|
Horace Bennett
Horace Bennett, a well known agriculturist residing on section
22, Grant township, was born in Medina county, Ohio, December 3, 1844.
He was a son of John and Mary Anne (Lonker) Bennett, both of Ohio. The
mother came to Iowa with her second husband, Luson McClain, in 1854,
and passed away in this state in 1874. She was the mother of seven
children, four of whom are still living: Horace, the subject of this
review; Catherine, a resident of Redcloud, Nebraska; Sophrona, of
Canyon City, Colorado; and Lorinda, of Keokuk, Iowa.
Horace Bennett has had great difliculties to struggle against from the
time that he was born. His father died when he was only one year old
and at the age of three his mother bound him out to serve until he
should reach the age of eighteen years. His foster father proved an
exacting taskmaster and at eleven he felt that in some way he must
break the legal ties which bound him, but he was not a lad who did
anything hastily. He gave the matter full consideration and talked it
over with his fellow associates, with whom he was very popular. In full
sympathy with his desires, they raised a purse of five dollars that he
might carry out his plans. He accordingly went to Rockford, Illinois,
where he was employed until 1863, when he removed to Greene county,
Iowa, where his mother had migrated a decade previous. It will be
easier for us to appreciate the condition of the country through which
he traveled at that time if we remember that the railroad only came to
State Center. From that place Mr. Bennett went by stage over roads that
were far from being what our automobiles travel over today. He arrived
at Des Moines in due time and walked to his mother’s residence in
Jackson township, Greene county. In the vicinity of her home he secured
employment on a farm, but in the fall of 1864 returned to Illinois. At
this time he enlisted in Company G, One Hundred and Fifty-third
Illinois Volunteer Infantry, in which he served until the close of the
war, doing mostly garrison duty.
When his country no longer needed his service he returned to Greene
county, where he bought eighty acres of improved land on section 22,
where he has since resided. By industrious habits and economical living
he has been enabled to add to his possessions little by little until he
now has accumulated enough to feel that at any time he may retire from
active labors and enjoy the fruits of his long and industrious life.
Mr. Bennett has been twice married. His first wife, to whom he was
married January 1, 1866, bore the maiden name of Emma Zetta Anderson
and was a daughter of William Anderson, one of the very first pioneers
of Greene county. After thirty years of happy married life, in which
she always proved a faithful wife and loving mother, Mrs. Bennett
passed away, leaving a devoted husband and ten children to mourn her
loss. The children were: Minnie, the wife of Isaiah Hamilton, an
agriculturist near Scranton; Theodore, an agriculturist of Greene
county; Ralph, who also follows farming and lives in Grant township;
Ida, living near Cooper; Jessie, of Jackson township; William, an
agriculturist of Hardin township; Laura, a resident of Grant township;
Anna, who is at home; Roscoe, who is associated with his father on the
farm; and James Earl, who is at home. On March 16, 1904, Mr. Bennett
was married to Fidella McConnell, a resident of Sibley, Iowa. This
union has been blessed with one child, Horace Francis.
Horace Bennett has always been a staunch republican and though he has
never been an office seeker he did at one time consent to serve as
township trustee. He and his family have been members of the Methodist
Episcopal church for a number of years and are influential in its work.
He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic at Jefferson and of
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of the same place. From his
boyhood he has had to gain everything by his own initiative and though
he has met many obstacles he has always overcome them and has thereby
gained a staunch character, a ready habit of mind and a self-reliance
which come only through the school of experience in which he has
served. He has always been honest and upright in his dealings with his
fellowmen and no one has ever sought his aid in vain. When he is fimlly
mustered out of life’s army it can be truthfully said at the last grand
review that he has fought a good fight.
|
