[or-roots] Royal A. Bensell

[Leslie Chapman]

Connie;

Did you by any chance google this guy, man he is famous;

http://bluebook.state.or.us/cultural/history/history16.htm

well, okay now I understand, almost all of the hits are for his books, this
only has one line about him, then the next site I find that isn't selling
books is yours, by the way having spent a lot of time hanging out in the
Newport area over the last five years I think you look familiar but my
memory is so bad I don't have any idea where I might have seen you unless it
was at the Apple Peddlar, that or the Brewery in Siletz or the Mom and pop
on the main drag in Toledo that I can't even remember the name of is where
we usually eat. I am sure you remember me, I was one of those damn fools
that was always out in the middle of highway 20 trying to paint spots on it
without stopping traffic all summer long.

here he is on Ancestry.com I would be slightly dubious as they list birth as
Wisconsin OR Ohio but they have a mountain of stuff of interest to you
including his parentage.

http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=benton&id=I16317

I assume you have his book, it is available at U of O book store apparently,
as well as most other book stores in the state.

just in case not, here is the intro;

Royal Augustus Bensell was born in Cassville, Wisconsin, in 1838, and went
to California with his father in 1849. He was a resident of Volcano,
California, at the time of the Civil War and enlisted in Company D, 4th
California Infantry. The Company was assigned to Yamhill, Oregon, where
Bensell (a corporal) spent the next three years. He later moved to Yaquina
Bay, and was an early settler of Newport, Oregon.

The collection consists of three diary volumes, 1862-1864, and a scrapbook.

The diary, edited by Gunter Barth, was published as All Quiet on the Yamhill
(University of Oregon Press, 1959).

Inventory

from;
http://axe.uoregon.edu/speccoll/mss/inventories/bensell.html

I assume you have this from your Historical society;

Bensell House, 747 SW 13th Street
This home is said to be built by Lincoln County pioneer Royal Bensell. It
appears in some of the earliest photographs of the Bayfront. It may very
well be Newport's oldest home. By the early 1960s, the house was in a state
of disrepair and was a temporary home for transients. It has since been
remodeled extensively inside, but the exterior appears to have changed
little since its earliest photographs

There are several other family trees besides the one I sent you above that
have him in them, I have no idea why as I didn;t look at them, but if you
want I can go dig through them to see if they have anything of interest.

Les C


-----Original Message-----
From: or-roots-admin at sosinet.sos.state.or.us
[mailto:or-roots-admin at sosinet.sos.state.or.us]On Behalf Of Connie Guardino
Sent: Friday, December 19, 2003 3:04 PM
To: or-roots at sosinet.sos.state.or.us
Subject: [or-roots] Royal A. Bensell


Does anyone have any information, anecdotal material, or photos of Cpl.
Royal A. Bensell who wrote the Civil War diary, All Quiet on the Yamhill?
Any relatives?
Connie Guardino