Rosina Wahl

Notes:

Per the MEMOIRS OF JOHN A. BENKELMAN by Hilda Jane Stickley Benkelman, Rosina was a German girl who came over to the United States when she was 13. She was the niece of John Schwegler's wife. She met John Benkelman in New York state, when he was visiting relatives. They married and returned to Michigan, and spent the first winter of their married live with Adam and Catherine Benkelman. John built a house in town for he and Rosina. Adam suggested that he and Catherine move to the house in town and John and Rosina stay on the farm. He offered to sell his farm to John and Rosina for $5,000, less the cost of the house in town. John at first declined, but Rosina spoke up, offering to help John with the farmwork so they could quickly pay off the debt. She worked side by side with her husband, like a man, often in her bare feet to save her shoes. They raised wheat and corn. They shocked up the corn in large loose shocks so they could sit inside and husk it after winter set in. Rosina caught a bad cold one winter, which developed into T.B. She was sick all winter and died in the spring. She and John had been married about 8 years.

In Art Peck's book, he notes that she was probably a member of the Wahl family of Zell, a village near Bortlingen. Catherine, first wife of John Schwegler, was her aunt.

A transcription of her tombstone reads:

Benkleman, Rosina,d. 3 May 1886, 28y 5m 28d, w/o JA
?b?
?/b?Source:

Rosina married John Adam Benkelman about 1879 in Lancaster, Erie County, New York. John (son of Johann Adam Benkelman and Anna Catharina Schaufele) was born on 26 Apr 1856 in Bowmansville, Town of Lancaster, Erie County, New York; died on 8 Aug 1952 in Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan; was buried in Elkland Township Cemetery, Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]