Bloody Benders - Bender Family

Bender Family

John (Pa) Bender Sr. was around sixty years old and spoke very little English. When he did speak it, it was so guttural that it was usually unintelligible. Ma Bender, who also allegedly spoke very little English, was 55 years of age and was so unfriendly that her neighbors took to calling her a "she-devil". John Bender Jr. was around 25 years old, handsome with auburn hair and moustache and spoke English fluently, but with a German accent. John was prone to laughing aimlessly, which led many to consider him a "half-wit". Kate Bender, who was around 23, was cultivated and attractive and she spoke English well with very little accent. A self-proclaimed healer and psychic, she distributed flyers advertising her supernatural powers and her ability to cure illnesses. She also conducted séances and gave lectures on spiritualism, for which she gained notoriety for advocating free love. Kate's popularity became a large attraction for the Benders' inn. Although the elder Benders kept to themselves, Kate and her brother regularly attended Sunday school in nearby Harmony Grove.

The Benders were widely believed to be German immigrants; only the male Benders, however, were born overseas and they were not actually a family. No documentation or definitive proof of their relationships to one another or where they were born has ever been found. Pa Bender was from either Germany or Holland and is believed by some to have been born John Flickinger (unproven). According to contemporary newspapers, Ma Bender was born Almira Hill Mark, (often misreported as "Meik") in the Adirondack Mountains, she married Simon Mark with whom she claimed to have had 12 children. Later she married William Stephen Griffith and was known as Mrs. Almira Griffith. Mrs. Griffith was suspected of murdering several husbands but none of these rumors were ever proven. Almira's fifth daughter, Sarah Eliza Mark, later married and was known as Sarah Eliza Davis. Based on an inscription in a Bible recovered from the Bender home, it was believed that John Jr. was born John Gebhardt although no other proof of his identity exists. Some of the Benders' neighbours claimed that John and Kate were not brother and sister, but actually husband and wife.