Johnson County KS Archives Biographies.....Hollenback, Benjamin F. 1836 - 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 20, 2008, 5:41 am

Author: Ed Blair (1915)

  Benjamin F. Hollenback, postmaster at Shawnee, is a real Johnson county
pioneer, and has been postmaster at Shawnee since 1867, with the exception of
Grover Cleveland's administrations. Mr. Hollenback was born in Kendall county,
Illinois, March 4, 1836. His parents were Thomas and Susan (Darnell) Hollenback,
the former a native of Ohio and the latter of South Carolina. Thomas Hollenback
was a son of Clark Hollenback, of Ohio, and he immigrated to Illinois in 1831.
He was a noted pioneer, plainsman and Indian fighter and served in the Black
Hawk war. He went from Illinois to Missouri; he was a strong Union man and was
driven out of Missouri on account of his political sentiments, by the
bushwhackers, and in 1861, came to Kansas and located in Johnson county, where
he remained about a year, when he went to Hillsdale, Miami county, where he was
engaged in the mercantile business for a number of years. He died at Atchison,
in 1879, aged sixty-six years. Thomas and Susan (Darnell) Hollenback were the
parents of the following children: Clark, died in Elk county, Kansas, June 18,
1913; Benjamin, the subject of this sketch; Thomas, died in Miami county, in
1875; George, resides in Montana; Martha Tarrant, Kansas City; Mary, deceased;
Clara, deceased; Helen, deceased, and Sarah, deceased. Benjamin F. Hollenback
made the trip across the plains and over the mountains from Illinois to
California in 1848. He went with an outfit that was made up of forty families,
and they made the trip with ox-teams and wagons and were six months en route.
They settled at Santa Cruz, Calif. Mr. Hollenback remained there about three
years, when he returned to Illinois and remained in that State until 1855, when
the family removed to Missouri. When the Civil war broke out, Benjamin F. and
his brother, Clark, enlisted, August 16, 1862, in the Twelfth regiment, Kansas
infantry, and served until the close of the war. He was at the battle of Big
Blue and Westport, Mine creek, Shiloh and Newtonia, and during the war his
regiment operated along the border between Kansas and Missouri and Arkansas and
Indian Territory. He was in the campaign against General Price, and many others.
At the close of the war he was discharged at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. He then
returned to Shawnee and engaged in the mercantile business with a partner; this
was the first store opened in Shawnee after the war. After doing business for
about a year, Mr. Hollenback bought his partner out and conducted the business
until 1906. Mr. Hollenback is one of the extensive land owners of Johnson
county, owning 425 acres of very valuable land in this county, besides forty
acres in Wyandotte county. His career has been a success and he is one of the
well-to-do men of Johnson county. He was married in August, 1854, to Miss
Catherine E. Brown, a native of Indiana, born in August, 1836, and the following
children were born to that union: Frank, Olathe; Funandie Douglas, Florence,
Kan.; Charles R., died in 1905; Benjamin, died in Chicago, in 1903; Willard P.,
died in Kansas City, in 1902; Phoebe B., died in 1897; Stalla M. Knauber,
resides in Shawnee, Kan.; and two children died in infancy. Mr. Hollenback is a
Republican and in the early days took an active part in politics. He has served
as township treasurer for several terms and was elected county judge in 1868. He
is a member of the Mason lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Shawnee Lodge,
No. 54, and belongs to the Olathe Chapter, No. 19. He was made a Mason in 1867.
He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, Captain Ames Post, Shawnee,
Kan. Mr. Hollenback has an extensive acquaintance over Johnson county and is one
of the grand old men who has performed his part nobly and well. He belongs to
that army of pioneers whose courage knew no bounds in the fifties and who laid
the foundation of the great West for the present and future generations to build
upon.

Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

HISTORY OF Johnson County Kansas
BY
ED BLAIR

AUTHOR OF
Kansas Zephyrs, Sunflower Sittings and Other Poems and Sketches

IN ONE VOLUME

ILLUSTRATED
STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY
LAWRENCE, KANSAS
1915


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