Andrew Bensend
Andrew Bensend
Last rites for Andrew Bensend, 88, who passed from this life Saturday, January 11, at 1 p.m. following a lingering illness, were held last week Tuesday afternoon at the O. Elstad residence on Dewey Street and our Saviour’s Lutheran church, the Rev. O. G. Birkeland officating. Burial was in Lincoln cemetery. Pall bearers, all Odd Fellows, were Henry Fransen, B.M. Engen, John Beck, Ed Scott, Dr. R.L. MacCornack and W.E. Harlow. Flowers were carried by Mmes. Sidney Gilbertson. H.J. Holtan, Misses Alice Speerstra, Harriet Hegge, George and Florence Hegge of Whitehall and John and Robert Wilberg of Mauston. In addition to the flowers there were several memorials.
An octette from Our Saviour’s congregation, composed of Mrs. N.S. Simons, Miss Pearl Brennom, Mrs. Donald Warner, Mrs. S.B. Ivers, H.J. Aleckson, Kiel Blank, Dr. Anton Vold and T.O. Rice, sang selections at the church service, “I Know of a Sleep in Jesus’ Name,” “One Sweetly Solemn Thought,” and “Abide With Me.” Mrs. H.M. Johnson accompanied on the organ.
Andrew Bensend was born to Johan Anton and Christine Bensend in Sweden on September 29, 1852. He was baptized and confirmed in the Torpa church in that community. The family came to the United States in the fall of 1871, settling in Chicago just one week before the famous Chicago fire. Andrew, then a lad of about 18, often told in after years how the fire looked to him. The family resided in Chicago for five years and then came to Whitehall, arriving here on June 20, 1875. They settled on the present N.L. Fredrickson farm, then owned by Dave Wade, pioneer settler in this community.
For several years the Bensends lived in the Wade farmhouse. It was after their arrival that the Rev. Emmanuel Christophersen and his wife came, immigrants from Norway. The pastor had a call here. When they arrived in Whitehall they found it a crude little backwoods place, much unlike their Norwegian surroundings. They spent the first few nights with A.W. Anderson and wife of Irvin coulee and then took up their residence in the little house at the head of Main street that is now occupied by Henrietta Engen. Mrs. Bensend, Andrew’s mother, and Mrs. Christophersen became close friends, and later, when the Christophersens settled in Pigeon Falls, Andrew’s two sisters walked to that place from Whitehall to take confirmation instruction and stayed over night with the Christophersens, for that didtance was not a one-day trip on foot. Andrew recalled with pleasure his family’s acquaintance with the Christophersen’s.
After a few years here Andrew’s folks went to Turtle Lake in northern Wisconsin to homestead land, and he was the only one of the family to remain. He worked some at first for Mr. Wade on his huge farm which comprised not only the present Fredrickson place but the Albert Fromm acres and all the land in between and surrounding. And all his land was sowed to wheat. Andrew had a good driving team - he loved horses - and Mr. Wade engaged him to cut his wheat. His brother John and O.C. Torson, also young pioneers, were engaged to follow behind Andrew’s reaper and bind the grain, and they had a hard time keeping up.
With his team Andrew was also engaged to haul Mr. Wade’s wheat to Trempealeau to ship it from there down the Mississippi River. On these trips he often stayed at the historic Four Mile House between Galesvile and Trempealeau. Again he made use of his team of beloved horses when he worked for H.E. Getts, pioneer Whitehall storekeeper, whose original store building still stands on the east side of Main street and is occupied by John Beck, Art Risberg and Theo. B. Olson. For Mr. Getts Andrew was not only clerk, but he hauled the eggs he took in from the farmers to Trempealeau, besides the other produce he got in trade. Perhaps some of his stock came up the river too, and Andrew had a load back from Trempealeau as well as down.
Mr. Bensend was last employed by Dave Wood in his elevator, buying and selling grains. Years later, when he was married and had children, he worked for a time for Harry Blodgett, who had a furniture and undertaking establishment on the corner now occupied by Edwin Matson’s Canteen Company and the Gamble store.
Andrew Bensend’s marriage to Elisa Fredrickson, daughter of Mrs. Ole Larson, early-day hotel keeper in Whitehall, occurred on February 23, 1884. Not long after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Besend operated for a time the Alexander hotel, a hotel built early in Whitehall’s history by Sam Alexander and Moses Ingalls on the corner now occupied by Erickson’s store. When Mrs. Larson, Mrs. Bensend’s mother, came to this village she built the old Scandinavian House on Abrams street, now the Erickson hotel. That was in the year before the new court house was built. The hotel business boomed during the early days, especially after Whitehall became the county seat, for county court was held here twice a year and was in session for weeks. Also, travel wasn’t so rapid nor so easy in those days and there was a large transient trade. But the Alexander hotel was eventually discontinued and the building used for other purposes. One part of it was taken over by N.L. Fredrickson, Mrs. Bensend’s brother (still a resident of Whitehall), and her step-brother, Anton Reitzel, who went into the hardware business.
