Grundy County IL Archives Biographies.....Benson, John Milks 1849 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com April 29, 2006, 4:41 pm

Author: History of Grundy County IL 1914

Benson, John Milks, one of Grundy County’s substantial and representative men, 
is owner and proprietor of a somewhat famous tract of land in Wauponsee 
Township, known as the Fossil Bed farm, this name being applied on account of 
a fossil bed found here that has interested scientists for years. He was born 
here July 13, 1849, and is a son of Seneca and Sarah (Milks) Benson.

The ancestors of this branch of the Benson family came to America from 
Southampton, England, in the good ship Confidence, in the year 1638, and their 
descendants have been people of worth. Seneca Benson, father of John Milks 
Benson, was born in Onondago County, N.Y., and was a son of Billdad Benson, 
who was a son of Joseph Benson, who served in the Revolutionary War in 1775, 
being a private in Captain Ronswell’s company, under the command of Gen. 
Nathaniel Green. Seneca Benson was reared in his native State and there 
married Sarah Milks, who was a native of Cattaraugus County. In 1830 they came 
to Illinois and settled in Grundy County, Seneca Benson buying a farm in the 
Oxbow bottoms, in Wauponsee Township on which he lived until the close of his 
life, his death taking place in 1866. His widow subsequently married Richard 
Harrington, who was a veteran of the war of 1812, and after his death, she 
received a pension from the Government during the rest of her life.  She died 
March 17, 1884. The children born to Seneca and Sarah (Milks) Benson were: 
Mary Jane, who died December 17, 1856, was the wife of Oren Satterly, also 
deceased; Lydia, who is the wife of William White, of Goose Lake Township, is 
aged seventy-eight years; Ruth, who died June 21, 1888, was the wife of 
Lawrence James White; Rial, who died August 19, 1856; Caroline, who died 
January 9, 1903, was the wife of William Marshall; Charles, who died January 
11, 1905, aged sixty years; Arvilla, who died in 1913, was the wife of William 
Cobbler, of Wauponsee, Ill.; and John Milks, all of whom, except the youngest, 
were born in Cattaraugus County, N.Y.

John Milks Benson was the youngest of his parents’ children and lived with his 
mother until his own marriage, which took place at Oakdale, Nebr., on November 
17, 1881, to Miss Olivia Shaffer, who was born in Wauponsee Township, Grundy 
County, Ill., August 7, 1863, and is a daughter of Samuel Elijah and Margaret 
(Wise) Shaffer, who came to Wauponsee Township in early days. He was a native 
of Maryland and she of Licking County, Ohio. Later in life they moved to 
Morris, Ill., where he served many years as a constable and also was street 
sprinkler. To Mr. and Mrs. Benson the following children were born: John R., 
born January 4, 1883; Grace May, born December 30, 1885, married Charles E. 
Hildy, of Chicago, Ill.; Roy E., born March 22, 1891; Myrtle Olivia, born 
February 27, 1896; Clarence Eugene, born January 8, 1900; Effie Adella, born 
November 24, 1904; Fred Ernest, born February 14, 1907; and Adelbert T., born 
March 27, 1910.

Following his marriage Mr. Benson settled on the old home farm that he had 
inherited, in Wauponsee Township, and operated it for two years and then moved 
to Antelope County, Nebr., where he bought a farm of 320 acres and lived on it 
for two years and then returned to the old Grundy County farm on which he has 
resided ever since. He obtained his education in the public schools and has 
always been interested in the cause of education and has served continuously 
since 1887 as a school director. In politics he has always been identified 
with the Republican party.

page 764

Additional Comments:
Source:  History of Grundy County, Illinois, Chicago: Munsell Publishing Co. 
Publishers; 1914

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