The Indianapolis journal., 1904-02-07
DESCENDANTS OF BUNYAN.
Can Trace Lineage Direct to Author
of 'PiIgrim's Progress"
New York Herald.

New York Herald.
There are two men in Chicago who can
go back two hundred years and say Our
ancestor was not mere nameless churl,
nor yet a rObber chief nor a viking. He
was John Bunyan. and beyond him do
not trouble TO go. We are satisfied with
that lineage"
John Bunyan was a sort OF miracle
Some one said that he was no more a
common man than Niagara is a common
waterfall. And IL is a sort Of miracle-at
any rate. a problem for the student of he
redity to investigate-that so little has
been heard OF his descendants. OF these
there are a number living to-day. most of
them in America. They are all descended
from Sarah Bunyan. the fifth of John
Bunyan's six children. She married a
William Browne, at Bedford, England, in
1886 Eight descendants from this couple
are now living In England and one in To-
ronto, Canada. The American branch OF
the family comes from the marriage of
Sarah Brown with a Stephen Benbrook.
Ezekiel Benbrook, the first American of
the name was an only child, born about
twenty years before the breaking out of
the American revolution His birthplace
was on an English ship in mid-Atlantic,
and both his parents died before the ship
reached Charleston, whittier he was
bound. The orphan was reared by kind
strangers, and at the beginning Of the
revolution Joined the patriot army. After
the war he followed mercantile pursuits in
South Carolina, and Ii is in the South
where nearly all the Benbrooks still re-
side
1t is a remarkable fact that, although
''The Pilgrims Progress" has been the
most widely circulated of all books other
than the Bible, many of the known de-
scendants of Bunyan have taken little in
terest in il or their relationship to the
author. The book has been translated into
over eighty languages and dialects. One
of the watchmen in a bower overlooking
an Oriental vineyard said not long ago:
such book was not made for you men
who live in cities, but l. who live in this
of such book. I can understand it," Yet
one of Bunyan's own kinfOlk admitted re-
Gently that. though he knew he was de-
scended from its author. he had not yet
read the immortal dream" explaining the
curious literary fact by saying he was
never much given to books
But the Chicago "Bunyans'-Samuel L.
BenbroOk. and his cousin, Monroe Benbrook,
direct descendants Of Ezekiel-have read the
book. both, however, without knowing at
the time of their relationship to Bunyan.
The life Of Samuel more nearly resembles
that of his famous ancestor than does his
cousins John Bunyan was called a tinker.
Strange TO say, Samuel Benbrook, I'm his
youth, served an apprenticeship with an
uncle by marriage who was a timer. but
only worked at the bench a few months.
Then ne began TO think of becoming min
lister and worked his way through college.
The first lecture he ever attempted to give
after his graduation upon the life and
times of John Bunyan. And yet 1t was
only few months ago that he became
aware of the fact. through his cousin, that
he was q descendant Of Bunyan.
Another coincidence IS that both cousins
are strongly religious men, and both hold
TO that doctrine for which Bunyan fought
and observation-disclosures immersion-fOr Mon
roe is member of the Baptist. while
Samuel has been pastor Of the Christian
Church. The latter was at one time a mis-
siOnary among the mountaineers of Ala
bama- In Chicago he became chaplain 10
the hotels. work that was first undertaken
by the Rev Henry Marsh Warren, of New
York city. who is head of this movement,
that is being launched on large scale in
the limited STATES