ometown
by Carol Anderson
H
istory
August 2011
H
Bible Thumping Ben Blair
Ben and his wife had two
children and as the years passed
their lives became incompatible and
Mrs. Blair took her spinning wheel
tour with a man more congenial to
her taste, and Ben took to the road.
What became of the children we do
not know.
Ben got the idea that he
was called to preach but people
generally thought that he was at
the wrong end of the line when
the message came. He did not get
the flower now and then when he
could get in a church gathering. At
one time he got a squad of hearers,
mostly boys, and when in the middle
of his talk the boys became noisy Ben
gathered up his cane, Bible, string
of trinkets and said meeting was
out, and marched out of the house.
He happened at Robbin’s Corners
on Sunday during meeting and as
soon as the preacher sat down he
was on the floor and jumped high
and dry and brought down his cane
with a thud and said, by the Grace
of God he was going to talk, and
talk he did for a few minutes and
sat down and was quiet. Sometimes
he got boisterous at gatherings and
had to be marched out.
Ben stood about six feet in his
number 12 shoes and tipped the
scales at 200 pounds and usually
was stout and hearty, and was quite
well versed in parts of the scriptures
and other matters. He was neither
crazy nor a fool, but just funny and
unbalanced.
He was mostly on the roads
in Elkhart, Noble, and LaGrange
Counties.
When one heard the shout,
“Glory to God” wafted on the air,
they knew Ben was bringing up
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