In the books' own words, not ours, with obvious scanning errors fixed. The later printing (1915) is folded below the first. Families often supplied these stories to the publisher, so check key dates.
Born 1836, Spencer County
From History of Andrew and De Kalb counties, Missouri : from earliest time to the present; together with sundry personal, business and professional sketches and family records. besides a condensed history (1888), A history of northwest Missouri (1915)
Joseph L. Bennett, a prominent citizen of Andrew County, Mo., living within half a mile of Savannah, was born in Spencer County, Ky., on February 29, 1836. He is the son of Joseph H. and Susan (Overton) Bennett. The father was born in New Jersey, February 24, 1799, and is the son of John Bennett, who removed to Kentuckv, and from that State to Illinois, where he resided at the time of his death. Joseph H. followed cabinet-making and carpentering during his active life, and died November 2, 1887, in Louisville, Ky., in his eighty-nintli year. The mother was born in Washington County, Ky., October 8, 1798, and died October 22, 1872. Joseph L. is the eighth of twelve children. He was reared on the farm, and acquired his education in the schools of the neighborhood, attending school four months in the year, and working on the farm the remaining time. He lived with his parents until his twentieth year, when, in October, 1856, he immigrated to Savannah, Mo., where he remained until January, 1857, when he removed to Kansas. About a year after that he returned to Andrew County, and engaged in farming, which he has continued up to the present. In 1879 he embarked in dealing and breeding Shorthorn cattle, and now handles no other kind. In 1877 he was appointed collector of Andrew County, for two years, by the county court. In 1881 he was appointed county judge of the county by Gov. Crittenden, to fill a vacancy, and held that important position for two years, discharging the duties with credit and satisfaction. He is now president of the State Bank of Savannah. He was married August 1, 1857, to Martha S. Selecman, born in Washington County, Ky., February 8, 1841. She is the daughter of Henry Selecman (deceased), who was one of the prominent farmers of Andrew County. Both Mr. and Mrs. Bennett are members of the Baptist Church.
Charles Bennett is a native of Canada, and was born in the Province of Quebec, October 17, 1838. He is a son of Andrew and Ann (Abbott) Bennett, both born in the County of Cork, Ireland, the former in 1797, and the latter in 1817. They were married in Canada in 1833.
The father was a farmer, and immigrated to America when he was thirty-four years of, age. He died in 1865, and in 1867 the widowed mother and her children removed to Andrew County, Mo. She now resides in Gentry County, Mo. Her children — six sons and seven daughters — are all living. Charles was reared on a farm, and has devoted his life to agricultural pursuits. He is now one of the most extensive farmers and stock raisers in Andrew County, and resides in Platte Township. He received a limited education in the common schools of Canada. Being born to poor parents, whose struggles for the necessaries of life were difficult, he had no opportunity to receive a thorough education, but he is a close reader and observer, and is an intelligent man. He h as liberal views, and is practical in his vocation, and lenient in his department toward his fellow men. When he began business he had no other capital than an energetic and ambitious disposition, by means of which he has become a prosperous man, and established a high social standing, and a splendid reputation as a citizen. In 1881 he was united in marriage with Mrs. Susannah (Nugent) McCombe. They have two sons and one daughter.
Newton Bird, a miller at Avenue City, Andrew Co., Mo., was boro near Elizabethtown, Hardin Co., Ky., March 28, 1829. He is the son of Jesse and Laodica (Bay) Bird. The former was born in Greenbrier County, Va., May 24, 1809. He was a minister by profession, and spent fifty-four years of his life in pastoral work, teaching school occasionally. He possessed rare intellect and scholarship, and was a zealous man respected by all who knew him. In 1855 he removed to Missouri, and settled in Andrew County, where he died in 1886. His wife was born in Marion County, Ky., April 9, 1809. She was a kind and intelligent woman, and was the mother of six sons and three daughters, of whom Newton is the eldest. He was reared on a farm in Kentucky, and received a practical education in the schools of Washington County, in that State. In 1858 he came to Missouri, and settled near Savannah. Arriving in the fall, he at once secured a district school, which he taught the following winter. Afterward he engaged in farming, and later in milling, which has been his chief occupation in life. He came to the State of Missouri a poor man, but by energy, enterprise and frugality has become a prosperous and highly respected citizen. He is an ardent Democrat, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South.