One night a fire broke out in the hardware store. A high wind was blowing from the northwest, whipped the flames up to a white heat and carried embers as far as the Bensend residence across the creek, the same residence as now stands on the East Side, was occupied by Andrew up until his death. Local citizens got out to fight the fire as well as they could. Suddenly Andrew, who was working Fredrickson & Reitzel at the time, remembered the dynamite-their stock was kept in a small shed back of the building proper. With a cry he rushed to remove it, his terrified wife looking on. But he got the dynamite out and, with the help of others, carried it across the creek, far from the danger of ignition.
The building burned to the ground. The safe which Fredrickson & Reitzel had in their store was the one first used by Trempealeau county when the county seat was moved to Whitehall. It was a heavy clumsy thing, and when the flames had progressed over the floor on which it stood, it fell through into the cellar. There it lay, defying anyone to remove. So the contents were taken out and the monster was buried in the earth onto which it had fallen. There it lies today, beneath the concrete floor in the basement of Erickson’s store.
The second floor over the hardware store was known as Opera Hall, and here the citizenry of Whitehall gathered to see the production of road companies and the dramatic efforts of local talent. Mrs. Larson, Andrew’s mother-in-law, owned this building at that time and was the loser when it burned.
Early in this century, the federal government decided to give the rural communities around Whitehall free mail delivery. Heretofore, the service had been only what might be called desultory. There was a post office over across the Freeman ridge at that time, near Elk Creek, called Alhambra, and Milt Whitney hauled mail there from Whitehall. But early in the 1900’s Mr. Whitney, A.M. Dake and Andrew Bensend were assigned to the new routes that were laid out. Andrew’s went west from Whitehall to a point near the asylum, then swung south to Plum Creek and came around to the starting point again via Irvin’s coulee. Through mud hub-deep in the spring, fair roads in the summer season, mud again in the fall and drifts that seemed sky-high sometimes in the winter, Andrew made his route in all kinds of weather. He continued the route until the fall of 1919 when he was forced to resign on account of illness. Lewis Hanson substituted on the route for several months, then L. C. Hanson, only returned a short time from serving in the World War, was assigned Andrews run. Later Louis was given the then Star Route to Pigeon Falls and H.J. Aleckson was assigned to Andrew’s original Route 2. Aleckson still services on that run.
But Andrew didn’t rest long after his operation. In December, 1920, he got the job of janitor at the MacCornack Clinic, then newly constructed. He remained in service there until October 1, 1928, when he retired because of his increasing years.
To Andrew Bensend and his wife, eight children were born. One daughter, Amanda, died in 1893 and his wife preceded him in death in 1911. Surviving him are seven children, 15 grandchildren, one great-grandchild, a sister Mrs. John Cornwall and a brother, John Bensend of Turtle Lake, this state. The children are: Floren, Sebeka, Minn.; Louis, Platteville; Zilpha, Mrs. E.O. Wilberg of Mauston; Cora, Mrs. O.W. Elstad, and Emelia, Mrs. S.N. Hegge, Dewey and Walter, all of Whitehall.
Mr. Bensend had been a member of Trempealeau Valley Lodge I.O.O.F. for over 61 years. On June 27, 1929, a special meeting of the order was held to present Mr. Bensend with a 50-year jewel, the second to be presented in Whitehall and the 47th in the state of Wisconsin. At the same meeting his youngest son, Walter Bensend, was initiated into the first degree. Mr. Bensend joined the lodge on June 27, 1879, the Odd Fellows having organized in Whitehall four years before. Before him only one member, Henry Olson, received the 50 year jewel. The year following, 1930, Andrew’s brother-in-law, N.L. Fredrickson, was given the same award, having joined in 1880.
About two years ago, Mr. Bensend’s health began to fail remarkedly. Even so, up until a year ago he was able to read all day long without the aid of glasses and took much pleasure in his papers and magazines. He made periodical trips to the barber shop to have his haircut and shave until the middle of November, and after that he was chagrined at the thought of not being able to make the trip. The last few days of his life he spent at the Community Hospital. Now he rests besides his wife in Lincoln cemetery.
