Christian G. Benner
FULLER, BENNER
Posted By: paul (email)
Date: 1/5/2008 at 22:02:43
CHRISTIAN G. BENNER, SR.
One of the very last of the earliest settlers in the old town of Niobrara was the venerable Christian G. Benner, who remained after most of the buildings had been moved away. For over fifty years he was a resident of the town. His death occurred September 3, 1910.
Mr. Benner was born near Chillicothe, Ohio, on December 2, 1827. When about seven years of age, the family moved to Noble county, Indiana, which place was then on the frontier of civilization, and made that their home up to 1844, when they again migrated west, settling in Lee county, Iowa, near the banks of the Des Moines river. As a young man, Christian followed rafting and freighting on that stream, also on the Mississippi river, floating logs as far down as St. Louis. In 1848, he went to Appanoose county, remaining for about five years, then removed to Glenwood. In the fall of 1855, he moved to Sioux City, and there, in company with a brother, William Benner, opened the first hotel in the town, the building being a double log structure, and fitted up in a very orderly manner indeed, in marked contrast to the fine hostelries to be found there at the present time. They ran the place for three years, at which time our subject came to Nebraska, landing in Niobrara on the first day of June, 1858. He at first engaged in farming, and during his early residence in the section, freighted across the prairie to Sioux City, and sometimes went as far as Omaha with Mr. Westermann, who was an Indian trader. At one time, Mr. Benner took a six weeks hunting trip up the Niobrara river, when deer, elk and antelope were to be seen on every side. Buffaloes were still quite plentiful, and their hides were a staple article of commerce.
During the flood of 1881, Mr. Benner took his wife to the Draper House in order to be out of the way of the worst of the waters, and then turned his attention to the work of rescue, with others, helping save a number of settlers whose homes were submerged.
Mr. Benner told the writer that he remembered when the Santee tribe were removed to the reservation east of town, after the massacre at New Ulm, Minnesota.
Mr. Benner was married in Centerville, Iowa, on December 21, 1849, to Lorania Fuller, who died in Niobrara, June 9, 1883. Of their ten children, eight survive, only one of whom, William C., is now living in Knox county, and he farms a fertile tract of land lying on the old site of Niobrara.
COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY REMINISCENCE AND BIOGRAPHY OF NEBRASKA
CHICAGO:ALDEN PUBLISHING COMPANY,1912
http://www.rootsweb.com/~neresour/OLLibrary/Comp_NE/index.ht
Appanoose Biographies maintained by Renee L. Rimmert.
WebBBS 4.33 Genealogy Modification Package by WebJourneymen