SPRINGER, Benjamin Oliver

SPRINGER, PUTNAM, BATCHELOR, MICHEL

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 3/16/2019 at 07:41:24

Obituary ~ Rev. Benjamin Oliver Springer
August 29, 1804 ~ July 17, 1881

Leon Reporter
Leon, Decatur County, Iowa

Benjamin O. Springer, deceased, was born in Schenectady County, New York, August 29, 1804, a son of Oliver and Barbara (Putnam) Springer, the father born February 22, 1778, and the mother born February 25, 1783, they being united in marriage September 20, 1801.

Benjamin O. Springer was the eldest of five children, all deceased but one, living in New York, in his eightieth year. He was engaged in the work of the ministry for many years, formerly a member of the Dutch Reformed church, and later a Presbyterian. He came to Decatur County, Iowa, in the fall of 1855, and organized a church of Decatur City, where he preached the gospel, and occasionally preached at Leon, and worked as a missionary.

He was twice married, his first wife being Eliza Batchelor, whom he married February 13, 1828, and to this union were born eight children -- Martha, Eliza, David, Oliver, J. B., Barbara Ann, Mary Ellen and Henrietta. His first wife died October 19, 1846, and he was again married on November 30, 1847, to Mary Ann Michel, by whom he had two children -- James G. and Emma Jane. Mr. Springer died July 17, 1871 (sic, should be 1881) being an old and respected pioneer of Decatur County. His widow still survives, and is living on the old homestead in Bloomington Township with her son, James G.

[Interment was made at Decatur Cemetery, Decatur, Iowa.]

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, February of 2018