The IOOF Funeral Of Geroge W. Bennett

George Washington Bennett (pictured below, left) was born in 1841 and died in 1814. He served in the Confederate Army and he and his wife Anne raised 9 kids on Clover Fork. David Parmer shares this group photo taken at G.W. Bennett's funeral. This photo features his fellow members of the Orlando Chapter of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

In the photo also are many of his family. Note in particular his grandson Glenn Skinner (son of Gid and Sarah (Bennett) Skinner), the little boy with the white hat 4th from the left in the front row. Below to the left is a photo of Glenn taken in the 1960s.

About the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, according to David Parmer, "There was a large contingent of IOOF members from Orlando who were members of the Burnsville Lodge No 252. In 1954 the Burnsville Lodge membership included W. E. Beckner, W. D. "Deck" Brown, Lawrence Dyer, Reverend England, E. L. Fox, William Fox, Worthington Hurst, C. M. Mick, Cyrus Mick, Dem Mick, J. L. Ocheltree,and Nathan Parmer. Several other members from Orlando had died. This lodge had been organized in the 1890s and always had an Orlando flavor."

Pictured in the funeral photo are:
Front Row Dave Bennett. Edward Bennett and wife, Glenn Skinner (boy seated with white hat), Taylor Riffle. Dick Ratliff, Erma Cosner Bennett, Bessie (Fox) Riffle.

2nd Row George Bennett & wife, Hans Bennett, Bill Foster, Gid Skinner & wife, Mrs. George Ed Bennett, George Ed Bennett, Gav Allman, Billy Skinner, Freeman Russ Riffle, Nathan Parmer, Charles Cole, Joseph Riffle, Edmund Skinner.

3rd Row S. Nicholson, Hut Mick (with white beard), George Foster, Ezra Posey, Frank Henline, S. Conrad.

4th Row Charles Skinner, Vas Oldaker, Dave McCord, Garrett Fox, Garrett Freeman, Pauline McCord.

By the bye, Glenn Skinner did not follow in his grandfather's footsteps and join the IOOF. Rather, he was a Mason, affiliated with the Burnsville Chapter untill he moved to Florida in the 1960s.

See also
30 May '06 Bennetts of Clover Fork
'06 Virginia (McCoy) Was a Teacher on Clover Fork
10 July '06 Picture 50 Years On Clover Fork

A Buggy Ride to Burnsville

David Parmer shares yet another wonderful old photo of Orlando Folks

"The photo was taken in Burnsville in front of the Burnsville Exchange Bank around 1915 by Cecil Thompson, a local photographer, and shows Dave Bennett of Orlando, husband of Maysel (Parmer) Bennett, and his young sister-in-law Marie Parmer who was around 12 or 13 at the time."

Marie would marry a Barnett and move into the home in downdown Orlando that Dave and Maysel had owned.

For reminders, below right is the photo of Dave and Maysel about 40 years later and below left is the photo of Marie and Maysel's parents, Nathan and Ollie (Skinner) Parmer.













Note the barber pole in the background of the buggy photo. It's in front of Dave Hyre's grandfather's barbershop. He sends the photo below which shows
"Jake Brousis working in Victor Hyre's barbershop in Burnsville , May 1924. Dating the photo was easy with two calendars on the wall. The calendar hanging over the window shade is from the Burnsville Motor Sales. The calendar to the left is from the Burnsville Exchange Bank and displays a picture of Clara Bow. Just below that calendar is a picture of Charlie Chaplin. There is a spittoon on the floor to the left of Jake's knee. In front of the large calendar and mirror, is a lighted gas lamp fixture. The sign above the smaller mirror left of Jake notifies customers that closing time is 8 P.M. Monday through Friday and 10 P.M. on Saturday. The price for a shave and haircut is rung up on the cash register at $ .40. There are three empty Coca Cola bottles on the window sill and you can even see out the window to make out a Coca Cola sign mounted on a building across the street."

