Benny Wade Hewett, Jr. Alternate spelling Hewitt

Birth: He was born in 1915 in Louisiana.  

Family Information:

Son of B. Wade and Minnie Hewett.

Brother of Allie Belle, Irene, Clark, Eugene and Charlotte Hewett.

He married Nora E. Sinnett at some point before July 1933.

Description: On his Draft Registration Card dated October 16, 1940 he was described as being 5'8" tall, weight 160 pounds with gray eyes, brown hair and dark complexion.  

Pre-Colony History:  

Home in Colony:  

Job in Colony: At the veneer plant in September 1931 he, Ike Jensen, Claude Allred and Carl Nelson were fishing the blocks out of the cooking vat and sending them up to George Collins for Ernest Kimball and Fred Busick to peel, after which they were fed to the big veneer machine; while Roede's and Mrs. Killian's crews took care of the cutting and stacking.

In October 1931 Ernest Ogden, along with Billy and Byron Busick joined Bennie when he took a team out to haul firewood for his mother.

In 1932 he and Ralph Plumb were making a stove at the machine and blacksmith shop to help furnish the little "Bide-A-Wee" cottage for Mr. and Mrs. Garfield Miller. 

Other Info: At Christmas time 1928 Curly Goble and Warren Fread carried a load of building materials to the Rice Ranch; on the return trip they brought sixteen hogs and 38 bales of rice straw. To carry this load, a floor of stout planks and beams had to be constructed over the bottom of the truck and then "the "fun" commenced. The hogs had to be captured and such squealing and grunting of the indignantly protesting porkers was never heard in those parts -- and such pulling of legs and ears you never saw, but after a strenuous hunt and battle the poor beasts were at last safely [loaded] and then the 33 bales of straw were piled upon the floor above the hogs and when that was accomplished you would have seen a truckload about as high as the ranch-house and on of top of that clambered Harold and Ben Hewett, Jr. going to help celebrate Xmas at the Colony's home. Baldwin and little Eugene followed them in Baldwin's Rolls Royce twenty cylinder car which [was] equipped with all the luxuries and trimmings of a modern traveling palace."  

Post-Colony History: In 1935 he and his wife, Nora, were living in DeRidder, Louisiana.

In 1940 they and their three children were living in the town of New Llano, Louisiana while Benny Wade worked as a mechanic at the old colony ice and cold storage plant -- at that time the owner was Joe H. Johnson.

He and Nora divorced sometime before 1958 and he married Mava Lois Rodgers in 1959 at Missouri.  

Death: He died in 1973 in Missouri.  

Sources: US Census: 1920, 1930, 1940; Photo Archives; "Llano Colonist": January 5, 1929, September 5, 1931, October 3, 1931, March 26, 1932; WWII Draft Registration Card; Missouri Marriage Records; US SSDI; FindAGrave.com