Will County IL Archives Biographies.....BENNETT, NATHAN 
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Paula Winke-Martisek wranglerjack@comcast.net September 24, 2007, 6:26 pm

Author: GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD

NATHAN  BENNETT.  Through his connection with the business interests of Joliet 

and his former prominence in local labor unions, Mr. Bennett has become well 

known among the people of his home city.  In 1891 he started a coal, coke, wood 

and feed business, at the site where he has since remained, and he has built up 

a large trade in hard and soft coal; his yards are on Washington street, near 

the Michigan Central tracks.  Besides his fuel business he has taken contracts 

for the building of sewers and water mains.  In local affairs he has been 

deeply interested.  After having served as assistant supervisor for six years, 

he was elected supervisor in the spring of 1893 on the Republican ticket, and 

was re-elected in 1895 and 1897, meantime taking an active part in much of the 

important business brought before the board.  In the spring of 1899 he was 

again elected on the Republican ticket.  For three years he was highway 

commissioner of Joliet Township.



The Bennetts are an old family of Shropshire, England.  Samuel Bennett, who was 

born there, became a civil engineer, and for some time held a position as 

engineer of water works.  He and his wife, who was Margaret Ashley, both died 

in Shropshire.  Of their eleven children five are living, three of whom are in 

England and one in Chicago.  The oldest of those now living,

Nathan, was born in Midland, England, March 18, 1845.  His home town was a 

centre for iron manufacturing, hence he early became familiar with this work.  

When eleven years old he entered a wire mill and afterward worked in different 

departments, thus gaining a thorough knowledge of the business.  In the fall of 

1868 he came to America and engaged as puddler for the Bremen works in St. 

Louis, where he received $7 for work that brought him only $2.25 in his old 

home.  In the spring of 1870 he came to Joliet, being one of the first six 

furnace men here.  When the steel mill was built he entered it and learned the 

business thoroughly.  For many years he worked as heater in the mill, and from 

1870 to 1893 he was interested in iron work.  Not only was he was one of the 

oldest men in the business at this point, but one of the most reliable as well, 

and he stood high in the opinion of those most competent to judge his 

ability.   His experience was long and varied.  When be was a boy working for 

seventy-five cents a week he was employed in the wire mill where the wire was 

manufactured that was used in making the first cable ever laid, and he 

therefore assisted in making the first cable.



The year before leaving England Mr. Bennett married Miss Mary Ann Guy, by whom 

he has five children now living, viz.:  Sarah  A., Mrs. J. James, of Joliet; 

Albert Edward,  who assists his father in the coal yards; Edith E., who is in 

her father's office; Mabel H. and Marion L.  Fraternally Mr. Bennett is past 

chancellor of the Knights of Pythias, holds membership with the Knights of the 

Maccabees, and has passed the various chairs in the order, Sons of St. George.  

In 1870 he was one of the principal organizers of the Sons of Vulcan, the first 

labor association formed in Joliet, and the first meeting (attended by seven 

members) was held one Sunday afternoon in a barn on Cass street.  This was the 

nucleus around which centered the now large and formidable Amalgamated 

Association of Joliet. For six terms he acted as president of the society.  

Later it was merged into the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers, 

and he continued an active worker until he resigned his  position in the mill, 

since which he has been an honorary member.  He is in sympathy with the 

doctrines of the Methodist denomination, and his wife and family are actively 

connected with the Ottawa Street Methodist Episcopal Church.


Additional comments:
Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County Illinois Containing 
Biographies of Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present, Biographical 
Publishing Company, Chicago, 1900



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