Sutter
County
Biographies
EDWARD E. BENHAM
Edward
E. Benham has been an active and well known figure in the motion picture
business of the Sacramento Valley for a number of years and is now associated
with Smith’s Theater in Yuba City, one of the leading picture houses of this
section of the state. Mr. Benham was
born in Yolo County, California, on the 16th of August, 1890, and is
a son of Robert S. and Nancy (Nelk) Benham.
His father, who was a butcher by trade, was born at Woodland,
California, and the mother at Elk Grove, Sacramento County, this
state. The maternal grandfather,
Nicholas Nelk, a pioneer wheelwright, is now deceased. His widow, Amelia Nelk, lives on Oakland,
California, at the advanced age of eighty-five years.
Edward
E. Benham lived with his parents at Rumsey, in the Coast range, until seven
years of age, after which they lived in Shasta County for three years. In 1900
they located in Marysville, in the public schools of which city Mr. Benham
acquired his early education, and after graduation from high school he took the
L. L. Cook correspondence course in electricity, in which he was
graduated. He is largely self educated,
but has always been a close student, and is regarded as a well informed
man. After finishing his educational
work, he entered the employ of the Sacramento Northern Railroad as a baggage
man. Later he became a telegraph
operator, from which he was promoted to cashier of the Marysville office, where
he served under Senator Roy Jones, who was then at the head of the office.
In
1913 Mr. Benham started to work as a projectionist in the Lyric Theater, in
Marysville, and was later promoted to the management of that house, which he
ran until 1920. In the following year he
was persuaded to go to Fresno County, this state, and take the management of a
health and accident insurance business.
Soon afterward, however, the lure of the motion picture business again
attracted him and he became manager of the theater at Selma. From that place he went to Susanville, where
he ran the Livery Theater, and later he also managed theaters at Reno and
Oakland, and then became associated with F. E. and Clara S. Smith in the
operation of Smith’s theater, at 401 Plumas Street, Yuba City. This well known house shows every evening,
with Saturday and Sunday matinees, displaying Paramount, Fox, Universal, Pathe and Warner pictures.
Mr. Benham, being an expert electrician, personally installed the
talking apparatus, and is an important factor in the success of this well known
house, which enjoys a large and representative patronage.
In
1913, at Yuba City, Mr. Benham was united in marriage to Miss Frances Smith,
the youngest daughter of F. E. and Clara S. Smith, of Yuba City, who are
represented in a biographical sketch on other pages of this work. Mr. and Mrs. Benham are the parents of three
children, Boyd, aged sixteen years, Edward E., Jr., age ten years, and Clara
Sheldon, aged six years. Mr. Benham has
long shown a live interest in matters affecting the welfare of the community
and in April, 1930, was elected a member of the Yuba City council, in which he
is chairman of the sewer and light and power committees. He is greatly interested in boys’ welfare
work and is rendering excellent service as scout master of the Yuba City troop
of Boy Scouts of America. He is a member
and secretary of the Kiwanis Club, and he and his wife are members of the
Baptist Church, in which he is superintendent of the Sunday school. He exemplifies a high type of citizenship and
wherever known commands respect and confidence because of his consistent and
earnest life and his kindly and affable manner.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Wooldridge, J.W.Major History of Sacramento Valley
California, Vol. 3, Pages 21-22. Pioneer Historical
Publishing Co. Chicago 1931.
© 2010 Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's Sutter County
Biographies