Butte County
Biographies
JAMES ARCHIBALD BENNETT
JAMES ARCHIBALD BENNETT.--An agriculturist to whom the fertility of the soil of Butte County has brought a comfortable living and partially realized ambitions, is James Archibald Bennett, who is located on his ranch near Chico. His father was Mark J. Bennett, who was born June 26, 1840, in New York State. During his early boyhood the family went to Michigan, and in 1854 settled in Muscatine County, Iowa, and farmed until 1859, when Mark J., accompanied by his father and four brothers, came overland to California. He mined for a time, then formed a partnership with James Nelson Bennett and engaged in ranching, continuing that occupation until his death, in 1878. Mark J. Bennett married Susan E. Fox, a daughter of Presley B. Fox, a native of Kentucky, who had moved to Kansas from Missouri, and from there to California, in 1863. He crossed the plains with wagons and horse teams, with his wife and eight children, and, upon his arrival, located on a ranch in Butte County, near Cana. Presley B. Fox had married Ann Steward, while living in the Middle West, and they both died in Butte County. Mr. and Mrs. Mark J. Bennett had two children: James Archibald, and Harry, of Santa Cruz. After the death of Mr. Bennett his widow married A. Whitten.
James Archibald, or as he is familiarly called, “Arch” Bennett, was born on a ranch near Nord, in 1869, and he was reared to farm life on the home place and sent to the public school in their district, and later to Lytton Springs Military Academy. In 1890, he went to Idaho, where he began his career as a cattleman. He rode the range and learned to throw the rope and to brand cattle, in time becoming an adept in the business. As he succeeded financially he engaged in the stock business for himself in that state. In 1901, he came back to California and since that time he has been engaged in growing grain and raising stock with good results. Aside from the home ranch, he also owns a ranch in Tehama County, and one in Lassen County, at the headwaters of the Susan River. His brand—111, with a quarter circle over the top—is known by all stockmen in Northern California. In the interests of the stock industry he belongs to the Tehama County Cattle Grower’s Association.
Mr. Bennett was married in Butte County to Miss Cora M. Shannon, who was born in California, a daughter of John Shannon, who is mentioned on another page of this history. She died leaving two children, Ulrica and Loeta U. His second marriage united Mr. Bennett with Margaret Shannon, a sister of his first wife. Politically Mr. Bennett is a Democrat. What success he enjoys has been of his own making, and he has many friends.
Transcribed
by Sharon Walford Yost.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 1163, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2009 Sharon
Walford Yost.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County Biographies