Joshua Bond, a merchant of Amazonia, was born in Pickaway County, Ohio, March 28, 1822. He is the son of Kinsey G. and Elizabeth (McNaught) Bond. The father was born in Baltimore on May 18, 1800. The mother was born in Somerset County, Penn., and died in Pickaway County, Ohio, in September, 1823, when about twenty-one years of age. In early life the father worked at the carpenter’s trade, but later engaged in farming. In the spring of 1825 he those for his second wife Leah Timmons, of Hardin County, Ohio. She died about 1830. After living a single life for several years, lie married again in 1838 in Andrew County. His only child, Joshua, received a fair education in the schools of Ohio, Indiana and Missouri. In the fall of 1834 he removed with his father to Tippecanoe County, Ind., and in September, 1838, they came to Andrew County, where he has since resided. When seventeen years of age he began to teach school in Grundy County, Mo., teaching the first district school in that county. In 1852 he wedded Miss Sarah J. Pullen. He continued to teach in Grundy County till 1854, at which time he returned to Andrew County, and taught until 1856. After this he was an employe in a warehouse at Amazonia until 1858, then had charge of it till 1860. During the war he was connected with the State Militia. In the fall of 1866 he bought a farm, and moved on it in 1867, but sold it after one year, and came back to Amazonia, and, with the exception of three years, has engaged in the mercantile business, being three years at Nodaway Station. He lost his wife on July 28, 1878, and on October 5, 1882, those for his second wife Ludoska L. Peed, of Andrew County. He is a member of the Episcopal Church. In politics he is a Republican. He served as county judge four years, and has been magistrate ten years.
As printed in History of Andrew and DeKalb counties, Missouri : from earliest time to the present; together with sunday personal, business and professional sketches and family records. besides a condensed history (1888). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
Hon. Joseph L. Bennett. In 1856 there arrived at Savannah, Missouri, one who was destined to take an important part in the development and upbuilding of Andrew County. There was nothing in his appearance, however, to justify the belief that such was the case, for he had just completed a long and turduous journey from Louisville, Kentucky, having traveled from that city to St. Louis, Missouri, then on to Weston by boat, and because of the diallowness of the river had been compelled to complete his trip by stage. Moreover, he was practically at the end of his resources, his cash capital being in the neighborhood of twenty-five dollars. This was the modest and unassuming advent of Judge JoSfeph L. Bennett in Savannah; but in the fifty-eight years that have intervened happenings have occurred that have developed the poor and untried youth even as they have developed the wild and unproductive county. While the latter has become one of the most fertile, stirring and progressive sections of Northwest Missouri, the former has taken his place as one
Google of his community's most substantial men, a successful agriculturist, a capable financier and business man, and a citizen who has been repeatedly called upon to represent his fellow men in public positions of trust.
Judge Joseph L. Bennett was born in Spencer County, about twenty-five miles south of the City of Louisville, Kentucky, February 29, 1836, and is a son of Joseph H. and Susan W. (Overton) Bennett, and a grandson of John and Charlotte (Drake) Bennett, members of a family which originated in New Jersey. Joseph H. Bennett was born in the Jersey Blue State, February 24, 1799, and as a young man went to Kentucky where he was married August 29, 1821, to Miss Susan W. Overton, who was born in Kentucky, October 8, 1798. Mr. Bennett was a carpenter and cabinetmaker, and in addition owned a small farm in Spencer County, which he cultivated for a number of years. He was an industrious, capable and persevering man, and through a life of earnest endeavor accumulated a competence. He was also a man of some importance in public affairs, and for thirty years served in the capacity of assessor of his county. He was a democrat in his political affiliations, and both he and his wife were members of the Baptist Church. The fattier died at Louisville, Kentucky, November 22, 1888, while the mother passed away at Spencer, that state, October 22, 1872. They were the parents of twelve children, as follows: John E., born in 1822, when sixteen years of age went to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, there taught school for some years while reading law, was admitted to the bar and engaged in practice until his death in 1849; Fannie C, born November 20, 1823, married Gideon G. Jewell, who is now deceased; Sarah Ann, bom April 13, 1825, died August 15, 1847; Joseph D., who died in infancy, October 1, 1826; Samuel C, born September 6, 1828, who died December 18, 1875; Susan M., bom August 18, 1829, married James Tansill, and is now a widow and resides in Chicago; Charlotte A., born January 27, 1831, died July 28, 1847; Julia A., bom May 12, 1833, died October 2, 1857; Judge Joseph L., of this review; Nancy J., born July 14, 1839, married James H. Bennett, deceased, and is now a resident of Savannah; James H., bom November 24, 1841; and Bernard, bom January 24, 1844.
