The Life of MICHAEL L BENEDUM
Michael Benedum, considered the greatest oil wildcatter of his day, was born in the small town of Bridgeport, West Virginia. According to legend, minutes after he offered his seat on a crowded train to John Worthington, superintendent of South Penn Oil Company, Mr. Worthington offered him a job buying leases for South Penn. Mr. Benedum was 21 at the time and his career in the oil business was launched. In 1900, he joined with Joseph C. Trees, a geologist, engineer and famed tackle at Western University of Pennsylvania (now the University of Pittsburgh) to form the Benedum-Trees Oil Company. The company discovered and developed oil and gas fields around the world including the first producing offshore field in the Gulf of Mexico. Often Mr. Benedum and Mr. Trees lost but on the whole they made fortunes in the oil business winning them the reputation of being the nations No. 1 wildcatters.
The Benedum family mausoleum was constructed in 1919 after the tragic death of Michael and Sarah’s only child, Lt. Claude Worthington Benedum. While serving at a chemical warfare plant in Washington, D. C. during World War I, he contracted pneumonia and died at the age of 20. He is entombed in the center sarcophagus between his parents: his father to the left, and his mother on the right. It is believed that the three stained glass windows of the mausoleum portray the lives of each of the entombed family members. The inscriptions beneath each window refer to father, son, and mother as they are entombed.
In 1949, electricity was installed in the mausoleum so that portable heating units could be used to prevent condensation. It is the only heated mausoleum in the cemetery. Mr. Benedum died at the age of 90 at Greystone, the mansion he built on Woodland Road overlooking Fifth Avenue.
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2013.04.03
I believe that you have his DOD listed incorrectly. The listed date is probably his birth date.
Posted by D M