The history of the Bennett family in the rugged borderlands of Pendleton and Pocahontas counties is a classic Appalachian story of pioneer grit, land clearing, and western migration.
Unraveling their genealogy requires separating documented local land records from some of the persistent, unproven family legends that made their way into 20th-century county histories.
1. The Pendleton County Foundations (The North Fork Settlement)
The earliest documented presence of the family in this region centers around Joseph Bennett, Sr., who was established on the North Fork of the South Branch of the Potomac River (near modern-day Circleville) by at least 1763.
The Identity Debate
Early genealogical publications (like the 1974 Holt-Bennett Family History) asserted that Joseph Sr. was born in New Jersey in 1695 to an English immigrant named William Bennett and his wife Elizabeth Lee. However, renowned regional genealogists (such as Mary Harter and Jeff Carr) noted that no primary source documentation connects the Pendleton County pioneer to that specific New Jersey lineage. Local records suggest his birth was closer to 1725.
The Clover Lick / Circleville Land
In 1767 and 1772, Joseph Bennett acquired tracts of 70 and 46 acres on the North Fork below what was then called the "Great Clover Lick" (not to be confused with the Clover Lick in Pocahontas County).
A famous marker in local legal history belongs to this family:
On June 13, 1788, the very first deed ever recorded in the newly formed Pendleton County clerk's office (back when the county seat was temporarily at Ruddle) was executed by Joseph Bennett and his wife, Mary. They sold their 70-acre North Fork homestead to Isaac Hinkle for 35 pounds as they prepared to migrate further west into Harrison County (settling along Buffalo Creek).
The Early Generation Puzzle
Determining exactly how many children belonged to the first generation remains a challenge. A diary entry from 1778 by Paul Hinkle (a neighbor and relative of the allied Ellsworth family) noted that Joseph Bennett Sr. had two householder sons and two married daughters living nearby.
Tax lists from 1782, however, show a higher concentration of adult Bennetts—including an "extra" John and William—suggesting there may have been a second, contemporary Bennett family living along the South Fork during the Revolutionary War era.
The primary line generally traced through Pendleton County includes:
John Bennett (b. circa 1748), who married Catherine.
Joseph Bennett, Jr. (b. circa 1750 – d. 1810), who married Hannah Starnes.
2. Connections and Cross-Over to Pocahontas County
Because early boundaries shifted continuously between Augusta, Rockingham, Pendleton, Bath, and ultimately Pocahontas counties, Bennett family lines frequently overlapped across these ridges.
The Interwoven Pioneer Lines
While a significant portion of Joseph Bennett Jr.’s children eventually pushed west into Lewis, Gilmer, and Upshur counties, branches of the family remained deeply embedded in the high mountain valleys of Pendleton and northern/eastern Pocahontas County.
The family routinely intermarried with prominent regional pioneer clans, creating tight-knit community networks:
The Hinkle/Henkel Alliance: The Bennetts lived in close proximity to Hinkle's Fort (a vital Revolutionary War defensive outpost on the North Fork) and frequently intermarried with the Hinkle, Judy, and Ellsworth lines.
The Southern Migration: Over successive generations throughout the 1800s, descendants of the Pendleton Bennetts spread south along the mountain gaps into the Greenbank and Dunmore districts of Pocahontas County, as well as across the ridges into Highland County, Virginia.
A clear example of this multi-county footprint is seen in later descendants like Patrick Henry Bennett (1877–1945); born and married in Pendleton County to Maggie Mullenax, he ultimately established his household and farmed in the Greenbank District of Pocahontas County by the early 20th century.
3. The Migrating Branch: From Pendleton to Lewis County
No study of the Pendleton Bennetts is complete without mentioning the branch that left the mountains in 1797.
William Bennett (son of Joseph Jr. and Hannah Starnes, born in Pendleton in 1775) purchased land from Colonel George Jackson at Walkersville on the West Fork of the Monongahela River. He married Rebecca McCally, daughter of a British marine captain who turned American patriot.
This single Pendleton-born branch went on to become one of the most politically influential families in West Virginia history:
Jonathan McCally Bennett (William's youngest son, b. 1814): A prominent attorney, member of the Virginia Assembly, and the Auditor of Virginia during the Civil War. He was instrumental in managing the state's finances and later served in the West Virginia State Senate.
Hon. William George Bennett (Jonathan's son, b. 1847): A graduate of the Virginia Military Institute (who fought as a cadet at the Battle of New Market) and later a distinguished circuit court judge and massive landholder in central West Virginia.
Research Recommendations for This Line
If you are attempting to break through a specific brick wall on a Bennett ancestor connecting these two counties, focus on these specific local sources:
Chalkley’s Augusta County Records: Because Augusta originally encompassed this entire region, early road petitions (such as the 1756 petition to view a road from "Joseph Bennett's to the mouth of the North Fork") provide exact timelines for when these families arrived.
Oren F. Morton’s County Histories: Consult both A History of Pendleton County (Part II, Chapter VI contains specific pioneer sketches) and A History of Pocahontas County to trace how land grants shifted between family members.
Pendleton County Deed Book 1: Reviewing the microfilmed signatures and land descriptions from the 1788 transition period can help clarify exactly which Joseph or John Bennett held specific sections of the North Fork.
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