Very little is known of Henry Benner. His name appears
in the History of the Church only twice... once in a listing of
those who participated in Zions Camp and again in a listing of those called
to the original First Quorum of the Seventy.
In checking the Ancestral File, there is one
Henry Benner listed who is logically but NOT conclusively the one which
we seek. IF THIS IS THE CORRECT PERSON, he was born May 18, 1800
in Venango County, Pennsylvania, to Daniel Benner and Katerine Ettleman.
We know that Henry Benner was an early convert to
the Church, for by 1834 he was a volunteer in Zions Camp, the excursion
to provide relief to the suffering Saints in Missouri. We may assume that
following Zions Camp he returned to the Kirtland area. Even if so, he returned
to Missouri for we find Henry Benner among those who filed redress petitions
seeking reimbursement from the government for the losses suffered during
the Missouri persecutions. Henry Benner summed his losses at $550.00.
In 1835 Henry was ordained a Seventy and called as
a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. We have no knowledge of whether
he magnified his call for at this point he disappears from the pages of
Church History. IF THE HENRY BENNER FROM THE Ancestral File
IS OUR Henry Benner, then he died June 4, 1880 in Thurman, Iowa
after having married Susan Ettleman, a cousin on his mother's side, and
fathering seven children.
