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Benjamin P. Behm – Father-In-Law of Halifax Gazette Editor
Posted By Norman Gasbarro on July 26, 2018
Benjamin P. Behm, who was born in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, in July 1846, the son of Dr. Samuel Behm and his wife Mary, served in three Civil War regiments as shown on his Pension Index Card (above) from Ancestry.com. He served in the 11th Pennsylvania Infantry (Emergency of 1863), Company A, as a Private. He also had service in Murray’s & Sanno’s Independent Cavalry as a Private. His final service was with the 9th Pennsylvania Cavalry, Company L, as a Private, from 17 September 1864 through honorable discharge on 29 May 1865.
In August 1890, while living in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, he applied for an invalid pension based on his Civil War service. By 1903, he was living in Hampton, Virginia, at the Soldiers’ Home, but was only there a short while. The 1910 census for Halifax, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, has him and his wife Margaretta living in the household of their son-in-law, Charles R. Shrope. Shrope was the editor of the Halifax Gazette.
The obituary from the Halifax Gazette was not see for this post, but several others were found as follows.
From the Elizabethville Echo, 9 January 1913:
Benjamin R. Behm, age 67, died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. C. R. Shrope, at Halifax, on Friday, after several years illness. Funeral services were held on Monday afternoon, Rev. C. A. Funk, pastor of the U. B. Church officiating. Interment in the Methodist Cemetery. Deceased was the father-in-law of the editor of the Halifax Gazette.
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From the Harrisburg Daily Independent, 3 January 1913:
Benjamin O. Behm Last to Answer Grim Summons
Special to the Star-Independent.
Halifax, 3 January 1913 — Benjamin P. Behm, aged 67 years, died this morning at 6 o’clock after an illness of several years. He made his home with his daughter, Mrs. C. R. Shrope, on Second Street.
Mr. Behm was a well-known resident of this place and leaves his wife and two daughters, Mrs. Shrope, with whom he resided, and Mrs. Lester R. Jackson, of New Brighton, Pennsylvania, and three sisters. Funeral services will be conducted Monday afternoon at 2 o’clock at his home by the Rev. C. A. Fox, pastor of the United Brethren Church. Interment will be in the Methodist Cemetery.
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Finally, his home-town newspaper, the Lebanon Daily News, 10 January 1913, provided the following:
Benjamin P. Behm Buried at Halifax
KNOWN TO MANY OF THE OLDER RESIDENTS
Son of the Late Dr. Samuel Behm Who Resided on Cumberland Street
Benjamin P. Behm, son of the late Dr. Samuel Behm and Maria Behm, of Lebanon, was buried on Monday, 6 January 1913, at Halifax. He leaves a wife and two daughters, Mrs. Charles Shrope, and Mrs. Lester Jackson; three sisters, Mrs. Caroline Sherman, Mrs. Martha Harling, and Mrs. Ella Yahn also survive. Mr. Behm was 68 years old and was known to the older residents of the city, having let here many years ago.
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Benjamin P. Behm was previously mentioned as a Civil War soldier in the post entitled Halifax Area Civil War Veterans. According to that post, he is buried in the Halifax Methodist Episcopal Church Cemetery (now the Halifax United Methodist Church Cemetery). On Findagrave, only his wife, Margaretta Behm‘s grave is pictured, with dates 1851-1917.
Notably, in the obituaries seen for this post, the Civil War service of Benjamin P. Behm is not mentioned.
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News clippings from Newspapers.com.
