Margaret McDonald "Bonnie" Benkelman

1928 - 2009  (80 years)

• Name	Margaret McDonald "Bonnie" Benkelman  [1, 2, 3]
  Nickname	Bonnie
  Birth	18 Feb 1928	Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania   [1, 2]
  Gender	Female
  Death	10 Jan 2009	Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama   [2]
  Notes	The Striffler-Benkelman Broadcast, Volume 10, September 1, 1947, reported that Bonnie Benkelman was a student at Kansas University. Volume 23 of the Striffler-Benkelman Broadcast, dated September 7, 1963, noted that Dr. Albert Benkelman's daughter, Barbara, husband and four children moved back to Denver from Seattle during the summer. The other daughter, Bonnie, husband and two children moved from Denver to Chicago where he was employed in Montgomery Ward's office. After her death, her daughters authored a website as a place for her family and friends to share their memories of BonnieMargaret: http://rememberingbonniemargaret.wordpress.com/ Her listing on the SSDI: MARGARET M JACOBS 18 Feb 1928 10 Jan 2009 (V) 35401 (Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa, AL ) (none specified) 515-22-5894 Kansas Bonnie also noted on page 5 of her manuscript that although she "may have been Dad's bonnie lass" he never legally changed her name at the time of her adoption, and in the process of trying to get a passport to visit her Aunts in Scotland and the homeland of the Benkelman's in Germany, she decided the most practical course was to begin to use her given legal name, Margaret McDonald. To her Benkelman relatives who had know her as Bonnie growing up, she suggested they call her BonnieMargaret, or whatever they were most comfortable with. Bonnie extensively researched the origins of the Benkelman and allied families, beginning her quest after the death of her father when her cousin Bill asked: "Bonnie, what can you tell me about the family?" She began digging through old family letters and newspaper clippings, visiting relatives in various cities, and even hiring professional genealogists in Germany (Dr. Paul Edel of Aalen and Friedrich Wollmershauser of Stuttgart), and ultimately making a trip to German to view rhe records and the family homes in person. In the preface to her manuscript she said that producing a family history "is remarkably like getting your foot caught in a bear trap. You never intend to find yourself in either mess. It happens accidentally. But once you are committed to it, there is no quick and painless way out of it." Her goal was to publish in 1980, the year her Aunt Lottie would have been 100, and her father 90. She wrote several drafts of the manuscript, before the days of personal computers being widely available, so the long manuscripts were retyped each time. What appears to have been her final draft was completed around 1981. However, as BonnieMargaret was ever the perfectionist she never published or widely circulated her manuscript. Some copies were shared with various relatives, but under strict orders to not copy of disseminate information. Select chapters and drafts of chapters were shared with the family members those chapters pertained to, but the complete draft of the book remained in her possession. After her death, her daughters bequesthed the drafts of her book, along with the voluminous notes and documents used to support her research to the Kansas branch of the Benkelman family. Her history, she said was not a final version, it is a family version. She limited the history to following the Benkelman name, though added there was no Benkelman history without Strifflers, Rommels, Schweglers, Buehrlys, Kolbs, Krapfs, etc etc, and those peopel do pass across the stage, not always remaining. Barney Benkelman of Helena, Montana was kind enough share a copy of the final draft with me (Melinda McLemore Strong) in 2012.
  Person ID	I3205	Strong Family Tree
  Last Modified	7 Jul 2022

  
  

