BENNETT, John – Moved to El Paso in 1856 and built the Union House, El Paso's first hotel. It was located at the NW corner of First and Cherry Sts. W. R. Willis operated it almost at once after it was built by Bennet. It burned December 3, 1872, then being the City Hotel, and operated by Warner & Hart.

BENSON, James (1805-1883) and Polly Ann Hinshaw (1811-1869), John and William – Lived in Kansas Twp. in 1831. James and John took part in Black Hawk War.

BETTY, George W. and Lydia M. – Quit claim deed to W 1/2, NW 1/4, Section 32 El Paso dated March 1, 1853.

BETZ, Jacob and Suzannah – Jacob was born in Union County, Pennsylvania, moved to Ohio, and then to near Metamora, Illinois in 1850. They moved into Greene Twp. in 1856, buying land that year in SW 1/4 of Section 16, afterward accumulating 320 acres there. There were four daughters born to Jacob and Suzannah: Mary (Wrenn), Della (Stretch), Hattie (Dunmire) and Dora (Kring). Jacob Betz was on the Board of the Methodist Church of Panola-El Paso in the late 50's, and his daughter Della Stretch preached for 70 years, addressing a congregation on her 93rd birthday.

BETZ, John and Liza – Lived in Greene Twp. in the 1850's. John was a brother of Jacob Betz. Their son, Andrew Betz, was killed in action in the Civil War. Another son, William Betz, took the measles in the Civil War and died soon after arriving home. He is buried in the Gabetown Cemetery.

BIEBES, Henry and Anna M. Flamm – Henry was born May 16, 1833 and died February 3, 1913 and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery. They were in Woodford County in 1858, but did not settle on the farm still owned by their children until 1862. Their children were Margaret, Linford J., Ephraim, Horace and William.

BIGGER, Captain James and Elizabeth Hart (1797-1863) – James was born in 1791 in Ohio. He died in 1841 SE El Paso and is buried in old Clarksville Cemetery. He was the son of John Bigger, a Virginian of Irish stock. James married a Miss Stewart in Ohio who died soon thereafter. He then moved near Spencer, Indiana, and there married Miss Elizabeth Hart who accompanied him to Illinois in 1836, bringing a 16 year old son, Pleasant, with them.

Captain James Bigger had a company of militia at the Battle of Tippecanoe, fighting under Colonel Bartholomew and General Harrison's over-all command. Captain Bigger may also have accompanied Colonel Bartholomew when his militia burned the Grand Kickapoo Village in West Twp., McLean County, Illinois in 1813. Both men were supporters of General Harrison, and both moved into Illinois together, and are buried near each other in the old Clarksville Cemetery. He remained a Whig politically. He is an ancestor of today's Bigger family in this area.

BIGGER, Pleasant H. and (1) Margaret Bell, (2) Elizabeth Hibbs, (3) Sarah Furman Scott – Pleasant was the son of the old Indian Campaigner, James Bigger. He was born July 21, 1820 and died July 4, 1904. He came into the area southeast of El Paso with his parents in 1836, and helped erect the first schoolhouse in that vicinity, the Log School, near "Coon's Ford Bridge."

Later, he attended the school as a student. He is an ancestor of many of the Biggers still residing here, Judson Bigger being the son of Sarah Scott. He is buried in the Hibbs-Bigger Cemetery. He was a Baptist and a Republican.

BIGHAM, John R. – Charter member of the first El Paso church, Presbyterian, at its organization meeting on May 11, 1857.

BIGHAM, William R. – Came from Ohio in 1858 and became a carriage manufacturer in El Paso. He served in Company G., 4th Illinois Calvary in the Civil War.

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