The Behnkes Came to America

           Relatively little is known about the Behnkes.  Heinrich Behnke is believed to have been born in Schleswig-Holstein.  He married a woman from Haseldorf remembered only as Margarethe.  I have been unsuccessful so far in locating the Behnkes on the 1880 federal census, which leads me to believe that they immigrated after that date.

          Just when the Behnkes arrived in the United States is not known.  It may have been as early as 1880 or as late as 1889.  According to the federal census of 1900, Mrs. Behnke was the mother of six children, only one of which (Elizabeth) was still living.  There is no record of the other five children being buried anywhere in La Crosse County.

          By 1890, however, Heinrich Behnke was the owner of a small truck farm adjacent to the Pertzsch holdings in rural Onalaska.  This is doubtlessly how his daughter Elizabeth made the acquaintance of Walter Christian Pertzsch, whom she married at the age of eighteen.

Behnkes of the Past

Name	Born	Died	Contact:
BEHNKE,  Heinrich "Henry"	18 May 1843-1849 in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany	15 Mar 1922 in La Crosse, La Crosse County, Wisconsin, USA	donnatreez
	Father: BEHNKE, Johann Mother: NAGELT, Katherine Spouse 1: UNKNOWN, Margarethe         Spouse 2: LUDWIG, Maria
BEHNKE, Elizabeth.	6 Jun 1872 in Germany?	13 Sep 1912 in La Crosse, La Crosse County, Wisconsin, USA	donnatreez
	Father: BEHNKE, Heinrich "Henry" Mother: UNKNOWN, Margarethe Spouse:  PERTZSCH, Walter Christian