Stephen O. Bennett

Stephen Osander Bennett (1807 – May 24, 1886) was an American merchant and farmer from Raymond Center, Wisconsin who spent one year as a Free Soil Party member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from Racine County and two years as a member of the Wisconsin State Senate from the 17th District.[1] He later moved to Michigan.

Background

Bennett was born in 1807 in Milton, New York. He moved in his youth to New Haven, Connecticut in preparation for college, but his eyesight made that impractical. Instead, he became a merchant, first in Albany, New York and later in New York City. In 1832 he moved to Ohio, and in 1840 settled in a farm in the Wisconsin Territory. He was one of the first settlers in Raymond Center.[2] He declared himself bankrupt in 1843.[3]

Public office

He was elected as a Freesoiler or "Free Soil Democrat" delegate to the First (1846) Wisconsin Constitutional Convention, serving on the committee on amendments to the constitution. He was elected to the Assembly from Racine County for a one-year (1850) term (succeeding James DeNoon Reymert, another Free Soiler), and to the Wisconsin Senate, District 17 for 1851-52 succeeding fellow Free Soiler Victor Willard (Racine County lost two Assembly seats at that time, so it's hard to say who succeeded Bennett in the Assembly).

The Senate was expanded in 1853, and Bennett was succeeded in what was now the 7th District by Democrat John W. Cary.[4] In later years he joined the Republican Party.

After the Assembly

In 1853 he was elected president of the Racine County Agricultural Society.[5]

In 1859 he sold his farm and moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan, where he resumed his prior occupation as a merchant. He died suddenly on May 24, 1886 while on a business trip to Chicago.[6]

References
  1. Members of the Wisconsin Legislature, 1848-1999 Madison: State of Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau, 1999; pp. 2, 28 Archived December 9, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  2. Stone, Fanny S., supervising editor. Racine, Belle City of the Lakes, and Racine County, Wisconsin: A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement (Vol. 1) Chicago: The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1916; p. 168
  3. "In Bankruptcy". Wisconsin Democrat. February 14, 1843. p. 3. Retrieved July 13, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. The legislative manual of the state of Wisconsin; comprising Jefferson's manual, rules, forms and laws for the regulation of business; also, lists and tables for reference Tenth Annual Edition. Madison: Atwood and Culver, State Printers, Journal Block, 1871; p. 182, 187-189, 191
  5. Transactions of the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society with Portions of the Correspondence of the Secretary Vol. 3. Madison: Beriah Brown, State Printer, 1854; p. 98.
  6. Quaife, Milo M., editor. The Convention of 1846 Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1919; pp. 760-61
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