by Paul Wonning

Joe's pitching career began in the local amateur leagues pitching for the Batesville Champion Royals.  He excelled on the local level throughout the early 1900's.  At this time he was nicknamed "Blitzin' Benz" for his flaming fastball.  He was also famous for the spitball and knuckleball.  His professional career began in Davenport, Iowa, pitching 1-2 years at the minor league level.  Joe debuted with the Chicago White Sox in 1911.  He pitched in the City Series between the White Sox and the Cubs that year.

Joe married Alice Lettie in 1914.  They would have two children, Rita and Joe, Jr.

Joe was afforded the opportunity to go on a world tour in 1913 for the White Sox.  The tour began in Cincinnati, with his home town of Batesville seeing him off.  Citizens from the town traveled by train to Cincinnati and celebrated "Butcher Boy" Benz Day on October 18, 1913.  The media in Chicago had tagged him with the name "Butcher Boy" when they found out that his family owned a slaughter house in his home town.  The tour would be one of the highlights of his life.  It included stops in Japan, Italy and London.  While in Italy he had the honor of meeting the pope.  His travels would prove costly to him as in 1914 he became sick with typhoid fever, probably contracted on the tour.  His pitching was less effective after his recovery.  However, the doctors at the time didn't even think he would be able to pitch again after his illness.  He did recover, though, and pitched until 1919.

He compiled a 76-75 record with a 2.43 ERA, and had one no-hitter in 1914 against Cleveland.  He also pitched in the 1917 World Series.  Joe pitched two games** in 1919 and injured his arm, ending his career.  He was not involved in the "Black Sox Scandal" during the World Series that year with Cincinnati.  His salary had been approximately $6,000 per year, a princely sum in that era.
**Baseball-Reference.com states that he pitched two innings in 1919.

After his pitching days were over, Joe continued to live in Chicago and worked at various occupations including custodian at a church, tavern owner, and he was a surveyor at Midway Airport.  Joe Benz died in Chicago in 1957.

from Ripley County Indiana History, Volume II

Harry C. Canfield was born November 22, 1875, in Dearborn County, Indiana, near Hogan Hill and spent most of his childhood in that vicinity.  He was the son of Elias C. and Martha (Givan) Canfield.  On October 4, 1899, he was married to Kathryn Elder of Wilmington, Indiana, and to this union two children were born, namely, Vyola and Harry, Jr.  Harry Canfield attended school in Dearborn County, later going to the (then existing) Moores Hill College, Central Normal College and Vories Business College.  

He began his career as a school teacher in Dearborn County and in January, 1898, came to Batesville as a bookkeeper for the Western Furniture Company, later becoming a salesman for the firm.  In 1922 he became the President and General Manager of the Western Furniture Company and the Harry C. Canfield Company.

Mr. Canfield was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives form the 4th (now the 9th) Congressional District of Indiana, in the 68th, 69th, 70th, 71st, and 72nd Congress (1922-1932).  He served on the Ways and Means Committee and the Banking and Currency Committee.  He was active in Masonic circles and was a member of the 32nd Degree Scottish Rite, Knights Templar and the Fraternal Order of the Eagles.  He was presented the Life Membership of the Batesville Lions Club, he was a charter member of the Hillcrest Country Club, a Director of the Memorial Board, a member of the Baptist Church at Hogan Hill, and was active in civic and patriotic affairs.  Many local citizens recall his taking an active part in the Fife and Drum Corps, as a drummer, in many patriotic programs.  He was a follower of all sports, taking special interest in baseball and basketball, and when in good health attended all the games he could.

Harry Canfield died at his home in Batesville on Friday, February 9, 1945, at the age of 69.  At the time of his death, he was Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Batesville State Bank and formerly was President and Vice President of the National Association of Furniture Manufacturers, Inc., of Chicago, IL, of which he was a Director at the time of his passing.
 

by Paul Wonning
and from Something About the Author, Volume 2.

