Sentimental Sunday....Great Great Grandmother Benzel

This is a cropped section of the only photograph known to exist of Wilhelmina Lambrecht Benzel.

Born 25 May 1835 in Prussia, Wilhelmina Lambrecht married John Benzel sometime prior to 1861, and the birth of their first child, Amelia.

The couple arived in the United States at he height of the American Civil War, on 23 May 1864 [just two days before her 29th birthday] in New York City on the ship, The Elise & Mathilda, which had sailed from Germany. They arrived with their first two children, Amelia and Matilda. The girls were ages 3 years and 9-months respectively.

John Benzel was a stone mason, and the couple found their way to Bedford, Lawrence County, Indiana, where they settled and went on to have six more children.

Wilhelmina, referred to by family and friends as "Mina" or "Minnie" lived to the age of 88, and died on 07 Mar 1924 in Bedford. She is buried in the Green Hill Cemetery. Her tombstone handcut by her sons.