The Benders were widely believed to be German immigrants. No documentation or definitive proof of their relationships to one another, or where they were born, has ever been found. John Bender, Sr. was from either Germany or the Netherlands and is thought by some to have been born John Flickinger. According to contemporary newspapers, Elvira was born Almira Hill Mark (often misreported as "Meik") in the Adirondack Mountains; she married Simon Mark, with whom she claimed to have had 12 children. Later, she married William Stephen Griffith. Elvira was suspected of murdering several husbands, but none of these rumors were ever proven. Kate was believed to be Elvira's fifth daughter. Some of the Benders' neighbors claimed that John and Kate were not brother and sister, but actually husband and wife.