Ingham County Biographical Sketches



John Franklin Bennett


Mr. John Franklin Bennett is worthy of great praise for the success that he has made in life, as what he has, he has earned for himself by hard days' labor and strict attention to business. Mr. Bennett is a self-made man and influential in his community. He was born May 28, 1858, and is a native of the Wolverine State, his birth having occurred in Meridian township. John Bennett, the father of our subject, was born July 31, 1820, and Mary (Hahn) Bennett, the mother, was born March 12, 1826, both natives of Ohio. They came to Michigan in 1852 and settled on eighty acres of land. John, Sr., and his brother purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land from a party named Bush. Bush had only ten days previous purchased same from government. They later divided it. Our subject's father built a log house and cleared up the land and made his home here until his death, Sept. 20, 1888. The mother died April 9, 1884. Both the father and mother were consistent members of the German Lutheran church and the father was a Democrat.

Our subject was one of ten children: Rachel, born May 14, 1844, the wife of Richard Teller, living in Tuscola county; Sara Ann, born January 1, 1846, the wife of Charles Glosser. She was the mother of eight children, five of whom are now living. Mrs. Glosser died March 20, 1895; Mary Ann, born July 12, 1848, is the wife of J. Burgess of Meridian township, they have six children living and four dead; Catherine, born Feb. 8, 1851, married Clinton Ball of Tuscola county and has three children; Lydia, Jan. 21, 1853, died March 11, 1876; William Henry, born Jan. 18, 1856, died March 8, 1856; our subject; Amos, Sept. 13, 1860, died Oct. 14, 1860; Harvey L., May 9, 1862, and lives in Meridian township on the old farm and has four children; Gertrude, Aug. 11, 1867, died April 2, 1887.

John Franklin Bennett spent his boyhood and youth in Meridian township, where he acquired his early education and lived with his parents until their death. He had bought eighty acres of land near Traverse City, which he sold and in 1884 bought eighty acres in Meridian township, where he now lives.

Mr. Bennett was married Jan. 23, 1889, to Mary Sophia Hahn, born in Steele county, Minn., June 10, 1858. She was the daughter of Elias and Elizabeth Hahn, natives of Ohio, who settled in Steele county, Minn., in 1854. Mrs. Bennett is one of six children; Milton, died in infancy; an infant; our subject's wife; Edna lives in Minnesota with her mother; Howard died in infancy, and Sarah, an infant.

To Mr. and Mrs. Bennett have been born two children: Eldon Ray, born Oct. 19, 1889, and died two and one-half years old; Dell Franklin, born Oct. 24, 1891, in Steele county, Minn.

Our subject is independent in politics and has never held office, deeming it to his advantage to give his time to his chosen vocation. He is engaged in general farming and being quite handy with tools, built for himself the house and barns upon the place which he now resides. He is also a balcksmith by trade. Mr. Bennett owns his farm and is proud of the fact that he owes no man, and besides is in possession of a comfortable competence, all of which are his because he earned them by the energy and economy which he had practiced during his earlier days. He is now in position to enjoy the fruits of his early toil and enjoys the esteem of his many friends.





Taken from:
"Past and Present of the City of Lansing and Ingham County, Michigan", by Albert E. Cowles.
Published by The Michigan Historical Publishing Association Lansing, MICH., 1905.
Pages 225 - 226.





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