Person:Henry Bendle (1)

Henry was born in Ohio June 13, 1881. We could have seen him in the 1890 Federal census if it had survived and he is not found in the 1900 census. His young life is not known but I can make a few guesses. I do know his parents died when he was young and he may have spent some time in a Cleveland orphanage like his sisters May and Aura did. He may have stayed at relative's homes until he was of an age to be on his own since he was a teenager when his parents died. He may have even started the life of a drifter instead of either of those two possibilities.

In the 1910 census, he had been married 4 years. He would have been 23 years old and his wife, Aya, would have been 15 years old when they married. They were living in Cattaraugus County in the household of his father-, and mother-in-law, R.S. and Anna Lilley.

I am unable to find him listed in the 1920 or 1930 Federal census. In the 1930 Charlotte, Chautauqua County, New York census, Ava [Aya] has married William Schlining and living with her husband and son, Robert Bendle.

Henry Bendle was a drifter much of his adult life. He used to visit his sister, Aura Bendle Wilson Dorman Campbell, in Cassadaga, New York, and her family when he ran out of money in the 1940's, and probably earlier. He would stay awhile and help with the farming chores until he was able to travel again. Aura's children and grandchildren remember him stopping in for a week, or a month, and leaving again. His traveling was on the rails and his life was that of a Hobo.

Henry Bendle, about 1920

1.   Sept 12, 1918, in WWI Registration Cards, 1917 - 1918.

   Henry Sanford Bendle, age 37, born: June 13, 1881. Occupation: Helper at American Ship Building in Cleveland, Ohio. Nearest relative: Aura Dorman, Cassadaga, New York. Description: tall, slender, grey eyes, and brown hair.

   Ancestry.com, WWII Registration Cards. Online database available through subscription.

2. ↑ Cattaraugus, New York, United States. 1910 U. S. Census Population Schedule
   T624, Roll 926, page 112.

   Lilley, R.S., age 42, Farmer,
   :Anna, his wife, age 40
   : Aya Bendle, age 19, daughter
   :H. S. Bendle, [Henry Sanford Bendle], age 27, son-in-law
   : Neva, grandaughter [of R.S. and Anna], age 4 months.

   HeritageQuest online census collection. Available through some libraries.

3.   Dunkirk, New York, United States. Dunkirk Evening Observer. (Dunkirk, New York)
   Feb. 26, 1947.

   Society page. Mrs. Ora Campbell, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Dorman and three children and Henry Bendle were entertained for Sunday dinner at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Messina.