Diller, Benjamin (1845-1919)

Christlicher Bundesbote obituary: 1920 Jan 1 p. 7

Birth date: 1845 Jun 24

Test of obituary:

Diller. — In seinem Heim in Bluffton, Ohio, starb am 26. Dezember 1919 Prediger Benjamin Diller, im Alter von 74 Jahren, 6 Monaten und 2 Tagen. Er war geboren am 24. Juni 1845 in Riley Township, Putnam Co., Ohio. Seine Eltern waren Peter Diller und Barbara, eine geborene Sutter. In seiner Jugend wurde er auf das Bekenntnis seines Glaubens getauft und in die Schweizer Mennonitengemeinde aufgenommen. Im Juli 1881 wurde er durch das Los zum Predigtamt berufen und diente der Gemeinde 25 Jahre lang. Im Jahre 1870 verehelichte er sich mit Magdalena Steiner, welche im nächsten Jahre starb und ihm eine Tochter hinterließ. Im Jahre 1873 verehelichte er sich wieder mit Barbara Steiner. Diese Ehe wurde mit 12 Kindern gesegnet, 7 Söhne und 5 Töchter. Zwei der Söhne gingen dem Vater im Tode voran. Fünf Söhne, sechs Töchter, die verwitwete Mutter, achtzehn Enkel und ein Bruder betrauern seinen Tod. Die Begräbnisfeier fand am Sonntag, dem 28. Dezember, in der Ersten Mennonitenkirche, Bluffton, O., statt. Br. A. S. Shelly sprach über 1. Mose 50, 24. Br. W. S. Gottschall unterstützte ihn. Die große Kirche war bis auf den letzten Platz gefüllt, was zeigte, wie er geachtet und geehrt war. Die Beerdigung fand auf dem Ebenezer Kirchhof statt.

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The Mennonite obituary: 1920 Jan 8 p. 5

Text of obituary:

Diller.— Rev. Benjamin Diller died at his home in Bluffton, Ohio, Dec. 26, 1919, at the age of 74 years, 6 months, and 2 days. He was a native of Riley township, Putnam county, Ohio, where he was born June 24, 1845. His parents were Peter Diller and Barbara (nee) Sutter. In early life he was baptized on confession of faith and received into the Swiss Mennonite church. In July, 1881, he was called by lot to the office of the ministry and served the congregation in that capacity for twenty-five years. His married life dates from the year 1870 when he was married to Magdalena Steiner who died the next year, leaving one daughter. In 1873 he was married again, this time to Barbara Steiner, and this union was blessed with twelve children, seven sons and five daughters. Two of these sons preceded the father in death. Besides the five surviving sons and six daughters and the widowed mother, there are eighteen grandchildren. One brother also survives, living at Phoenix, Arizona.

The funeral services were held in the First Mennonite church, Bluffton, on Sunday the 28th, the pastor, Rev. A. S. Shelly, giving the message based on Gen. 50:24, and Rev. W. S. Gottshall assisting. The large church was filled to the last available seat, giving evidence of the high esteem in which the deceased was held as a worker in the church and as neighbor and friend. Interment was made in the Ebenezer cemetery.

Servant of God, well done;
Thy glorious warfare's past;
The battle's fought, the race is run,
And thou art crowned at last.

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Bundesbote-Kalender obituary: 1921 p. 32

Text of obituary:

† Prediger Benjamin Diller.

Br. Benjamin Diller war am 24. Juni 1848 in Putnam County, O., geobren. Er wurde später getaufe und in die Schweizer-Mennonitengemeinde aufgenommen. Im Juli 1881 wurde durches Lost zum Predigtamt berufen, und diente der Gemeinde 25 Jahre lang. Im Jahre 1870 verehelichte er sich mit Magdalena Steiner und nach ihrem Tode 1873 mit Barbara Steiner. Er diente mehrere Jahre als Glied der Missionsbehörde. 1906 legte er sein Amt nieder. Er starb am 26. Dezember 1919 im Alter von 74 Jahren, 6 Monaten und 2 Tagen.

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Mennonite Year Book and Almanac obituary: 1921 p. 18

Text of obituary:

REV. BENJAMIN F. DILLER

BENJAMIN F. Diller, who for fully twenty-five years served his Lord and Master in the ministry of the Gospel in the Swiss Mennonite congregation of Putnam and Allen counties, Ohio, was a native of the vicinity in which all the years of his life were spent.

His father, Peter Diller, came into this country about the year 1827. It was at a time when large numbers of Swiss Mennonites left their ancestral homes in Europe to find a new home in a land of religious freedom. Peter was at the time only fourteen years of age, having been born in the province of Alsace in 1813.

