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 A. BENSLEY is the owner of a fine estate containing 360 acres of valuable, well-improved land, located on section 21 (11. 10), Hutton Township, where he carries on an extensive business in farming and stock-growing. He was born Aug. 6, 1865, in Delaware County, Ohio, and is the son of John and Tirzah (Knapp) Bensley. His paternal grandfather, also named John, was a native of Germany, where he was born July 6, 1706. In 1776, when a boy only ten years of age, he accompanied his older brothers, William and Israel, to the United States. They settled on the North River in Delaware, and after remaining there about one year, removed to Tioga County, Pa., where they purchased laud and resided for several years. John Bensley, Sr’s., marriage to Miss Mary Wilson took place there, and soon after this event Mr. Bensley removed to Hamilton County, Ohio. After remaining there a few years, he removed to Delaware County, making that place his permanent home. His death occurred Aug. 10, 1853, and his widow, who survived him but a short time, died in 1856. John Bensley, Sr., reared a family of ten children, whose record is as follows: James, born Oct, 21, 1791, married Miss Kate Pope; both are deceased. William, born Dec. 10, 1792, served in the War of 1812, and was in Hull’s surrender; he died soon after his return home. Anna, born Nov. 10, 1794, married Philip Place, and after his death was married to Daniel Carpenter, and both are now deceased; three children were born to the first marriage, and five to the second. Betsy, born Jan. 17, 1797, was the wife of Samuel Alexander, and both are deceased; Mary, born July 26, 1799, was the wife of Nathan Taylor; both are deceased. Catherine, born Aug. 3, 1802, was the wife of David Skeels, and after his death she married Caleb Brundidge; three children were born to the second marriage, and one to the first; she is now dead, and likewise both husbands. Rachel, born Aug. 22, 1 804, married John Pint; both died, leaving seven children. John, the father of our subject, born Jan. 31, 1807; Israel, born Sept. 18, 1809, married Miss Etfie Quinby, and died in the Indian Territory, where his widow is now living; Thomas, born Nov. 5, 1815, married Miss Rebecca Martin. John Bensley, father of our subject, was born in Tioga County, Pa., and was six years of age when his parents removed to Ohio. The school privileges of that early day were very limited, and he received only a rudimentary education. He lived on the homestead with his parents until twenty-one years of age, and at twenty-three his marriage to Miss Tirzah Knapp took place, May 4, 1828, in Delaware County, Ohio. Mrs. Bensley was born May 3, 1808, in Tioga County, Pa., and is the daughter of Edward and Esther Knapp. Her parents were natives of Vermont, and her father served in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. After his marriage, Mr. Bensley rented land in Delaware County, Ohio, and was engaged in farming there about ten years. At the expiration of that time, in the autumn of 1838, he removed to Hutton Township, Coles Co., Ill. He made the journey, which occupied several days, by wagon, with his wife and four children. On his arrival here he entered eighty acres of land in Hutton Township, which was covered with a growth of white oak timber. The country was almost a wilderness at that time; cold weather was approaching, and to provide shelter for his family, Mr. Bensley built a log house in the primitive fashion, which his wife endeavored to render as cheerful and comfortable as possible. The few settlers of that early day were separated from each other by wide stretches of desolate prairie and lonely .woodland, but hearty good-will and generous feeling prevailed among them. Each was ready to lend a helping hand to his neighbor in raising a log cabin, lending a team, or some useful farming utensil, many times going five or six miles to render these kindly services. Mr. Bensley cleared and improved his land, and purchased more until he acquired a fine estate containing 180 acres. The nearest grain markets at that time were Terre Haute, Chicago and St. Louis, and he frequently conveyed his produce to either one or the other of these points, purchasing groceries and provisions for his family and transporting goods thence for the merchants at Charleston. Sportsmen had ample opportunity to test their skill on the wild fowls, deer and wolves, with which the prairies abounded. The family, which also included Grandmother