San
Joaquin County
Biographies
JOHN LYMAN BENNETT
An enterprising man, the owner of a
quarter-section of land eight miles northwest of Stockton on Telegraph Road,
John Lyman Bennett has during his twenty-seven years of residence on the ranch
made substantial improvements and has just set out a vineyard as well as built
a residence and made other improvements.
He was born at Poplar Grove, Boone County, Illinois, March 31, 1869, a
son of Highland Lyman and Ellen (Coleman) Bennett. The father died when John L. was a child, and
leaving his native state, he and his mother went to Iowa and then to Dundee,
Canada, where his mother taught school, receiving fifteen dollars per month for
her work. In this way the two worked
their way to California, and in 1875 finally arrived in the Golden State and
Mrs. Bennett became a teacher in the San Joaquin County schools, teaching at
the Lafayette school one year and the Elkhorn district school two years. Here she was married a second time to T. F.
Waller and they engaged in farming in this district until their death. John Lyman received his education in the
public schools. From a youth he assisted
on the ranch and at the age of twelve years he was driving a six-horse team;
later on he was able to buy a place of his own, which consisted of twenty
acres, where he raised grain and hogs.
In 1895 he purchased his present ranch of 160 acres on the Telegraph
Road, known as the old Feimster ranch and by hard
work and economy has developed it into a well-improved and highly cultivated
tract of land, the rich fields returning to him golden harvests as a reward for
his care and cultivation.
Mr. Bennett’s marriage occurred in
Stockton on November 6, 1897, uniting him with Miss Margaret Walkmeister, born in Switzerland, who came to California
with her parents, George and Elizabeth Walkmeister. Mrs. Bennett passed away on July 10, 1918,
leaving three children: Lyman F., Neva
E. and Erma Ruth. Fraternally Mr.
Bennett is a member of the Red Men of Stockton, and politically he is a
Republican.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1569. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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