Edward William Benson Jr. was born in Marshall, Calhoun County, Michigan on November 7, 1909. He was a son of [93] Edward William Benson and Maida Eudora Baker.
Mary Jewett Mixter was born in Lansing, Ingham County, Michigan on February 9, 1913. She was a daughter of [92] Louis Cain Mixter and Mattie Belle Jewett.
Edward William Benson Jr. and Mary Jewett Mixter were married in East Lansing, Ingham County, Michigan on April 3, 1935 at the home of her parents.
Edward and Mary met while students at Michigan State College in East Lansing, Michigan. Edward graduated from Michigan State with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, while Mary graduated from Michigan State with a Bachelor of Science in Home Economics. Following graduation, Edward took a job with the federal government as a Civil Engineer for the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in Pine Ridge, South Dakota. Edward managed construction projects at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation which were built by the men who lived on the reservation. He later was the Civil Engineer for CCC camps located in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan which built State Parks.
At the time the 1940 Federal Census was enumerated on April 5-6, 1940, Edward (age 30, born in Michigan) and Mary (age 27, born in Michigan) were living at 1710 Illinois Street in Lansing, Ingham County, Michigan. Both of their residences on April 1, 1935 were listed as Pine Ridge, Shannon County, South Dakota, although Mary would not have moved to Pine Ridge until sometime after their marriage. They were the parents of two children: a son, Ronald, age 3, born in South Dakota and a daughter, Barbara, age 10 months, born in Michigan. Edward and Mary Benson were noted as renters in a house owned and occupied by Paul and Bessie Richter. Bessie (Mixter) Richter was an older sister of Mary (Mixter) Benson.
Edward William Benson Jr. was a descendant of John Howland II who was born in Plymouth in 1627, while Mary Jewett (Mixter) Benson was a descendant of Desire Howland who was born in Plymouth in 1624. John Howland Jr. and Desire Howland were two of the children of Mayflower passengers, John Howland I and Elizabeth (Tilley) Howland, and two of the grandchildren of Mayflower passengers, John Tilley and Joan (Hurst) (Rogers) Tilley.
Edward William Benson Jr. was also a descendant of Edward Fuller of the Mayflower.
- An ancestral line between [1a] John Tilley and [95b] Mary Jewett (Mixter) Benson was approved by GSMD on ——.
- An ancestral line between [5a] William Brewster and [95b] Mary Jewett (Mixter) Benson was approved by GSMD on ——.
- An ancestral line between [6a] Stephen Hopkins and [95b] Mary Jewett (Mixter) Benson was approved by GSMD on ——.
- An ancestral line between [7a] Francis Cooke and [95b] Mary Jewett (Mixter) Benson was approved by GSMD on ——.
- An ancestral line between [8a] Richard Warren and [95b] Mary Jewett (Mixter) Benson was approved by GSMD on ——.
- An ancestral line between [2a] John Howland and [95a] Edward William Benson Jr. was approved by GSMD on ——.
- An ancestral line between [3a] Edward Fuller and [95a] Edward William Benson Jr. was approved by GSMD on October 15, 2021.
Born in Michigan... Made in America since 1620 