Knapp, moved in the year 1850 by ox-team to Jo Daviess County, remaining there about one year. On their return home, in fording a creek, the waters of which were swollen by recent rains, the old family Bible received a baptism in the floods, which, however, did not injure its precious truths, the bulwarks of all that is grand and true and noble in the foundation of this great Western country. The book has been carefully preserved and is in Mr. Bensley’s possession. He is now eighty years of age, and is still hale and hearty, although he has been a sufferer from asthma for the last forty years. With his wife, Mr. Bensley was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and both were interested in promoting the cause of religion on the Western frontier. Mrs. Bensley died Sept. 24, 1877, and is buried in Hutton Churchyard. Their family consisted of six children: Mary, born March 14, 1829, was married March 9, 1848, to Russell McMorris, and died June 7, 1857, leaving two children; Stephen J., born Feb. 21, 1831, was married Feb. 20, 1851, to Miss Mary E. Stull, and resides in Cumberland County; Charles K., born June 28, 1833. was married Feb. 14, 1856, to Miss Drusilla Anderson, and likewise resides in Cumberland County; Thomas A., the subject of this sketch; Lavinia A., born June 15, 1841, was married in September, 1859, and died Dec. 12, 1860; and Tirza A., born Feb. 16, 1844, was married Dec. 22, 1867, to Bennet House, and resides in Cumberland County. Thomas A. Bensley received the best common-school education which the pioneer days afforded, and assisted his father in cultivating the farm, remaining at the homestead until his marriage with Miss Eliza J. Black, which took place March 7, 1861. Mrs. Bensley was born Aug. 29, 1842, in this county, and is the daughter of David and Temperance (Stull) Black, the former born Feb. 20, 1823, in Alabama, and the latter Aug. 8, 1828, in Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Black are members of the Baptist Church and now reside in Hutton Township. Their family consisted of seven children; Eliza J. ; Jonathan, deceased in childhood; Permelia, the wife of Leonard Wooleaver; William S. died at the age of twenty-one; Serilda, the wife of John W. Dunn, resides in Diona; John R. married Miss Lillias Vantassel, and Harriett L., the wife of Louis Hill. John R., Mrs. Wooleaver and Mrs. Hill are residents of Cumberland County. After his marriage, Mr. Bensley removed, Aug. 21, 1864, to Union Township, Cumberland County, where he purchased eighty acres of improved land, and carried on a successful business nine years. At the expiration of that time his parents, who were advanced in years, desired rest from the cares of active business and he returned and purchased the homestead, which contained 100 acres, paying the other heirs their proportion of the estate. His parents made their home with him, and his mother’s death occurred there a few years later. Mr. Bensley possesses excellent business qualifications, and now owns a large estate, where he is extensively engaged in farming and stock-raising. There are three excellent frame residences on his property, and he has recently built a commodious, well-appointed barn on the homestead, a view of which appears elsewhere in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Bensley have three sons: Erastus A., born Jan. 10, 1862, married Miss Miranda Johnson, Nov. 23, 1885, and resides in Hutton Township; George W., born March 14, 1861, married Miss Lovitha J. Stull, Nov. 21, 1866, and resides on a farm belonging to his father, and Daniel O., born June 20, 1867, resides on the homestead. Having no daughter in their family Mr. and Mrs. Bensley reared in their household Miss Leota Schuyler. She was born Feb. 16, 1868, and is the daughter of William and Angelina Schuyler. Her father died during her childhood and she subsequently made her home with Mr. and Mrs. Bensley until her marriage with George McMorris, which occurred Nov. 21, 1886. Mr. Bensley had always resided with his parents with the exception of the nine years passed in Cumberland County, and in 1876 he disposed of his property there. He is interested in educational affairs, and in all measures tending to promote the welfare of the community. In politics, he is a Democrat, casting his first vote for James Buchanan, and has been elected to the offices of Supervisor and School Director by that party. With his wife, he is a member of the Free Baptist Church. |
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