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Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott
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Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott
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Historical Collections
Collections and Researches made by the
Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society
Reprint VOL. XXI
Wynkoop Ballenbeck Crawford Co., State Printers 1912-1913

         [page 123-124]
         
         MRS. JONATHAN BENSON (*Melissa), died at her home in Moscow,
       Nov. 16, 1891, after a long and severe illness, aged seventy-
       six years, two months and five days. MRS. BENSON, who was the
       daughter of SALMON SHARPE, was born in the town of Locke,
       Cayuga Co., N.Y., September 11, 1815. She came with her parents
       to the territory of Michigan in 1835 and settled in the neigh-
       borhood where she died. October 26, 1837, she was married to
       JONATHAN BENSON. Together they traveled the path of life for
       fifty-four years. She was the mother of ten children, three
       sons and seven daughters; one son and three daughters have
       died. Two sons and four daughters with the husband and father
       remain to mourn the loss of a devoted wife and a true Christian
       mother. 
       
         She experienced many of the hardships of pioneer life, coming
       as she did to Hillsdale county when it was almost an unbroken
       wilderness. She taught the first public school in her township
       in a log schoolhouse about a mile from her home. Her father
       helped to survey roads and took the job of building the first
       depot in Hillsdale. She was a member of the first M.E. Church
       in Adams, from its earliest history to the time of her death,
       and she was one of the six members that constituted the first
       class organized in Adams, all of whom have gone to their re-
       ward. Her last days were days of great suffering, yet her faith
       in God was steadfast, saying repeatedly, "He who has been with
       me through life will not forsake me now. I have a glorious
       hope, Jesus has prepared a place for me in my Father's house
       of many mansions."
       
       Transcriber's Note: Her first name was obtained for this
       transcription from her grave marker, at Nortlawn Cemetery,
       North Adams, Hillsdale county, MI.
       
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