Mathias and Margaret Benson

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Mathias Benson older portrait.jpg

Family of Mathias Julius Benson & Margaret Belnap, 1896-1948 (b. 1877, m. 1906)

Residence: Bingham County, Idaho; Ada County, Idaho

Grandparents:

Andrew and Mathilda Benson
Oliver and Margaret Belnap

Descendants:

Jim and Ruth Smith

See also:

Christian and Laura Christiansen

Parents' Childhood

Mathias Julius Benson was born in 1877 to Andrew and Mathilda Benson in Bornholm, Denmark. The family immigrated to Weber County, Utah when he was 9 years old. In 1896 (age 19), the family relocated to Bingham County, Idaho.

Margaret Belnap was born in 1885 to Oliver and Margaret Belnap in Weber County, Utah. Her mother died when she was 8 years old, and she spent many of the following years with extended family, separated from her siblings. In 1898 (age 12), Oliver Belnap moved his family to Bingham County, Idaho.

Married Life

As an adult, Mathias worked on the family farm. Around 1901, he began teaching school. He was also heavily involved with the LDS Sunday School, acting as the Superintendent for the Moreland Ward and then the Blackfoot Stake.

Margaret met Mathias when he was her 8th grade school teacher. Later, they dated and decided to marry in 1906. Before the planned marriage, Mathias received a call to serve an LDS mission in Scandinavia; they agreed to proceed with marriage, and Mathias departed for the mission 5 days after the wedding.

1906 Marriage in the Salt Lake Temple
1906 Mathias departed for Scandinavia Mission; Margaret remained in Weber County, Utah
1908 Mathias returned from mission; move to Bingham County, Idaho
1909 Marvin Mathias born
1914 Leone born
1918 Move to Twin Falls County, Idaho
1918 Thelma born
1919 Move to Boise, Idaho
1922 Ruth born
1922 Margaret died

Mathias spent the majority of his mission presiding over the Trondhjem Conference in Norway. He also visited Bornholm, his birthplace, a few times.

On Mathias's return, he and Margaret settled in a log cabin in Moreland, Idaho. They lived here for 9 years, with Mathias teaching school, farming, and once again leading the Stake Sunday School. Marvin and Leone were born here.

In 1918, the family relocated for a short time to Kimberly, Idaho, where Thelma was born. The next year, they settled in Boise, buying a house and 5-acre lot on Phillippi St. Mathias became a partner in a coal shipping company, Worthington and Thurber's Fuel and Transfer.

In 1922, Ruth was born. Three months later, Margaret died suddenly of a stroke (age 37). The children's ages were 13, 8, 4, and newborn (11 weeks).

Mathias's Later Life

Mathias did not remarry. His sister, Annie, often helped take care of the children.

Unable to care for a newborn, Mathias sent Ruth to Christian and Laura Christiansen in Moreland, where she lived until age 13 (1936). Laura was a cousin of Margaret's father, Oliver Belnap, in the McBride family.

1923 Ruth sent to live with Christian and Laura Christiansen
1935 Leone married Ray Baldwin
1936 Ruth returned to Boise
1937 Marvin married Marie Grunder
1942 Ruth married Jim Smith
1943 Move to a new home in Boise
1948 Mathias died

Mathias worked at the coal yard and raised cows at home. In the LDS church, he served with Ezra Taft Benson in the Boise Stake Presidency from 1935–1939, then as the Stake Patriarch.

In 1943, after the children were all grown, Mathias moved to a house at 317 Jackson St. In his last few years, he suffered from chronic pain due to prostate problems, and in 1948 died after being diagnosed with cancer (age 71).

References

Related Files

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