Benjamin Bolick was a wagonmaker and mechanic. He and his older brother Elkanah married two Dellinger sisters. Benjamin grew up as the youngest child in a large household. Benjamin's father David died when Benjamin had not yet left home; after that, Benjamin and his mother Elizabeth lived for some period in brother Elkanah's household. The family name, of German origin, underwent a great deal of variation. Benjamin's forebears spelled it as Bolch. Relatives in his own generation and later ones tended to go by either Bolich or Bolick, but some cousins were called Bowlick or Boliek.

In April 1864, a month short of his 18th birthday, Benjamin Bolick ("B. D. Bolick") wound up as a private on the wrong side of the war that ravaged his nation. He enlisted in Henrico County, VA, and was assigned to the Confederate 6th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry. He survived the next year, and he went on to have 11 children.

Benjamin Bolick's paternal grandparents were Godfrey (Gottfried) and Christina Bolch. A 1790 birth record for Godfrey's nephew, written in German, refers to witnesses "Gottfried Bolch and his wife Christina." A much later writer states that Godfrey Bolch's wife was Catherine Traffenstadt. However, the Catherine Traffenstadt from that area married Martin Eckard, not Godfrey Bolch. A woman named Catherine Eckard, possible daughter of that couple, wound up marrying Godfrey Bolch's son William. Also, after his wife Christina's death, Godfrey Bolch married a widow named Catherine Hartle -- herself born an Eckard, not a Traffenstadt -- and there were no children of that marriage. Basically, there are endless possibilities for name confusion but there is no good citation for the maiden name of Benjamin Bolick's father's mother, Christina Bolch.

Benjamin's mother, Elizabeth Sigmon, is likewise a mystery. Benjamin's death certificate (1929) shows his mother's maiden name as Molly Sigman, but Molly is not a common nickname for Elizabeth. Some speculate that her name was Mary Elizabeth. However, in the only two census entries that name her, she appears simply as "Elizabeth Bolich" (1850) or "Elizabeth Bolick" (1860).

It's possible that the informant in 1929 had his generations mixed up. Perhaps Molly Sigman was actually Benjamin's maternal grandmother -- and was a certain Molly Mingus Sigman, the daughter of Conrad Mingus and Mary Magdalene Bovey (Setzer) Mingus. Benjamin's father David Bolich did have a family connection to these Sigmans. Molly Mingus Sigman and her husband, John George Sigman, had a son John George Sigman who, in 1809, married David Bolich's sister Sarah. David Bolich might later have married his brother-in-law John's younger sister, Elizabeth, assuming such a sister existed.

In the 1850 census for Catawba County, David and Elizabeth Bolich are found near various Sigman households including those of a William Sigman and a Lawson Sigman, both of whom are known grandsons of Molly Mingus Sigman and John George Sigman. Henry Sigman, the father of William and Lawson, may have been Elizabeth Sigmon's older brother. However, any given parentage for Elizabeth Sigmon Bolich remains highly speculative.

Lastly, a note on Benjamin Bolick's middle name. His family, in later generations, lists Benjamin's middle name as Davidson. However, on his own death certificate and his son Junius's death certificate, it is David. Perhaps the family used both versions at different times.