Notes:

Witmer, Robert Russell

88, of North Tonawanda, Niagara County, NY, October 16, 2003, beloved husband of Dorothy (nee Bennett) Witmer of Grand Island, Erie County, NY; loving father of David Witmer of Youngstown, NY and Mark Witmer of Geneva, NY; brother of Lois Killian of Akron, Erie County, NY. Interment Services will be held in Elmlawn Cemetery Saturday at 10:30 AM. Friends invited. Mr. Witmer was an WW-II U.S. Army veteran, a retiree from the Corps of Engineers, where he worked on the St. Lawrence Seaway Project and the stopping of the American Falls. Arrangements by BRUNNER FUNERAL HOME.
Published in the Buffalo News on 10/17/2003.

Robert + BENNETT, Dorothy. Dorothy (daughter of BENNETT, Christopher and BLACK, Isabelle K) was born on 18 Aug 1912 in New York; died on 10 Jun 2007 in Grand Island, Erie County, NY; was buried in Elmlawn Cemetery, Town of Tonawanda, Erie County, NY. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Christian married CRITTENDEN, Rena B on 5 Mar 1914. Rena (daughter of CRITTENDEN, Frank K and OSWALD, Matilda A) was born in 1887 in Williamsville, Erie County, NY; died on 29 May 1962 in General Hospital, Buffalo, Erie County, NY; was buried in Harris Hill Cemetery, Clarence, Erie County, NY. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Lockport NY Union Sun Journal - 6/2/1939

The will of Christopher Bennett,
North Tonawanda,who died April
13, was admited to probate and
letters testamentary were Issued
to the widow, Isabella Bennett, 173
Pine street, North Tonawanda, sole
heir to an estate listed in the petition
as $3000 realty and $300 personal
property.

ALSO

Niagara Gazette - 4/15/1939

NORTH TONAWANDA. April 16
-Rites will be held tomorrow afternoon
at 2:30 o'clock for Christopher
Bennett. 62. of 73 Pine street,
who died Thursday night at the
DeGraff Memorial Hospital after a
brief illness with pneumonia. the
rites will be held at the late resi-
dence and will be conducted by the
Rev. Craig W. Schwartz of the
Payne avenue Church of christ In-
terment will be in Elmlawn.
Mr. Bennett was born in Inger-
soll. Ont . and had resided in North
Tonawanda the last 39 years. He
leaves a wife, Isabelle; four sons,
Leon, Buffalo, Norman and Robert,
North Tonawanda, and Comus,
Tonawanda; five daughters, Mad-
eline, North Tonawanda, Mrs. Jack
Carey, Detroit, Mrs. Eben Chaffee
and Mrs. Kenneth Scheu, Buffalo,
and Mrs. Robert Wittmer, Williams-
ville; 15 grandchildren, one great-
grandchild and three brothers,
Oscar, North Tonawanda, William,
Falt, Ont., and Thomas, Toronto.

Christopher married BLACK, Isabelle K about 1895. Isabelle was born about 1878 in Scotland; died on 13 Jul 1954 in North Tonawanda, Niagara County, NY. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

North Tonawanda NY Evening News - 7/15/1954

BENNETT - Isabelle, aged 77,
at the home of her daughter, Mrs
Robert Witmer, 253 Edward St.,
North Tonawanda, July 13, 1954.
Beloved mother of Mrs. Jack
(Constance) Cory, Detroit, Mich.:
Mrs. Kenneth (Guen), Scheu, La-
Grange, HI.; Mrs. Evan (Ruth)
Chaffue, Tarzana, Calif.; Mrs.
Robert (Dorothy) Witmer, North
Tonawanda; Mrs. Alan (Madelyn)
Taylor, Grand Island; Leon and
Norman Bennett, North Tonawanda,
Comus and Robert Bennett of
California; sister of Alan Black,
North Tonawanda, and Miss Leona
Black, Buffalo. Friends received at
the late residence, where services
will be held Friday afternoon at
2 o'clock (July 16, 1954), the Rev.
Craig Schwartz officiating. Interment
in Elmlawn Cemetery.

Notes:

(Amherst Bee - February 25, 1939 -
"The last Civil War Veteran in Williamsville,
Christian F. Witmer, 99, died Thursday night at his home in 179 Cayuga St.
after an illness of several weeks.
Mr.Witmer, a member of a pioneer Amherst family homesteaded in the area where the
Snyder section subsequently was developed. His father, Tobias Witmer, one of the first engineers
and surveyors in Amherst, went to war with his son when President Lincoln
called for volunteers. they served the 50th New York Engineering Division."

I was born April 11, 1840, Previous to reaching my majority I was engaged mostly on work on the farm and attending school, and assisting my father in making surveys. My first venture in the way of business for myself was teaching the public school in what was known as the "Good District" in the town of Clarence for the winter term of 1860 - 1861.
At the close of the school term I took a course in Bryant and Stratton Merchantile College in Buffalo, graduating in the spring of 1862.
Enlisted in the 50th N.Y. Volunteers Engineers, August 22, 1862 and was honorably dischardged from the army service at the close of the War. The next few years were devoted to teaching schools during the winter in Levanworth, KS, and Easton Missouri, and on government surveys in the western part of Kansas, during the summer.
Those were interesting times for me as you may judge from the fact that my flagman, John Roach, a Cavalryman was killed by Roman Noses' band of Cheyenne Indians while we were engaged in locating a township line on the plains.
In 1868, I returned to New York State and took over my fathers business of surveying and insurance. I married Mary S. COTTON of Elma, Sept. 04, 1878. Two sons and three daughters were born of this union. Daughter Grace, born June 24, 1879, and died Sept. 01, 1916. There survive, sons Ralph, with two grandchildren.

Christian married COTTON, Mary Sophia on 4 Sep 1878 in East Aurora, Erie County, NY. Mary (daughter of COTTON, Elisha Labon and BRUNELL, Mary) was born on 27 Nov 1848 in Binghamton, Broome County, NY; died on 15 Sep 1939 in Williamsville, Erie County, NY. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Frank + OSWALD, Matilda A. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]