(Last updated: Sunday April 26, 2009)

In 1843-1844, Alexander Benitz (see below) recruited and led (with Colonel Agustín Codazzi, of Venezuela) nearly 400 German emigrants from Endingen and the surrounding villages to establish Colonia Tovar in Venezuela.

Located about 40 miles west of Caracas, the colony still exists and is today a tourist destination.  You can visit the colony's web site at:

http://www.venezuelatuya.com/centro/coloniatovar.htm

    Included on this page are the Benitz siblings who emigrated from Endingen to Venezuela, all children of Johannes Beniz (master dyer) and Maria Barbara Herb.  Other siblings emigrated to the south-western US (listed in that submenu; see the full family tree).

    A son of Johannes Beniz (master dyer) and Maria Barbara Herb, Alexander Benitz was born 19 November, 1813, in Endingen, Baden, Germany.

    Alexander trained (apprenticed?) in Freiburg as a surveyor and cartographer.  In 1843-1844 he recruited and led (with Colonel Agustín Codazzi, of Venezuela) nearly 400 German emigrants from Endingen and the surrounding villages to establish the Colonia "El Tovar" in Venezuela.  Located about 40 miles west of Caracas, it still exists today.  The colony had a rocky start under the leadership of Codazzi.  In 1846 Alexander became its second mayor and though his appointment was controversial he was critical to the colony's success.   He held that post until he died on 15 November, 1865.

    In 1859 Alexander met Josepha Hildebrandt in Endingen, and brought her back to Tovar where they were married.  They had two sons, Alexander Benitz (1862) and Carlos Federico Benitz (1864).   Their second son may have died young as he does not appear in the census of 1870.  We have no further information on their children.

    For more details, click: Alexander.

    Born Karl Freidrich Benitz on 2 June 1821, in Endingen, Baden, Germany, a son of Johannes Beniz (master dyer) and Maria Barbara Herb.

    In 1843 Karl joined a group of almost 400 colonists led by his brother Alexander Benitz, founding members of Colonia Tovar in Venezuela.  Karl and his brothers established a brewery and a trading company.   In 1854, on one of his business trips to the U.S.A., he married Emilia Brecht in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - she was born c.1829, likely in Germany.  Upon the death of his brother Alexander in 1865 Karl became the colony's third mayor, protecting it  from sacking and burning by warring factions of the internal Venezuelan wars.   In 1879, he resigned and moved his family to Caracas, where he died on the 19th April, 1883. 

    At the time of his death, Karl owned the estate, "La Fundación" (in the state of Miranda) which he used for the cultivation of cane sugar and maiz.  After his death, his son in law, Emerich Heny, managed it for the family.  It was partially ransacked during the "Legalista" revolution of 1892.  When the Venezuelan government failed to offer proper restitution,  Heny, as a US citizen, filed a claim with the US Senate, which was settled in 1903. 

    Per the testimony in Heny's claim, Karl and Emilia had five children.   We are still researching their descendants.  This is a summary of what we have discovered, so far:

    Born on 10 September, 1810, she was baptized Maria Lugardis Beniz on 14 September in Endingen, Baden, Germany.  Her parents were Johannes Beniz (master dyer) and Maria Barbara Herb.  She is not known to have married though she had a son, Wilhelm Benitz.

    In 1843 Lugarda emigrated to Venezuela as a member of the group of almost 400 German immigrants who established the Colonia Tovar under the leadership of her brother Alexander and Colonel Codazzi (of Venezuela).   Lugarda and her brothers formed a company "Carlos y Lugarda Benitz y Compańía" which with Codazzi's protection monopolized the colony's early trade; all products entering or leaving the colony passed through their control.  She was apparently still living in 1888 when she filed the missing persons notice for her son Wilhelm.

    For more about Colonia Tovar, see Alexander Benitz on this page.   See also siblings Karl & Theodore Benitz.

    Born Theodor Constantin Benitz on 17 July, 1817, in Endingen, Baden, Germany, a son of Johannes Beniz (master dyer) and Maria Barbara Herb.  In 1843 he joined the group of almost 400 émigrés led by Colonel Codazzi (of Venezuela) and his brother, Alexander Benitz, the founding members of Colonia Tovar in Venezuela.

    We have the tragic manner of his death on 26 June, 1843, from  "La Colonia Tovar y su gente" by Leopoldo Jahn Montalban, 1999 (pages 59-60):

It is clear Codazzi, who had been a good planner for the Colonia Tovar project, lacked the necessary skills to lead people outside a military environment.  It's obvious he did not understand nor know how to relate to the colonists to instill harmony within the group.  A difficult group to lead made up as it was of people who, in their home country, had a very strong community sense and did not respond easily to the strict rules Codazzi wanted to implement, seconded by [Alexander] Benitz.  Several colonists, including Theodore, protested.  They considered Alexander a traitor for siding with Codazzi.   Wanting to set an example, Alexander had his brother arrested by Codazzi's militia, who bound him up with heavy rope.  Attempting to free himself, Theodor resisted fiercely and as a result passed out, and fell when the ropes were loosened.  He lay ill for several days and, in spite of Alexander's efforts to save him, died on 26 of June, 1843.  A few days earlier, Theodore with his sister Karolina had been the first to make beer, which was also the first beer brewed in Venezuela.  The kettle used to make the beer is today the property of Juanico Breidenbach's inheritors.

    Wilhelm was born 3 January, 1833, in Endingen, the illegitimate son of Lugardis Benitz - she never married.  He emigrated (for which he obtained official permission) from Germany in 1851 to Colonia Tovar where he is listed as a late arrival.  Little is known about him.

    It is possible Wilhelm had a daughter which implies he married.  Mrs. Emilia B. de Benitz (Karl's wife) and Matilda Benitz are listed as arriving at Ellis Island, NY, on May 8, 1895.  It is possible that Matilda, born circa 1859, was Wilhelm's daughter.  No other male Benitz and spouse living in Venezuela at the time fits the expected child-bearing age requirements.

    The following article, published in the New York Times, September 22, 1888, indicates Wilhelm was somewhat unreliable, going on sprees.  The article also mentions he had been in San Francisco.  It is possible he visited his uncle Adolphus Benitz in western Nevada, a former miner who had become an Angora goat breeder.

    We don't know if Wilhelm was ever found.  New York in 1888 was a rough city and he may well have been one of its victims.