Four Generations Photo 1935:
Annie Laura Karchner Bensinger Johnson, (Widowed by George Bensinger and Remarried to
John J. Johnson) Charlotte Mae Bensinger Webb (Married to George S. Webb) Edna Mae Webb Finley (Married to Homer J. Finley Sr.)
Eugene Delroy Finley (born Dec 12, 1934)
NOT Jim & Ella Bensinger
"I believe that's Sarah (Bensinger) and Lewis Salem (Sarah
being Jim/George's sister)" - Jane Bensinger
Looks Like above, others - Is it?
"--back row: Lewis Salem & James Beneville Bensinger
front: Ella (Paul) Bensinger, Sarah (Bensinger) Salem, (??another
Bensinger sister??), ????" -- by Jane Bensinger
Four Bensingers and Lewis Salem
ID Courtesy Jane Bensinger Sitting: Lewis and Sarah Bensinger Salem
Standing: Mable and Ida Kreiner (Mary Jane Kreiner's Daughters)
Rear: Leah Bensinger (Robert's Daughter) Circa 1912, WHERE?
Beneville Bensinger Family
Courtesy Jane Bensinger
Left to Right Standing: Henry Newton Bensinger, Emma Carolina Bensinger, George William Bensinger,
Sarah Elizabeth Bensinger Seated: Mary Jane Bensinger, Beneville Bensinger, Carolina Bauscher Bensinger,
Amanda Maria Bensinger Children: James Beneville Bensinger, Robert Clinton Bensinger, Ida Loise Bensinger
Circa 1873 Mahanoy City Pa. Originally ID'd by James Paul Bensinger, son of James Beneville Bensinger
Holy Cow !! It's SEVEN of Benneville and Carolina's Kids
BUT WHO ? Pic says "Tamaqua" says "ALL of Lottie's Aunts and Uncles"
George, Emma, Martha & Henry deceased probably two others deceased.
Following ID Courtesy of Jane Bensinger, THANKS! James Beneville Bensinger on Left
Robert Clinton Bensinger on Right Ladies L. to R. Ida Brenner, Sarah Salem, Amanda Kistler
(Mary) Jane Kreiner, Emma Baker
George & Annie Bensinger's offspring, circa 1925
Photo by Frank Lepley (see him in next group)
Left to Right:
Lois Gerton and husband Charles Johnson, son of John J. Johnson and Annie
Florence Sechler and husband Tom Bensinger
Mary Pence and husband Harry Bensinger
Annie Laura Karchner Bensinger Johnson
Helen Webb wife of Frank Lepley taking picture.
Charlotte Bensinger and husband George Webb
Boy is William, son of Tom and Florence.
Girls Left to Right are:
Marguerite, dau of Harry and Mary
Gwendolyn, dau of Charles and Lois
Eleanor, dau of Harry and Mary (see next group, ain't she cute? still is!)
Mary, dau of Charlotte and George
Anna, dau of Charles and Lois
Musta Been Hot
Same day as two pics above.
First two men, William, son of Tom; and Lawrence, son of Harry Bensinger
Ladies: L to R. Charlotte, Helen, & Edna Webb; Lois Johnson; Florence Bensinger holding Anna Johnson;
Mary Bensinger; Annie Johnson
Front: Mary Webb; Eleanor Bensinger; Gwendolyn Johnson; Marguerite Bensinger
Annie again.
CAPTION READS: "This picture was in 1889 Flood, & was found in Aunt Lizzie
Noriconk's desk that was washed ashore 45 miles below Baltimore and was given to me
by Lute Noriconk Sept 18, 1932 and is a picture of my Mother. (Written on back
of photo by Charlotte Bensinger Webb.
Thanks to Diane Sharpe for discerning the name "Lute" short for Luther Noriconk
Two on a rig.
Annie Laura Karchner Bensinger Johnson and 2nd Husband John J. Johnson
What a Reunion !! (George's Progeny) circa 1941
Standing Left to Right: Arlene Lepley and friend Chuck Derr; Tom Bensinger, Lawrence Bensinger,
Joe Smith, George Webb, Charles Johnson, Frank Lepley, Arthur "Bud" Webb,
Leonard Bensinger, William Deiffenbach, Harry Bensinger, Bob (?) and Anna Johnson (?)
