Irvine Albert Striffler

Notes:

Cass City Chronicle
Friday, Jun 8, 1923
Page One
Largest Class in H.S. History
The largest class ever to be graduated from the Cass City high school, 17 boys and 26 girls, will be presented with diplomas at the opera house next Thursday evening...the Class Day program included a class history, Irvine Striffler...class prophecy, Wilma Striffler...both were listed as member of the Class of '23

Cass City Chronicle
Thursday, June 12, 1969

Irvine Striffler dies in Ohio

Funeral services were held Monday for Irvine Albert Striffler, 63, of Marysville, Ohio; a past resident of Cass City.

He died June 5 and his burial will be in Marysville.

He is a retired chemist and director of the control laboratory of Nestle Corporation.

His father was George Albert Striffler and his mother the former Cora Bell Benkelman, both deceased.

He is survived by his wife, Mary Janski, and a daughter, Mary Ann, at home.

(Transcribed by Melinda McLemore Strong, Summer 2007)

Irvine married Mary Adelaide Jansky in Apr 1945. Mary (daughter of Cyril Jansky and Nellie M. Moreau) was born on 3 Apr 1913 in Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin; died on 18 Jun 1989 in Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio; was buried in Oakdale Cemetery, Marysville, Union County, Ohio. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Married:
Cass City Chronicle
Friday, March 9, 1945
Page One

Mary Jansky Engaged to Irvine Striffler

Miss Mary Adelaide Jansky, and Irvine A. Striffler, son of Mr. and Mrs. G.A. Striffler, of Cass City, are planning an April wedding, according to the announcement which her parents, Prof. and Mrs. C.M. Jansky, 2117 Jefferson street, Madison, Wisconsin, made recently.

Miss Jansky was graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a master's degree in bacteriology. She was affiliated with Phi Upsilon Omicron, Phi Kappa Phi, and Sigma Delta Epsilon fraternities. She is now chief bacteriologist for the control laboratory of Nestle's Milk Products, Inc. of New York, located in Marysville, O. Mr. Striffler, chief chemist for the same company, received his degree in chemistry from Michigan State college where he was elected to Phi Kappa Phi honor fraternity.

(Transcribed by Melinda McLemore Strong, August 2008)

1. Living

Notes:

Lorraine Smith Benkelman transcribed the following letters that George Albert Striffler received from his family at home while he was working at various lumber camps in the west of Michigan and Wisconsin.

May 11, 1888

From Salome Striffler, George's younger sister

The men have been working near the river these two weeks, when the weather was so they could plow. Today they were sowing oats. Pete Burg helped mother with the garden. I let the deer out one evening and he ran around the house in the orchard and garden and tracked the garden all up. We got him back in. The report around is that Adam Benkelman was coming home. We were so glad to think they were going to be here again, then we were disappointed to hear it was only Minnie Burg's talk. It seems odd to not see you, with a book under your arm or in the morning see you come from upstairs. Mother wants to know how far it is from church, are are there any girls in your neighborhood?

Your fat sister, "Baby Elephant Jumbo", Salome

June 7, 1888

From Mary Striffler, cousin. to George at Lathrop, Delta County, Michigan

I took dinner from Mrs. Weydemeyer yesterday and glad to learn that Home is in camp with you now. You mention you live in the most newsless part of the earth. It strikes me that you take on the habit of a hermit without much remonstrance. The second annual institue of the M.E. Sunday School convened at Cass City, June 5. We hear that Anna Peterson is dead. Eventually she died of after effects of operation to remove a tumor. Mr. Klump is expected to hold quarterly meetings in the German Church next Sunday.

August 29, 1888

From Ella Wallace to George

Do you not almost wish you were back here. We all miss you. I suppose you have long since found the squaw whom you proposed getting for a housekeeper during the summer. It is dull here. My naughty sister has not come home yet. I see Mary and Gus, but not often. I have been raising kittens all summer for the chivaree. I was out East for a drive the other night and I really pitied Sam when I saw how far he had to walk.

September 11, 1888

From I. A. Fritz to George

Would like to know how you like the north woods. Do you have a church, if you do not, how do you pass your Sabbaths. I saw Mr. Weydemeyer and he said we are thankful to receive your assessment. Ben McCune will leave for conference. The assessment plan has worked very well. Of course, you have heard that I was married. Yes, I have settled down and am happy we have gone to housekeeping in the rooms in connection with my office. She is a stranger to you. I first met her in Carsonville, 3 year ago. Her name was Anderson. Dr. Blair left this morning for his home in Canada.

October 19, 1888

From his parents, John and Mary (Benkelman) Striffler

You say you might go West. I don't know why you would, in the winter, and get lost in one of the blizzards. Got a letter from John Wheelock, he says hundreds of people coming every day looking for work and can't find any. Wages are low, work scarce. D. Morrison told me the same the other day that his boys writes the same. Mrs. Benkelman said that Denver, Col is full of people looking for work. We just thrased last week bout 560 bu. of wheat, 800 bu. Oats and 121 bu. buckwheat on the V. Sta. Some of our Pear trees was loaded so that the limbs bent to the ground and such an apple crop. You didn't tell us how much you get a month or how you get your pay. JOHN STRIFFLER

I would expect you home pretty soon now if you're talking of going West. It is hard to have only one boy that is big enough to help his Father and him way off working for other folks when there is so much to do at home. Of course, if you can do lots better, I don't want to say come home. MA

November 18, 1888

William Bien, friend and future brother-in-law

What are you doing in upper Michigan? Is it the homestead we spoke of?

The Biography below, of George Albert, is copied from "History of Michigan" by Charles Moore, Volume IV, The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1915

https://archive.org/stream/historyofmichiga04moor/historyofmichiga04moor_djv

GEORGE A. STRIFFLER. He whose name initiates this paragraph is not only one of the representative business men and landholders of Tuscola county but is a native son of the county and a scion of one of its best known and most honored pioneer families. Here he was reared and here he has found abundant scope for personal achievement along normal lines of enterprise. He is the leading implement dealer at Cass City, one of the thriving and attractive towns of this section of the state, and as a citizen and business man he is well upholding the honors of a name that has been most prominently linked with the development and upbuilding of Tuscola county.

George Albert Striffler was born on a pioneer farm in Elkland township, Tuscola county, Michigan, on the 16th of March, 1864, and the place of his nativity is one mile east and one mile north of Cass City, his present place of residence. He is a son of John and Mary (Benkelman) Striffler, the former of whom was born near Lancaster, Erie county, New York, of German lineage, and the latter of whom was born in the kingdom of Wurtemburg, Germany. The father was reared to manhood in the old Empire state and there he learned the trade of carpenter. In 1859 he came to Michigan and numbered himself among the pioneers of Tuscola county, where he obtained a tract of wild land, in Elkland township, and where he instituted the reclamation of a farm of forty acres, in the meanwhile finding much requisition for his services as a carpenter, at Cass City and other points in this section. He was numbered among the very early settlers of the county and he erected, for William Clark, the first frame store-building in Cass City, besides having done much other important work tending to advance the upbuilding and progress of the village and county. He was identified with lumbering operations for a number of years and threw himself fully into the strenuous work involved in the development of a new country. He has ever commanded inviolate place in popular esteem and he is today honored as one of the sterling pioneer citizens of the county in which he has long maintained his home and in which he has served in various township offices. He was born March 15, 1833, and his devoted wife, who was born May 22, 1839, was summoned to the life eternal on the 4th of May, 1913; he is now living retired in Cass City.

