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A Narrative History
of
The People of Iowa
CLARENCE H. BENSON has given to his native State of Iowa a well ordered and
valuable educational institution by establishing in the City of Waterloo,
Blackhawk county, the Corn Belt Business College, of which he is the executive
head and the facilities and service of which he has brought to high standard.
Mr. Benson was born in Maynard, Fayette County, Iowa, October 6, 1876, and
is a representative of an honored family that was founded in that county more
than half a century ago. He is the younger of the two sons and his brother,
Aruthur C., is a resident of Oelwein. Mr. Benson is a son of Henry H. and Zulema Benson, the former of whom was born near Rutland, Vermont, in 1840, and the latter of whom was born at Mount Hope, Pike County, Pennsylvania, in 1843, the name of her first husband having been Bingham and one son having been born of that union.
Henry H. Benson was born near Rutland, Vermont, as previously stated, in
that locality occurred also the birth of his father, Wesley Benson, the family
having been founded in New England in the Colonial period of American history.
In the early '40s Wesley Benson moved with his family to Wisconsin
Territory and became a pioneer farmer on Rock Prairie, near Johnstown. Near the present City of Fort Atkinson, that state, he reclaimed a productive farm from a veritable wilderness, and he continued his residence in the Badger State until 1876, when he came to Fayette County, Iowa. He had natural talent along mechanical lines and became a skilled artisan, his services having been much in demand in connection with carpentry and in the making of farm implements, wagons, etc., before the time of the establishing of regular factories in Wisconsin. He was eighty-six years of age at the time of his death, and his wife, whose maiden name was Sophia Chapman, died at the age of sixty-five years, their children having been Henry H., Nellie and Emma.
Henry H. Benson was little more than an infant at the time of the family
removal to Wisconsin, and there he was reared under the conditions and influence marking the early pioneer period. In 1863 he went forth as a loyal young soldier of the Union in the Civil war, he having become a member of Company A.
First Wisconsin Cavalry, and with this command he saw active service at the front, he having taken part in various engagements, including a number of major battles and having been in the vicinity of Savannah, Georgia, at the time of the surrender of Gen. Robert E. Lee. His company was then assigned to duty in the pursuing of Jefferson Davis, and was in cooperation with the Michigan
command that effected the capture of the fleeing president of the Confederate States. He soon afterward received his honorable discharge. While participating in a spirited cavalry raid he had been thrown from his horse, and from
the injuries he thus received he never fully recovered, though he lived to attain the age of seventy-six years. He remained in Wisconsin until 1876, when he came to Iowa and purchased land near Maynard, Fayette County. There he
continued his successful farm operations several years, and he then retired, the remainder of his life having been passed in that county, where as before noted, he died at the age of seventy-six years, July 22, 1915. His widow died September 8, 1924.
As a boy Charence H. Benson attended school in a little schoolhouse of one
room, at Maynard, Fayette County, and later he was not only graduated but also
took a post-graduate course in the high school at that place. After
teaching for a time in the rural schools he was engaged in business at Oelwein until 1908, when he became the administrative head of a business college in the City of Keokuk, where he was thus engaged until 1912. He then established a business college at Oelwein, and this he conducted until 1922, when he moved to Waterloo. In September, 1924, he established his present Corn Belt Business College, which under his progressive management has gained rank as one of the leading institutions of its kind in this section of Iowa. The college has spacious and well equipped quarters in the Waterloo Building & Loan Block, Fifth and La Fayette, and each successive year has shown an increase in its number of students.
Mr. Benson is a Republican in political adherency, he and his wife are
members of Grace Methodist Episcopal Church in their home city, and he is
affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Junior Order of the
United American Mechanics.
August 4, 1923, recorded the marriage of Mr. Benson to Miss Edna J. Hill,
who was born and reared in Waterloo and who is a daughter of Edward E. and Eva (Reed) Hill. The one child of Mr. and Mrs. Benson is a winsome daughter, Elaine, born September 13, 1926.
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