Maggie was the daughter of John Ross Reeves and Amelia Selvey, who died when Maggie was very young. Amelia was Cherokee Indian, but John Reeves did not register their daughter Maggie on the rolls like he did her two half-brothers when he remarried another Cherokee woman. John Ross Reeves was born at Spring Place, Murray County, Georgia. He married three times, all of them were Cherokee. As you can see from the photograph of Maggie, she is definitely Indian.

Maggie married Allen Ross Bennett, February 4, 1906, at Pryor Creek, Mayes County, Indian Territory, OK. Rev. C. C. Hosfelt officiating.

Her son, William Cecil told me in 1996, "She wore long dresses with an apron and her hair in a bun. She was the sweetest, kindest, lady, but had a mental illness. He felt she was 'never in her right mind' and loved playing the guitar."

Maggie learned much from her Indian step-mothers, including how to speak fluent Cherokee. She learned how to pick out special wild plants to mix and make herbal medicines when her children were sick. She was a quick shot with a gun and could hunt down her own rabbits to make stew for the family table. Maggie never got over the death of her son, Nyal Hogan Bennett, who died on Corregidor, P.I., during World War Two. His remains were never found.

"MRS. MAGGIE BENNET
Tahlequah -
Funeral services will be held at 2:30 p.m. Monday for Maggie Maud Bennett, Route Two, in the Woodhall Methodist Church. Reverend Austin Neeley pastor, will officiate assisted by Reverend Fred Ryser, pastor of Crescent Baptist Church.

Burial will be in Holland Cemetery directed by Reed-Culver Funeral Home. Pallbearers will be Owen Norwood, Lacy Norwood, Bob Hart, John Martin, Dutch Miller and Willard Moss. Mrs. Bennett died Wednesday at her home in the Woodhall Community. In addition to her husband, she is survived by five sons. Richard Forest Bennett and George Lee Bennett, both of Concord, Washington; James Kenneth Bennett, Rio Linda, California, Glen Wilson Bennett, Palo Alto, California, and John Allen Bennett, Muskogee. Three daughters, Mrs. Mary Lorene Houston, Denver, Colorado, Mrs. Naomi Tompkins, Atlanta, Georgia, and Mrs. Ruth Marie Post, Sitka, Alaska, and 23 grandchildren."