Of the seven children, six are still living: Emaline is the wife of Archibald Mark, and they reside on the old Striffler homestead; George A., of this review, was the next in order of birth; Salome, who resides in Cass City, is the widow of William Bein; Miss Martha has supervision of the domestic economies of her father's home, in Cass City; Esther is the wife of William R. Kaiser, of this place; and David A. is now a resident of Columbus, Georgia.

George A. Striffler was reared on the homestead farm and well recalls the conditions and incidents of the pioneer days in Tuscola county. After attending the district school he continued his studies in the public schools of Cass City, and he was about thirty-two years of age when he went to the city of Detroit, to learn the trade of steam-fitting, in the Michigan Central car shops. He completed his apprenticeship and then returned to Cass City, where he has since been successfully engaged in the implement business, as the successor of his cousin, Jacob H. Striffler, who founded the enterprise many years ago, so that it is the oldest business of its kind in Tuscola county, even as it is the largest in Cass City, with equipment and facilities of the best type. The original firm was J. H. Striffler & Company, and the present firm was first Striffler & McDermott and is now composed of George A. Striffler and Charles E. Patterson. The firm deals in all kinds of farm implements and machinery as well as in buggies, carriages and wagons, the trade of the concern being widely disseminated and its reputation being of the highest.

Mr. Striffler has recently completed in Cass City a handsome and thoroughly modern house of twelve rooms, the same being the family home and one of the most attractive in the village, even as it is one of the most hospitable,a center of much of the social activity of the community. An appreciable part of the timber utilized in the erection of this building was taken from land owned by Mr. Striffler and is of growth that has been made since the disastrous forest fires which swept this section in 1871. Mr. Striffler himself found satisfaction in assisting in the sawing of the logs into the lumber and shingles for his fine new residence. Like other representatives of the family Mr. Striffler stands exponent of progressiveness and public spirit, and he is one of the loyal and liberal citizens of his native county. He was a Republican until the formation of the Progressive party, in 1912, when he transferred his allegiance to the new organization. He has not been ambitious for public office but has served as township treasurer. He is affiliated with the local organization of the Knights of the Maccabees, and his wife, who is a leader in the social life of the community, is a member of the Woman's Literary and Study Club, besides being a devoted communicant of the Protestant Episcopal church. In the year 1900 Mr. Striffler wedded Miss Cora Belle Home, of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, where she was born and reared, and they have one son, Ervine Albert, who was born in Cass City, on the 27th of March, 1906.

Cass City Chronicle
Friday, October 18, 1940
Page Four

Mr. and Mrs. W.R. KAISER of Detroit, David STRIFFLER of Columbus, Georgia and Miss Martha STRIFFLER were Sunday guests at the G.A. STRIFFLER home. All the guests returned to Detroit Sunday evening. David STRIFFLER returned to Cass City on Tuesday and is spending the week with his brother, G.A. STRIFFLER, and other relatives. Miss Martha, who has spent a few weeks with her sister, Mrs. KAISER, in Detroit, returned to Cass City with her brother Tuesday.


Cass City Chronicle
Friday, July 13, 1945
Page One

G.A. Striffler Died Here Friday At Age of 81 Years
Conducted an Implement Business in Cass City For 45 Years

George Albert Striffler, retired business man of Cass City, passed away at his home in the village on Friday morning, July 6. He was 81 years of age.

Born in Elkland township, the son of John and Mary Striffler, on March 16, 1864, he had spent the greater portion of his life in this community.

Mr. Striffler entered the business ranks of Cass City as a partner of the late J.H. Striffler, pioneer implement dealer here, on Nov. 1, 1899. The business was conducted under the name of J.H. Striffler & Co. for one year when J.H. Striffler sold his interest to the late Hector L. McDermott and the firm name was changed to Striffler & McDermott. This partnership continued for 12 years. From the time Mr. Striffler conducted the business under his own name until Dec. 29, 1944, when because of failing health he sold his holdings to Copeland & Munro, he had been in business here for 45 years.

Mr. Striffler served the village as trustee, was village president for two years, and township treasurer on two different occasions. He was a past master of Tyler Lodge, F. & A.M., a member of the Cass City Community club and the Michigan Implement Dealers' association, and belonged to two hunting clubs, the Canada Creek Ranch Hunting club near Atlanta and the Lost Lake Woods club near Lincoln.

The deceased is survived by his widow, the former Cora Belle Clark, whom he married on Nov. 29, 1900, at Manitowac, Wis., and a son, Irvine Striffler, of Marysville, Ohio. A brother, David Striffler, of Columbus, Ga., and a sister, Mrs. W. R. Kaiser, of Detroit also survive.

Funeral services were conducted at the Presbyterian church by Rev. Melvin R. Vender, the pastor, Sunday afternoon. The impressive Masonic burial rites were conducted at Elkland cemetery by members of Tyler lodge under the leadership of Edward Golding, past master of the society.

Relatives and friends from a distance who attended the funeral were Mr. and Mrs. Irvine Striffler of Marysville, Ohio; Mr. and Mrs. H.E. Dozier of Walled Lake; Dr. and Mrs. H. Clay Murphey and Mr. and Mrs. Willet Hazard of Pontiac; Mr. and Mrs. W. R. Kaiser, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Striffler, Mr. and Mrs. Louis Striffler, Stanley Striffler and Mrs. C.P. Miller, all of Detroit, Mr. and Mrs. George Southworth of Elkton, and Mr. and Mrs. Ed Gardner of Plymouth; Mr. and Mrs. Owen Darling of Decker; Mr. and Mrs. A.A. Spriggs of Peck; Mr. and Mrs. Carl Miller of Fairgrove; Mr. and Mrs. Frank Mahon of Minden City; Mr. and Mrs. Oscar and Mr. and Mrs. Merle Ashe of Vasser.

(Transcribed by Melinda McLemore Strong, Summer 2007)

(Research):
Census Information:

1910 Census, Michigan, Tuscola County, Elkland Twp, ED 113, Cass City Village
Enumerated 13 Apr 1910
SD 8, ED 113, Sheet No 5 B

Striffler, George A Hd M W 44 M1 9 Mic NY Germany Salesman Agriculture Implements
Striffler, Cora B Wife F W 35 M1 9 1/1 Wisc Wisc Wisc
Striffler, Irvine A Son M W 4 S Mich Mich Mich
Clark, Warren W Brother in Law Wisc Wisc Wisc Commercial Trader

George married Cora Belle Horn on 29 Nov 1900 in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin. Cora (daughter of John E. Horne and Mary Jane Clancey) was born on 3 Feb 1871 in Brown County, Wisconsin; died on 19 Oct 1964 in Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan; was buried in Elkland Township Cemetery, Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Cass City Enterprise
Local Happening, Page 8
January 1, 1903

Miss Luella Binkelman, who has been the guest of Mrs. G.A. Striffler (Cora Horne) for several months, left on Tuesday morning for her home in Manitowoc, Wisc.

Cass City Chronicle
October 22, 1964
Page 5

Final Rites for Mrs. Hazard

Funeral services for Mrs. Cora Striffler Hazard, a resident of Cass City for more than 60 years, were held Wednesday, October 21, in Little's Funeral Home.

Rev. James Braid, pastor of the first Methodist Church of Cass City, officiated at the service. Mrs. Hazard was buried in the Elkland cemetery.

She died Monday, October 19, in the Stevens Nursing Home, where she had been a patient for five months. She had been in ill health for the past year.

Mrs. Hazard was born on February 3, 1871, in Manitowoc, Wis. In 1900, she married George Albert Striffler in Wisconsin. The couple then moved to Cass City to make their home.