Miriam Evangeline Mason began life in Goshen, Indiana in the year 1900.  During her early life the family also resided in Bloomington, Elletsville, and Martinsville, Indiana.  Miriam was one of a family of seven.

She decided to become a writer after working as a school teacher and assistant editor for a magazine, among other jobs.  She felt that her childhood on a rolling Indiana farm had a way of springing to life for boys and girls in her books.  Miriam married M. M. Swain in 1924.  They had one daughter, Kathleen.

Her first published book was Little Story House, which appeared in 1935.  During her prolific career, she wrote over fifty books for young people, and during her later years she also served as a consultant for primers produced for elementary school students.

She moved to Batesville during the late 1940's.  She had been researching a book at Madison, and came to Batesville for a visit.  She liked the town, and purchased the home at 510 Western Avenue.  This became known as "the spooky house" because of its unkempt appearance.

According to her grandson, Andy Beck, the three important things in her life were: church, culture and reading.  The last she instilled in her grandson.  He was required to read one book a week during his stays at her Batesville home.  He would visit the cavernous library on the second floor of the Memorial Building, make his weekly selection, read it, and return the next week every week of his stay.  Included in her works were books based on her grandchildren.  The book about Andy was entitled, A Small Farm for Andy, appearing in 1958 when he was seven years old.  The book about his sister, Kathleen Miriam Beck (Hurwitz), was entitled, Katie Kittenheart, published in 1957.

Miriam Mason Swain would reside in Batesville until her death in 1971.  Her life adds a colorful and interesting chapter to Batesville's saga.
 

Minnie E. Wycoff

from The Herald-Tribune, Batesville, Indiana, September 4, 1941

Minnie E. Wycoff was the daughter of John A. and Mary A. Stewart (nee Sellers) and was born near Cross Plains, Ripley County, Indiana on August 11, 1874.  Here on the farm she spent her girlhood days, attended public school and grew to womanhood.

Having a thirst for knowledge and higher learning, and deciding to become a teacher, she attended Moores Hill College, and began her teaching career at the early age of eighteen, in Brown Township, where she taught for several years.

On January 19, 1896, she was united in marriage to Albert B. Wycoff, also a teacher.  They established their home in Cross Plains, and here their son, Paul, their only child, was born to them.  Albert Wycoff quit the teaching profession to study law, and in 1904, when he began the practice of his profession in Versailles, he moved his family there, where Mrs. Wycoff continued her teaching in the Versailles Schools and later on she taught in Napoleon.

In 1908, Mr. Wycoff came to Batesville to practice law, moved his family there, and from that time on, for nearly thirty-four years, Mrs. Wycoff had been a resident of the City of Batesville, identifying herself with community interests and civic life.

Her life interests had been many and varied:  She was an organizer of the Ripley County Tuberculosis Association, serving as its president and secretary; she had been a member of the Ripley County Chapter of the American Red Cross since its organization, serving it in official capacity also, and during the Second World War was named supervisor of Red Cross activities in Ripley County, for which she was voted a Red Cross medal for service rendered; she was a moving factor in the organization of the Batesville Unit of the American Legion Auxiliary, serving as its president and in other official positions; and she was an organizer of the Ripley County Historical Society, in which she took great interest and served as its president.

Through her painstaking efforts, she located the graves of Ripley County's Revolutionary soldiers, secured markers for these graves and had the names of these heroes listed on tablets in the Ripley County War Memorial Museum.  Following the World War, she put forth laborious efforts in gathering data for the publishing of a book entitled "Ripley County's Part in the World War."  After publishing this World War history, Mrs. Wycoff spent years in research work, assembling material for a History of Batesville, which she completed.

In 1927 she wrote a pageant on Ripley County's history and staged it at the Osgood Fair Grounds.  In collaboration with Charlie Wesler of Batesville, she edited a history of the Whitewater Canal.  At the time of her death in 1941, she was revising some of her short stories for publication.