Reflections of niece, Dorothea Mae (Arnold) Hodges: "Just an old farmer" he used to say, but what a character!! When he got too old to see well and the authorities took away his driver license, he fooled them. He kept his old jalopy and drove it out in his fields just to defy those (unmentionable) authorities. He was my favorite uncle and when he died, I grieved for him.
Kokomo, Howard County, Indiana in the 1910 Cencus.
Source: Milton T. Jay, M.D., History of Jay County Indiana, Historical Publishing Co., Indpls. 1922, Vol. II, pp.225-226.
Daniel W. BENDER, the well known miller and grain dealer at Pennville and one of the leading factors in the general commercial and civic life of that pleasant and picturesque old town, is a Pennsylvanian by birth, but has been a resident of Indiana for about thirty-five years and of Pennville since 1912. Mr. BENDER was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, March 1, 1864, and is a son of George and Adaline ( MOCK ) BENDER, both of whom were born in that same state. George BENDER was an iron worker, a vocation he followed all his active life, his death occurring when the subject of this sketch was about seven years of age. He and his wife were the parents of five children, of whom two are living, Daniel W. BENDER having a brother, Jacob BENDER. Early bereaved of his father, as noted above, Daniel W. BENDER's youthful opportunities for advanced schooling were limited by the circumstances surrounding his upbringing and he was early placed in an apprenticeship in Lewis's mills in the neighborhood of his home, where he became thoroughly acquainted with the details of burr milling. After serving his apprenticeship he went to Michigan and at Three Rivers was engaged as assistant miller in a mill of 300-barrel capacity. He remained there for three years, at the end of which time he moved to Dowagiac, where he became employed as the miller in a mill at that place, later going to Jackson (Mich.), where he remained in charge of the mill of the Eldred Milling Company until 1887, when he came to Indiana and for about a year was employed at Ft. Wayne, going thence to Bluffton, where he operated a mill for about twelve years, at the end of which time he bought a mill and was further engaged in the milling business at that place until 1912, when his mill was destroyed by fire. Not long afterward he was called to Pennville to take charge of the Arnold & Engler mill at that place and a year later he bought a half interest in the mill. When Pennville lost its railroad in 1918 the company operating this mill was reorganized as the Pennville Milling Company and Mr. BENDER has a one-fourth interest in the concern. This mill, which was erected about 1885, is equipped in up-to-date fashion and has a capacity of about fifty barrels of flour daily. The elevator has a capacity of 30,000 bushels of wheat, and in addition to this there is storage room for an additional 3,000 bushels at the mill. Mr. BENDER does both custom and market milling and has made the Pennville mill one of the thriving concerns of the county. He is a Democrat and one of the active promoters of the town's best interests along all lines. He is a Freemason and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In 1890, Daniel W. BENDER was united in marriage to Mary Viola ARNOLD, daughter of William ARNOLD, and to this union two daughters have been born, Mabel, who married Marcus WEIBEL and has two children, Mary Helen and Catherine Elizabeth, and Lena, who married Martin FETTERS.