Quick Facts
Biography
William Evarts Benjamin (1859 – 1940) was a prominent publisher and collector in Boston, Massachusetts.
Biography
William E. Benjamin was born in 1859. His most well-known work was the printing and extensive promotion of Edmund Clarence Stedman's A Library of American Literature from the Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, which his company published in 1894.
His father was Park Benjamin b 1809-1864 and his mother was Mary Brower Western. Mary's father Henry Membery Western Esq was a well known lawyer in NY City. (One of Henry M.Western's brothers, Thomas Gehot Westerm, was the Superintendent of Indian Affairs under Sam Houston in TX.) Henry M Western's wife, Hannah Romaine, was the daughter of a well known Revolutionary War vet named Benjamin Romaine who was also the school teacher of Washignton Irving for 6 years (See Washington Irvings obit which mentions this fact)
William's wife was Anne Engles Rogers (1865-1924) whose father, Henry H Rogers (1840-1909), along with John D Rockafeller founded Standard Oil company.
Her father also financed Helen Keller's college education (Radcliffe College) after meeting her with Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) when she was about 16. He also arranged for a monthly stipend for her. He was impressed with her intellect and Helen Keller and Henry Rogers remained friends until his passing in 1909 in NY City. When Helen wrote her book, she dedicated her book, "The World I Live In", "To Henry H. Rogers, my Dear Friend of Many Years." On the fly leaf of Rogers' copy, she wrote, "To Mrs Rogers, The best of the world I live in is the kindness of friends like you and Mr Rogers."
Benjamin married Anne Engle Rogers, eldest daughter of Abbie Palmer (née Gifford) Rogers and Henry Huttleston Rogers, each of Mayflower lineage, an industrialist millionaire who was a principal of Standard Oil. They had two children, Beatrice Benjamin Cartwright and Henry Rogers Benjamin.
After 1900, when Mark Twain went bankrupt investing in the Paige Compositor, Benjamin and his father-in-law assisted him financially by taking control of his accounts and real estate.
Benjamin died in 1940 and is buried at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in New York.