Maricopa-Yavapai County AZ Archives Biographies.....Bennitt, E. J. June 13, 1853 - living in 1896
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com March 1, 2005, 7:36 pm

Author: McFarland & Poole

p. 444

  E. J. BENNITT. E. J. Bennitt was born June 13, 1853, at Moreland, near the
head of Seneca Lake, in Schuyler County, N.Y. His parents, John M. and Clymena
Bennitt were descended from New England ancestors, who went to Wyoming Valley,
Pa., and from there to Churning Valley. Our subject received a good academic
education in Havana, N. Y., and a preparatory course in Alfred University, at
Alfred Center, N. Y., entering Union College at Schenectady, N. Y., in the fall
of 1872, and graduating the spring of 1875 as a civil engineer. In May, 1875, he
started for Arizona, and in June was joined by his father, mother and youngest
brother, B. G. Bennitt, at Junction City, Kas., from where their real journey
commenced on June 26, 1875. The start was made with ox teams under the
leadership of Hon. A. W. Callan, the party consisting of about 40 of their own
company which, later, was augmented with enough more to nearly double that
number. After leaving the line of the railroad at Granada, on the Arkansas
River, the caravan developed into a semi-military organization, owing to the
hostility of the Indians at that time, and always maintained an armed sentinel
in the camp, and armed and mounted guards for the stock. After five months of
continuous travel across the almost then unknown desert of America, they arrived
at Prescott, Arizona, on Nov. 3, 1875. The hostile Indians had just been subdued
by Gen. Crook, but even then no one ventured from town without being armed. From
this time until November, 1882, E. J. Bennitt followed mining, merchandising,
and his profession, and, in 1880, with E. A. Eckhoff, located between Phoenix
and Maricopa, the first line of north and south railroad projected in the
Territory. In November, 1882, with Col. Wm. Christy, and others, he organized
the First National Bank of Phoenix, which later was reorganized into the Valley
Bank in which, as assistant cashier, he remained until the fall of 1890. In
March, 1892, he assisted in organizing the Phoenix National Bank, of which he
was cashier until June '94, when declining health, caused by overwork, compelled
him to seek the less arduous business of brokerage and loaning. He was married
to the eldest daughter of Guy and Saidee Bennitt, on Oct 3, 1888. Being of a
social nature he joined the Masons in July, 1874, in Myrtle Lodge, No. 131, at
Havana, N. Y. He was advanced to Prescott Chapter No. 3, at Prescott, Arizona,
in 1881, and became a member of St. Omer's Commandery, at Elmira, N. Y., in
1887. He assisted in organizing Phoenix Commandery No. 3, K. T., in 1891; was
appointed generalissimo. He was elected eminent commander in November, '93, and
grand commander of the Grand Commandery of Arizona at the conclave held in
Prescott in November, '95. Mr. Bennitt has occupied many positions of trust, but
has invariably declined those of political preferment.


Additional Comments:
From:

A Historical and Biographical Record of the Territory of Arizona
Published by
McFarland & Poole, Chicago, 1896

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