Howard-Boone-Hamilton County IN Archives Biographies.....Benson, William L. 1852 - 
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Author: Jackson Morrow (circa 1909)

WILLIAM L. BENSON.

   It is one of the beauties of our government that it acknowledges no
hereditary rank or title—no patent of nobility save that of nature's, leaving
every man to establish his own rank by becoming the artificer of his own
fortune. Places of honor and trust, rank and preferment thus happily placed
before every individual, high or low, rich or poor, to be striven for by all,
but earned alone by perseverance and sterling worth, are most always sure to be
filled with deserving men, or at least by those possessing the energy and talent
essential to success in contests where public position is the prize. William L.
Benson, the subject of this review, affords a conspicuous example of the
successful self-made American who is not only eminently deserving of the
confidence reposed in him by his fellow citizens, but also possesses the
necessary energy and talent that fit him to discharge worthily the duties of the
responsible place with which he has been honored by the people of his county. A
man of vigorous mentality and strong moral fiber, he achieved signal success in
a calling in which but few rise above mediocrity, and since entering the service
of the public he finds those same qualities the chief factors in the carving out
of a career that has been above the suspicion of reproach and an honor to the
county which he so ably and acceptably serves.

   Mr. Benson's paternal ancestors were English and Welsh, and the first
representatives of his family to come to the United States were his
grandparents, Robert and Mary E. Benson, having moved in an early day to North
Carolina, where they lived for some time after emigration from England.

   Jesse L. Benson, son of the above and father of William L., was born near
Raleigh, North Carolina, April 1, 1810, and when a young man married in
Cincinnati, Ohio, Deborah Z. Coles, whose birth occurred in September of the
same year (1810) at Reading, Pennsylvania. He came west several years prior to
his marriage and about 1833 settled at Rockville, Park county, Indiana, then
moved to Thorntown, Boone county, when there were only two houses in that now
prosperous city. He was the first merchant at Thorntown, where he conducted a
thriving business until 1861, when he moved to Westfield, in the county of
Hamilton, where his brother, Julius E., had located some years previously to
practice medicine. Mr. Benson had already prepared himself for the medical
profession by a course in the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati, and
immediately after moving to Westfield he became associated with his brother and
during the ensuing year and a half the two built up a large and lucrative
professional business and achieved more than local repute as successful
physicians. At the expiration of the time indicated Mr. Benson changed his place
of residence to the town of Atlanta, Hamilton county, where he practiced about
one year and then moved to Windfall in 1863, and in a few months afterward he
removed to the town of Jerome, Howard county. After a successful practice of
five years at that place he moved to Waupecong, thence subsequently to
Miamitown, where he continued to reside until 1870, when he returned to Jerome,
where his death occurred three years later. His widow survived about eleven
years, departing this life in Kokomo on the twenty-first day of March, 1881.

   Jesse L. and Deborah Z. Benson were the parents of nine children, of whom but
three survive. Henry C., the oldest, lives at Hagerstown, Indiana; Albert, the
third in order of birth and a soldier in the Civil war, died in Colliersville,
Tennessee; Charles F., the fifth in order of birth, also served during the
Rebellion, was captured at the battle of Franklin, Tennessee, and held a
prisoner in Alabama until paroled, when he started northward aboard the
ill-fated boat Sultan and was severely injured by the blowing up of the vessel
on the Mississippi river in April, 1865, being violently thrown from the deck
into the water, where he floated seven miles before being rescued. In addition
to this accident he was three times wounded in as many battles and never
recovered from the effects of his injuries being in a sanitarium near Richmond,
Indiana, for the past twenty years. Preston, the sixth son died when a young
man; Eugene, the seventh, a soldier during the Rebellion and for a number of
years a harness maker in Kokomo, died in that city October 29, 1905. Mary Emily
married Dr. Deming, of Lafayette, and died at the early age of twenty years;
Henriette, the fourth child, wife of F. M. Hill, of Tipton, died when about
fifty-five years old; Carrie, the youngest daughter, was twice married and died
in early life.

   William L. Benson, the youngest of the family, was born February 2, 1852, in
Boone county, Indiana, and spent his early life at the various places where his
father practiced medicine, attending school the meanwhile and making rapid
progress in his studies. At the age of twenty he entered upon the long and
eminently honorable career as a teacher over a period of twenty-eight years,
during which time he achieved marked success in his chosen calling and earned
the reputation of one of the ablest and most progressive educators in the county
of Howard, to which his labors were confined. He taught his first school in
Union township and afterwards in the township of Liberty, Clay and Center
townships, remaining six years in one district, five in another, four in
another, and in the other places from one to two years each, his repeated
retention in the same school bearing ample testimony to his efficiency and
popularity as an instructor.