Mr. Striffler died in 1945.

On November 8, 1954, she married Willet V. Hazard in Marysville, Ohio; following their marriage, they also made their home here.

Mrs. Hazard is survived by her husband, a son Irvine Striffler, of Marysville, Ohio; one step-daughter, Mrs. Samuel Smith of Pontiac, one grandchildren; three step grand-children and six step-great-grandchildren.

(Transcribed by Melinda McLemore Strong, Summer 2007)

Notes:

Art Peck writes that they were among the first families in Tuscola County, Michigan, moving there about 1860 on land purchased for $2 an acre, land they had never seen. They cleared the land to establish a farm, a mile east and a mile north of Cass City. John was Elkland County, Michigan treasurer from 1868 to 1870, and again from 1885 through 1887.

Cass City Chronicle
Cass City, Mich., Friday, July 14, 1922
Vol. 18, No. 9

John Striffler has Passed Away
Settled in Elkland Township 62 Years Ago; Prominent in the Early History of Cass City Community

On the tombstone we carve the name of our beloved dead and then two dates--the year of birth and the year of death. Between these two lies the history of the dead and yet so few know that history. Between Mar. 15, 1833 and July 12, 1922, lies the life history of John Striffler. He was born on a farm near Lancaster, N.Y. and passed on to his home eternal at Cass City, Michigan.

A few months after his marriage to Miss Mary Benkelman at Lancaster on Nov. 14, 1858, Mr. Striffler came to Tuscola county. They resided six months at Watrousville and then completed their journey overland through the timber to Elkland township where they hewed out a home in the woods, and finally saw beautiful farms take the place of the timber tracts. Mrs. Striffler passed away on May 4, 1913. Two children also preceded the father in death, one child at the age of four years, and Mrs. Salome Bien, a daughter, whose death occured but a few months ago.

Coming into the community when it was sparsely settled and all covered with timber and when it took four days' travel with ox teams to go from Vassar to the cite where Cass City now stands, Mr. Striffler had ample opportunity to test the hardships of early pioneer life in the Thumb district. His services in the early days proved valuable and his neighbors soon placed him with the responsibilities of various township offices.

John Striffler was a man of generous impluse and never forgot the hospitable ways of the pioneer. Friend or stranger never failed to find food and shelter if he sought it at his hands, and he delighted in kind and neighborly deeds. Many a poor family found relief from his storehouse and many people enjoyed his hospitality. His home was always open to all, poor or well-to-do, and many found pleasure in the entertainment provided therein. He had borne adversity bravely and enjoyed prosperity quietly. He had filled the various relations of life as husband, father, brother, friend and filled them satifactorily and his life work was well done.

He is survived by five children, Mrs. Archie MARK, G.A. STRIFFLER, Mrs. W.R. KAISER, and Miss Martha STRIFFLER, all of Cass City, and David STRIFFLER of Columbus, Georgia, 12 grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren. Since the death of his wife, his daughter, Martha, has been the companion and faithful attendant of her father.

Funeral services will be held in the Evangelical church which Mr. Striffler attended for many years. It is planned to hold the service Saturday afternoon unless David Striffler, who is on his way home from Georgia, is delayed in his journey from the south.

(Transcribed by Melinda McLemore Strong, Spring 2007)

(Research):
Census Information:

1850 Census
New York, Erie County, Lancaster
Enumerated 23 Aug 1850
Page 200
1048-1082
Otil Strifler 59 F $2550 Germany
Jacob Strifler 30 M Farmer
Susanna Strifler 27 F
Joseph Stifler 24 M Farmer
Christian Strifler 22 m Farmer
John Strifler 17 Farmer New York (sic)
David Strifler 14


1860 Census
Michigan, Tuscola County, Elkland
58-56
John Striffler 27 Farmer $280 $75 NY
Mary Striffler 21 Domestic Wirtinburg, Germany
The household immediately following theirs was that of Jacob and Louisa Striffler

1870 Census
Michigan, Tuscola County
56-56
Striffler, John 37 Farmer $5,075 $860 NY
Striffler, Mary 31 Germ Wirtinburg
Striffler, Emeline 10 Mich
Striffler, Albert 6 Mich
Striffler, Salome 4 Mich
The households preceding theirs were occupied by Jacob and Louis Striffler (#53), Adam and Catherine Benkelmann (#54), George & Katherine Kolb (#55).

1880 Census
Census Place:Elkland, Tuscola, Michigan
Source:FHL Film 1254607 National Archives Film T9-0607
Page 95B Relation Sex Marr Race Age Birthplace
John STRIFFLER Self M M W 47 NY Occ: Farmer Fa: FRANCE Mo: FRANCE
Mary STRIFFLER Wife F M W 41 WERTENBURG Occ: Keeping House Fa: WERTENBURG Mo: WERTENBURG
Emmiline STRIFFLER Dau F S W 19 MI Occ: Without Occupation Fa: NY Mo: WERTENBURG
George A. STRIFFLER Son M S W 16 MI Occ: At School Fa: NY Mo: WERTENBURG
Salome STRIFFLER Dau F S W 13 MI Occ: At School Fa: NY Mo: WERTENBURG
Martha STRIFFLER Dau F S W 7 MI Occ: At School Fa: NY Mo: WERTENBURG
Esther STRIFFLER Dau F S W 2 MI Occ: At Home Fa: NY Mo: WERTENBURG
Leonard BUEHRLY Other M S W 21 WERTENBURG Occ:Farmer Fa: WERTENBURG Mo: WERTENBURG
Philipp STRIFFLER Nephew M S W19 NY Occ: Farmer Fa: NY Mo: NY

19 year old Philip Striffler is likely the son of David and Sophia Striffler of Lancaster, New York. David was said to have died in 1872, and it appears that at least his oldest son left New York after his father died, so perhaps Philip did as well. Leonard Buehrly was from same village in Germany as Mary, and would later marry the granddaughter of her brother, Frederick Benkelman.

1900 Census, Michigan, Tuscola, Elkland, ED 110
Enumerated the 12th of June, 1900 by John Marshall
SD 8, ED 110, Sheet 6 B
125-125
Archie and Emeline Mark and family
126 126
Striffler, John Hd W M March 1833 67 M 41 NY France France Farmer
Striffler, Mary Wife W F May 1839 61 M 41 7/6 Germany Germany Germany 1856
Striffler, Martha Dtr W F Nov 1871 28 S Michigan NY Germany
Striffler, Ester Dtr W F May 1878 22 S Michigan NY Germany
Striffler, David A. W M Aug 1883 16 S Michigan NY Germany Farm Laborer
Bean, Saloma Dtr W F Sep 1866 22 Ed 3/3 Michigan NY Germany
Bean, Stanley G.Son W M Dec 1892 7 S Michigan Michigan Germany
Bean, Paul P. G. Son W M May 1894 6 S Michigan Michigan Germany
Bean, William D. G. Son W M Dec 1895 4 S Michigan Michigan Germany

1910 Census, Michigan, Tuscola County, Elkland Twp, ED 113, Cass City Village
Enumerated 13 Apr 1910
SD 8, ED 113, Sheet No 5 B

138-138
Striffler, John Hd M W 76 M1 NY Germany Germany
Own Income
Striffler, Mary Wife 70 M1 6/6 Germany Germany Germany
Striffler, Martha Dtr F W 37 S Mich Germany Germany

They were living in the household immediately preceding that of Mary's nephew, Benjamin Benkelman, Sr.

