Benjamin Hershey

Benjamin Hershey (10 April 1813 – 24 August 1893) was a lumber and farming magnate in the U.S. states of Iowa and Nebraska during the middle to late 19th century.

He was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, a distant cousin of Milton S. Hershey, founder of The Hershey Company. Their common ancestor was Christian Hershe (Hershey), who was born about 1664 in Bern, Switzerland, and died about 1720 in Lancaster County. Hershey had four children: Sara, who founded Hershey School of Musical Art; Mary; Elizabeth; and Almira, who went on to become a prominent citizen of Los Angeles, California and owner of the Hollywood Hotel. He died in Muscatine County, Iowa.

Benjamin Hershey of Muscatine, Iowa, had for forty years prior to his decease, in 1893, been recognized as one of the more prominent lumbermen of the Mississippi River. He was born in Manor Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, April 10, 1813, to Joseph and Hester (Hostetter) Hershey. Upon the father’s side the family was of Swiss origin, and its advent in America dates from early colonial times. Upon the maternal side, he was of German descent, and the family of H‘ostetter was among the settlers of Pennsylvania prior to the revolutionary war. Benjamin, the second of a family of five children, received a common school education.

At the age of nineteen made an extended tour through the west, so far as the eastern boundary of Illinois. This trip occupied three months, a greater portion of it having been accomplished on horseback. Returning to Pennsylvania, in company with a drover who was taking a herd of cattle to the eastern market, he settled down upon the farm which, at his father’s death, came into his possession, and for 18 years, operated it successfully, raising and owning some of the finest blooded horses in the state.

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