(from the Thursday, Jan. 23, 1941, Whitehall [Wis.] Times)
Last rites for Andrew Bensend, 88, who passed from this life Saturday, January 11, at 1 p.m. following a lingering illness, were held last week Tuesday afternoon at the O. Elstad residence on Dewey Street and our Saviour’s Lutheran church, the Rev. O. G. Birkeland officating. Burial was in Lincoln cemetery. Pall bearers, all Odd Fellows, were Henry Fransen, B.M. Engen, John Beck, Ed Scott, Dr. R.L. MacCornack and W.E. Harlow. Flowers were carried by Mmes. Sidney Gilbertson. H.J. Holtan, Misses Alice Speerstra, Harriet Hegge, George and Florence Hegge of Whitehall and John and Robert Wilberg of Mauston. In addition to the flowers there were several memorials.
An octette from Our Saviour’s congregation, composed of Mrs. N.S. Simons, Miss Pearl Brennom, Mrs. Donald Warner, Mrs. S.B. Ivers, H.J. Aleckson, Kiel Blank, Dr. Anton Vold and T.O. Rice, sang selections at the church service, “I Know of a Sleep in Jesus’ Name,” “One Sweetly Solemn Thought,” and “Abide With Me.” Mrs. H.M. Johnson accompanied on the organ.
Andrew Bensend was born to Johan Anton and Christine Bensend in Sweden on September 29, 1852. He was baptized and confirmed in the Torpa church in that community. The family came to the United States in the fall of 1871, settling in Chicago just one week before the famous Chicago fire. Andrew, then a lad of about 18, often told in after years how the fire looked to him. The family resided in Chicago for five years and then came to Whitehall, arriving here on June 20, 1875. They settled on the present N.L. Fredrickson farm, then owned by Dave Wade, pioneer settler in this community.
For several years the Bensends lived in the Wade farmhouse. It was after their arrival that the Rev. Emmanuel Christophersen and his wife came, immigrants from Norway. The pastor had a call here. When they arrived in Whitehall they found it a crude little backwoods place, much unlike their Norwegian surroundings. They spent the first few nights with A.W. Anderson and wife of Irvin coulee and then took up their residence in the little house at the head of Main street that is now occupied by Henrietta Engen. Mrs. Bensend, Andrew’s mother, and Mrs. Christophersen became close friends, and later, when the Christophersens settled in Pigeon Falls, Andrew’s two sisters walked to that place from Whitehall to take confirmation instruction and stayed over night with the Christophersens, for that didtance was not a one-day trip on foot. Andrew recalled with pleasure his family’s acquaintance with the Christophersen’s.
After a few years here Andrew’s folks went to Turtle Lake in northern Wisconsin to homestead land, and he was the only one of the family to remain. He worked some at first for Mr. Wade on his huge farm which comprised not only the present Fredrickson place but the Albert Fromm acres and all the land in between and surrounding. And all his land was sowed to wheat. Andrew had a good driving team - he loved horses - and Mr. Wade engaged him to cut his wheat. His brother John and O.C. Torson, also young pioneers, were engaged to follow behind Andrew’s reaper and bind the grain, and they had a hard time keeping up.
With his team Andrew was also engaged to haul Mr. Wade’s wheat to Trempealeau to ship it from there down the Mississippi River. On these trips he often stayed at the historic Four Mile House between Galesvile and Trempealeau. Again he made use of his team of beloved horses when he worked for H.E. Getts, pioneer Whitehall storekeeper, whose original store building still stands on the east side of Main street and is occupied by John Beck, Art Risberg and Theo. B. Olson. For Mr. Getts Andrew was not only clerk, but he hauled the eggs he took in from the farmers to Trempealeau, besides the other produce he got in trade. Perhaps some of his stock came up the river too, and Andrew had a load back from Trempealeau as well as down.
Mr. Bensend was last employed by Dave Wood in his elevator, buying and selling grains. Years later, when he was married and had children, he worked for a time for Harry Blodgett, who had a furniture and undertaking establishment on the corner now occupied by Edwin Matson’s Canteen Company and the Gamble store.
Andrew Bensend’s marriage to Elisa Fredrickson, daughter of Mrs. Ole Larson, early-day hotel keeper in Whitehall, occurred on February 23, 1884. Not long after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Besend operated for a time the Alexander hotel, a hotel built early in Whitehall’s history by Sam Alexander and Moses Ingalls on the corner now occupied by Erickson’s store. When Mrs. Larson, Mrs. Bensend’s mother, came to this village she built the old Scandinavian House on Abrams street, now the Erickson hotel. That was in the year before the new court house was built. The hotel business boomed during the early days, especially after Whitehall became the county seat, for county court was held here twice a year and was in session for weeks. Also, travel wasn’t so rapid nor so easy in those days and there was a large transient trade. But the Alexander hotel was eventually discontinued and the building used for other purposes. One part of it was taken over by N.L. Fredrickson, Mrs. Bensend’s brother (still a resident of Whitehall), and her step-brother, Anton Reitzel, who went into the hardware business.