John married Anna Maria "Mary" Benkelman on 14 Nov 1858 in Lancaster, Erie County, New York. Anna (daughter of Johann Leonhard Benkelmann and Maria Dorothea St?hle) was born on 22 May 1839 in Schneiderhof, Waldhausen Parish, Welzheim, Jagstkreis, W?rttemberg, Germany; died on 4 May 1913 in Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan; was buried in Elkland Township Cemetery, Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

German Parish records show "ist 1853 ausgewandert" (left for America) in 1853. On the Oberant Welzheim Emmigrants list, 1818-1891, She is listed as Anna Maria, g. d. 22t. Mai 1839 ledig, and travelling in a party headed by her mother, Maria Dorothea, the widow of Johann Leonhard Benkelmann, a farmer of Schneiderhof. Three of her sisters were on this list as well.

BonnieMargaret's full source citation was: Staatsarchiv Ludwigsburg, "Verzeichnis der Auswanderung aus dem Oberamt Welzheim 1818-1891" F 214 B?schel 91 Fortlaufende Number 42 [or possibly 47] ).

Cass City Chronicle
Cass City, Mich., Friday, May 9, 1913
Vol. 8, No. 3

Elkland Twp. Loses Pioneer Settler
Mrs. John Striffler passed away Sunday Evening
Has Been a Resident of This Township for 54 years; was 73 Years of Age

Following an illness of several months duration, Mrs. John Striffler, one of the pioneer settlers of Elkland Township, died at her home on Pine Street Sunday evening at the age of 73 years.

Mary Benkelman was born in Brech, Wuertemberg, Germany*, on May 22, 1839, and came to this country in 1852, landing at Baltimore. She with some of her brothers and sisters settled in Lancaster, N.Y., and here on Nov. 14, 1858, she was united in marriage with John Striffler. This union was blessed with seven children, six of whom survive.

[BonnieMargaret Jacob's writes that Breech was just down and across the road from the Schneiderhof, both near B?rtlingen]

It was 54 years ago this month, when they, in the prime of life, came to Michigan, locating on the land now known as Striffler homestead, two miles east and north of Cass City. They belonged to that distinguished number of early settlers who opened up this section of Tuscola county and laid the foundation for future prosperity for those who came into these parts later on and here was established a home where the generous impluses and the hospitable ways of the pioneer held sway. When the life on the farm grew to sternouse (sic) for their advanced years, Mr. and Mrs. Striffler moved to Cass City to spend their remaining years.

Mrs. Striffler became a Christian in early life and ever since the establishment of the Evangelical society in this section, has been a regular attendant of that church. Her life was of such a self-sacrificing nature that she became a blessing to all who came to know her and in return God gave her a peaceful life full of hope and joy. Her last sickness was born with patience. She will be missed by the many friends and especially in the home by the husband and daughter.

The funeral services were held at the Evangelical church on Thursday morning. Rev. D.J. Feather, the pastor, officiated, assisted by Revs. J.M. Bittner and J. Schmaus, and the remains were carried to their last resting place in Elkland cemetery by the following nephews of the deceased, who served as pall bearers: B.F. and J.A. BENKELMAN, G. E. and John KRAPF, Solomon and Samuel STRIFFLER.

Besides the husband, six children, Mrs. Archie MARKS, G. A. STRIFFLER, Mrs. Salome BIEN, Miss Martha STRIFFLER, Mrs. W.R. KAISER and David STRIFFLER, one sister, Mrs. M.M. SCHWEGLER of this city, two brothers, Leonard BENKELMAN of Manitowoc, Wis. and John BENKELMAN of Portage, Wis., 11 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren survive.

Cass City Chronicle
Friday, May 16, 1913
Local Items, Page 4

Mrs. Mary BURK, Mrs. Sarah HOYT and daughter, Miss Iva, of Caro attended the funeral of Mrs. John STRIFFLER Thursday

(Transcribed by Melinda McLemore Strong, Summer 2007)

A copy of her actual Michigan Death certificate can be viewed online:

http://seekingmichigan.org/

Indexed as Marry Striffler

Her date of birth on this certificate was instead shown as 22 May 1839, and her parents were listed as Lenard Benkelman and Dora Slatey[St?hle]. The informant was W?/D? A Striffler of Cass City.







(Medical):See attached sources.

Notes:

Married:
BonnieMargaret Jacobs also shows a daughter, Martha, born Nov. 1873???

Notes:

The Manitowoc County Civil War Round Table has the following information posted about John E. Horne. He is thought, but not proven, to have been married to Mary Jane Clancey, the stepdaughter of Leonard Benkelman, prior to his death.

http://www.mccwrt.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=255&Itemid=31

John E. Horne

Born: ca 1829 Enlisted: July 23, 1862 as a Private from Raymond, WI Absent, sick: July 14, 1865 (absent at Muster Out of Regiment)
?u??i?
?/u??/i?1870 Census, WI, Fond du Lac, Ward 5:
John Horne, 41, Male, White, Carpenter, RE 800, PE 200, born Scotland
Julia, 38, Female, White, Keeping House, born Scotland
Chd: Daniel, 14, born NY

1875-76 Manitowoc City Directory: John Horne, Ship Caulker, res State east of 5th

Manitowoc Cemetery Records:

Family stone reads: CLARK-HORNE-BENKELMANN,
ossw: (Clark) William/1845-1920, [bur 12-05-1920/cause: senile gangrene/ bur on John Horn lot]
ossw: Mary Jane 1853-1916
ossw: Leonard BENKELMANN/Co. D. 48th Wis. Inf.,
ossw: Jane BENKELMANN/1830-1894,
ossw: John E. HORNE/Co. D 20th Wis. Inf.,
ossw: Willie HORNE/1874-1887

L. BENKELMANN/Co. D/48th Wis. Inf.
Mother/Mary J. Clark/Feb. 8, 1852/July 3, 1916 (cause: broken hip/from record of St. James Epis. ch., Manitowoc), [bur. 07-06-1913/cause: cerebral hemorrage/bur. on John Horn lot]
ossw: Father/William Clark/May 11, 1845/Dec. 3, 1920 [bur. 12-5-1920/cause: senile gangrene/bur. on John Horn lot]
J.E. HORNE/Co. D./20th Wis. Inf.

John married Mary Jane Clancey before 1871. Mary (daughter of Johann Leonhard "Leonard" Benkelman and Jane McCormick) was born on 8 Feb 1852 in Wisconsin; died on 3 Jul 1916 in Wisconsin; was buried on 6 Jul 1916 in Evergreen Cemetery, Manitowoc County, Wisconsin. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Census records show she was born in Wisconsin, however Jane Zimmerman writes that her actual place of birth was Chicago.

Mary's first marriage was to a HORNE, and she and two children, Cora and William Horn, can be found on the 1880 Manitowoc census.

It is likely she was the widow of John E. Horne, a civil war veteran who was some twenty years her senior. Perhaps she was his second wife? This appears to be the most likely scenario, as John E. Horne, her son, William, and her stepfather and mother, Leonard and Jane Benkelman, all share a common burial plot and grave marker. It might also be possible that she was instead the widow/divorced wife of John's son, Daniel, who was a few years her junior.

John E. Horne's tombstone is marked "Co. D., Twentieth Wisconsin Infantry."

