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Descendants of John Bender, Founder of Elizabethville

Posted By on August 22, 2016

In researching Civil War soldiers with a connection to Elizabethville, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, a question was asked by Jack Richter who is researching veterans for the Elizabethville Bicentennial, whether Dr. Wilson E. Naylor, a retired dentist of Elizabethville, was related to John Bender, considered to be Elizabethville‘s founder in 1817, which he named for his wife.  John Bender also founded the town of Bendersville there.

The obituary of Dr. Naylor, previously presented here on 3 November 2012, noted that following his Civil War service, Wilson Naylor practiced dentistry in Gettysburg and Bendersville, in Adams County, from 1864 to 1914. He then retired to Elizabethville. But, Dr. Naylor is buried in Bendersville.

Trying to determine a relationship was difficult and while to date, no relationship has been discovered, it is still possible that a relationship exists.

Initially, Marilyn Henninger, President of the Elizabethville Area Historical Society, provided a 15 page printout of the descendants of John Bender that was printed from a GEDCOM compiled a few years ago by researcher Evelyn Hartman.  Several descendant lines were not fully extended, so a better genealogy was sought.

Roger Cramer, who has one of the most comprehensive databases of persons descended from the pioneer settlers of the Lykens Valley area (approaching 200,000 names), was consulted and he offered a printout of 170 pages.  Roger’s printout has detailed information on most of the descendants.  Civil War soldiers are identified.  Roger has also added information from newly available on-line source material to his database (death certificates, marriage licenses, church records, etc.) and has recently gone back over the Lykens Valley census records line by line to verify dates and relationships.

The printout provided by Roger Cramer, begins with Adam Bender (1751-1826), the father of John Bender.

Surnames introduced in “Generation No. 2” include:  Long, Messersmith/Messerschmidt, Wingert/Wingard, Gipple/Kipple, Snyder/Schneider, and Hopple.

Some of the surnames introduced in “Generation No. 3” include:  Lebo, Fisher, Dietrich/Deitrich, Yeager, Botts, Romberger/Ramberger, Welker, Schupp/Shoop, Albright, Shraeder, Hoover, Griesemer, Keiter, Meffert, Hawk, Low, Zimmerman, Whitmore/Whitmer/Witmer, Drum/Drumm, Miller, Eby, Reisch, Fetterhoff, Boyer, Matter, Miller, Enders, Reichert, Schreffler, Bechtel, Schmidt, Bretz, Buffington, Lebo, Bowman, Enterline, Ott, Yeartz, Leese, Hoy, Frymoyer, Staple, Lenker, Sausser, Smith, Hoffman, Witman, McColly, Morgan, Kocher, Shiley, Wise, Beck, Messner, Sheetz, Kolva, Minnich, Paul, Wilbert/Wilvert, Yoder, Howerter, Alvord, Jackson, Schindel/Shindel, Bressler, Rowe/Row, Shiley, Shadow, Koons, McPhetridge, Cook, Coonfield, Truitt, Shontz, Novinger, Schultz, Moyer, Lubold/Lupold, Orth, Book, Etzweiler, Stakley, Klinger, Brown, Fesig, Schell/Shell, Murray, Kembel, Wirth, Huntzinger, Shindler, Hower, Hepner, Werfel, Kiefer, Koppenhaver, Fisher, Walter, Shutt/Shott, Hess, Foster, Sollenberg, Dunkel, Bowman, Paul, Nold, Lyter, Hettrick, Meckley, Bendigo, Leffler, Schwab/Swab, Etter, Bower, Lentz, Lehman, Sponsler, Spendt, Taylor, Daniel, Morgan, Siefert, Moser, Allgaier, Mosloskie, Ossman/Osman, File, Kebaugh, Bonawitz, Weaver, Barry, Minnich, Reedy, Collier, Hummel, Mauser/Mausser, Wolfe/Wolf, Bateman, McNeal, Shuey, Gerhard, Hiteman, Groff, Shade, Hunter, Cook, Machamer, Dresel, Kinter, Phillips/Philips, Raudenbush, Books, Rutter, Wetzel, Williams, Clelan, White, Arbogast, Workman, Kerns, Carnathan, Barto, Yeagley, Byerly, Radel, Hulmer, Musser, Murphy, Hoke, Herman, Hendricks, Becher, Leitzel, Celano, Troutman, Savage, Shomper, Murray, Pritchard, Maurer, Malnick, Kohr, Pennell, Tobias, Nace, Rutter, Bilger, Kinsinger, Thomas, Primm, Koons, James, Evans, Simmonds, Kreiner, Devine, Ritzman, Smeltz, Gaskill, Boden, Orr, Kopp, Houtz, Harter, Chubb, Beadle, Webb, Rettinger, Weirich, Stahl, Torey, Trout, Wright, Daniels, Schoffstall, Coleman, Holwig, Geise/Gise, Travitz, Grell, Pinkerton, Solence, Underkoffler, Starnowsky, Stuppy, Herb, Sites, Warner, Potter, Holtzman, Myers, Hand, Umholtz, Davis, Mabon, Schlein, Riegle/Reigle, Webner, Campbell, etc.

A copy of the Bender descendants as provided by Roger Cramer is available at the Elizabethville Area Historical Society.

If anyone researching the John Bender descendants can show a genealogical relationship between him (or his descendants) and Dr. Wilson Naylor, the information would greatly be appreciated by those doing research for the Elizabethville Bicentennial.

 

 


Comments

One Response to “Descendants of John Bender, Founder of Elizabethville”

  1. Megan says:

    Currently researching our family geneology with many of our ancestors from Dauphin. Surnames including Rutter, Buffington, Yeager, Schupp, Welker, Reigle, Wert, and Lenker. Came to a dead end on Rutter and looking for more info!