The family first settled in Holmes county, Ohio, but not long after removed to Putnam county. Here Peter met and married Barbara Sutter, with whom he had eight children. The oldest of these died in childhood. Benjamin was the fourth of the other seven, who all lived to a good age and reared families of their own. He himself reached the age of 74 and one-half years, and at the time of his death on December 26, 1919, was survived by only one of the seven, Adam, the oldest of them, whose death in Phoenix, Ariz., however, soon followed. Thus was marked the passing of the first American-born generation of this particular Diller family.

With this introduction, we come now more in particular to the life and service of the subject of this sketch. In the pioneer days of the settlement, into which his boyhood falls, the educational advantages naturally were meager as compared with today. However, he made good use of such as there were, supplementing the years in the public school of the district with studies in the High School of the neighboring town of Findlay. It is the testimony of those who grew up with him that he was an eager reader of instructive literature and was blessed with a good memory.

Thus equipped, he served several terms as teacher in the district schools and in the years that followed continued to lend his voice and influence for the extension and improvement of the educational facilities of the community. The cause of education ever found in him a friend and supporter according to his means.

In the matter of religion he early embraced the faith of his parents and became a member of the church. At the age of 36 he was called into the work of the ministry by the congregation and, we may safely say, by the Lord Himself, whose headship of the church was recognized in the then customary use of the lot in such matters. In this case there had been twelve persons nominated and among these the lot fell upon him.

He recognized in the position to which he was thus called a responsibility, not indeed to be grasped at but to be humbly accepted and to be made the most of, according to ability, in the Master's service. In the progressive development of the activities of the church he was not one to hang back. The Sunday-school work, then in its beginning, found in him a strong advocate and helper. He also saw the need of uniting with others for the work of missions, and he stood in warmly for the identifying of the congregation with the General Conference, which by invitation with a view to a closer acquaintance, held its triennial meeting in the St. John's church in 1893. He was afterwards elected by the Conference as a member of its Board of Home Missions, in which capacity he served acceptably for a number of years. In his work in the congregation it is the testimony of those among whom he labored that he excelled especially in his sympathetic helpfulness as a pastor, more than as a public speaker.

As to his family life, it may in truth be said to have answered well to the inspired description in 1 Tim. 3:2 and 4. His first wife, Magdalena, nee Steiner, gave birth to one daughter, but was soon taken from his side through death. The Lord, however, graciously led him in due time to find one to fill the void caused by this bereavement. On August 14, 1873, he was married to Barbara Steiner, who thus became his loving helpmeet for the remaining years of his life and the mother of twelve more children added to the family register, numbering thus thirteen in all, inclusive of one whose stay in the flesh was but very brief. The number was again broken when to the poignant sorrow of all one of the sons at the age of twenty-eight was suddenly removed through death by drowning in the water of Winona Lake. This and other sorrows and trials that came to them in their family experiences, he bore with true Christian submission, comforted as he was with the comfort with which he was so often enabled to comfort others.

Owing to the prevailing custom in the Mennonite church of expecting and accepting the services of its ministers without definite financial remuneration, Brother Diller in common with his fellow ministers had to look to other sources of income for the needs of his large family, as well as the means wherewith to practice the grace of giving. The Lord prospered him both on the farm and in business as a manufacturer of tile, extensively used in that section for land drainage. However, though uncomplainingly accepting for himself the necessity of such divided efforts with their often conflicting demands upon his time and interest, he was one of the first to approve and advocate a change in the position of those called to the ministry, that they might give themselves more fully to that work.

Having been twice physically disabled, first through a fall while helping at a barn-raising and afterwards by the kick of a horse, causing the loss of one of his legs, he retired from the strenuous work of the farm and business and spent the later years of his life in quiet retirement in an humble but comfortable home in the town of Bluffton. Here retired also from the active work of the ministry, he gave his moral and substantial support to the town end of the church's activities, and when the time for such a step seemed to have come, he helped in the organization of the independent congregation now known as the First Mennonite Church of Bluffton. His loving spirit and counsel contributed much to bringing about the division without a break in the cordial relations between the mother hive and the little swarm that went out from it.

In the family, in the church, and in the community his passing away has left a keenly felt vacancy. The general high esteem in which he was held was evidenced by the large concourse of people that gathered on the occasion of his burial which took place on December 28th. The pastor's funeral sermon, based on Gen. 50:4, compared his passing away with that of Joseph of old in the comforting assurance of God's fulfillment of His promises both to the departing one and to those he left behind.