Butte County
Biographies
DANIEL ANDERSON BENNETT
DANIEL ANDERSON BENNETT.--A
prominent figure for many years in the industrial, commercial, financial and
social circles of Chico, and one whose influence for the development of the
town on rational and permanent, as well as liberal lines has long been felt and
widely appreciated, was that of Daniel Anderson Bennett, who first came to this
town in the fall of the Centennial year. He was born on April 15, 1841, at
Hudson, Lenawee County, Mich., the grandson of Gersham
Bennett, a native of the Susquehanna Valley in Pennsylvania, who first settled
in New York, then came to Michigan, in 1831, and to Lenawee County, where he
had to cut his way ten miles through the woods, built a sawmill for the
manufacture of lumber, cleared and farmed some eighteen hundred acres, and died
there at the advanced age of ninety-eight years.
The father of Daniel was Moses D. Bennett,
who was born and grew up in Delaware County, New York, and moved to Michigan,
where he took up government land, and became an extensive farmer. On his land
was a good-sized pond, and as there was also plenty of forest, he erected a sawmill which did yeoman service. By extraordinary
enterprise and very hard labor, he improved the farm, and made of it such a
reasonably comfortable home place that he was induced to reside there until his
death, in Hudson, in 1874, at the age of sixty-four. Inspired with the same
patriotic ardor which had fired his family before him,
Moses enlisted in Company F, Eleventh Michigan Volunteer Infantry, and served
with distinguished bravery in the Army of the Cumberland for a year and a half,
when he was honorably discharged because of physical disability. Long before
this he had married Miss Prudence Jones, whose grandfather, Daniel Anderson
Jones, had served for seven years in the Revolutionary War. She was born at
Shelby, in Tompkins County, N. Y., the daughter of Daniel A. Jones, who
was born near Trenton, N. J., settled in New York, and in early days removed to
Michigan. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Moses Bennett. Matthew, the
eldest, served in the Civil War in the Sixth Michigan Volunteer Infantry, and
died at Chico, in 1915. Two years before, in the same place, George had died, the youngest of the trio. Daniel Anderson was the
second in order of birth.
The lad Daniel attended the public school
of his district, and then went to the Oak Grove Academy, from which, in 1859,
he graduated, expecting to pass on to the University of Michigan. Stirred by
the firing on Fort Sumter, on April 12, 1861, and the ensuing call for
seventy-five thousand volunteers, he hastened, three days later, to enlist in
the First Michigan Volunteer Infantry. His father objected, however, and the
boy was not accepted. He remained home until September 1, 1861, when he slipped
away to Hudson and enlisted in Company I, Eleventh Michigan Volunteer Infantry,
and was mustered in at that place. Returning to his home, he was met by the
objection, renewed by his father, that he was not yet of age; but the patriotic
and impulsive lad replied that the Michigan Legislature had just made it
possible, by special enactment, for those of eighteen years and over to enlist,
and enlisting he was this time determined upon.
Unfortunately he was taken sick with
intermittent fever in Kentucky and was sent to a small-pox pest-house, but
recovered, nevertheless. Then he took the measles, was moved in a rain storm,
had a setback from wet clothes, recovered, was moved again, took cold and had
rheumatism, and was about as luckless a wight as
could be found. His father then took a hand, and Daniel was sent to a private
house at Bairdstown, where he fully recovered.
At the very time that his father was
listed for discharge, Daniel, on July 10, 1862, rejoined his regiment at
Nashville. He had entered as a private, but in February, 1863, he was promoted
to be second lieutenant. He saw many battles and skirmishes, and at the Battle
of Chickamauga he was so wounded in the right hand that he had to be sent to
the hospital. About that time, a particularly brave act of his attracted
attention: he collected the canteens at the front and furnished water to those
who had not had it since the morning before. On his taking up his place and
work again in the regiment, he was again promoted, being made first lieutenant
in 1864, and subsequently, with the army of the Cumberland, he demonstrated, in
the active part he took in the engagements at Stone River and Missionary Ridge,
his merit of the honors bestowed. When the captain resigned, Daniel took
command of the company for the last eight months. On April 12, 1866, he was
mustered out at Nashville, Tenn., after which he returned to Michigan and
farmed about a year.
Going to Fulton, Ohio, Mr. Bennett and his
brother-in-law, Mr. Canfield, built a saw-mill for the turning out of lumber,
and in that enterprise he continued for nine years, or until 1876, when he came
to California and at Chico followed carpenter work and stationary engineering.
Finally, at Inskip, some forty-five miles away, he
resumed saw-milling again, setting up a steam mill in the pine woods, and there
he made lumber until the timber gave out. He used big teams, hauled the product
to Chico, and generally had a load of ten thousand feet, which was eventually
shipped to San Francisco. When he quit saw-milling, he took up contracting and
building, and was thus employed when he entered the service of the widely-known
Diamond Match Company. There he assumed charge of the credit department and for
three years collected for the firm. Then he returned to contracting, from which
he retired, to enjoy the remaining years of his life less arduously.
On August 14, 1865, and in Fulton County,
Ohio, Mr. Bennett was married to Miss Ellen L. Canfield, a
native of that county, and the daughter of Heman and
Amanda (Brown) Canfield. Mr. Canfield was born at West Bloomfield, near
Canandaigua, N. Y., and settled in Ohio, where he became a farmer and lumber
manufacturer. Mrs. Bennett was educated at Oak Grove Academy, Mich. Five children were born to this excellent couple, and three
are now living: Bertram died here. Clara, a graduate of the San Jose Normal
School, and for nine years principal of the Oakdale School at Chico, then was a
teacher in Manila three years until her death in 1903. Fred is engaged in
cattle-raising on Butte Creek, and is a graduate of the Chico Normal. Ellen,
also a graduate from that institution, is a teacher in the Chico Vecino school. Guy is a graduate
of the dental department of the University of California, with the degree of D.
D. S., and practices dental surgery in Chico. Mr. Bennett, the father, passed
away February 26, 1918.
In politics a Progressive Republican, Mr.
Bennett served for years in Ohio as a school trustee, and was always a leader
in movements making for the upbuilding of the community. Mr. Bennett was a
member of the Presbyterian Church, and, in 1912, he was president of the church
board of trustees, and was made superintendent of the work of erecting the new
church. He found that the plans were faulty, and that it would be necessary to
make radical changes to get the best results. These changes he made, to the
entire satisfaction of the congregation. He was a member and chaplain of
Halleck Post, No. 19, of the G. A. R., at Chico, and was its Post Commander two
terms. He was also twice an aide on the staff of the department commander. In fraternal
matters he belonged to the California Commandery,
Military Order of the Loyal Legion in San Francisco. Mrs. Bennett is also a
member of the Presbyterian Church at Chico, and belongs to the Women’s Relief
Corps.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
20 May 2008.
Source:
"History of Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages
977-981, Historic Record
Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2008 Marie Hassard.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County Biographies