JOEL BENSINGER, Biography / Duplain Township, Clinton County, Michigan

Submitted for use by USGENWEB Clare County, Michigan November 2002 
wilkinschw@aol.com                     

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Portrait and Biographical Album of Clinton and Shiawassee Counties, Michigan.  
Chicago: Chapman Bros., 1891.

JOEL BENSINGER

Among the residents of Michigan who came here from other States, we find none who 
are better prepared to develop the country on sound business principles and practical lines 
than the emigrants from Ohio.  They are almost without exception representatives of 
families of intelligence and sterling worth and bring to their new homes elements of 
success.  Among them we are pleased to name the prosperous farmer, stock-raiser and 
lumber dealer whose name heads this paragraph.  He was born in Medina County, Ohio, 
August 17, 1855, and is the son of WILLIAM and MARY (BENSINGER) BENSINGER, 
natives of Schuylkill County, Pa.  The father was born September 9, 1818, and the 
mother's natal day was December 12, 1831.  On the mother's side the ancestry was of 
German blood and the father was of English descent.

The first of the family who ever came to America was GEORGE BENSINGER, who 
emigrated to the New World in 1710, locating in Schuylkill County, Pa., where the 
family made its home for generations.  His son GEORGE was the father of MOSES 
BENSINGER, the grandfather of our subject.  MOSES removed to Medina County, 
Ohio, at a very early date.

The War of the Rebellion deeply interested the family as, like a large proportion of the 
citizens of Ohio, they were strongly loyal to the old flag.  The father of our subject served 
for one year in the One Hundred and Eighty-seventh Ohio Infantry and the Government 
has recognized his claims to remembrance by granting him a pension of $8 per month.  
His eldest son, EDWARD, served through the entire war, being in the army for six years.  
After his enlistment he responded to the roll-call without a failure during the first three 
months, but was then taken prisoner and languished in Southern prisons for more than a 
year.  As soon as he was free and once more able to control his movements he re-enlisted.  
He was only fourteen years old when he first entered the army and was in every Southern 
State and was much in the West, going as far as Pike's Peak.  It was 1866 before he 
returned home to his family.

WILLIAM BENSINGER was the first of his family to locate in Michigan, as he came to 
Allegan County in 1858, but did not remain there long, returning to Ohio in 1861.  After 
the war he again moved to Michigan, locating permanently in 1866 on section 25, in 
Duplain Township, where he still owns fifty acres of land adjoining the farm of his son 
JOEL.  All of his five children are living in Michigan and he feels that this is indeed the 
place for him to spend his declining years.

Our subject received but a limited education, as the nearest school was two and a half 
miles from his home.  He began doing for himself when he was about nineteen years of 
age.  He has traveled considerably and spent five years in the pineries, where he obtained 
his thorough knowledge of sawing.  Mr. ESTEY, the manufacturer at Owosso, says that 
Mr. BENSINGER cuts the best lumber of any sawyer in Ohio, Indiana or Michigan.  This 
gentelman is in a position to know, as he is buying continually from all parts of these 
States, and he willingly pays Mr. BENSINGER from $5 to $8 more per thousand than he 
does other millers.

The marriage of our subject to Miss LIZZIE DYNES took place September 28, 1882.  
Her parents, OLIVER and ELIZABETH (WARING) DYNES, are natives of County 
Down, Ireland, and both have now passed from earth.  They came to Michigan when she 
was a little girl and throughout her youth they endeavored to give her the best possible 
advantages and she is now a well-educated and accomplished woman.  Five children have 
come to share the affection and solicitude of Mr. and Mrs. BENSINGER; namedly: 
EDWARD, born May 14, 1883; WILLIAM OLIVER, June 7, 1884; JOEL EMERSON, 
January 14, 1886; ORRIN LEE, October 12, 1887; GERTIE L., October 13, 1889.  Our 
subject owns one hundred acres of land, all of which he has gained by his own efforts.  
Eighty acres are in Gratiot County and twenty acres constitute the home farm, upon 
which he has good buildings.  He is an earnest republican in his political views, but has 
steadfastly declined all offers of public office, as he desires to devote himself entirely to 
his agricultural pursuits.

A view of Mr. BENSINGER's homestead accompanies this sketch.