Assorted Family Bios

JAMES BENNETT

James Bennett, a highly-respected pioneer of Gibson township, is now passing his declining years upon the homestead, which he cleared in the midst of the wilderness, and his memory covers the entire period of the development of that locality. He was born January 26, 1811 in Chenango county, N. Y., and his ancestors were early settlers in that State, his paternal grandparents having been residents of Orange county. Levi Bennett, his father, was born and reared in Orange county, removed in early manhood to Chenango county, and in 1814 settled in Gibson township, Susquehanna county, clearing a farm and engaging in agriculture. He died there July 8, 1854, aged eighty years, and his wife, Lida (Belcher), who was also a native of Orange county, N. Y., died March 5, 1853. Their remains were interred in a private cemetery in Gibson township, Susquehanna county. Of their large family of children, John died in Kirkwood, N. Y.; Betsey married William Moore, of Kirkwood; Mary Ann married Willard Walker, of Kirkwood; Abby married Isaac Maxson, of Gibson township, Susquehanna county; Nancy married Richard Lewis, of Kirkwood; Jane married Charles Davie, of Wisconsin; William died in Michigan; James, who is mentioned more fully farther on, is the only survivor; and George died in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

As the son of a pioneer farmer, James Bennett was trained to work hard. Leaving home at the age of twenty, he settled in Clifford township, Susquehanna county, and cleared a farm for himself. In 1841 he located at the site of his present homestead, and since improving that he has cleared another farm, making three valuable estates redeemed from the wilderness by him. Notwithstanding his advanced years, he is in excellent health, and his sight is remarkably good. His years of industry have brought him their due reward, and in his last days he is surrounded by comforts of which he knew nothing in youth. Politically he is a Republican, and for many years he has been a leading member of the Freewill Baptist Church, in which he held the office of deacon.

On June 2, 1831, Mr. Bennett was married, in Clifford township, Susquehanna county, to Miss Juliette Sweet, a native of New Milford township, that county, who died in 1889, at the age of eighty years, and was buried in Gibson cemetery. She was a member of a well-known family, and her parents, John and Eliza Sweet, were prominent residents of New Milford township. Nine children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Bennett, as follows: Edwin B. married Rosannah Kinne; Levi F. operates his father's old homestead; William M. married Mary Wells, and died in February, 1864, from black fever; Mary E. married Robert Ellis of Gibson township; John S. is mentioned farther on; Sarah I. married Isaac Morgan, and died December 2, 1897; Julia A., born July 9, 1845, married Morris Davis, a blacksmith of Uniondale, Penn.; Amanda A., born May 14, 1848, is the deceased wife of Merwin Taft, a farmer of Wayne county; and Harriet A., born July 31, 1852, married Dennis Card, of Uniondale, Pennsylvania.

(This bio is from Commemorative Biographical Record of Northeastern Pennsylvania including the Counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens and many of the Early Settled Families., Beers, J. H. & Co., 1900, Chicago, pp 1757-1758)