The Manitowoc County Civil War Round Table has the following information posted about John E. Horne. It is not known with certainty, however, if the 1870 census transcription they include below, is for the same John Horne. If it is for him, his marriage to Mary Clancey Benkelman must have occurred soon after this census enumeration, as her daughter, Cora Horne, was born early in 1871.

http://www.mccwrt.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=255&Itemid=31

John E. Horne

Born: ca 1829 Enlisted: July 23, 1862 as a Private from Raymond, WI Absent, sick: July 14, 1865 (absent at Muster Out of Regiment) ?i?
?u?
?/u??/i?
1875-76 Manitowoc City Directory: John Horne, Ship Caulker, res State east of 5th

John Horn bur May 7, 1876
Buried: Evergreen Cemetery, Manitowoc, WI
Gravesite: @2-150-3: "John E. Horne/Co. D/20th Wis. Inf."

At the time of the 1870 census, Mary, age 18 was no longer living with her parents. It is possible that she moved to Brown County, Wisconsin, as this is where her daughter, Cora Horn, was born in 1871. On the 1870 Brown County, Wisconsin census, a 19 year old Mary HORAN, House Servant, born in Wisconsin, can be found. Living two households away is a 25 year old George McCormick, a teamster from Ireland. McCORMICK is the maiden name of Mary's mother. It is not certain, however, that Mary HORAN and Mary Jane are the same individual, however. Additionally, John Horne is found in the 1870 Fond du Lac census, but with a wife and 14 year old son.

1870 Census, WI, Fond du Lac, Ward 5:
John Horne, 41, Male, White, Carpenter, RE 800, PE 200, born Scotland
Julia, 38, Female, White, Keeping House, born Scotland
Chd: Daniel, 14, born NY


Therefore, further research should be done to determine the exact nature of the connection between John E. Horne and the Benkelman family of Manitowoc; who Mary Clancey Benkelman's first husband was; and if the 1870 census transcriptions above even relate to John E. Horne or to Mary Clancey Benkelman Horne buried in Evergreen Cemetery.

Mary Jane remained close to her stepfather, Leonard Benkelman, and Art Peck writes that she took care of her step-father in his declining years. He was listed in her home at the time of the 1900 census.

She also visited her stepfather's extended family in Cass City, Michigan, were her daughter resided, as can be seen from the follow brief mention:


Cass City Chronicle
October 30, 1908

Local Mentions

Mr. and Mrs. Clark returned to their home in Manitowac, Wis., Monday after spending several weeks with their daughter, Mrs. G. A. Striffler.



(Research):
Census Listings:

1880 Census
Wisconsin, Manitowac, 3rd Ward
Mary Horn Self F W 29 Manitowoc County, Wisc KH Prussia Ireland
Cora Horn Daught F W 9 Brown County, Wisc Canada Wisconsin
William Horn Son M W 6 Mantiowoc County, Wisc NY Wisc
Mary Malhal Other F W 16 Mantiwoc County, Wisc Servant Ireland Scotland

Notes:

According to the Rev. Roy J. Striffler, the Striffler's emigrated from the Alsace-Lorraine region of France to New York State in 1830. They were part of the German-speaking population of Alsace. Some of the older Striffler family members recalled a family joke---there were 11 boys in the family, and all of them had a sister Susanna. She married Christian Oscar Lenzner. Family genealogists have only been able to account for eight of the 12 children however. Two of the boys married Benkelman sisters. One son married Mary Rommel, and as there were several Benkelman/Rommel marriages as well, the two families became further intertwined.

Although the family originally settled in New York only Jacob's son David remained in New York. Peter pushed further west, to Kansas. Around 1880, most of the others settled in Cass City, Michigan, where they lived until their deaths. They cut off the stumps remaining on the land they built and turned the wilderness into fruitful farm land.

(Excerpted from Art Peck's THE TEN BENKELMANS WHO EMIGRATED TO AMERICA. He in turn references a September 4, 1950 article from the "Striffler-Benkelman Broadcast", Volume 13, Cass City, Michigan)

Both the flyleaf of the Striffler family Bible, and the tombstone of Jacob Striffler in Lancaster, showed him to be be born in Kirrberg, "departmente de Rhein." (Jacobs, p. 164). In the chapter on the Striffler family in her unpublished 1981 manuscript, BonnieMargaret Jacobs noted that widely spread family stories stated that the Striffler family originated in Switzerland (p. 164). It would appear these were either errorneous, or that the family moved from Switzerland to Alsace.


BonnieMargaret Benkelman Jacobs, in an undated family report she prepared for some of the descendants of the Striffler brothers who married Benkelmann sisters, wrote that birth records had been of the children born to Jacob and Otillia "Have been extracted from the French civil records and translated, and show 8 children born in France, two of whom died while still just children (one was only 15 months old, the other just a few months past their sixth birthday). She stated that "these official civil records support the oft repeated family joke, "There are seven brothers and each one has a sister." On page 165 of her unpublished 1981 manuscript documenting the Benkelman family, she repeated this saying, adding however that "one Striffler heard the riddle with 11 brothers and it should be noted that there is still much to be learned about this family."

With the records in France showing 8 children were born there, and census records show two known children born in the United States, it appears we can account for 10 of the 11. It is possible that records may be uncovered one day to find the final child, or that this final son may have been stillborn or died at a young age, and his memory passed down only through the family joke or riddle.

Jacob married Ottila "Odila" "Otil" Zimmerman on 4 Nov 1809 in Kirberg, Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine, Imperial Territory Of Alsace-Lorraine, Elsa?-Lothringen, Germany. Ottila was born on 10 Nov 1790 in Kirberg, Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine, Imperial Territory Of Alsace-Lorraine, Elsa?-Lothringen, Germany; died on 17 Sep 1863 in Lancaster, Erie County, New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Her father was a school master.

(Research):

Census Listings;

1850 Census
New York, Erie County, Lancaster
Enumerated 23 Aug 1850
Page 200
1048-1082
Otil Strifler 59 F $2550 Germany
Jacob Strifler 30 M Farmer
Susanna Strifler 27 F
Joseph Stifler 24 M Farmer
Christian Strifler 22 m Farmer
John Strifler 17 Farmer New York (sic)
David Strifler 14

1860 Census
Not located

Notes:

In a 1979 letter that Margaret-Bonnie Jacobs wrote to Ben Benkelman, Jr she said: "You may have heard from one source or another that I'm putting together rather a comprehensive history of the Benkelman family. To date, it's taken me most of my time just to track the original 10 immigrants and get them firmly placed and dated and documented. This year I am concentrating on the reach back to Germany. I have hired a genealogist there to see how far back we can go with the family before the mass emigration of the '50s. Just by collecting the data on the 10 immigrant children I have learned a great deal. All of the boys were artisans with trades. In Germany that usually meant long apprenticeships. Since Adam and his brothers and sisters were born in different villages I assume the father, Leonhard, was also a tradesman of some sort rather than a farmer."

BonnieMargaret later concluded they were all actually born at the Schneiderhof, across from Breech, on the outskirts of B?rtlingen, and Parish records discovered later showed Leonhard's occupation as bricklayer

In her 1981 unpublished manuscript, BonnieMargaret wrote that "On February 6, 1796 Johann Leonhard Benkelmann was born to Katharina Bauer, and according to the parish record, he was born at the Schneiderhof. The pastor dutifully recorded that he was unehelic (illegitimately) born and that he bore the name of his unehelic father, Johann Jacob Benkelmann of Pl?derhausen. BonnieMargaret indicated that His mother was refered to on Leonhard's and his wife Dorothea's family register page as "Maria Katharina, frueher des Johannes Haeller auf dem Schneiderhof Ehefrau geborene Bauerin." This means that she was then the wife of Johann Haeller, and was born Maria Bauer. (pp. 56-58)

When Leonhard's father, Johann Jacob, married another woman the year after Leonhard's birth, he was first required to provide 75 of the 200 florins he had inheritied from his grandfather to his "Weibsbild" for the upbringing of his son born out of wedlock. (p. 58)

Leonhard was only 2l when his stepfather died , and as a result became the head of his mother's household. He must have discharged all of his responsiblities admirably, because only five years later he was allowed to be married to Dorothea St?hle, the daughter of a respected citizen and farmer of B?rtlingen. (Jacobs, p. 70).