One night a fire broke out in the hardware store. A high wind was blowing from the northwest, whipped the flames up to a white heat and carried embers as far as the Bensend residence across the creek, the same residence as now stands on the East Side, was occupied by Andrew up until his death. Local citizens got out to fight the fire as well as they could. Suddenly Andrew, who was working Fredrickson & Reitzel at the time, remembered the dynamite-their stock was kept in a small shed back of the building proper. With a cry he rushed to remove it, his terrified wife looking on. But he got the dynamite out and, with the help of others, carried it across the creek, far from the danger of ignition.
The building burned to the ground. The safe which Fredrickson & Reitzel had in their store was the one first used by Trempealeau county when the county seat was moved to Whitehall. It was a heavy clumsy thing, and when the flames had progressed over the floor on which it stood, it fell through into the cellar. There it lay, defying anyone to remove. So the contents were taken out and the monster was buried in the earth onto which it had fallen. There it lies today, beneath the concrete floor in the basement of Erickson’s store.
The second floor over the hardware store was known as Opera Hall, and here the citizenry of Whitehall gathered to see the production of road companies and the dramatic efforts of local talent. Mrs. Larson, Andrew’s mother-in-law, owned this building at that time and was the loser when it burned.
Early in this century, the federal government decided to give the rural communities around Whitehall free mail delivery. Heretofore, the service had been only what might be called desultory. There was a post office over across the Freeman ridge at that time, near Elk Creek, called Alhambra, and Milt Whitney hauled mail there from Whitehall. But early in the 1900’s Mr. Whitney, A.M. Dake and Andrew Bensend were assigned to the new routes that were laid out. Andrew’s went west from Whitehall to a point near the asylum, then swung south to Plum Creek and came around to the starting point again via Irvin’s coulee. Through mud hub-deep in the spring, fair roads in the summer season, mud again in the fall and drifts that seemed sky-high sometimes in the winter, Andrew made his route in all kinds of weather. He continued the route until the fall of 1919 when he was forced to resign on account of illness. Lewis Hanson substituted on the route for several months, then L. C. Hanson, only returned a short time from serving in the World War, was assigned Andrews run. Later Louis was given the then Star Route to Pigeon Falls and H.J. Aleckson was assigned to Andrew’s original Route 2. Aleckson still services on that run.
But Andrew didn’t rest long after his operation. In December, 1920, he got the job of janitor at the MacCornack Clinic, then newly constructed. He remained in service there until October 1, 1928, when he retired because of his increasing years.
To Andrew Bensend and his wife, eight children were born. One daughter, Amanda, died in 1893 and his wife preceded him in death in 1911. Surviving him are seven children, 15 grandchildren, one great-grandchild, a sister Mrs. John Cornwall and a brother, John Bensend of Turtle Lake, this state. The children are: Floren, Sebeka, Minn.; Louis, Platteville; Zilpha, Mrs. E.O. Wilberg of Mauston; Cora, Mrs. O.W. Elstad, and Emelia, Mrs. S.N. Hegge, Dewey and Walter, all of Whitehall.
Mr. Bensend had been a member of Trempealeau Valley Lodge I.O.O.F. for over 61 years. On June 27, 1929, a special meeting of the order was held to present Mr. Bensend with a 50-year jewel, the second to be presented in Whitehall and the 47th in the state of Wisconsin. At the same meeting his youngest son, Walter Bensend, was initiated into the first degree. Mr. Bensend joined the lodge on June 27, 1879, the Odd Fellows having organized in Whitehall four years before. Before him only one member, Henry Olson, received the 50 year jewel. The year following, 1930, Andrew’s brother-in-law, N.L. Fredrickson, was given the same award, having joined in 1880.
About two years ago, Mr. Bensend’s health began to fail remarkedly. Even so, up until a year ago he was able to read all day long without the aid of glasses and took much pleasure in his papers and magazines. He made periodical trips to the barber shop to have his haircut and shave until the middle of November, and after that he was chagrined at the thought of not being able to make the trip. The last few days of his life he spent at the Community Hospital. Now he rests besides his wife in Lincoln cemetery.
(from the Thursday, Jan. 23, 1941, Whitehall [Wis.] Times)