Bio: Benedict, Nyle - 100-Year-Farm (1978)

Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Benedict, Lawrence, Bassett, Walter, Bradbury, Masanz, Pinkerton

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 8/17/1978

100-Year-Farm (Benedict - 1978)

Sawdust Insulation is mark of honored 100-year-Farm

August 16 is a special day at the Wisconsin State Fair with owners of farm and homes which have been in the family for a century being recognized. Nyle Benedict, Rt. 2 Loyal is one of those in Clark County. Although he will not be able to take time off from cheesemaking to attend the special breakfast and other festivities, he will be receiving the certificate by mail.

Although many like to believe that women did not have the right to own land years ago, it was Nyle Benedict’s great grandmother, Sophrona Lawrence Bassett, who was the first in the family to own the forty-acre tract from which the seven-acre home site remains. The other was sold to the Walter Brothers as farmland.

“There was another 40 acres to the east when I moved here with my parents when I was nine years old,” Benedict recalls. The William Benedicts had lived at York Center prior to that.

He has many happy memories of the house when his mother owned a baby grand piano. There had been several organs in the house from time to time. A hand-cranked movie projector from some theater occupied a corner of the “front room” at one time.

In 1932, Nyle Benedict was married to the former Aura Bradbury. They farmed for a number of years, but he became a cheesemaker in 1945 at the York Center plant, which changed hands several times and is now the Masanz Dairy.

The present house is also getting to the century mark, at least part of it. It was well insulated with sawdust. One front door still has the frosted design, the other has been broken some years back.

Mrs. Benedict liked to piece quilts. She is a member of the Sew and So Homemakers and the Women’s Society, at the York Center Church, where both are members.

Benedict is lay leader, financial secretary and also the bell ringer at their church. He is a member of the United Commercial Travelers.

Both enjoy harmony and gospel singing. He has sung in a barbershop quartette for two years. They also belong to a Friendship Club and are active with dart ball leagues in winter. Playing cards is another winter pastime.

What will become of the century home in years to come? The Benedict’s three children have moved to other parts of the state. They are Donald at Lomira, Mrs. Donald (Georgia) Pinkerton at Oshkosh, and Larry at Stevens Point. There are also ten grandchildren. None have expressed an interest in coming back to Loyal to live or to have a summer home.

 

 


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