Genealogy Interests
Bentz Family
My paternal line, obviously. Pennsylvania Deutsch ("Dutch"). I did a page years ago with some of the early info - I haven't updated it much, but it's here: Early Bentz family
Marlene Bentz Badger wrote a summary of early history, which I'll present below. She lives not far from where the first Bentz (Andreas) or his son ended up in th 1730's. Her history is here: Bentz Ancestor Stories.
Many of the early generations and up to the present lived in the area of Dillsburg, PA. One cemetery there, Barren's Churchyard, has a large number of relatives. In cooperation with Marlene, I did a site with the stones and a map: Barrens Cemetery.
George Henry Bentz
I'll mention two relatively recent ancestors of mine: my great-grandfather, George Henry Bentz, of Kearney, Nebraska (though born near Dillsburg). He was a schoolteacher (Superintendent of Schools at Salem and Silver Creek, NB), then a medical doctor. As a member of the Nebraska National Guard (not its name then I don't think) he ended up on the Mexican border when the Army was chasing Pancho Villa.
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This meant that a little later on, when World War One came along, he ended up in the US Army, eventually as a Major in the Medical Corps, on the front in France. I have a typewritten transcript of those letters which I converted to a web page, with imagery, maps, etc. Major GH Bentz Letters from France.
Paul Andrew Bentz
His son, my grandfather, Paul Andrew Bentz, was a lawyer. He was appointed by President Coolidge to write ("codify") the laws of the Panama Canal Zone; after that he became general counsel for the Panama Canal Zone, which included not just the canal but their shipping line and associated railroads. This also meant that my father grew up in the Panama Canal Zone until he left for college.
New York Times article - I'm not a subscriber so I can't read it in its entirety, but there seems to be a decent summar available to anyone.
Here he is in 1926, shortly after he married Elizabeth ("Betty") Davis:
I have many of his papers, and of course those of my grandmother as well. One letter contains his proposal to her.
He died in 1981, so I knew him quite well.
Wilbur Bentz
Wilbur Bentz, pilot of a Halifax bomber, LW682, was shot down over Belgium on the night of May 12, 1944. His plane and crew remains weren't recovered until the 1990's, and he was buried in 1997. The metal from his plane has been used in some fasinating ways. (I do have marginally redundant links here, as some fail from time to time, or just evaporate).
One overview of the entire story: "A Swamp, A Downed Plane, and an Unexpected Funeral Guest.
A bit of the story: one notable item is that the roof of the Bomber Command Memorial in London was made of aluminum from his airplane.
A YouTube video about the recovery and ceremonies.
His bomber's metal is now part of new RCAF flying badges