If you copy this information, please cite this as your source:

Betsy Mills and Ron Brothers. The Death and Cemetery Records of Lamar County, Texas, ReBroMa Press, 2008, http://www.lamarcountytx.org/cemetery. (12/16/2025)

THE PARIS NEWS, Sunday, June 11, 1944, p. 5: “BILLINGSLEY FUNERAL. Funeral services were held Saturday afternoon at Manton-Fry Funeral Home for Ben L. Billingsley of 154 Pine Bluff St., who died early Friday at the Sanitarium of Paris, where he was a patient. The Rev. Theodore McElroy of First Christian Church held the service, and interment was made in Evergreen Cemetery. Pallbearers were W. H. Thompson, Sam Bedford, J. W. DeWeese, W. W. Biard, Joe V. Scrivner, Joe Hillhouse, Tom Baker and H. L. Robinson. A past president of the Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club, as well as church treasurer, he had been cashier of the old American National Bank and president of the former hardware firm of Johnson-Billingsley Co.”

Information from Texas Death Certificate:
Name: Ben L Billingsley
Event Type: Death
Event Date: 09 Jun 1944
Event Place: Paris, Lamar, Texas, United States
Gender: Male
Marital Status: Married
Birth Date: 27 Jan 1869
Birthplace: Texas
Father’s Name: William Parker Billingsley
Mother’s Name: Mary J Bean
Certificate Number: 29147
GS Film number: 2137794
Digital Folder Number: 005144829
Image Number: 00883
Citing this Record: “Texas Deaths, 1890-1976,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KSBY-DH5 : 5 December 2014), Ben L Bellengsley, 09 Jun 1944; citing certificate number 29147, State Registrar Office, Austin; FHL microfilm 2,137,794.

Information from Charles McCain, Denison, TX, stoneprof@texoma.net:
     It is not known exactly when Benjamin Lloyd moved to Lamar Co, but he was in Lamar County by 1 Jan 1891 [The Paris News, 10 Jun 1944], and he met Effie Roland and married her in 1895. From that time on, he lived in Paris, TX. 
     He was a partner in Johnson-Billingsley Hardware Store by 1925. Starting in 1900, he began acquiring property and building houses to occupy the spaces. By 1915, he had accumulated a considerable fortune for the day. In 1916 the Great Paris Fire occurred, destroying much of the city including the primary Billingsley residence. He immediately began rebuilding, first the main new Billingsley home at 154 (now 630) Pine Bluff St. By then he had started as a teller of the American National Bank and worked his way up to VP for Loans.  He was known for his liberal attitude toward loans, and when the stock market of 1929 crashed, many people could not pay off their loans. B. L. was held responsible and had to make good many of the loans himself which essentially broke him (decided by the District Court).  Ben L. retired in obscurity, attending the First Christian Church which he helped build.
     He was a past president of the Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club, as well as a Vice President of the Paris School Board and an active member of the IOOF and WOW.  [Written by Charles Roland McCain, grandson].

Vol. 19, 2001, Lamar County [TX] History and Genealogy,  Community Section
     [The] American National [Bank] was originally organized in 1907 by former First National Bank personnel John McReynolds, W. R. Wood and W. T. Ridley. It located in a building on the east end of the north side of the square. After the Paris fire, American National hired Roy E. Lane & Company architects to design a beautiful building constructed in the middle of the east side of the new 1916 Plaza. Today most of it can be seen with an eagle spreading its wings above the door. In 1925 the popular Ridley died at his desk while serving as president. His relatives, Philip Cecil and Ridley Briggs, would later manage banks in Paris. Directors were once familiar names: Eddie Crowley, Sam L. Bedford, E. Seymour Connor, George Hull, Ben L. Billingsley, and Hugh F. Tinnin. But, these firm businessmen could not thwart off the problems of the 1930s, and it was closed in early 1931.
     Two dividends were issued later, the last for ten percent on February 6, 1932.
     Paris would not experience similar financial institution instability until the hectic 1980s, but those losses hurt few locally, and in no way as seriously as the bank failures of the great depression.  (Contributed by Skipper Steely)

1920 Census, Lamar Co TX, 4th Ward, 154/76/108:
BILLINGSLEY, Benjamin    Head   M  W  52   m      TX  MS  MS
   ------------------------      Effie    Wife     F   W  47   m   TX  TX   TX
   ------------------------  Roland     son      M  W  22    s  TX  TX   TX
  --------------------- Benjamin Jr.   son      M  W  21  s   TX  TX   TX
  -------------------------Everette    son      M  W  18   s   TX  TX   TX 
   -------------------------  Clara   dau      F  W   11     s      TX  TX   TX
   ---------------------- Margaret    dau      F  W    6  s    TX  TX   TX

Tombstone is inscribed “Ben L. Billingsley” with years of birth and death only. Benjamin Lloyd Billingsley was married to Effie Roland. See her record for more information.