Riverside
County
Biographies
CHESTER WILLIAM BENSHOOF
Chester William Benshoof, actively
engaged in law practice in Riverside during the past twenty-three years, has
built up an extensive and gratifying clientele and has also served as United
States Commissioner for sixteen years.
He was born on a farm near Muscatine, Iowa, September 5, `1869, a son of
Evan Benshoof, who was born in Pennsylvania of Pennsylvania Dutch stock and
belonged to a family represented in the Revolutionary War. Evan Benshoof was a lad of twelve years when
in 1844 he left the Keystone state in company with his
parents, going westward to Iowa when the region was practically a
wilderness. He helped his father hew a
farm out of the woods, later developing a farm for himself out of raw Iowa
prairie land, and there resided throughout the remainder of his life. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Calista Allbee, was born in
Vermont, of Massachusetts colonial ancestry, her family having crossed the
Atlantic from England soon after the landing of the Pilgrims. Two of her ancestors participated in the
Revolutionary War, Colonel Ebenezer Bancroft, who fought at Bunker Hill, and
his brother, Captain James Bancroft, who served in the Long Island
campaign. The Allbee
family moved to Iowa in 1857, and the father of Calista
helped build the first bridge over the Mississippi River at Davenport. Mr. and Mrs. Evan Benshoof were the parents
of four children, three of whom survive.
Chester W. Benshoof, the youngest of
the family, was reared on the home farm in southwestern Iowa and attended the
public schools of that state. He and his
father “batched” in 1875 in an eight by twelve shanty while the Iowa farm was
broken out of the prairie, and at the age of nine years Chester drove three
horses attached to a fourteen-inch plow.
At the age of fourteen he received a man’s wage on the thresher. He spent six years as a carpenter and builder
in Iowa, returning in 1902 to care for his father who was ill. For six months he remained on the home place
devoting all his spare time to the study of law. For two years prior to his admission to the
bar he taught school. His public school
education was supplemented by study at the Iowa State College at Ames, while
his professional training was acquired in the law department of the State
University of Iowa, from which he was graduated with the degree of LL. B. in
1905, being admitted to the bar at Iowa City in the same year. He began practice in association with his
cousin at Muscatine, Iowa, but at the end of four years came to Riverside,
California, where he has continued in the work of his chosen profession since
December, 1909. His first law partner
here was W. H. Ellis, with whom he practiced under the firm name of Benshoof
& Ellis until Mr. Ellis was appointed justice of the peace. Later for a period of eighteen months Mr.
Benshoof was a partner of J. L. Granttham, under the
name of Benshoof & Granttham,
but since June, 1919, he has practiced independently, maintaining a suite of
offices in the First National Bank Building at 3883 Main Street in
Riverside. He was appointed and served
as police judge of Riverside during 1915-16 and has been United States
Commissioner here for the past sixteen years.
At Davenport, Iowa, June 29, 1904,
Mr. Benshoof married M. Ella Taylor, a native of Iowa and a daughter of James
A. Taylor, who was a railroad man. Three
children were born to the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Benshoof, but the only living
is Robert E., now twenty-one years of age.
An earlier biographer wrote: “Mr. Benshoof has ever been ready to put his
time at the disposal of local movements and organizations working in the
interest of the general welfare of the community… He was an ardent war worker, and was a member
of the Attorney’s questionnaire committee and a leader in many of the local
drives.” He belongs to the Lions Club
and along strictly professional lines has membership in the Riverside County, California
State and American Bar Associations. His
religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Christian Church, in
which he has served as chairman of the board for many years and to which his
wife also belongs. Fraternally he is
affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America and with the following Masonic
bodies: Evergreen Lodge, No. 259, F.
& A. M; Riverside Chapter, No. 67, R. A. M., of which he is past high
priest; and Riverside Commandery, No. 28, K. T., of which he is past commander. Mr. Benshoof is the owner of a large library
and has made a hobby of work along mechanical lines, possessing marked
inventive ability. In social, fraternal,
civic and professional circles of Riverside his name is a familiar and
respected one.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: California of the South
Vol. III, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 343-345, Clarke Publ.,
Chicago, Los Angeles,
Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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NUGGET'S RIVERSIDE BIOGRAPIES