Looking for parents of Abner Bennett 1863-1903 Missouri/Arkansas

[Lisa in California]

There was one record I came across that listed his birth place as Illinois so I'll give that a try too. I was unware that it was so common for the birth places to me listed incorrectly. There have been 3 locations I've seen on records so hopefully will be one of them  . I just started looking into the military records and possible son being named after a father. I'll check to see if any of the girls are named after the mother as well.
I had come across the newspaper article about his death but wasn't sure what paper it was from. I've been a bit stuck trying to locate the death certificate. I came across one site for deaths from Arkansas but it started in 1914 unfortunately  .
Thank you all so much for the ideas on how to hopefully solve this mystery.

In my case, I only helped 3-5 friends (I don’t remember exactly how many).  In the census returns, birthplaces (and a couple of deaths in other records) fluctuated between Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee.  Perhaps because their ancestors had numerous siblings, the parents may not have remembered where each child was born, or perhaps they just didn’t take the time to think about each birthplace.  Others may not have had the challenges that I faced.

Perhaps the children were named after Abner’s family, his wife’s family, a combination of both families, or were just names that they both liked.   

Added: have you found where their children were interred?  Perhaps Abner’s final resting place might be in one of the cemeteries?

[MissAims82]

Thank you for the link to the probate records hopefully he'll be in there somewhere. I hadn't seen that before so might be a good chance.
I haven't found where all his kids are all buried at but slowly going through each. A lot of his kids moved around too so it's been fun trying to track it all down. I've been doing this for a friend so trying hard to help break the mystery. Thank you all again for the advice and help I really appreciate it 

[Lisa in California]

You are welcome.    I hope that between all of us, we can get some answers.

This doesn’t help but I’m wondering if Abner had another son (I’ve not seen the child mentioned in the few trees that I’ve come across)…

Supposedly, Abner and Lucinda were married in 1886.
In 1900, she stated that she was the mother of 7 children, 6 still living.
Their first child (on the 1900 census image) was born c1890.
Could this be another child (which is closer to their 1886 marriage date):
Missouri Birth Register (Anc*try)
Bennett (no first name given), born Apr 18, 1888, St. Louis
Place of birth?: 4100 Washington? av
Male, White (difficult to read, I believe that is what was written)
Father: A. B., born Missouri.   Mother: Bennett, no birth place given
Name of informant: W.A. Edwards, MD?

[Lisa in California]

…I can't seem to locate anything prior to the 1880 census record, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Numerous family trees show Abner in Clay Township, Dunklin Co., Missouri in 1880.  Is there any proof that he was actually “your” Abner? 

Have you checked to see if there was any connection between this Abner and the family with whom he was “boarding”?  There were four Wilkins? families on the census image.  Perhaps Abner B was a common name in the area but it’s interesting that living two properties away from Abner was what looks like an Abner B Wilkins (age 45, born Tennessee, parents born Georgia and Tennessee).

[MissAims82]

I did come across that other sons birth record yesterday for Abner and Lucinda but haven't been able to track anything about him other than the birth itself. He's not listed on the next census they are on so figure he probably died that or living with other family. I might try and see if the location address might turn something up. With the younger Abner being in Dunklin I figure that's him since by 1886 he married Lucinda in Dunklin I do have a marriage record for them.
Does make me question if there is some connection with that name to the Bennett family I have yet to look into. Maybe relatives from the mothers side or maybe the fathers if he was born out of wedlock. I'll have to give that a try and see what turns up. Hopefully I can figure this out. So far no luck looking through the probate records but there are quite a few so fingers crossed I come across something about Abner there.