do have a great-great-great-great grandmother whose Cherokee, and she is watching out for us, it sure would explain a lot of the interesting abilities attached to the family gift.   I hope you’ve enjoyed getting acquainted with some of my relatives.  I’m working on the genealogy now and I’ve got lots of stories to tell.  Today, though, is the retelling of a few of the stories of our relative Emma Bedingfield Bennefield Jenkins Schatt.   Thank you for your time.  Cassandra Martin, granddaughter of Della Jenkins Van Horn, great-granddaughter of Emma Bedingfield Bennefield Jenkins Schatt, and great-great granddaughter of Mary Matilda Adeline Bedingfield Bennefield.


 

 

 

 

 

 

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Shelley Lynch

 

             
             
     

 

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