Geneva resident donates photo of school district's namesake

Benjamin Elementary District 25 can put a face with a name, thanks to a find by a local history teacher.

Adam Gibbons, a Geneva resident who teaches at Riverside Brookfield High School in Riverside, bought a photo album of some of the region's first settlers at an estate auction last fall in Batavia.

The album photos, which date from the mid-1850s to about 1880, include several images of Robert Benjamin, one of the first settlers of Wayne Township.

Gibbons, a member of the Kane County Genealogical Society, began researching Benjamin's history and came across the small two-school district located between Carol Stream and West Chicago.

"I didn't even know there was a school district named after the man until I started doing the research," Gibbons said. "It turns out they didn't even have any photos of Benjamin."

Gibbons scanned, enlarged and reprinted the original photo, which measured less than three inches, and donated a framed copy of the photo to school officials at the school board meeting April 14.

"I think it's unique in that it's one of the few, if any, photos of Mr. Benjamin anybody has found, so it has some sentimental value to us," said Phil Ehrhardt, superintendent of District 25.

As for his research on Benjamin, Gibbons said he moved to DuPage County from Indiana in 1834. While he was among the first settlers to Wayne Township and lived close to the first District 25 schoolhouse, it isn't clear whether Benjamin played any role in the formation of the school district that takes his name.

Local archives Gibbons found had mentioned that Benjamin's daughter, Caroline, was among the first white settlers to be born in DuPage County.

Gibbons said the album, one of several antiques he and his wife have collected over the years, will be kept at his house.

"I donated it briefly to the West Chicago Historical Society, but I plan on keeping it," Gibbons said. "With all the local history in it, this piece is unique."