   In his educational work Mr. Benson strove to produce symmetrically developed
minds and to this end did not, as so many do, neglect the child's moral nature,
his aim being to fit his pupils for usefulness and to become good and
praiseworthy citizens. He also impressed upon the minds of not a few the
necessity of entering the teacher's profession, and during his twenty-eight
years of service he turned out a large number of well prepared teachers, perhaps
more than any other educator in the northern part of the state. Many of his
former pupils are now filling positions of honor and trust in various spheres of
endeavor, while others not so swell known have become useful members of society
by putting into practice the many excellent principles and precepts imparted to
them under his instruction. Among those who formerly profited by his discipline
may be mentioned Professor William E. Henry, ex-state librarian, now librarian
of the University of Washington, in the city of Seattle, and others who have
attained to places of more than ordinary importance in the world of affairs. It
frequently fell to Mr. Benson to assist the county superintendent, and in this
way he became widely known among the teachers of the county, by all of whom he
was held in very high esteem and considered an authority on school management
and educational methods. At the close of his school in the spring of 1898 he was
appointed deputy county auditor by Milton Garrigus, and at the expiration of
that gentleman's term he served in a similar capacity under A. R. Ellis,
continuing with the latter until he too left the office on January 1, 1905.
Meantime in 1904 he was nominated as the most available candidate for auditor
and in the election of that year defeated his Democratic competitor by a
decisive majority and entered upon the duties of the position with a previous
experience that made him familiar with its every detail.

   Mr. Benson's public record is without a stain and he discharges the functions
of the office with the same care and conscientious regard for the interests in
his charge that characterized his school work and gained for him the confidence
of his pupils and patrons. During his incumbency, the duties of the auditor have
greatly increased owing to the large number of free gravel roads constructed
throughout the county, these alone entailing so much additional work that at
times the services of an extra deputy are required, two being continuously
employed.

   Mr. Benson, although reared a Democrat, is a Republican in all the term
implies, but not a narrow partisan. He has served as delegate to various county,
district and state conventions and made his influence felt in these bodies as
well as in the councils of his party and in the planning and conducting
campaigns. He has been identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows
since 1890, having passed all the chairs in the local lodge and Encampment,
besides representing both branches of the order in the Grand Lodge of the state.

   Mr. Benson's domestic life dates from 1873, on December 30th of which year
was solemnized his marriage with Alice I. Jackson, who died January 25, 1875,
leaving one son, Lewis, in the city of Toledo. The subject's second marriage'
took place on the 14th of June, 1876, when Sarah E., daughter of William and
Mary Hatfield, became his wife, this union being blessed with three offsprings,
namely: Lawrence, born September 4, 1877, his father's deputy; Clarence Monroe,
born July 23, 1886, also holds a position in the auditor's office as assistant
deputy, and Vera, who died at the early age of one year.

   At one time Mr. Benson seriously considered making medicine his life work,
and began a course of professional study under the direction of his father, but
the calling not being altogether to his taste he finally decided to abandon it
for the more agreeable work of the school room. Had he continued the
preparation, however, he doubtless would have succeeded, as success has attended
his every endeavor; but he has no regrets for his course, for as matters have
turned out there are today hundreds of strong men and womanly women who
attribute to him their advancement in life and their usefulness as honorable
members of society. He has always been a busy man, his duties being many and
varied, in consequence of which he finds little time for vacations, spending the
entire year in looking after his office and such matters as come within his
province. Mr. Benson is one of Howard county's most intelligent and enterprising
citizens, and the conspicuous place to which he has attained in the esteem and
confidence of the public has been fairly and honorably earned. He numbers his
friends by the score wherever known, and the hope is universally and
emphatically expressed that his life and health may be preserved and the public
permitted for many years to enjoy the benefit of his presence in still higher
stations than the one he now adorns.


Additional Comments:
From:

HISTORY OF HOWARD COUNTY INDIANA
BY
JACKSON MORROW, B. A.
ILLUSTRATED
VOL. II
B. F. BOWEN & COMPANY
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA

(circa 1909)



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