Lawrence Benninger and Ruth Graham

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Husband Lawrence Benninger ¹

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           Born: 5 Jul 1885 1
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

       Marriage: 20 May 1914 1

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Wife Ruth Graham ¹

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           Born: 14 Mar 1892 1
     Christened: 
           Died: Aft 1979
         Buried: 

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         Father: George Graham (1862-1942) 1
         Mother: Arabella Smail (1869-1941) 1

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Children

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1 M Donald L. Benninger ²

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           Born: 6 Jun 1915 2
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Violet Klingensmith (      -      ) 2

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2 M Kenneth Benninger ²

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           Born: 2 Sep 1918 2
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Florence Knepshield (      -      ) 2
           Marr: 26 Dec 1956 2

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3 M Lloyd Benninger ²

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           Born: 24 Mar 1926 2
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Georgia B. [Unk] (      -      ) 2

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4 M Leland Odell Benninger ²

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           Born: 19 Jun 1929 2
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

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General Notes: Wife - Ruth Graham

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In 1979, right after her eighty-seventh birthday, she wrote:
When I was a little girl we lived in a country village; there were 2 churches, one-room school, 2 doctors, blacksmith, a grist mill, 2 boarding houses, post office, 2 general country stores, Grange hall, 1 millinery shop, covered bridge, a dam to run grist mill, and an ice house. I remember large fish stayed near the grist mill. This village was Cochrans Mills, later torn away; 7 miles down stream they built a large concrete dam and a park.
One church was Methodist, 3 minutes down the road; the other was a very old Baptist, never was painted. There were no real Sunday church services, only revivals when a preacher could come several times during a year. It was 3 minutes on the level; there was one small cemetery at each church. My father was caretaker for both churches. He taught Bible class in Methodist Church. I went to Sunday school from when I was 3 years old, until we moved from there at 14 years of age. My folks joined the Lutheran Church 2 miles away. I attended Sunday school there and church. It was a large country church. I took part in Christmas and Easter entertainment. After we moved, there was a Lutheran Church 4 miles away where I attended, later joined. I walked to and from church most every Sunday; that was 8 miles. That was horse and buggy days. . . We had 25 families whom we visited during summer beside my mother's brothers and sisters. My father raised several times during the summer vegetables for stores 8 miles to Vandergrift; that was when one crop finished another crop was planted. Organ lessons took up a part of my time, 2 hours a day during summer for practice; there were seven months of school. Sorry to have taken so much of your time with this old history. I only wish people of today could enjoy a few of those luxuries, including the food which was "Something" out of this world.

1 Marlin A. Field, Peter Smail of Pennsylvania & His Descendants (Ozark, MO: Dogwood Printing, Sept., 1990), Pg 309.

2 Marlin A. Field, Peter Smail of Pennsylvania & His Descendants (Ozark, MO: Dogwood Printing, Sept., 1990), Pg 310.