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Note: N86 Peter Ouzts I and His Descendants by Hortense Woodson, 1949, p. 162
Edgefield SC US Census 1850
Mitchell GA US Census 1860,1870
Thomas GA US Census 1880, 5C/5L 1900
As told by Richmond Ouzts and Eugene Ouzts, great grandsons of Benjamin and Rebecca Ouzts. . .
Benjamin Franklin (Ben) Ouzts, b. Nov. 1829, son of Dicie Shaffer and Jacob Ouzts II, married his second cousin Rebecca Miranda (Becky) Timmerman, b. Aug. 1829, the daughter of Elizabeth Ouzts and William Monroe Timmerman. Elizabeth died in 1847. Against the wishes of Becky’s father, Ben and Becky eloped and were married in Edgefield County, SC sometime after August of 1850. While residing in Edgefield County, SC, Ben and Becky had children, Elizabeth Emma Rebecca Ouzts on August of 1853, William Fletcher Ouzts, born on August 28, 1855, John Clinton Ouzts, born June 5, 1857, and Mary Ann Rebecca Ouzts, born on October 28, 1859. Ben and Becky moved to Mitchell County, GA sometime prior to the 1860 census. It was between the 1860 census and the time the civil war broke out that Becky was kidnapped by her brothers, at her father’s orders, and hauled back to Edgefield County, South Carolina, against her will. Becky was forced to go back to South Carolina, while Ben was on a business trip with a man by the name of Green. The Greens had some association with the Ouzts family at that time. It is said that Ben strapped on his pistol and he, brother Jim, and an in-law started to make their way to South Carolina to retreive Becky. In the meantime Becky’s stepmother, by the name of Rebecca, whom Becky’s father had married sometime after the death of Becky’s mother, helped her. She went into the family safe and gave her a substantial amount of money, loaded one horse with supplies and gave her another two horses for the trip and told her to go back to her children and husband. Becky began her long ride back home. At some point along her journey, she was on a hill and she saw three riders. She got a-ways off the trail, out of sight. She watched the three riders as they passed by her. As best as Becky could tell from a distance, she saw that one of the riders looked like her husband, Ben. She took her cow horn out that she had with her and blew it. A cow horn was used as a stress call in those days. One of the riders stopped and twirled his horse around abruptly, looking in the direction of where the cow horn sound came from. The rider, who was Ben, blew his cow horn in response. Becky stepped out from behind the bushes. They were finally reunited. Ben was bent on revenge on Becky’s father, but Becky pleaded with him to not carry out his vengeful feelings. It is said that Ben meant to kill Becky’s father for doing such a thing. Ben and Becky returned home to Mitchell County, Georgia. According to family accounts, Becky did indeed, bring a substantial amount of money back with her from South Carolina. Ben apparently traveled back to South Carolina to join the fight in the civil war with many of his brothers and cousins. During the war, two of Ben’s brothers were killed. Ben and Becky had one more child named Nellie Viola Ouzts, who was born in 1875 in Georgia. In their old age, Ben and Becky went to live close to some of their children in Thomasville, Thomas County, Georgia. The 1900 census shows that Ben and Becky were living with their son, William Fletcher Ouzts and his family in Thomas County, GA. Sometime between 1900 and 1910, Ben went to visit John Clinton Ouzts, his son, in Greenville, Florida. Ben had been suffering from an injury that resulted from a fall that he had while working in the barn on the family homeplace. Ben had been laid up for around 6 months as a result of this fall. The family advised him not to make the long, hard journey that would have to be made on horseback. Ben was determined to go anyway and left home on his journey. During Ben’s visit with his son, when he decided that he wanted to go back home to Thomasville, GA, he was not feeling well and was advised by his son to not make the long trip from Greenville, FL back to Thomasville, GA. Ben decided to make the trip anyway. Ben died somewhere along the trail back to Thomasville, GA. The exact cause of Ben’’s death is unknown. It could have been from complications of his injuries that he obtained as a result from the fall that he had months earlier, since he was not fully recovered from the fall when he left to make the journey to Greenville, FL. Who knows? Maybe Ben knew that his time was near and he wanted to see the son that had moved away one more time before he succumbed to his ailments. The family story says that Ben was buried along side the trail by some other travelers or people living close by. Someone, maybe his son, John Clinton Ouzts, sent word of Ben’s death to the family in Thomasville, GA, somehow. At some point after that, Becky went to live with her son, John Clinton Ouzts, in Grady County, Georgia. It is said that she is buried in the Ouzts Family graveyard that is located off the Tallahassee Rd in Thomasville. The property is now owned by the Ford family (Ford Motor Company) and is part of Long Pine Plantation. Becky’s grave cannot be found anywhere else so it is probable that she is indeed, buried in this "Ouzts Cemetery" along with numerous grandchildren who died in infancy or at a very young age.
Writer: Lisa Ouzts
Find A Grave Memorial# 106968460
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