Santa Cruz County Biographies

F. D. BENNETT

Submitted by Kathy Sedler

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


        The American public somehow or other has the conception of a dairyman 
who supplies them with milk that he is not possessed of those attributes of 
honesty which one is accustomed to find in the character of reputable business 
men. The illustrated papers have even pictured the dairyman at his pump, with 
all the hairs on his head like the quills on the fretful porcupine, and all of 
his fright caused by a cow straying in the yard. But it is my privilege and 
pleasure upon this occasion to write about an honest dairyman, paradoxical as it 
may seem; a gentleman who is the personification of conscientiousness, and one 
who I know sells milk that is absolutely pure and not afflicted with short 
measure.    
        Mr. F. D. Bennett is a prominent and well-known citizen of Santa Cruz. 
He has resided here during the past fourteen years, and is engaged in a business 
that has brought him into close relation with the people of this community, by 
whom he is no less esteemed than well known. He was born in Millborough, Essex 
County, New York, January 1, 1826. The son of a farmer, his boyhood was spent 
upon his father's farm, where he remained until after the age of twenty-one. 
Such education as he obtained he acquired at the district school at such times 
as his services were not required on the farm. The gold excitement brought him 
to California in 1851. He came via the Isthmus and engaged in mining after his 
arrival. Within two years he had accumulated about five thousand dollars in gold 
dust, which was the limit of his modest ambition. He returned to New York and 
bought a farm in the vicinity of Essex, in his native county. He was shortly 
afterwards married to Miss Phoebe A. Hoag, in 1854, and settled down for life; 
but, like the great majority of people who have seen California and lived here, 
he was never entirely satisfied with his surroundings, but the difficulties of 
disposing of property and breaking social ties and moving across the continent 
were such as to prevent him from making the desired change. The death of his 
wife was another incentive for him to return to California. He accordingly 
disposed of his property, and came to Santa Cruz in 1876, located on the Hall 
Ranch, and has been engaged in dairying ever since. The number of cows milked at 
his dairy is about two hundred, and a large part of the town of Santa Cruz is 
supplied from this ranch. He has one daughter, Ruth P. Bennett, who is now 
attending the Hahnemann Homeopathic College of Chicago. She is an intelligent 
and energetic young lady, and will without doubt succeed in the profession which 
she has chosen.,
 
HISTORY OF SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.-  E. S. Harrison, 
Pacific Press Publ. Co., San Francisco, 1891