On the Parish records, he is referred to as a "Bauer and Maurer"...farmer and bricklayer.

After Leonhard's death early in 1848, each of his 10 children that had survived into maturity emigrated to the United States. The first to leave was his namesake son, Leonhard, in the summer of 1849, who was age 21. The last was eldest son, Friedrich, and he left in 1873 at age 50, taking a large group of family members with him.

The Benkelmanns were not alone. A huge number of Germany left their homeland in and around 1848. This excerpt, from a website about the "The Origins of the Forty-Eighters" in Davenport, Iowa applies to the Benkelmann family as well, even though Leonhard and Dorothea's children instead settled in first in New York, and later Wisconsin, Michigan and Colorado, versus Iowa.

Letters ... sent back to Germany were instrumental to channeling the influx of immigrants from Germany.....

Historian Scott Christiansen explains the purpose of the letters:

"They wanted to tell their friends back home how good it was in America. And they tended to exaggerate a little bit, because they were lonely and liked to have some of their compatriots come over and join them."

The decision to emigrate from one's homeland is generally informed by two forces: the so-called push and pull forces. Letters from family and friends who had already settled in the new world certainly qualify as pull factors. Other such factors were the multitude of job opportunities, inexpensive, yet fertile cropland, and - especially important to the politically motivated Forty-Eighters - the guarantee of democratic liberties such as freedom of speech and expression.

Many of the push factors are related to the causes of the German revolution. As the social and economic conditions in Germany worsened during the 1840s, many people were forced to look for new opportunities. [E]migration has become a matter of life or death, as one German newspaper put it. America with its promise of a new chance for everyone appealed to many Germans ready to emigrate. Reports from America, printed in German newspapers, underscored this notion. Iowa, for example, was described in 1847 as leaving little to be desired both to the productivity of its soil and the more bearable nature of its climate.

While economic necessity might have been a major driving force for many to emigrate, political reasons also factored into the decision to leave the homeland. In fact, the Forty-Eighters are per definition political refugees who for the most part did not struggle financially. But one might argue that a majority of emigrants regarded both political circumstances and economic distress as making life in Germany unbearable. The causes for emigration thus intermingle in many cases.

The strong early presence ...triggered a chain migration...in succeeding years. The term chain migration is defined by the Dictionary of Geography as [a] migration process which depends on a small number of pioneers, who make the first moves to set up a new home in a new place. They send information back home, and this encourages further migration from the originating area.

BonnieMargaret Jacob's cited similar reasons in her manuscript, pointing out the decrease of demail for high-quality goods of the small town artisan, the reluctance of these artisians to move to cities to work in factories, the restrictive craftsman guild system that made it difficult to learn and advance in a trade, and the equally restrictive marriage laws.

"The auswanderer went less to America to build something new than to regain and conserve something old...to till new fields and find new customers, true enough, but ultimately to keep the ways of life they were used to, which the new Europe seemed determined to destroy...people who traveled thousands of grim miles in order to keep their roots, their habits, their united families and the kind of future they wanted for their families. They did not wait passively for their roots to be broken, to be sure; yet they were conservatives, who acted radically in order to preserve, and who journeyed to another world to keep their homes." (Walker, Mack, GERMANY AND THE EMIGRATION 1816-1885, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1964, Page 69, as transcribed by BonnieMargaret Jacobs on pages 77 and 78 of her manuscript).

Johann married Maria Dorothea St?hle on 20 Nov 1822 in Schneiderhof, Waldhausen Parish, Welzheim, Jagstkreis, W?rttemberg, Germany. Maria (daughter of Georg Friedrich St?hle and Anna Maria Leins) was born on 5 Jan 1800 in B?rtlingen, G?ppingen, Donaukreis, W?rttemberg, Germany; died on 22 Oct 1853 in Transit to America, Lost At Sea. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

On "January something" in 1983, Bonnie Jacobs wrote "A search for some years has finally yielded information for me. As you have probably heard, the last of the 10 Benkelman children to emigrate from Germany were the four girls and their mother [Dorothea, age 52, and daughters Dorothea age 23, Catharina, age 21, Maria, age 13, and Lena, age 7]. We had heard from family legends that the mother died at sea and I have pursued that information for years. I have finally retrieved it. It is a painstaking process to get the facts, but I finally found an obituary that identified the port of entry as Baltimore---a stroke of luck since Baltimore was one of the few American ports of entry that did have a Customs passenger list. I have retrieved the film from the Archives in Washington--but it has brought a new mystery. It is remarkable that finding the answer to one question almost always raises another. Missing from the party of four daughters and the mother is the second eldest daughter, Catharina. She was released from the Empire with the others on 20 September of 1853--but there is no record of her having arrived in Baltimore!

At least I have a death date on the mother now. She died at sea on 22 October, barely a month into the voyage. The ship arrived in Baltimore on December 15. Can you imagine being packed into one of those filthy sailing vessels for six to nine weeks? Try to imagine the day to day living with no privacy, no way to bathe or attend to personal needs and only buggy, dried food to eat! Our ancestors suffered much. I will go and try to retrieve the Captain's actual report now that I know the ship and the Captain--to see if a cause of death is listed. Cholera was rampant that year, but I think it was not the cause since the part of the list I have seen shows only one other death during the voyage."

BonnieMargaret Jacobs shows her, on her transcription of the familienregister page of the Benkelmann family, as a daughter of George Friedrich St?hle and Anna Maria REIK or RECH. However, Anna Maria REIK is actually the mother of Dorothea's daughter-in-law Catharina Schaufele, who married Dorothea's son Adam Benkelmann. Kathy Bonnell, on her transcription of G?ppingen church records, shows her mothers maiden name was LEINS. BonnieMargaret appears to have been simply confusing the two Anna Maria's. Additionally, the family register for the family of Georg Friedrich St?hle, listing his wife and children, shows his wife Anna Maria was born to Georg Friedrich Leins, a farmer.

On the Oberant Welzheim Emmigrants list, 1818-1891, She is listed as Maria Dorothea, Witwe (widow) des Bauers Johann Leonhard Benkelmann von Schneiderhof, Gd. Waldhausen geb. den 5ten Januar 1800. Their guarantor was Johann Georg St?hle, Bauer von B?rtlingen.

(BonnieMargaret's full source citation was: Staatsarchiv Ludwigsburg, "Verzeichnis der Auswanderung aus dem Oberamt Welzheim 1818-1891" F 214 B?schel 91 Fortlaufende Number 42 [or possibly 47] ).

Notes:

Married:
BonnieMargaret and her husband Bruce visited Germany in September, 1980. In a letter to Ben and Avis dated October 13, 1980, she shared the following information "Then we were on to B?rtlingen, where Adam and Catherine were married. The church there was built in 1484 and is one of the most beautiful we saw anywhere. I decided to see the village of Breech--for no particular reason except I that I'd heard Elsie Anthes speak of it and it had turned up in various records. WE had no real family association there--but it was nearby. What a stroke of dumb luck! Without that decision we might never have found the Schneiderhof, where Adam and his siblings were born and lived until they emigrated. The Schneiderhof is not a town and is not on any map. It's just a cluster of about 4 houses and supporting buildings, just down and across the road from Breech, and if you were looking away for just a second, you'd miss the sign to it.

