I'm researching a possible lead on Fereby Benton, wife of William Vaughan that has plagued and annoyed us all so much over the past years. Fereby's mother was a Looney. Here is what I sent to a Benton researcher who answered a query I made about Jesse Benton (father of Thomas Hart Benton) of Orange County, NC: Hi Ray, Thank you for the detailed reply. It's doubtful that my ancestor was descended from Jesse, as they would have been contemporaries. I'll fill you in on her details. My ancestor was named Fereby Benton, a rather notorous name due to the great controversies that surrounded her. In fact, some researchers won't even respond to some of us descendants due to the many questions and allegations made about her. Here are the proven facts. According to the 1850 Madison County, Arkansas Death schedule, Fereby died in May of 1850 at the age of 105. That would make her date of birth about 1745. The schedule also records her place of birth as NC. She married William Vaughan about 1772 in Tennessee or NC. Now the chief controversy over Fereby has been over her alleged Cherokee ancestry. It became a family legend, as many legends do, embellished and embellished until we were told that she was a "Cherokee Princess" and her father was a chief. However, there has never been any documentation of her Indian heritage. Her grandson, who lived with Fereby and William, made a sworn affidavit for a relative trying to get in on the money the government gave to Cherokee descendants in the late 1800s. This grandson was my great x 3 grandpa, Ben Vaughan, a long time Madison County Sheriff and public official known to be honest and greatly loved in Northwest Arkansas. Ben stated that his grandma was Fereby Benton, who was "known to be a Cherokee Indian by blood". He mentions that Fereby's mother's maiden name was Looney. he also names a Cherokee cousin named Looney Tah-Lo-Tees-Key, which is actually a Cherokee name meaning "Woodchuck catcher". The claim for the relative of Ben was rejected, and for years a lot of the descendants have been looking for Fereby's parents. Fereby and William always lived near the Cherokee and he traded with them. William is said to have known Daniel Boone and was sort of a wandering wilderness man. William and Daniel both served in Lord Dunmore's war in Captain David Looney's company. I long thought that David Looney was Fereby's cousin, but I can't prove he was or that he wasn't. I've seen David Looney's ancestry, there are thousands of Looney descendants (not all from David, but many from his siblings) and Fereby doesn't show up. We know that Fereby's oldest child, Thomas, was born in the town of Cherokee, in current day Swain county, NC in 1773. I've written to numerous Bentons and joined Benton-l on the rootsweb system, but have had no luck finding her father. Some branches of the family state that Fereby was the daughter of a Jesse or James Benton. I found a web page while searching for stuff on Bentons via a search engine that mentioned a Cornelius Roberts who served in Lord Dunmore's War in David Looney's company. (Address is http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/c/o/l/Eleanor-H-Colson/GENE6-0041.html ) Cornelius' wife Mary (Polly) was a Benton from Orange County. The site has this quote in it: "There is a will in Granville Co. NC of Sam Benton, witnessed by a Joseph Roberts, 17 Jan 1773. Sam had sons, Sam and Jesse. Thomas Hart Benton's (cousin to Mary) father was named Jesse Benton, and T.H.'s brothers were Jesse, Jr, Nathaniel, and Samuel, and sisters Polly and Susannah.)" I thought it more then a little odd that my William Vaughan, who's wife was a Benton with a mother with the maiden name Looney, would be serving in a company commanded by a Looney with a man who's wife was a Benton. A company wasn't THAT large! I felt this was an excellent lead to follow; I know that Fereby couldn't have been Jesse Benton's daughter, but I wondered if she could have been either a sister or a cousin. Family tradition states that Fereby's Indian blood came not from the Benton side but from the Looneys. This Cornelius was killed later by Indians and Mary married a Rev. John Frost and they lived for a while along the James river in Virginia. William Vaughan lived in VA. Another quote in this file is: "Mary Hill says Cornelius was accused of Tory activities, but apparently gave it up because he did not appear to get into further trouble. She also states that some of the Roberts, Mon and Riddle families were a mixture of Indian and Scots-Irsh blood, "Melungeon", and lived originally along the James River in Virginia." William Vaughan "disappeared" during the Revolutionary War. Most say he wandered around the frontier, traveling with some Long Hunters to Northwest Arkansas, where he later moved. He didn't serve in the Revolutionary Army and most feel that was due to his wife, as the Cherokee were favoring the British. I've wondered if he was a Tory or a spy. My family long said that they were Scot-Irish with Indian mixed in, though no-one used the term Melungeon (I know about them and was a member of Melungeon-l). We know that William Vaughan was Welsh (he was born near Tretower castle, the Vaughan estate, in Breckonshire, Wales). This Cornelius and Mary (Benton) Roberts sound very much like the stories told about my Benton and Vaughans. And it all points back to Orange county. I'd really appreciate seeing what you have on the Bentons of NC. I'd love to find Fereby's father. Some sources (unconfirmed) give her parents as James Benton, born 1724 in NC and Malinda or Martha Looney, born 1728 in the Cherokee Nation. I have seen nothing on these people, and no-one knows where the deceased researcher that claimed this got her information. Can you help clear up this mystery? I could care less if Fereby was Cherokee or Indian, I just want to find who her parents were. So you see, I think Orange County, North Carolina is a possible place to try to locate Fereby's ancesty. I'll keep all of you informed. Eddie Davis [email protected]