Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

(VII) Elias (2) Bennett, son of Elias
(i) and Anna (Grossman) Bennett, was
born December 25, 1778, in Westport, and
early in life began the manufacture of
flour sieves, making his netting from
horsehair, and these he peddled about
the country himself. For a long period
he was engaged in teaching, having
charge of one district school for twelve
years. In politics he was an old-time
Whig. While engaged in teaching his
health failed and he became a post rider
on the road from Bridgeport to Weston,
Redding and Georgetown. By many he
was called "Post Bennett." He and his
family were members of the Methodist
Episcopal church. He married, about
1804, in Redding or Weston, Mary Perry,
some account of whose family is appended
to this biography. Mrs. Bennett died in
1853. She and her husband were the par-
ents of the following children : Sturges,
mentioned below ; Mary,
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
born in 1807,
died in 1822; Aaron, born in 1810, died in
1890; Burr, born in 1813, died in 1887;
William, born in 1818, died in 1899; and
Samuel, born in 1822, died in 1889. Elias
(2) Bennett died April 10, 1863, in
Georgetown, Connecticut. It is evident
that he was a man of fine mental endow-
ments, for although he received only a
common school education at a time when
common schools were not what they are
now, he was a remarkably successful
teacher. He and his wife are buried in
the Umpawaug Cemetery, in Redding.
The death of Mr. Bennett occurred at
the home of his son, Sturges, the eldest of
the family, and in some respects its most
noteworthy member.
(VIII) Sturges Bennett, son of Elias
(2) and Mary (Perry) Bennett, was born
in 1805, and it is not improbable that as
a youth he sometimes assisted his father,
"Post Bennett," in distributing through
various towns the Bridgeport "Standard"
31
and "Farmer," and the Norwalk "Ga-
zette."
Events proved, however, that he was
destined for a wider field of action than
any in which his ancestors had moved.
In 1830 he married (first) Charlotte Gil-
bert, daughter of Benjamin Gilbert, hav-
ing been admitted in 1828 to partnership
in Mr. Gilbert's business. This event it
was which broadened his sphere and
marked the beginning, from a temporal
point of view, of the great success of his
entire life.
After the death of Mr. Bennett's first
wife, who was the mother of all his
children, he married (second) Betsey A.
Burchard. On May 30, 1880, Mr. Bennett
passed away, having completed
fifty-two years in the service of the enterprise
in the upbuilding of which he had
been so largely instrumental.
(IX) Eli G. Bennett, son of Sturges
and Charlotte (Gilbert) Bennett, was born
February 2, 1831, in Georgetown, and
there grew to manhood. In 1855 he graduated
from Amherst College, afterward
associating himself with his father's busi-
ness in the capacity of bookkeeper.
After the Civil War, Mr. Bennett sev-
ered his connection with the firm of Gil-
bert, Bennett & Company, establishing
himself independently as a general merchant
in Georgetown. About 1880 he
disposed of the business and removed to
Brooklyn, New York, in order to assume
the position of bookkeeper in the New
York ofiice of the Gilbert & Bennett Manufacturing
Company.
In politics, Mr. Bennett was a Repub-
lican, but never in the least a politician,
the only ofifice which he ever held being
that of justice of the peace. He and his
family were members of the Congrega-
tional church, in which for some years he
served as deacon.
Mr. Bennett married Mary Esther