Seated: Florence (Sechler) Bensinger, Marguerite Bensinger, Carolyn Bensinger, Mary (Webb) Smith,
Charlotte Mae (Lottie Bensinger) Webb, Annie Laura (Karchner) Johnson, Lois (Gerton) Johnson,
Helen Laura (Webb) Lepley, Josephine (Shaffer) Webb, Mary (Pysher) Bensinger, Eleanor (Bensinger) Deiffenbach,
Mary (Pence) Bensinger,
Youngest Child: Mary Jo Webb, Small Boy: Roger Bensinger?
BENEVILLE BENSINGER Obituary (source unknown--seems to be a church paper or publication (printed on newsprint))
BENSINGER.--Benneville Bensinger was born in West Brunswick Twp., Schuylkill Co., Pa., May 29, 1830; and died at the home of his son James, in Mahanoy City, Pa., Feb. 7, 1903, aged 72 y., 8 m. and 8 d. He was converted about 52 years ago, and was faithful to the end. He retired at about 10 o'clock in the evening of the 6th inst. as pleasant and cheerful as ever. The next morning he did not come at the usual hour for breakfast, and his daughter-in-law [Ella Savannah (Paul) Bensinger] not receiving a reply to her repeated calls, went to his room, and found that he had gone where they shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more.
Death had apparently come without a pain or a struggle. He had walked with God, and now he was not; for God took him.
He had been a Sunday-school teacher for the past 20 years, and a class leader for about 25 years. We will miss him in prayer-meeting, in Sunday-school, and in the church services. At the last communion services on the Sunday evening prior to his death, he was present and gave a beautiful testimony. May the children emulate the virtues of their father and follow as he followed Christ. Interment at Tamaqua, Pa. Funeral by H.D. Kreidler.
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BENNEVILLE BENSINGER Obituary (Daily Register--guessed to be local Mahanoy City (Schuylkill) PA newspaper (newspaper clipping))--7 Feb 1903
FOUND DEAD IN BED THIS MORNING
Benneville Bensinger, a well-known and esteemed resident of town, was found dead in bed at 7:30 o'clock this morning at the home of his son James B. Bensinger at 130 East Mahanoy Avenue. His daughter-in-law made the discovery when she went to call him. A physician was summoned and said that he had been dead from six to eight hours, as rigor mortis had already set in. The cause of death was heart failure, from which he suffered a great deal at times, though of late the disease did not seem to trouble him as much as it formerly did.
Last evening, however, he felt slumberous and retired early. Dissolution , as shown by the condition of the body, must have occurred a few hours after he had gone to bed and the indications are that he departed this life while asleep.
Mr. Bensinger was a native of New Brunswick township, Schuylkill county, and was in the seventy-third year of his age. Thirty-three years ago he came with his family to Mahanoy City, where he lived until his death.
For twenty-three years he worked as a carpenter in the Delano shops of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. He has had no employment since the shops shut down about four years ago.
In 1900 he and his wife, who departed this life a little over a year ago, celebrated their golden wedding.
Out of a family of six brothers, only one, Fred Bensinger, of Lewistown, survives. Two sons and five daughters are the surviving children. They are: Mrs. Amanda Kistler and Mrs. Philip Kriner, of Orwigsburg; Mrs. H. H. Baker, of Tamaqua; Mrs. Lewis Brennar, of Brandonville; Mrs. Lewis Salem and James B. Bensinger of town; and Robert Bensinger, of Allentown.
Letter from JAMES PAUL BENSINGER to his son JAMES LAUER BENSINGER regarding their ongoing genealogical searching:
November 19th, 1957 (Our 38th Wedding Anniversary)
Dear Jim:-
I appreciated receiving the various tombstone pictures taken on our trip to Mckeansburg during the past summer. You will remember that I, too, took similar snap shots on that same trip, so if any of your pictures are not satisfactory, or if you do not have all of the pictures referred to in this letter, please let me know and I will forward them, so that our story about the Bensingers is fairly complete. Possibly, if this record may mean little to you, your children, Jane, Ann or Jimmy IV, may be glad to know something about our ancestors, and their early settlement in Pennsylvania.