I cannot tell you my excitement! ...There is nothing new there. Adam would recognize it as if he had never left. The tools and equipment are there as they have been for who knows how long. It is surrounded by orchards (apples) and small plots of vegetables. B?rtlingen is on a hill and is lovely with good views. The Schneiderhof is on top of the world, looking out on miles of hills and valleys and villages. It is incrediably beautiful. Again I found myself out in some cabbage patch, trying to explain to some farmer that this was my family heimat (home)...Clearly Americans are accepted as eccentric and harmless!...Vocabulary doesn't reach the beauty of that hilltop and its vistas out over hazy valleys, looking at other hills where red tiled houses form little villages. I can just imagine it at night--looking out over perhaps two dozen sparkling little villages on other hills around. One climbs from B?rtlingen to the Schneiderhof. But going down the back side of the mountain, through dense forest, the trail winds back and forth across the mountain into Waldhausen--which the Schneiderhof also looks down upon. This is the trip the family took to get to church, and probably to work."

In her 1981 unpublished manuscript, BonnieMargaret noted that only the top floor of the Benkelmann home shows from the road leading in. The house is three stories high on the back side, two stories high in the front. It was built in 1733, by the state, to provide housing for state licensed artisans who were not allowed in the town as guild craftsmen. Apparently it gained its name from its first inhabitants, since the name literally means "the place of tailors." The official state description of the Schneiderhof in 1845 states that it was a place with 22 Evangelical residents, lying on the mountain top about one-half an hours walk from Waldhausen. The rents were paid to the city of G?ppingen, in 1845 twelve of those residents would have been Leonhard and Dorothea and their 10 living children, others would have included Leonhard's widowed mother and some of her children by Herr Heller, and likely their families. The land was described as rocky and and lying on a mountainside, "even today it is impossible to use machinery to work the land" and that the "people who lived there would have to have outside work." The house itself lies on the very crest of the mountain, with the house built on the downside of the mountain, overlooking Waldhausen. A very small patch of is on the level crest at the top of the mountain. When BonnieMargaret visited the home in 1981, she said it had four or five dwellings in all, and barns and sheds nearby the house and in the orchards. Just west of the house stands the old Bauernhaus, perhaps the homestead of Leonhard's maternal grandparents. The fields to the south were planted in potatoes and turnips, the high production crops that all of southern Germany turned to in the early 1800's. Beyond the westernmost buildings were apple orchards, beautiful and well tended. (pp. 68, 69 and accompanying photos).

BonnieMargaret also noted that German life centered in the family. Even today we're told that day to day life included few close relationships with people outside the family. Certainly they were cordial and friendly with neighbors and cooperating artisans, but the joy of living was carefully protected within the walls of the home. Country people had no protection but each other, and the trusted "other" were kinsmen. Unlike the towns that were structured to protect the citizens from difficult times, the country folk were on their own, in good and bad times. Parents carefully nutured the bonds of affection and caring, and though they may have experienced the sibling rivalry that modern children do, it was not expressed in the German home, where only mutual caring and consideration were approved and encouraged.

Names and birthdates for this family were from the Waldhausen Parish Kirchlichen Familienregister Band I, Blatt 244, Dekanat Welzheim, Schw?bisch Gm?nd. BonnieMargaret noted that all the family information shown on pages 95 and 96 of her book were certified by Pastor Rau of the Ev. Pfarramt Waldhausen to be the complete record of the family of Johann Leonhard Benkelmann, with the exceptions of the dates of death, which were included by BonnieMargaret from other sources. They had one stillborn child, neither name or sex listed, on 4 July 1838. She also noted that they were married on November 20, but the year was illegible.

The family register for the family of Georg Friedrich St?hle and wife, Anna Maria Leins shows that Maria Dorothea was the fifth of their 15 children. She was married at the Schneiderhof on 20 Nov 1822, approximately 10 months after the birth of eldest son Friedrich.

Notes:

Leonhard, named for his father, was the trailblazer of the family. Parish records in Waldhausen show "ist 1849 Ausgewandert," meaning he emigrated in 1849. This makes him the first of the ten children [who lived into maturity] of Leonhard and Dorothea Benkelmann to leave Germany for America. Every one of his siblings eventually followed him.

BonnieMargaret Jacobs wrote that "as in all areas of German life, there were strict requirements to be met in order to be free to leave. The emigrant had to obtain certificates from the tax collector, the pastor and from school officials that he was free from taxes, tithes of other debts. The emigrant also had to renounce their citizenship, and have a specified amount of money to sustain them in their new country until they could establish themselves." (p. 80)

Leonard settled first in Lancaster, New York, but sometime after 1851 moved to Wisconsin, taking his newly arrived younger brother Johannes with him west. They lived first in Milwaukee, and later Leonard alone moved to Manitowac county, where he spent the rest of his life. BonnieMargaret wrote that "pamphlets about Wisconsin had been prepared to be circulated amoung the villages back home in Germany. The Wisconsin Germans were anxious to create a German community with a German culture and they aggresively recruited immigrants to their area...The early settlers in Manitowac were primarily German, Swiss and Irish. They brought with them their cheese making skills and turned Wisconsin into the dairyland of the nation. But manufacture and shipbuilding developed quickly in Manitowoc, with its access through the Great Lakes to endless markets." (Jacobs, p. 1022)

Leonard was a veteran of the Civil War, enlisting on 8 Sept 1861 for 3 years as a private in Company A, 1st Regiment, Mechanics Fusileers, though the company disbanded, and he was and discharged on 28 Jan 1862 at Camp Douglas, Illinois. BonnieMargaret Jacobs states that at the time of his enlistment, his occupation was listed as weaver. He reenlisted in 1865 for 1 year in Company D, 48th Regiment of the Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and mustered out 19 February 1866 at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. BonnieMargaret Jacobs cites his Civil War Pension record as No. 696589, filed on 9 Oct 1890.

His war record showed him as an engineer. The 1880 city directory listed him as the same.

Leonhard appears to have remained in close contact with his family. The Cass City, Michigan paper had several articles over the years mentioning his visits. This brief article appeared one week after the death of Adam Benkelman. "Leonard Benkelman, from Wisconsin, brother of the late Adam Benkelman, is in town and will remain for some time." (Cass City Enterprise Published in Cass City, Mich., Jan. 6, 1898).

A few years later, these articles also mention Leonard:

Cass City Chronicle
November 8, 1901

Local Mentions

A farewell party was given at Mrs. J. Schwegler's Monday evening in honor of her brother, Leonard and his niece Miss Cora Benkelman [daughter of Johannes Benkelman], who left for their respective homes in Manitowoc and Portage, Wisconisn, Tuesday.

Cass City Chronicle
October 30, 1908

Local Mentions

Leonard Benkelman of Manitowoc, Wis., is the guest of his sisters, Mrs. Louisa Striffler and Mrs. John Striffler and other relatives.

A notice of his death was in the Friday, May 30, 1913 issue of the Cass City Chronicle:

"Word has been received of the death of Leonard Benkelman, residing at Manitowoc, Wisconsin. He died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Clark* [nee Mary Jane Clancey] Sunday morning and was buried Wednesday. Mr. Benkelman was a brother of Mrs. M.M. Schwegler and the late Mrs. John Striffler and has visited Cass City a number of times.

*It appears from the obituary published in the Manitowoc paper that Leonard actually died in the home of his other daughter, Ella Benkelman Bodwin.

