Herbert Clarence Benedict was born to Hervey J. and Clara (Uttelley) Benedict on December 1, 1890 in Olivet, South Dakota. He married Mary Edith (Brown) Kelley, the daughter of William and Cecelia Brown in 1910. Mary Edith Brown, known as Edith, was born in 1879. She was the widow of a Mr. Kelley.

Herbert C. and Edith (Brown) Kelley Benedict's Wedding Picture

The child of Mr. Kelley and Edith (Brown) Kelley is:

1. Dean Kelley

Edith (Brown) Kelley adopted a baby girl while she was single, after she was a widow and before her marriage to Herbert C. Benedict. The little girl, Gertrude, was the daughter of her sister Mae Brown. Mae was a single woman and was sent away because of a "nervous breakdown." Soon afterwards, Edith (Brown) Kelley, already with a son of her own, adopted baby Gertrude. According to Wilma (Beman) Benedict McCulley, wife of Ernest Benedict, this was verified by Edith when Ernest and Kenneth confronted her about it.

The adopted child of Edith (Brown) Kelley is:

1. Gertrude Kelley (Doolittle)

Edith came to North Dakota with her parents about 1907 from Nebraska [See William Brown Family]. She and her brother Jay bought a 160 acre farm seven miles east and two and a half miles south of Hazelton.

When Herbert C. was 14 he came to North Dakota from Olivet South Dakota with his parents and all but two of his brothers and sisters [See Hervey J. Benedict Family]. He helped to build the sod house on their homestead, five miles east of Temvik.

The children of Herbert Clarence and Edith (Brown) Kelley Benedict are:

1. Clarence b. Delmont, SD
2. Ernest b. Aug 24, 1915 in Delmont, SD m. Wilma Rachel Beman
3. Elma (Rambough) twin of Edna
4. Edna (Mausehund) twin of Elma
5. Elenor (Doolittle)
6. Kenneth

During the early years of their marriage, Herbert and Edith lived in Delmont, South Dakota, where Herbert was a rural letter carrier [picture] for seven years. Clarence and Ernest were born there. They returned to Temvik and for a time lived on the Ray Brown farm where the other four children were born.

In 1924 the family moved to Edith's farm east of Hazelton and there raised their children.

According to Edna (Benedict) Mausehund:

"Our growing up years were like many others. We went to rural school, driving a team of horses on a covered cutter in the winter months. We played baseball during the warm weather and during the winter months would practice balancing, skipping rope, pull-ups, and such, looking forward to Play Day. Play Day was a competition between schools of the county. The school which had the most ribbons or points at the end of the day got the banner to hang in their school. We, at Highland #3, got it several years after we began to practice for it all year. I remember we had poles set up at home to practice the broad jump and high jump during the summer months."

Church services in the area were held at the Larson School and served by a Lutheran minister from Kintyre. Almost everyone went for spiritual guidance and sociability. A young people's group met once a month. There was a program, then games, and lunch. In the summer months they would have musical games outdoors with group singing to provide the music for the groups.

During the summer months the kids in the area would prepare a three act play and have a pie or basket social to raise money for a boy and girl to go to 4-H Institute in Fargo, North Dakota. One year Elma went to the Institute.

During the twins first three years of high school they went the nine and a half miles by car, with Ernest as the driver. They picked up Howard Bier and Robert and Earle Sparks a half mile from home so the car usually had six or seven people in it. There was quite a lot of snow during those years and Edna remembered the mud. They didn't use anti-freeze in the car. Instead, a hot pail of water would be put in the radiator when they were ready to leave. Once at school, it was drained out. Then, before going back home, a hot pail of water would be brought up from the furnace room and poured into the radiator.

In the fall of 1928 Edith's health was not so good. So the family took a five month trip to the warmer climate of California. They drove through Montana and Oregon ending up in Lodi, California where they spent the winter. They came back to North Dakota by way of Texas and Oklahoma. At the time the speed limit was only 35 miles per hour, and the roads were dirt and gravel. Edna remembers a few flat tires along the way.

In 1936 Herbert and Edith moved to Hazelton. Herbert had purchased a motor transportation permit and it was easier to conduct his trucking business from there.

According to Wilma (Beman) Benedict McCulley, wife of Ernest, Herbert was a "trucker with a roving eye." On his trips he would meet up with Hazel Robinson in Fargo, North Dakota. Once this was discovered by Edith, she divorced him. Herbert and Hazel Robinson were later married.

Edith lived the end of her life with Ernest and Wilma (Beman) Benedict at their farm outside of Hazelton. She died in 1952 and is buried in the Linton Cemetery, Emmons Co. North Dakota.

Herbert Clarence Benedict also lived the end of his life with Ernest and Wilma (Beman) Benedict on their farm. He died on December 9, 1972 in the Linton Hospital. He is buried in the Oak Hill Cemetery in Deer Creek, Minnesota with Hazel (Robinson) Benedict.

Sources

Personal correspondence with Wilma (Beman) Benedict McCulley.

Personal correspondence with Edna (Benedict) Mausehund.

History of Hazelton, 75th Anniversary, 1978.