Oliver Raymond Benoit, the twelfth child of Mary Ann Dondanville and Lester Benoit, was born April 12, 1885 in Webster County, Iowa. His family and friends better knew him as Ollie. About 1909 Ollie married Therese Agnes Gaughan who was born in Iowa in April 1892. They established their home in Gilmore City, Iowa where Ollie was employed in the C.W. Edgington Grain Elevator.

Six children were born to their marriage. Donald Oliver was born July 3, 1910. Edward Eugene was born March 10, 1912 in Gilmore City. Raymond Leroy was born January 8, 1915; Iona Lucille, June 3, 1917; Elizabeth Jane, July 20, 1924; and Richard on May 18, 1930.

By the early 1930s Donald, the eldest, had established himself in Chicago. In 1932 his brother Ed followed. On Thursday morning October 11, 1934, Oliver Benoit fell twelve feet down the shaft at the Edgington Grain Elevator at Gilmore City. He landed on his head and shoulders and never regained consciousness. He died that Saturday evening in Mercy Hospital in Fort Dodge. Ollie was forty-nine years old. His youngest son, Dick, was just four.

Theresa moved to Chicago in the mid 1930s, with her three youngest children, Iona, Betty. and Dick, to be closer to her oldest two sons. She settled in an apartment at 57th and Union near Donald. Iona and Betty married in the 1940s and Dick continued living with his mother. In the early 1950s they were living in an apartment building, owned by Don Benoit, at 5249 South Green Street.

Following Dick's marriage in 1956, Theresa continued to live in the apartment on Green Street. She lived to see the birth of several of her great grandchildren. She died in Chicago in 1957, just a few months after the death of her daughter Iona.

Donald Oliver Benoit 1910 - 1989
born July 3, 1910 in Gilmore City, Iowa. Married Laverne Peters from Valparaiso, Indiana. No children. Donald died in Valparaiso in 1989

Edward Eugene Benoit 1912 - 1989
born in Gilmore City, Iowa, March 10, 1912, married Sarah Zaretzky in Chicago in 1932. Fourteen children, Patricia, '32; Jeanne Marie in '33, Edward Jr. '34; James Oliver, '35; William Thomas, '37; Donna Olivia, '38; Judith Elaine, '40; Barbara, '42; Daniel Bruce,'43; John Dennis, '45; Terrance Mark, '47; Ione Margaret, '48; Fredrick Kevin '51; and Steven, in '53.. Sarah died in 1968. In 1973 Ed married Mercedes Camacho. He died in Chicago in 1989.

Raymond Leroy Benoit 1915 - 1992
born In Gilmore City, Iowa on January 8, 1915, married Dorothy Darlene Orr in 1935.. Two daughters, Diana Lee, '36; Sandra Marie, '41; and son, Randolph Eugene, in '55

Iona Lucille Benoit 1917 - 1957
born In Gilmore City, Iowa on June 3, 1917, moved to Chicago with her mother in the mid 1930s' married William Joseph Cavanaugh, in 1940. Five daughters and a son: Sue Anne, '41: Mary Theresa, '49, Jane Marie, '51; and twins Patricia Ann and Pamela Ann '54; In February 1957 Iona died during childbirth in 1957.

Elizabeth Benoit 1924 - 1967
born In Gilmore City on July 30, 1924., moved to Chicago with her mother ,married Adolph Glodawski in 1945. Slug Glodawski, son, Thomas Leonard , '45. Divorced in 1952 and married Donald Fisher, died in Chicago Heights, Illinois in 1967, at age forty three.

Richard L. Benoit 1930 -
born in Gilmore City, Iowa in 1930. Four years old when his father died and his mother moved to Chicago. Married Carol Moraza from Milwaukee in mid 1950s. Four children: Laura, 56; Richard Roland, '59; Mark, '64; and Jody in '68.

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