Husband of Bessie Lee Bender.
Snippet of obituary at newspapers.com - in 2 Hagerstown, Maryland newspapers, the Morning Herald, pg. 1 and the Daily Mail pg. 14, Thursday, 21 Jan 1971.
Morning Herald:
"Last C & O Canal skipper dies.
SHARPSBURG - Raleigh "Cap" Bender, 97, skipper of the last barge to haul coal from Cumberland to Georgetown on the C & O Canal in the fall of 1923, died at his home here Wednesday afternoon. He had been ill for several months.
Mr. Bender, a Sharpsburg native, made his first trip on the canal when he was 15 years old in 1888. He later captained a boat on the canal and was one of the two-man crew that piloted a boat from Washington to Cumberland, a trip of 184 miles, in sixty-two hours, probably the fastest time ever made on the canal.
In his book "I Drove Mules on the C & O Canal." George "Hooper" Wolfe of Williamsport recalls that Mr. Bender was a "fine looking young man, always neat and tidy and never idle." He mentions that few boatmen made more round trips than Mr. Bender, that he kept his boat and mules neat and clean and that the hard work and long hours that he put in on the canal didn't hurt him.
Wolfe also indicated that Mr. Bender enjoyed checkers and especially looked forward to automobile trips to the canal tunnel about 30 miles outside of Cumberland and other places of interest along the passage.
After Mr. Bender left the canal he worked for a railroad and for the State Roads Commission.
In 1936 he purchased Bender's tavern in Sharpsburg, which he owned at the time of his death.
Mr. Bender, husband of the late Bessie Lee Grove Bender, was born in Sharpsburg on Feb. 2, 1873, a son of Benjamin and Elizabeth J. Bender.
He is survived by four daughters, Ella Bender, Mrs. Marjorie Leatherman and Mrs. Dorothy Gross, all of Sharpsburg, and Mrs. Modessa Eichelberger of Fairplay; one son Olba Bender of Sharpburg; and six grandchildren13 great-grandchildren and ten great-great-grandchildren.
Services will be at the Leaf Funeral Home in Sharpsburg at 2 p.m. Sunday with the Rev. Charles Birx officiating. Burial will be in Mt. View Cemetery in Sharpsburg. The family will receive friends at the funeral home from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday."
Parental links are courtesy of contributor Sanebee (member #47775620).
The following information is from contributor Descendant (member #48554561):
Believed to be the last living Captain of a C&O Canal Boat.
NOTE: Possible brother: Charles E. Bender.
Snippet of obituary at newspapers.com - in 2 Hagerstown, Maryland newspapers, the Morning Herald, pg. 1 and the Daily Mail pg. 14, Thursday, 21 Jan 1971.
Morning Herald:
"Last C & O Canal skipper dies.
SHARPSBURG - Raleigh "Cap" Bender, 97, skipper of the last barge to haul coal from Cumberland to Georgetown on the C & O Canal in the fall of 1923, died at his home here Wednesday afternoon. He had been ill for several months.
Mr. Bender, a Sharpsburg native, made his first trip on the canal when he was 15 years old in 1888. He later captained a boat on the canal and was one of the two-man crew that piloted a boat from Washington to Cumberland, a trip of 184 miles, in sixty-two hours, probably the fastest time ever made on the canal.
In his book "I Drove Mules on the C & O Canal." George "Hooper" Wolfe of Williamsport recalls that Mr. Bender was a "fine looking young man, always neat and tidy and never idle." He mentions that few boatmen made more round trips than Mr. Bender, that he kept his boat and mules neat and clean and that the hard work and long hours that he put in on the canal didn't hurt him.
Wolfe also indicated that Mr. Bender enjoyed checkers and especially looked forward to automobile trips to the canal tunnel about 30 miles outside of Cumberland and other places of interest along the passage.
After Mr. Bender left the canal he worked for a railroad and for the State Roads Commission.
In 1936 he purchased Bender's tavern in Sharpsburg, which he owned at the time of his death.
Mr. Bender, husband of the late Bessie Lee Grove Bender, was born in Sharpsburg on Feb. 2, 1873, a son of Benjamin and Elizabeth J. Bender.
He is survived by four daughters, Ella Bender, Mrs. Marjorie Leatherman and Mrs. Dorothy Gross, all of Sharpsburg, and Mrs. Modessa Eichelberger of Fairplay; one son Olba Bender of Sharpburg; and six grandchildren13 great-grandchildren and ten great-great-grandchildren.
Services will be at the Leaf Funeral Home in Sharpsburg at 2 p.m. Sunday with the Rev. Charles Birx officiating. Burial will be in Mt. View Cemetery in Sharpsburg. The family will receive friends at the funeral home from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday."
Parental links are courtesy of contributor Sanebee (member #47775620).
The following information is from contributor Descendant (member #48554561):
Believed to be the last living Captain of a C&O Canal Boat.
NOTE: Possible brother: Charles E. Bender.
Husband of Bessie Lee Bender.
