The Bennett family came from Wiveliscombe, Somersetshire,England. The earliest known ancestor of this family was John Bennett, a tanner. John's parentage is not yet known, but his wife was Margery and two of his known children were Robert born about 1533 and John born about 1542. The chart below shows how the family descends. We will start at the top of the chart with Sarah Salley Bennett born about 1855 (her chart date is not accurate). She married John Estes born about 1750, they were both born in Granville Co. NC. They had numerous children, but my line is through Thomas Estes born 1785 who married Rosina (Rosie) Smith. They were both born in Granville Co. NC. and both died in Gibson Co. TN.This family has a very famous member named Richard Bennett. Dr. Mary Nicholson Browne wrote an appealing sketch of the life of Governor Richard Bennett. This article was published in the Maryland Historical Magizine in 1914, vol. 9, pp.307-315. Governor Richard Bennett came to this country about 1620 to take charge of the plantation of his uncle Edward Bennett. Soon after his arrival he took a prominent part in the political life of the Virginia colony. In 1629 he was elected a burgess for Warasquyak (later called the Isle of wight)County. In 1632 he was one of the justices of the monthly court.
He was a Puritan, and a leading member of the Puritan settlement in Virginia. As the Puritans became more prevalent and more prominent they began to be persecuted. Richard Bennett has been called the Moses of the Exodus from Virginia to Maryland. The settlement remained in Maryland but Bennett returned to Virginia. He was associated with the reductuion of the colonies of Virginia to obedience to the Parliament of England. He helped to write the Articles of Surrender, which some feel was the foreunner of the Declaration of Independence. Virginia became almost as free and independent of England as she was after the Revolutionary War. Not long theaftr Richard Bennett and William Clayborne proceded to reduce the infant Colony of Maryland.
William Clayborne
One the 30th of April 1652, Bennett and Clayborne, commissioners, together with the burgesses of Virginia, organized a provisional government, subject to the control of the Commonwealth of England. Richard Bennett, who had been a member of the council in 1646, was made governor of the Virginia Colony and William Clayborne was made Secratary of State. There is a descendant of Richard Bennett who was also very famous. His name was Robert E. Lee. Their part in the early history of Virginia and Maryland is of interest to all their posterity. There is not time nor space to tell of all of Richard Bennett's accomplishments. If anyone is REAL interested, I could copy some of the pages where I found this material.