See also
Wed, July 12, '06 Ollie & Nathan Parmer
Sun, Sept. 24, '06 The Last Midwife

The Last Midwife

Adapted from an article by Paul P. Bennett of Jane Lew, published in Lewis County West Virginia, Her People and Places, edited by Joy Gilchrist-Stalnacker, pgs 58-59, available at the HCPD, Horner, WV

"Maysell (Parmer) Bennett (1898-1982) at one time had delivered about every baby in the Orlando area." Paul Bennett goes on to tell us that transportation was mostly by horses and was difficult at times. We know she worked in concert with Dr. Peck, who would come out to the new mother’s home as soon as possible, but from Burnsville to Orlando, and even up Clover Fork could take quite a while, especially in the mud road and paths of winter and the floods of spring.

"Maysell did not charge anything for her services but sometimes some of her patients would give her $5.00. The expecting mothers would contact her before the due date and ask her to come to their home when the mother would go into labor. (This was called engaging.)" Bonnie Brown, on the right in this 1960s photo was one of the babies Maysell delivered. We don't know who delivered her cousin Betty Brown.


Maysell Parmer married David Bennett, also from Orlando. Like many of his generation, David worked for the Hope Gas Company. They had six kids together. To the right is a photo of the two. The house they lived in, white with green trim, still stands on a small hill just past the road that goes up the hill to the Orlando graveyard.




This photo of northern Lewis County midwife Catherine (Queen) White would have been taken roughly about the time young Maysell began assisting with births in the Orlando area. Tis photo was contributed by Christine White to Joy Gilchrist's Lewis County West Virginia on pg 200

Picture 50 Years on Clover Fork

These two pictures were taken about 50 years apart. At the top is Gideon and Sarah (Bennett) Skinner and their 5 oldest children about 1900. Their home was up Clover Fork; perhaps the photo was taken there. Gid Skinner was the son of Jackson Skinner and Patience (Duvall) of Clover Fork. Sarah's folks were George W. and Anne (Barb) Bennett. Both of their fathers had fought for the Confederacy.

Sarah died in 1938 of anemia and Gideon remarried Minnie (unk). Minnie left him a widower for a second time.

The 8 mm home movie below (click on the image) was filmed in downtown Orlando, WV in the 1950s by Carl Witzgall, husband of one of Gid & Sarah's grandkids. In his 80s at the time, Gid Skinner still hitched the mule to his old wagon and drove into Orlando to pick up his mail and supplies from WD Brown & Son. Carl Witzgall, my father, knew Gid Skinner was the end of a way of life, and took this film to document it.

(See postings May 30, '06 The Bennetts of Clover Fork about Sarah's father, Feb 15, '06 "Dick Skinner's Restaurant: A Family Affair" and Feb. 27 '06 "Jackson McWhorter Skinner, Confederate Soldier" about Gid's family.)

The Bennetts of Clover Fork

This is George Washington Bennett who, in his teens in the

1850s, came with his parents Isaac and Polly (Spaunagle) Bennett to settle on Clover Fork. In the 1860 census he was one of five kids were still at home: Adam, 23 years, our George, 18, Margaret, 16, Susan, 13, and David, 10.

Like his neighbors, George served the Confederate cause during the Civil War.

A large Bennett family in central Lewis County seems to be unrelated to our Bennetts. The Bennetts north of Orlando most likely have English origins. It has been suggested that our Bennetts had Germanic roots.

George married Anne Barb (or Barbe). Reports vary on the names and number of children. Two that we are certain of are Sarah and David. Pictured below to the left is George and Anne's oldest child, daughter Sarah, b. 1870, with her husband Gideon Skinner and their five oldest children taken in the very early 1900s. To the right is their son David, b. 1881, with his wife, Maycell Parmer, taken in, maybe, the 1950s.

George Washington Bennet died in 1914 at about the age of 73.