Snippet of obituary at newspapers.com - in 2 Hagerstown, Maryland newspapers, the Morning Herald, pg. 1 and the Daily Mail pg. 14, Thursday, 21 Jan 1971.
Morning Herald:
"Last C & O Canal skipper dies.
SHARPSBURG - Raleigh "Cap" Bender, 97, skipper of the last barge to haul coal from Cumberland to Georgetown on the C & O Canal in the fall of 1923, died at his home here Wednesday afternoon. He had been ill for several months.
Mr. Bender, a Sharpsburg native, made his first trip on the canal when he was 15 years old in 1888. He later captained a boat on the canal and was one of the two-man crew that piloted a boat from Washington to Cumberland, a trip of 184 miles, in sixty-two hours, probably the fastest time ever made on the canal.
In his book "I Drove Mules on the C & O Canal." George "Hooper" Wolfe of Williamsport recalls that Mr. Bender was a "fine looking young man, always neat and tidy and never idle." He mentions that few boatmen made more round trips than Mr. Bender, that he kept his boat and mules neat and clean and that the hard work and long hours that he put in on the canal didn't hurt him.
Wolfe also indicated that Mr. Bender enjoyed checkers and especially looked forward to automobile trips to the canal tunnel about 30 miles outside of Cumberland and other places of interest along the passage.
After Mr. Bender left the canal he worked for a railroad and for the State Roads Commission.
In 1936 he purchased Bender's tavern in Sharpsburg, which he owned at the time of his death.
Mr. Bender, husband of the late Bessie Lee Grove Bender, was born in Sharpsburg on Feb. 2, 1873, a son of Benjamin and Elizabeth J. Bender.
He is survived by four daughters, Ella Bender, Mrs. Marjorie Leatherman and Mrs. Dorothy Gross, all of Sharpsburg, and Mrs. Modessa Eichelberger of Fairplay; one son Olba Bender of Sharpburg; and six grandchildren13 great-grandchildren and ten great-great-grandchildren.
Services will be at the Leaf Funeral Home in Sharpsburg at 2 p.m. Sunday with the Rev. Charles Birx officiating. Burial will be in Mt. View Cemetery in Sharpsburg. The family will receive friends at the funeral home from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday."
Parental links are courtesy of contributor Sanebee (member #47775620).
The following information is from contributor Descendant (member #48554561):
Believed to be the last living Captain of a C&O Canal Boat.
NOTE: Possible brother: Charles E. Bender.
Snippet of obituary at newspapers.com - in 2 Hagerstown, Maryland newspapers, the Morning Herald, pg. 1 and the Daily Mail pg. 14, Thursday, 21 Jan 1971.
Morning Herald:
"Last C & O Canal skipper dies.
SHARPSBURG - Raleigh "Cap" Bender, 97, skipper of the last barge to haul coal from Cumberland to Georgetown on the C & O Canal in the fall of 1923, died at his home here Wednesday afternoon. He had been ill for several months.
Mr. Bender, a Sharpsburg native, made his first trip on the canal when he was 15 years old in 1888. He later captained a boat on the canal and was one of the two-man crew that piloted a boat from Washington to Cumberland, a trip of 184 miles, in sixty-two hours, probably the fastest time ever made on the canal.
In his book "I Drove Mules on the C & O Canal." George "Hooper" Wolfe of Williamsport recalls that Mr. Bender was a "fine looking young man, always neat and tidy and never idle." He mentions that few boatmen made more round trips than Mr. Bender, that he kept his boat and mules neat and clean and that the hard work and long hours that he put in on the canal didn't hurt him.
Wolfe also indicated that Mr. Bender enjoyed checkers and especially looked forward to automobile trips to the canal tunnel about 30 miles outside of Cumberland and other places of interest along the passage.
After Mr. Bender left the canal he worked for a railroad and for the State Roads Commission.
In 1936 he purchased Bender's tavern in Sharpsburg, which he owned at the time of his death.
Mr. Bender, husband of the late Bessie Lee Grove Bender, was born in Sharpsburg on Feb. 2, 1873, a son of Benjamin and Elizabeth J. Bender.
He is survived by four daughters, Ella Bender, Mrs. Marjorie Leatherman and Mrs. Dorothy Gross, all of Sharpsburg, and Mrs. Modessa Eichelberger of Fairplay; one son Olba Bender of Sharpburg; and six grandchildren13 great-grandchildren and ten great-great-grandchildren.
Services will be at the Leaf Funeral Home in Sharpsburg at 2 p.m. Sunday with the Rev. Charles Birx officiating. Burial will be in Mt. View Cemetery in Sharpsburg. The family will receive friends at the funeral home from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday."
Parental links are courtesy of contributor Sanebee (member #47775620).
The following information is from contributor Descendant (member #48554561):
Believed to be the last living Captain of a C&O Canal Boat.
NOTE: Possible brother: Charles E. Bender.
Family Members
Siblings
Children
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Explore more
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
