BENEDICT, ALBERT A. 1836 -

BENEDICT, HALE, MOTT

Posted By: Janice Sowers (email)
Date: 7/30/2006 at 20:23:02

PIONDER DAYS-HESPER TOWNSHIP 1851-1941

Albert A. Benedict, son of Aden and Sarah Benedict, was born July 22, 1836, in Delaware County, Ohio. His father died when Albert was 4 years of age. His mother afterwards married Jonah Hale in 1849, who was killed by a frightened team in 1862. At the age of fifteen he engaged in the grist mill business with his brother-in-law, to learn the trade of a miller, which he continued most of the time until he came to Winneshiek County. He first settled in Canoe Township and was employed at the Springwater mill, until he came to Hesper township, engaged in farming, and also assisted Russell Tabor with the saw and grist mill, after which he engaged milling, carpenter work and attending school until 1860, when he married Abbie Mott. In 1869 he went to Clay County, Iowa, taking a homestead near Spencer, Iowa, and the following year built a girst mill at Spencer, in partnership with G. A. Marcellus. In the spring on 1872 he returned in Winneshiek County, purchasing an interest in the mill at Bluffton. They were members of the Society of Friends religion.