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 1888 - 1978 (90 years)
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| Name |
Joseph Benson Bishir [1, 2, 3] |
| Born |
11 Feb 1888 |
Lynchburg, Ohio  [4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9] |
| Gender |
Male |
| Occupation |
Artist (1957), Automobile repairman (1930) [3, 10] |
| Died |
6 Oct 1978 |
Lake Worth, Palm Beach, Florida [5, 6, 11] |
| Buried |
Dayton Memorial Park, Dayton, Ohio [6] |
| Person ID |
I1498 |
Bishir Family | Jonathan & Elizabeth Bishir |
| Last Modified |
13 Apr 2013 |
| Father |
William Bishir, b. 19 Aug 1840, Lynchburg, Ohio , d. 17 Jan 1934, Lynchburg, Ohio (Age 93 years) |
| Mother |
Judith “Judia” Boyland, b. 5 Apr 1849, Ohio , d. 12 Sep 1938, Clark Twp., Clinton Co., Ohio (Age 89 years) |
| Married |
29 Oct 1866 |
Highland Co., Ohio [12] |
| Family ID |
F49 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Family |
Mary Edna Long, b. 20 Nov 1891, Lima, Ohio , d. 19 Aug 1966, Palm Beach, Florida (Age 74 years) |
| Married |
Abt 1912 [3] |
| Children |
| | 1. Mary Jane Bishir, b. 26 Feb 1913, Ohio , d. 2 Mar 2003, New York, New York (Age 90 years) |
| | 2. Valery Jean Bishir, b. 28 Feb 1914, Dayton, Ohio , d. 5 Aug 1924, Dayton, Ohio (Age 10 years) |
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| Last Modified |
10 Nov 2022 |
| Family ID |
F809 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
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| Event Map |
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 | Born - 11 Feb 1888 - Lynchburg, Ohio |
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| Photos
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 | BISHIR, Joseph Benson
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 | BISHIR group on the occasion of the 66th Wedding Anniversary of William and Judia Bishir, Highland Co., Ohio, October 1932
Courtesy of the Mark Sebastian Archive - please do not republish this photo in any form including to anywhere else on the Internet without specific permission |
 | BISHIR, Joseph Benson about 1905
Courtesy of the Mark Sebastian Archive - please do not republish this photo in any form including to anywhere else on the Internet without specific permission |
 | BISHIR brothers: Joseph Benson (Ben), John, William, 1905 Xenia, Ohio
Courtesy of the Mark Sebastian Archive - please do not republish this photo in any form including to anywhere else on the Internet without specific permission |
 | BISHIR, Zella, Ben, Bessie and Judia (in car)
Courtesy of the Mark Sebastian Archive - please do not republish this photo in any form including to anywhere else on the Internet without specific permission |
 | BISHIR - Ben Bishir's school, Highland Co., Ohio.
Courtesy of the Mark Sebastian Archive - please do not republish this photo in any form including to anywhere else on the Internet without specific permission
Dear Jane, This is a snap ( on a rainy day) of the great institution of learning where Gorilla got his much vaunted education. So now you can see what it looks like. Also the woodpeckers didn't eat it before he got out of second grade, because it is brick. Dear Old Rattlesnake College.
Your Pappy, Ben |
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| Notes |
- Living in Dayton with his sister, Bessie, in 1910. Lists two children on his 1917 draft registration. Lived in Dayton in 1920 & 1930 also. Lived in Florida in 1969.
In later life Ben was an accomplished artist. He attended the Dayton Art Institute and won first prizes at the Society of Four Arts in 1952 and 1953.
Florida Personalities
Treasure Hunter Extraorinary
By Carol Bird, The All Florida Weekly Magazine, 4/14/1957
From Florida’s beaches, flatlands and hills, come treasures of native materials -- wood, limestone and anatase -- from which Joseph Benson Bisher of Lake Worth, turns out prize-winning sculpture. He has to his credit a number of first prizes won at art exhibitions throughout the country.
Mr. Bisher is a familiar sight around the East Coast countryside, tall, distinguished-looking and wearing a Vandyke beard. Attired in Bermuda shorts and beret, he pedals his bicycle over country roads and beaches, and on these excursions picks up materials in which he can foresee objects of art. Sometimes he travels to Marianna for limestone, to Fort Lauderdale for pine and to Sarasota for travertin -- a gray or tan stone formed by deposits from spring waters.
Some of his best art has been carved from Anatase, a black to brown mineral found along the beaches of Lake Worth. “But there isn’t any particular place where my treasure lies,” says Mr. Bisher, “I find it all over Florida.”
As a boy in Ohio, this artist was fond of sketching landscapes and animals, but in adulthood had to turn his attention toward making a living in a serious way. He was variously, automotive engineer, factory worker, plasterer, pugilist, acrobat, house builder and real estate broker. During World War II, Mr. Bisher made precision tools and dies for building planes and tanks. Eventually, however, he returned to his first love and entered Dayton Art Institute. He was soon hauling gargantuan rocks and stumps to a small studio where he hacked at them to heart’s content. Today his works sell for thousands of dollars.
Joseph Bisher won first prizes at the Society of Four Arts in 1952, for his “Head of Moses” and in 1953 for his “Refugees,” a sculpture of a mother and child. He has held one-man shows of oils, water colors and sculpture in many galleries, including the Lowe Gallery, Miami. In a showing at Dayton Grand Avenue Gallery, he was awarded honorable mention from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.
Looking at a piece of mahgany or limestone, the artist says he can sense what is locked inside, and he chops and carves or slices at it until it is released. Using well the knowledge he gained as tool and die-maker, Mr. Bisher makes ll the tools he needs for his work. He seasons his own wood and polishes the finished work by hand. His backyard is his favorite spot to work, for there he “can let the chips fly where they may -- and stay there!”
Perhaps Mr. Bisher is successful because he has found contentment. “I have found the key,” says the distinguished artist, “to the place I should be. I am satisfied, and at peace.” [10, 13]
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