BIO: Joe BENSINGER, Clearfield County, PA
 
Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Banja & Sally

Copyright 2005.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/clearfield/

NOTE: Use this web address to access other bios:
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/clearfield/1picts/swoope/swoope.htm
_____________________________________________________________

From Twentieth Century History of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania,
and Representative Citizens, by Roland D. Swoope, Jr.,
Chicago: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company, 1911, pages 507 & 508.
_____________________________________________________________ 

  JOE BENSINGER, proprietor of the Commercial Hotel, at DuBois, Pa., is one of 
the prominent hotel men of the state and has been interested in this business 
for many years.  He was born at Middleport, Schuylkill county, Pa., June 28, 
1849, and is a son of Charles and Tena (Kleckner) Bensinger.
  Charles Bensinger was born in Schuylkill county, Pa., a son of Jacob 
Bensinger, who was a pensioner of the Revolutionary war.  By trade, Charles 
Bensinger was a tailor.  His death occurred at the home of his son, Joe 
Bensinger, in September, 1910, at the age of eighty-eight years.  He married 
Tena Kleckner, who was born and died in Schuylkill county.  Her father, Colonel 
Kleckner, was also a pensioner of the Revolutionary war.  Of their children, 
three died young, the others being as follows:  Sarah, who is the wife of 
Theodore Hammer, resides in Philadelphia; Joe; John C., at Stroudsburg, Pa.; 
Emily, who is the wife of Jacob Olhousen, of Philadelphia; Louisa, who is the 
widow of David Stull, of DuBois; Howard O., who is deceased (was musical 
director of his regiment in the Spanish-American war, enlisting at DuBois); and 
Ida, who is the wife of E. Fred Vosburg, of DuBois.
  Joe Bensinger was educated in the public schools and the State Normal School 
at Millersburg, after which he taught school for one winter and then went to 
work in the oil regions, becoming clerk for Mr. Miller, manager of the American 
House, at Titusville.  That was his introduction to the hotel business and from 
that time he has been more or less identified with the same until the present.  
From Titusville he went to Bradford and there went into the newspaper business, 
showing a great deal of enterprise.  He established and edited a daily paper, 
the Bradford Evening Times, and also a weekly, the Sunday Mail, for three years, 
making both first class properties before he sold out in order to come to 
DuBois, at the earnest solicitation of the late John DuBois.  He became a 
resident of DuBois in January, 1886, taking over the management of the DuBois 
Hotel, on the east side, where he continued until 1887, when he accepted an 
excellent offer at Pittsburg and took the management of the Colonial Hotel 
Annex, and remained several years in the hotel business in that city.  He had 
retained many pleasant recollections of DuBois and had the business faculty to 
foresee the subsequent development of the place, therefore, he returned and in 
1889 opened the Commercial Hotel, which he conducted until 1896, it then being a 
two-story brick structure, having forty rooms.  In 1896 he sold and went then to 
Kittanning, Pa., where he conducted the Hotel Alexander for three years, after 
which he built the Lincoln Hotel, at Lancaster, Pa., operating it for two years.  
In 1901 Mr. Bensinger again returned to DuBois, bought the Commercial Hotel 
property and immediately began its enlargement and improvement.  It is now four 
stories in height, having 100 rooms and is equipped with all modern 
conveniences.  Mr. Bensinger's rates are $2, $2.50, and $3 per day.  Although 
during the rebuilding a part of the structure was uninhabitable, Mr. Bensinger 
thoughtfully provided for the comfort of his guests and not a single meal was 
eliminated.  Mr. Bensinger was one of the organizers of the Pennsylvania State 
Hotel Men's Association and at different times has served as president of the 
body.  He is chairman of the executive committee, the working body of the 
organization.  Mr. Bensinger has other claims to popularity.  He is known far 
and wide as an orator and after-dinner speaker, and being gifted with a ready 
wit and overflowing, kindly humor, he is in great demand at many gatherings.
  On May 28, 1881, Mr. Bensinger was married to Louise Lorenz, of Clarion 
county, Pa., and they have an adopted son, James L.  In politics, Mr. Bensinger 
is a Republican but his business responsibilities have always been too numerous 
to permit him to accept office.  Since 1889 he has been a member of the Elks and 
for many years has been prominent as a Mason, belonging to the Blue Lodge and 
Commandery at DuBois; the Chapter at Brackville, Pa.; and the Consistory, Shrine 
and Masonic Veterans' Association, at Pittsburg.