Rev. Guy Bensinger, Presbyterian pastor at Dutch Neck, N.J., and himself a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, furnished, as you will remember, most of the data which I have. He has a complete record of the early members of the family in this country.
From his records we learned that the first Bensinger, in whom we are interested, came from the German Palatinate area (along the Rhine river). His name was Frederick Bensinger, and he arrived in America in 1746.
Because of his service during the Revolutionary War, in which he served in the Berks County Militia, (Schuylkill County was then a part of Berks County) Continental Line - see inscription on the tomb stone, found in Friedens Cemetery, near McKeansburg, Penna., he was given a patent or grant, by the Governor of Pennsylvania, for 500 acres of land near what is now McKeansburg. Here he built a fort to protect his family and neighbors from the Indians. This Frederick Bensinger was the father of 8 children.
One of his sons was Michael Bensinger, born February 1st, 1790, - died May 13, 1855. He is in our direct line (Photo of his tomb stone and that of his wife Catherine, I think, are in your possession. Both of these tomb stones were found in the Steigerwalt Cemetery, which is about a mile from McKeansburg.)
The next in direct lineage was my grandfather, Beneville Bensinger, born May 29, 1830, in West Brunswick Township, Schuylkill County, Penna. - died February 7, 1903 in Mahanoy City, Penna. (picture of his tomb stone, and that of his wife, nee Carolina Bauscher, is enclosed with this letter). Their graves are in the Odd Fellows Cemetery Tamaqua, Penn. Beneville Bensinger and Carolina Bauscher married February 8, 1851, and were the parents of 13 children. I remember both of these grandparents very well. Grandmother Bensinger died of a lingering illness, after having been bedfast for months, but Grandfather Bensinger was found dead in bed, suffered from a heart attack. He was laying there as though asleep, with his hands folded peacefully across his chest. The doctor said he died in his sleep without any consciousness of pain, et. Grandfather Bensinger was a man of very deep religious convictions, and very conservative along lines of worship. I recall how vehemently he objected to piano or violin music in the church. He felt such music was only associated with bar rooms and dance halls. His dislike and abstinence from alcoholic liquors is reflected in the next two descendants referred to in this record.
Then follows my father, James Beneville Bensinger, who was born September 7, 1865, in East Brunswick Township, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, and who died September 29th, 1934, in Ashland, Penna., after having been helplessly bedfast for 13 months. (Picture of his tomb stone, and that of his wife, nee Ella Savannah Paul, who was born June 18, 1870, and died December 31, 1953, in Ashland, Penna., can be found in the Odd Fellows Cemetery, Tamaqua, Penna., is enclosed with this letter). Father was a carpenter and builder, by trade, and he, too, was closely connected with the Evangelical Church in Mahanoy City, Penna., serving in just about every official capacity open to a layman. His other important activity was the Patriotic Sons of America, a fraternal organization with which he was associated as trustee and treasurer for many years. Father and Mother had 4 children, 3 of whom died at a very early age.
It is hardly necessary to relate that I follow, (the fifth generation from our earliest ancestors in this country), born July 15, 1893, in Mahanoy City, Penna., and christened James Paul Bensinger (Father's first name and Mother's family name). Married the former Eva Mae Lauer November 19, 1919, in Ashland, Penna. She was born August 18, 1896. We were blessed with 2 GRAND children, your sister Jean Agnes, who was born June 12, 1922, and yourself, born April 9, 1926. I served 28 months in the U.S. Army, first World War - enlisted July 2, 1917 and discharged as a 2nd Lieutenant on October 31, 1919. Your Mother and I both graduated from Albright College, (1916 and 1915 respectively), then located at Myerstown, Penna. (This is where our romance began.) I taught school for 2 years 1915 - 1917, in Lititz, Penna., High School. In 1921 we returned to Ashland and became associated with Dad Lauer in the hardware store.
You will recall that Jean first attended Elmira College, in Elmira, N.Y. and then got her Bachelor of Science degree from Columbia University in 1945, and her Registered Nurse degree in Penna., in the same year. 1950 was the year of your graduation, with a B.S. degree from Muhlenburg College.
I suppose this covers all of the pertinent facts and is the story you should know and remember. Hope this may prove of some value to you, or those that follow, at some later date.
