Benajah R. Inman, a prominent citizen, was born in Wilkinson county, where he now resides, in 1820, and is the son of Richard Inman, a native of Virginia, who died in 1848, aged sixty-five years. The father came to Mississippi soon after 1809, where he married Margaret Collins, a native of Georgia, whose mother was killed by the Indians when Margaret was an infant, and she was reared by her aunt, Miss Terril. The latter, with her family and Margaret, then about eight years of age, came to Mississippi and settled in what is now Wilkinson county, near the present location of Woodville. Margaret was the only daughter of her father's family, but there were several sons, only one of whom lived to be well advanced in years. Benjamin Rollins settled on Buffalo river, where he died at an advanced age. The family is supposed to have come to this territory in about the year 1792. The mother of B. R. Inman died in 1845, at the age of fifty-five years. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which she took much interest. Mr. Inman, her husband and the father of B. R. Inman, served in the War of 1812 as a private and was one of the few men who escaped from Fort Mims during the awful massacre there by the Indians. He was not an educated man, owing to his defective eyesight, which prevented him from hard study, but he was a man well respected and was greatly devoted to his family and beloved by them. By his marriage were born nine children, all of whom are deceased but the subject of this sketch, yet several grew to maturity, married, and reared families: Louise died single; Lucinda became the wife of Fred Keller, of Ohio; Letitia married James Ward, of London, England; Sarah married Joseph Rider, also from England; Catharine became the wife of Alex. Johnson: Zillah wedded William Richardson, of Dayton, Ohio; Joseph and Lenora died in childhood: Alexander married Miss Susan Johnson, by whom was born one child, Mary. He died in 1862, during the war, at Columbia, Miss., of measles, while serving as a soldier in the Confederate army. Benajah R. was the fourth child born to this union, and first came to his present place at the age of eighteen years, and here he has since lived. The present place was formerly the property of Mrs. Nancy Quinn, his aunt, who was before marriage a Miss Terril, and at her death bequeathed her estate to Benajah R. He had been her manager and had been very successful and economical. The husband of Mrs. Quinn was, unfortunately, drowned soon after their marriage. She followed him to the grave in 1863, leaving no children, and was seventy-five years of age at the time of her death and a consistent member of the Baptist church and a woman of more than usual worth and character. The subject was married first to Miss Lucinda Ginn, daughter of Colonel Ginn, a native of Tennessee. She was the youngest child of her father's family and was born and reared in this county. She died in 1874, and by her marriage were born six children, five of whom are yet living: Richard M.; Julia, who died at eight years of age; Susie, the widow of B. Stuart; Dr. Benajah W., who was educated at Randolph, Macon college, of Virginia, and at the medical university of New Orleans, and resides in this county, where he practices his profession; Williard L., who was educated near Woodville and at Baton Rouge, La., in Professor McGruder's college, and lives near the home place, and Lillie, who is single and at home. His first wife having died, he married Lydia Adell Bryan, a native of this county and the daughter of L. H. Bryan, also a native of this county. By this union was born one child, Inez, now aged eleven years. Mr. Inman is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and his wife of the Episcopal church. He owns several plantations and is a man who gives close attention to his home and family. He stands very high in the community as an upright citizen, a just man and a progressive planter. He is well to do, as is also his most excellent wife, she owning in her own name a large landed and personal estate.


From Biographical and Historical Memoirs of MS - Vol. 1