El
Dorado County
Biographies
LYMAN A. BENDER
Lyman
A. Bender, one of El Dorado county’s progressive citizens, has been very
successful in farming and is an able and popular public official, being a
member of the board of county supervisors.
He was born in a log cabin in Iroquois County, Illinois, on the 8th
of August, 1864, the only child of Lyman and Elizabeth (Rhodes) Bender. At an early day the father went to Colorado,
where he engaged in mining near Pike’s Peak, and on his return home was
married. During the Civil War he entered
the Union Army, in which he served valiantly until captured, and his death
occurred in Andersonville prison.
Lyman
A. Bender was educated in the public schools of Woodland, Illinois, and in
Grand Prairie Seminary, graduating from the latter institution in 1883. He then entered commercial life as a clerk in
a store in Watseka, Illinois, his remuneration being thirteen dollars a month
and board. Later he returned to Woodland
and was employed in two business houses successively, those of H. M. Strain and
C. S. Goodyear & Company. In 1885
Mr. Bender began to investigate the western country, going to Kansas, Oklahoma,
New Mexico and Texas. In the first named
state he took up a homestead, but later, at Guthrie, Oklahoma, was taken sick
and returned to Kansas, where he remained a short time. In 1889 he again went to Woodland and for two
years was engaged in contracting. Later
he went to Chicago, where he was identified with railroad operations, and from
1893 to 1903 was in the insurance business.
In the spring of the latter year he came to California, locating in Elk
Grove, but later engaged in farming near Sheldon, Sacramento County. In 1909 he came to El Dorado County and in
1912 located on his present ranch near Pleasant Valley, where he has made many
substantial and permanent improvements, having a well cultivated and productive
farm. He still retains his holdings in
Sacramento County.
Mr. Bender was united in marriage to
Miss Barbara Ziegler, of Chicago, Illinois, November 17, 1903, and to them has
been born four children, as follows:
Joseph, who is engaged in the real estate business in Placerville; Grant
L.; Barbara, who is the wife of George Klare; and Lillian,
who is the wife of Anton S. Walker.
There are also two grandchildren.
In his political views Mr. Bender is a staunch Republican and has long
been active in the party, being chairman of its central committee. He is serving as a member of the board of
county supervisors, having been reelected to a second term without opposition,
and is now chairman of the board. In his
official capacity he has shown a high type of business ability, looking
carefully and effectively after the interests of his county. He is a member of Knights of Pythias, the Fraternal Order of Eagles and the Loyal Order
of Moose. His hobby is photography. He is a man of high civic ideals and his
record has gained for him the unqualified endorsement of his fellowmen.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Wooldridge, J.W.Major History of Sacramento Valley
California, Vol. 3, Pages 138-139. Pioneer Historical
Publishing Co. Chicago 1931.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden
Nugget Library's El Dorado County Biographies