Leonhard's step-granddaughter also ended up in Cass City. Cora Horn (daughter of Mary Jane Clancey Horn Clark) married George Albert Striffler, a nephew of Leonhard's.

Jane Zimmerman provided the following obituary of Leonard, published in the Manitowoc Daily Herald on May 30, 1913.

Leonard Benkelman

Manitowoc Citizen Well Known Among German Citizens here

From Manitowoc (Wis.) Daily Herald

While his comrades, assembled throughout the land for memorial services Sunday, listened to tributes to their deeds of valor, Leonard Benkelman, one of the best known veterans of the county, heard taps sounded and passed on, his death occuring at the home of his daughter, Mrs. John Bodwin at Kings Bridge, due to infirmaties of age. Mr. Benkelman had been looking forward to the Memorial day services in which he had been a participant for years and the keenest disappointment shadowed his last hours when he realized that he could not survive to join with his comrades another year.

Mr. Benkelman was born at Brech, Wuertenberg [BonnieMargaret Jacob's writes that Breech was just down and across the road from the Schneiderhof, both near B?rtlingen], Germany, July 5, 1828, and in 1848 came to America, locating at Lancaster, N.Y. where he remained two years and then came to this city where he has since resided.

When the civil war broke out Mr. Benkelman responded to the call for volunteers and enlisted in what was known as the First regiment, Mechanic Fussillers, attached to Co. A of which Capt. W. Bates, a Manitowoc man, was in command. Later, after being honorably discharged, Mr. Benkelman enlisted with Co. D, Forty-eighth Wisconsin, and served with the comman in trying experiences on the western plains. He returned here after the war to make his home.

Mr. Benkelman is survived by three children, Mrs. William Clark, of this city; William Benkelman, Marion, Wis., and Mrs. J. Bodwin, of Kings Bridge, sixteen grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. A brother, John Benkelman, Portage, and one sister, Mrs. M. M. Schwegler, Cass City, Mich. also survive. One sister preceded him just two weeks ago.

Decedent was well known in the county and was universally esteemed.

Funeral services will be held Wednesday afternoon from the Clark home, 410 Park Street, to St. James Episcopal church and interment will be at Evergreen.


Cemetery records, from the Manitowoc County, Wisconsin Genealogy website:

BENKLEMAN: [W2-150-3]-[Leonard Benkelman/bur. 05-27-1913/cause: adetic [aortic?] insufficiency/bur. on John Horn lot] (William/d. 25 May 1913/age 85/cause: arterial schlorosis/bur. Evergreen 28 May 1913/from record of St. James Epis. ch., Manitowoc)

BENKELMANN: Jane............Aug. 23, 1894 Cem.#44, same name, same year *same, vol.4, p.234

BENKELMANN: Leonard Benkelmann/Co. D. 48th Wis. Inf., ossw: Jane Benkelmann/1830-1894

ossw: CLARKE/HORNE, next to: L. Benkelmann/Co. D/48 Wis. Inf.

(Research):Census Information:


1860 Census
Wisconsin, Manitowoc County, First Ward
8 June 1860
Page 49 (bottom)/Page 50 (top)
389-390
Leonard Brinkleman 30 M Weaver Wurtemburgh
Jane Brinkleman 29 F Ireland
William Brinkleman 11 M Illinois
Mary Brinkleman 8 F Wisc
Frederick Brinkleman 3 M Wisc
Emma Brinkleman 1 F Wisc
Note: William and Mary are Jane's children from her first marriage

1870 Census
Wisconsin, Manitowac, First Ward
17 June 1870, Stamped 192
107-117
Bingleman, Leonard 42 M W Carpenter Ireland (sic)
Bingleman, Jane 40 F Keeping House Ireland
Bingleman, William 21 M Grocery Store Ill
Bingleman, Fred 15 M Wisc
Bingleman, Emma 11 F Wisc

Mary, age 18 is no longer living with her parents. It is possible that she moved to Brown County, Wisconsin, as this is where her daughter, Cora Horn, was born in 1871. On the 1870 Brown County, Wisconsin census, a 19 year old Mary HORAN, House Servant, born in Wisconsin, can be found. This may be Mary Clancey Benkelman, already married but living apart from her husband? Or it may be someone else entirely. Living two households away is a 25 year old George McCORMICK, a teamster from Ireland. McCORMICK is the maiden name of Mary's mother, also born in Ireland. However Jane Zimmerman, a descendant of Leonard and Jane Benkelman, notes that McCORMICK was/is a fairly common name, and she does not know of a connection between Jane McCormick Benkelman and George McCormick.


1880 Census
1st Ward, Manitowoc, Manitowoc, Wisconsin
FHL Film 1255434 National Archives Film T9-1434
Page 17
RelationSexMarrRaceAgeBirthplace
Leonhard BINGELMAN Self M M W 52 WURTEMBERG Occ: Engineer Fa: WURTEMBERG Mo: WURTEMBERG
Jane BINGELMAN Wife F M W 50 IRE Occ: Keeping House Fa: IRE Mo: IRE


1900 Census
Wisconsin, Manitowoc, Manitowoc Ward 2
9 June 1900
SD 3 ED 72 Sheet 12B
412-227-264
Clark, William Hd W M May 1846 54 M18 NY England England Horse shoer
Clark, Mary Wf W F Feb 1852 48 M18 4/3 Wisc Germ Ireland
Clark, Cora Dtr W F Feb 1871 29 S Wisc Ny Wisc
Clark, Walter Son W M Sept 1883 17 S Wisc Ny Wisc At School
Clark, Warren Son W M June 1885 15 S Wisc NY Wisc At School
Bingleman, Leonard Father In Law W M July 1828 72 Wd Germ Germ Germ Retired

Johann married Jane McCormick on 19 Feb 1855 in Manitowoc, Manitowoc County, Wisconsin. Jane was born on 13 May 1830 in Ireland; died on 21 Aug 1894 in Manitowoc, Manitowoc County, Wisconsin; was buried on 23 Aug 1894 in Evergreen Cemetery, Manitowoc County, Wisconsin. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

On the Mantiowoc, Wisconsin, genealogy website, she is referred to as "a young widow from Chicago." Her dates of birth and death are based her tombstone in the Evergreen Cemetery in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. The actual death certificate shows August 23, 1894, which appears to actually be the date of her burial. Some sources show that her first husband was named Richard CLANCEY. BonnieMargaret Jacobs shows him as William Richard Clancey, and Jane as a daughter of John and Catherine McCormick, citing Manitowoc County Marriage Records, Vol. 1, Page 67.

Her obituary, from the Evergreen Cemetery, Manitowoc County, website, follows:

JANE BENKELMANN
From Der Nord Westen, 30 Aug. 1894

Death of Mrs. L. Binkelmann, an old resident of our city, last Fri. Burial was Sun. in the Catholic Cemetery.

[Note: The newspaper was in error about the cemetery as well as the misspelled surname]

Jane Benkelmann/bur. 08-23-1894/age 64 yrs./cause: exhaustion

http://www.2manitowoc.com/44Bobit.html#benkelmannjane

Notes:

Married:
BENKELMANN: Leonhard (also Leonard Benkelman) b: Wurtenburg, Germany res: Manitowoc p: Leonhard and Toladea Benkelmann m: 19 Feb. 1855 at Manitowoc to: Jane (McCormick)Clancey (a young widow from Chicago) p: John and Cath. McCormick

source: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~tomanitowoc

Jane Zimmerman writes that Leonard was quite easygoing, whereas Jane was hard to please.