Joseph L. Bennett received his early education in the public schools of his native place, was reared to young manhood on the home farm, and as a youth carefully saved his earnings that he might secure a start for himself in some new and undeveloped region where land was cheap. Accordingly, in 1856, he left the parental roof and journeyed to St. Louis, as before related, where he boarded the boat and paid his fare as far as St. Joseph. The river was found to be too low for navigation, however, and the steamship company sent its passengers on to their destination by way of stage coach, and it was thus that Mr. Bennett came to his new home. From that time to the present, with the exception of one year, 1857, in Kansas, he has been a resident of Andrew County, and this has been the scene of his labors and of his success. From the time that he secured his first tract of land farming and stock-raising have continued to be his chief occupations, and for several years he devoted his attention to the raising of Short Horn cattle, in addition to which he was for eighteen years hog buyer for a large St. Joseph packing company, although he resided during this time on his farm adjoining the City of Savannah. He was for many years a partner with his brother-in-law, S. R. Selecman, in farming on Selecman Heights, Savannah, but Mr. Bennett disposed of twenty-one acres of his interests in 1897 in this property, which was platted by W. G. Hine. While residing in the country Mr. Bennett was the owner of a beautiful home, but this was destroyed by fire in 1905, and he now resides in his present modern residence, at the corner of Third and West Bennett avenues, in Bennett's
Addition, a residence district of Savannah which he platted himself. In the line of finance Mr. Bennett was the original organizer of the State Bank of Savannah, in 1887, and was its president for a number of years. In various ways he has assisted in the development and growth of his community, and as a citizen he is known to be progressive and public-spirited. A lifelong democrat, in 1887 and 1888 he served very capable in the capacity of collector of revenue of Andrew County, and in 1881 was appointed county judge to fill a vacancy and served ably for two years. Judge Bennett, however, is primarily a business man, and while he has always shown fidelity in discharging the duties of citizenship, he has not been a seeker for public favors.
Judge Bennett was married August 1, 1857, to Miss Martha S. Selecman, who was born in Kentucky, February 8, 1841, and came to this county with her parents, Henry and Mary Selecman, in 1844. She died March 15, 1894, without issue. Judge Bennett has reared and educated three children of his relatives, and now has three more under his charge who are being trained to man and womanhood under his wise direction and being given the advantages of superior mental training. Judge Bennett was married the second time, October 9, 1895, to Miss Elizabeth E. Gore, a native of Andrew County, and a daughter of Green L. and Emeline Gore, both of whom are deceased.
Mr. Bennett was converted, in 1854, in Spencer County, Kentucky, and is a member of the First Baptist Church of Savannah, which was organized in 1902. And of this church Mrs. Bennett is also a member. Mr. Bennett is one of the trustees of the church, and he and other trustees selected and paid for the present site. In this connection it is with pleasure that we state: **Mr. Bennett has been one of the most liberal contributors to the Baptist Society."
As printed in A history of northwest Missouri (1915). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
Named in this biography: Charles Bennett (b. 1838)
The printed record stops around 1888. We trace your line from there down to you, with every source cited.