Fifth Generation

136. Bennett Hardy HOOKS³³ was born on 22 October 1890 in Wayne County, North Carolina. There is uncertainty about Bennett Hardy's birth date and year. His tombstone shows 22 Oct 1890; his World War I Draft Registration form shows 25 Oct 1890; and the 1900 U.S. Census shows Nov 1889. The fact that the 1900 Census shows his "age at last birthday" as being 10 seems to be strong evidence that he was born in late 1889. However his June 1929 Death Certificate gives his age at death as 38, which would point to a belief at that time that he was born in 1890. Short of a contemporaneous record of the birth (e.g., family Bible), it seems the exact date of his birth will remain elusive. In 1900 he was a farm laborer in Fremont, Wayne County, North Carolina.³² In 1920 he was a farmer in Apex, White Oak Township, NC.³³ Bennett was living in 1920 at Hunter Street in Apex, White Oak Township, NC.³³ He died of nephritis and myocarditis with arterioschlerosis on 12 June 1929 at the age of 38 in Apex, Wake County, North Carolina.⁴³ He was buried on 13 June 1929 at Apex Cemetery in Apex, Wake County, North Carolina.⁴³ Bennett was a carpenter/store clerk in Apex, Wake County, North Carolina.³⁰ He was named after his mother's father Bennett Pope and his father's father Hardy Hooks.

Bennett Hardy HOOKS and Bertha Gertrude HOLLAND were married on 17 October 1912 in Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina.^33,35,44 They were married by Aron J. Wood, Justice of the Peace. The marriage license was issued on the same day as they were married. Their two witnesses were not family members. (source: Wake County Marriage Register) Bertha Gertrude HOLLAND, daughter of Bryant H. HOLLAND and Della R. WALLS, was born on 28 August 1896 in Wake County, North Carolina.³²
[ Bertha was always known to her children and grandchildren as very sensitive about her age. She would never discuss how old she was, and she even let it be known she didn't wish the year of her birth to be engraved on her tombstone. As such, absent any official or written family records, there was always general uncertainty in the family as to when she was actually born. The birth year carved on her tombstone was 1895, but in fact she was born on August 28, 1896. The original 1900 Federal Census entry for the family of Bryant H. and Della Holland of White Oak Township, NC, lists Bryant as age 32 (born in 1867), Della as age 22 (born in 1877), with 3 children living in the house at that time: Thomas H. (b. Jan 1894), Bertha G. (b. Aug 1896), and Carrie A. (b. Apr 1899). Bertha's pattern of sensitivity about her age seems to have started sometime after her marriage and the birth of her first child. She married B. Hardy Hooks on October 17, 1912, and the official Wake County Marriage Registry clearly shows her age as 16 (which confirms her birth in 1896). When Mary Louise was born, 13 months later, Bertha was asked her age "at last birthday," and she gave it as 17 (also correct based on the Census record). (Hardy seems to have been a little "free" with calculating his age at this time, though there appear to be logical, or at least feasible, explanations for it. On the Wake County Marriage Registry, he is listed as age 22, but on the day they married, he was 5 days shy of turning 22. No doubt it was considered to be "close enough." Also, on Mary Louise's birth certificate, he is listed as 22, although he had turned 23 just 3 weeks prior to her birth. It is possible that the new father said he was 22 simply out of habit. The ages he gave for himself at the time of his other children's births were correct.) However, 2 years after Mary Louise was born, at the birth of Alma, Bertha gave her age as a year older than she really was. By the time Edna Ruth was born, 9 years after that, the age she gave was once again correct. (No age information of any kind was put on James' birth certificate.) Everyone in the family always assumed Bertha didn't want anyone to know how OLD she was. But what if she really didn't want people to know how YOUNG she was, relative to when she got married and when her first child was born? We now know that she got married and then became pregnant at age 16, and gave birth a little over 2 months after her 17th birthday. Did her sensitivity to her young age begin when, at age 19 (but telling people she was 20), she gave birth again, already having a 2-year-old at home? And was she willing to give a correct age again only years later, when she was into her late 20's, at the birth of her last child? (Sources: 1900 U.S. Census (White Oak Twp., NC, sheet 21), Wake County Marriage Register, & Wake County Bureau of Vital Statistics) ]
In 1930 she was an unemployed, widowed housewife in Apex, White Oak Township, NC.⁴⁰ She died on 5 October 1991 at the age of 95 in Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina. Bertha was buried on 7 October 1991 at Apex Cemetery in Apex, Wake County, North Carolina.

Bennett Hardy HOOKS and Bertha Gertrude HOLLAND had the following children: