WILLIAM BENJAMINSE. When the books are balanced, when all accounts are finally adjusted, figuratively speaking, there will be a larger credit balance opposite the name of the gentleman who is the subject of this sketch than is usually placed to the credit of the average of mankind. He is a native of the Netherlands, born March 4, 1831, and is possessed of all those qualities of industry and energy so characteristic of those of that nativity. He is now residing in Holland, Mich., and the good moral tone of the town is due in a great measure to the influence of Mr. Benjaminse, who is the publisher of De Hollander. The editorials in this paper command an ever-widening area of circulation, while they carry with them that weight and authority which a clear, calm and intelligent judgment must always secure.
When a boy, in 1844, our subject was brought by his parents to America, and for four and a-half years was a resident of the city of New York. From there the parents removed to Grand Rapids. In that city William Benjaminse grew to mature years, received his education, and later began learning the printer’s trade in the office of the Grand Rapids Enquirer. For four years he was an apprentice in that office, and afterward a journeyman. About the year 1860, he came to Holland, Mich., and worked at the printer’s trade until the year 1868, when he assumed the editorship of De Hollander, now the oldest Dutch paper in the United States. He has improved it in every way, and it is now one of the brightest, newsiest papers in this part of the State. De Hollander is published in the interest of the general public, and its excellent moral tone has had a most refining influence on all who are fortunate enough to obtain a copy.
Mr. Benjaminse has been engaged in the newspaper business in Holland for thirty-three years, and is thoroughly familiar with its every detail. In the year 1855, he was married to Miss Johanna Van de Luyster, daughter of J. Van de Luyster, who, with Rev. Mr. Vander Meulen, was the colonizer of Zeeland in 1847. Eleven children were born to the union of our subject and his wife, of whom five are still living. Politically, Mr. Benjaminse is a Democrat, and the paper, De Hollander, is devoted to the interests of that party. He is public-spirited and enterprising, and has served on the Board of Education. A member of the Holland Christian Reformed Church, Mr. Benjaminse takes much interest in religious affairs.
