Christian BENDER born in Kassel, Glueckstal, Odessa, South Russia, was the son of Johann "Philipp" BENDER and Elisabetha KLOOTZ.
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Christian married Elisabetha GROSSHANS on the 4th of November 1869 in Kassel and they lived their entire lives in the proximity of Kassel, South Russia.

The couple was blessed with no less than 8 children; Friedrich, Philipp, Katharina, Frederick, Karolina, Katherina, Magdalena and Jacob. As young adults, 4 of their children are known to have immigrated to North America.

Compiled by: DG Bender
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* BENDER Children that Immigrated to North America
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1. Frederick BENDER (1879-1966) on 3 Jun 1913
2. Karolina PLEINES (1881-1969) on 5 Oct 1905
3. Katherina HELM (1884-1923) on 11 Aug 1910
4. Jacob BENDER (1892-1960) on 3 Jun 1913
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With the ever-growing tension between the Russian authority and the Germans that chose to or were forced to for various reasons to remain in south Russia after WW I, many a hardships were endured by those German speaking people that remained there.

As the following letter of gratitude written in 1923 by Christian BENDER to Jacob and Magdalena WOEHL of Wishek, North Dakota exemplifies, the Christian and Elisabetha BENDER family was not exempt.

Transcription: Brief aus Russland (Courtesy of Mel BENDER)
Kassel, District of Odessa
24 November 1923
Dear Brother-in-Law and Sister-in-Law Woehl,
We first want to let you know that on November 10 we received the package from you with the edible goods. On October 8 we also received the clothing that you sent to us, and when we picked it up in Odessa we had to pay 66 million rubles for it. When we received the notice from Odessa about the clothing, it was stated that we were to receive 16 pounds. When we got the clothing, however, it weighed just 11 pounds. Someone in Odessa had removed the rest in the meantime. When we received your letter, dear brother-in-law, our mother had to cry tears of joy because you are sending so much to us. But her joy was transformed into distress when the package arrived, not only because we had to pay such a huge sum of money for it but also because clothing had been stolen from it.

In addition, we want to let you know that all we have right now is one cow, which is already 19 years old, and a few chickens. In the year 1923 I planted ½ a Dessjatin of wheat and ¾ Dessjatin of maize (1 Dessjatin is the equivalent of approximately 1.09 hectares). The harvest was fair.

Dear sister, while writing this letter my heart is so sad that I can barely write' I always am thinking that all of you have forgotten me entirely. Brother Jakob wrote to me recently that blood does not turn to water. I send greetings to his wife and children' My husband has had headaches for three years now. In addition, we send greetings to Hermann Fatt and his wife Karolina nee Grosshans. As soon as you get a first-hand look at these few lines, we ask you to write back to us very soon. Things are still going quite poorly for us. Things were particularly hard for us during the summer because, in order to cut the maize, we had to always go on foot to the fields, and that was a rather long distance. And removing the grain was very hard for me because I already am 77 years old. Mother is 73 years old, and she still had to bundle the sheaves. We were able to work until mid-day, but then we became so tired that we were no longer able to do anything, and then we had to walk back home.

We have four children in America, and specifically our two sons; Frederick Bender and Jakob Bender who live in Hilda, Alberta, Canada, and two daughters; Karolina Bender who is married to August Pleines situated in North Dakota, and Katherina Bender married to Jakob Helm living in Beiseker, Alberta, Canada.

Late this year we have experienced a serious drought. The people who planted their winter wheat in August have lost it all because it died in the dry soil.
The following people from my circle of friends have died: Georg Wahl and Georg Maier and his wife. And many others, too, did not return from the war - those who had to sacrifice their lives on the battlefield. I cannot enumerate here all those who were killed.

We owe you tremendous thanks for the help that you have provided to us in our time of need. God shall reward you for this, for we are not in a position to do this ourselves because we are too poor. Oh how happy we were when we received your things, for Mother had already cut up a table cloth in order to make clothes for us. If we had received everything that you sent to us, the need would no longer be so great here. Oh how bad it was for us in the past winter because we were so poorly clothed that we almost froze to death.

In closing we send true heartfelt greetings to all of you. Christian and Elisabetha Bender nee Grosshans.

(This letter was sent to a Bismarck, North Dakota German Newspaper by their correspondent Johannes Sauter in Kassel, South Russia, who asked that the letter be published in the newspaper and that the original then be sent to Jakob Woehl in Wishek, North Dakota.)
Mr. Sauter added the following:
In earlier times Mr. Bender was a highly respected man and well-to-do.
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