  Father	George Albert Benkelman, D. D. S.,   b. 13 Oct 1890, Wano Township, Cheyenne County, Kansas d. 23 Dec 1973, Denver, Denver County, Colorado (Age 83 years)
  Relationship	Adopted
  Mother	Ruth May Lockwood,   b. 2 Apr 1892, St. Francis, Cheyenne County, Kansas d. 13 Jun 1973, Denver, Denver County, Colorado (Age 81 years)
  Relationship	Adopted
  Marriage	1 Dec 1917  [4]
  Photos		Benkelman, Benjamin Franklin Sr visits the family of his nephew, Albert Benkelman of Kansas l to r: BonnieMargaret, Ruth, Anna Barbara and George Albert Benkelman, older farmer and boy unknown, Ben Benkelman Sr
  Family ID	F1290	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Bruce Hemming Jacobs,   b. 9 Jul 1926, Denver, Denver County, Colorado d. 16 Mar 1998, Casselberry, Seminole County, Florida (Age 71 years)
  Children	1. Living   2. Living   3. Brian Murray Jacobs,   b. 10 Feb 1955, Denver, Denver County, Colorado d. 10 Feb 1955, Denver, Denver County, Colorado (Age 0 years)
  Family ID	F1873	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	9 Dec 2006

  
  

• Event Map

  Birth - 18 Feb 1928 - Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Death - 10 Jan 2009 - Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Photos » Slide Show		Benkelman, Lois ca 1930's with her young cousins Bonnie and Barbara Benkelman of Colorado, and her sister-in-law, Isabel Benkelman and nephew Bill Bonnie-Margaret on the left, Lois standing behind Mary Barbara, and Isabel (Fletcher) Benkelman touseling Bill's hair.
  		Benkelman, Bonnie-Margaret and Mary Barbara, ca mid-1940's Daughters of George Albert BENKELMAN and Ruth LOCKWOOD of Denver, Colorado
  		Benkelman, Bonnie-Margaret, Mary Barbara and Robert Fletcher, mid 1940's Bonnie and Barbara Benkelman from Colorado with their cousin, Bob Benkelman of Cass City, mid 1940's, at the Annual Striffler-Benkelman Reunion or possibly in Caseville near Lake Huron. The lady to their right, in the print dress, appears to be Lois Benkelman Pease.
  		Benkelman, Bonnie-Margaret, ca mid 1940's Bonnie-Margaret and her family resided in Denver. This photo was taken while visiting relatives in Michigan.
  		_Benkelman, Bonnie-Margaret Wife of Bruce Jacobs
  		Benkelman, Mary Barbara, Robert and Bonnie-Margaret Cousin's at the Striffler-Benkelman Reunion, probably taken in the mid 1940's
  		Benkelman, BonnieMargaret ca 1998 with cousins l to r: Lorraine Smith "Smitty" Benkelman, Bonnie (Benkelman) McLemore: BonnieMargaret (Benkelman)Jacobs; Dot (Ball) Williams; June (Gilbert) Striffler with her husband Russell; and Bob Benkelman, Smitty's husband. BonnieMargaret, who spent many years researching the Benkelman family, arranged a 1998 reunion of cousins in at her Florida home, in order to compare family photos and stories.

  
  

• Sources

  [S492] Peck, Edward Arthur THE TEN BENKELMANS WHO EMIGRATED TO AMERICA Ca. 1850s AND CERTAIN OF THEIR DESCENDANTS, 1982. [S333] Ancestry.com - U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-Current [database online], (Ancestry.com. Social Security Death Index [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2011. Original data: Social Security Administration. Social Security Death Index, Master File. Social Security Administration. The Social Security Administration Death Master File contains information on millions of deceased individuals with United States social security numbers whose deaths were reported to the Social Security Administration. Birth years for the individuals listed range from 1875 to last year. Information in these records includes name, birth date, death date, and last known residence.). [S1610] Jacobs, BonnieMargaret McDonald "The Family Benkelman" Unpublished Manuscript, 276 pages, October 1981 Version, (Copy owned by Barney Benkelman, Helena, Montana; which he xeroxed and sent to Melinda McLemore Strong in San Antonio, Texas). [S1026] Agar, Wm. John, Decker, Michigan, Compiler "Descendants of Adam Benkelman 13 Feb 1824-30 Dec 1897" Ver. Dated 23 July 2007.