Contra Costa County Biography

NORMAN H. BENNETT

Transcribed by Sally Kaleta, December, 2006.

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


                 Numbered among the esteemed and popular residents of Walnut 
Creek, Contra Costa County, is Norman H. Bennett, cashier of the San Ramon 
Valley Bank, who is filling the position with marked ability. He is a man of 
intrusted integrity, possessing good judgment and tact. He is performing the 
duties devolving upon him to the entire satisfaction of the public. Mr. Bennett 
was born in Iowa, June 12, 1883, a son of Rudolphus and Mariette (Peck) Bennett, 
who were the parents of nine children, of whom six sons and two daughters are 
living. The father was a native of Vermont, and was prominently identified with 
his community as a newspaper publisher. In 1887 he came to California, and 
located in San Diego, where he published a news-paper. He is now retired, in his 
ninety-second year. Mr. Bennett's mother was a native of Clinton, Iowa, and her 
father was identified with the early history  of that State, and was a large 
landowner. The subject of this review has one brother, Ira E. Bennett, editor of 
the Washington Post, in Washington D. C. He is one of the remarkable newspaper 
men and authors who have gone to the East from the San Francisco Chronicle. On 
December 9, 1916, he was elected president of the Gridiron Club, the famous 
organization of the Washington newspaper correspondents. This most coveted honor 
on the newspaper world has come to Mr. Bennett after a long and distinguished 
service both in the East and the West. Norman H. Bennett acquired his education 
in the public schools of San Diego. He afterward became connected with the 
Trans-Pacific Steamship Line, after coming to San Francisco. He later went with 
the Bank of California, where he worked for many years, filling various 
positions of importance and trust. In 1912 he organized the Farmers and 
Merchants National Bank of Merced, California, with a capital stock of one 
hundred thousand dollars. Remaining with this institution for some time, he then 
accepted a position with the San Ramon Valley Bank. Mr. Bennett was united in 
marriage to Miss Harriet L. Blackburn, a native of Paso Robles, California,  
June 1, 1905. Their one daughter, Peggy, was born November 8, 1907. Mrs. 
Bennett's father was one of the representative pioneers of that locality, and 
founded the town of Paso Robles. He erected the magnificent hotel in that place, 
which is connected with the baths known all over the country for their curative 
properties. He was an extensive landowner, and was largely connected with the 
stock business. He run at one time over twenty-two thousand sheep. Mrs. Bennett 
takes an active part in the social life of Walnut Creek, while her husband 
exercises a marked influence toward the advancement of the best interests of his 
town. Politically, he is affiliated with the Republican party.
 
Source: "The History of Contra Costa County, California," Elms Publ. Co., 1917, 
pp. 594-595.