Sanford William Benedict, 1853

History of Clark County, Wisconsin (1918

SANFORD WILLIAM BENEDICT, an official of York Township, where he is successfully engaged in agriculture, was born in Fond du Lac County, Wis., Nov. 20, 1853, on the farm of his parents, Adonijah and Clarissa (Bryant) Benedict. He was reared in Fond du Lac County and was 19 years old when the family came to Clark County. Here he went into the lumber woods, working there in the winter, but residing at home the rest the year until he struck out for himself. This he did finally by securing piece of land adjoining his parents' farm on the east, it being a tract forty acres, all wild. After a year, however, he sold it and moved to is present location in section 9, York Township, it also being a tract of forty acres of wild land. On this he built a log house, 16 by 24 feet in size, which stood on the site of the present eleven-room residence, and which contained only two rooms.

He was rnarried, July 1, 1878, to Margaret Lawrence, who was born in Sheboygan County, Wis., daughter of Harvey and Sophronia Lawrence. Her father died in the Civil War from disease contracted in the service. Her mother was a daughter of Anson Windsor, who with his family, settled in York Township, Clark County, where he cleared a farm. After their marriage Sanford, W. Benedict and his wife began domestic life on his land, and which he started to develop into a farm. At first they had nothing but their hands to depend on, and it was two years before they got an ox team. Their crops were grubbed in and Mr. Benedict exchanged his labor for the use of a team, so was not able to put all of his time on his own farm. In time he got the forty acres cleared, however, and gradually accumulated more land, which he has given to his sons. He now has good barns and other buildings and is proprietor of a flourishing and profitable farm. One of the prominent citizens of his township, he has served eighteen terms in the office of assessor, was chairman of the township board two years, justice of the peace several years and a member of the school board. His religious affiliations are with the Methodist Church. Mr. and Mrs. Benedict have four children: William E., who resides at York Center Merle, who married Nora Judd, and, has one child, Harvey Belle, wife of Guy Smith, residing three miles east of Loyal, who has five children, Isabella, Violet, Robert, Glen and Eugene and Rollie, a resident of York Township.