Camden County NJ Archives Biographies.....Volney G. BENNETT, 1837 - 1914
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 November 9, 2008, 4:33 pm

Author: Mary Depue Ogden, Editor  (1917)

BENNETT, Volney G.,
Man of High Character.

  The months that have passed since the death of Volney G. Bennett have served
to bring home to those who were wont to depend upon his support and counsel in
business, in church, and in social life, the severity of the loss his community
sustained when, on March 14, 1914, he was called from earthly walks. For more
than fifty years he was identified with the lumber trade in Camden, New Jersey,
nearly four decades of that time being spent as an independent dealer, first as
owner of the Central Lumber Yard, then as president of the Bennett Lumber
Company, and during that period gained an extensive business acquaintance in
Philadelphia, entering also into the social activities of Pennsylvania's
metropolis. His position among the leading business men of his city gave him
strong and widely spread influence in the world of trade, and this he used in
fostering the commercial and industrial welfare of Camden, not the least
successful of his efforts being in the work of the Board of Trade, of which he
was a founder and president. Former business colleagues bear loving and
enthusiastic witness of the value of his life in accomplishment and in example,
and in all the paths in which he moved, the memory of his upright, manly
character and sterling merit remains firmly fixed.

  Volney G. Bennett was a descendant of New England ancestry, Connecticut, the
family home, his line being brought to Pennsylvania by his grandfather, Stephen
Bennett, who came from Connecticut prior to the Revolution and settled near the
present town of Palmyra, Pike county, Pennsylvania. His wife, Mary Gates,
experienced the dangers of the Wyoming massacre, it being she who brought the
warning of the Indian attack. They were the parents of eight children, among
them Jared, father of Volney G. Bennett. Jared Bennett was a farmer, also
engaging in lumbering, and married Esther Killam, who bore him six children.

  Volney G. Bennett, son of Jared and Esther (Killam) Bennett, was born on the
Pike county homestead, April 9, 1837, and died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
March 14, 1914. He was educated in the schools in the vicinity of his home, and
until attaining his majority was his father's assistant on the home estate, then
leaving home to work out his own career. His first position was obtained in the
line to which he devoted his after years, lumber dealing, and he entered the
employ of McKeen & Bingham, of Camden, remaining with this firm until 1876. On
June 1, 1876, he began his independent operations as a lumber dealer, his yard
located at Second and Cherry streets, and from the first, success attended his
transactions. The Bennett Lumber Company, of which Mr. Bennett was president,
was the outgrowth of the Central Lumber Yard, of which he was the owner, and
until his death he carefully and devotedly cherished the reputation for fair and
straightforward dealing of the firm that bore his name. The large business of
this concern was his personal care, and to it he gave the wise direction that
experience alone makes possible, and the standard in all departments of the
business, in the mills, in the office, and among the sales force, was as high as
the tireless efforts of a man of honor and integrity could make it. His fellows
were also the beneficiaries of his excellent business judgment and forceful
energy, and the Camden Board of Trade, the city's most useful and efficient
business organization was largely the result of his vision and creative power.
After its organization and the formation of a plan of procedure, he served a
term as president, his leadership one of strength and purpose. He was also for
several years treasurer of the Franklin Building and Loan Association.

  It is indicative of the kindliness of his manner and the friendly qualities of
his personality that he was loved and reverenced by those who served him and
whose interests were very dear to him. He was generous in all things, gave
freely of his means, his time, and his service to the support of every good
cause, and was a loyal member of the First Baptist Church of Camden. He was a
Democrat in political belief, but held no public office, dischargin his duties
as a citizen at the polls and in the support of worthy candidates and rightful
measures. His long life of seventy-five years contained no chapter at which all
may not gaze, and in the full view of his fellows and in their constant
approbation the long and useful years were passed.

  He married, July 27, 1864, Emeline, daughter of Captain Thomas and Angeline
Davis, of Port Elizabeth, New Jersey, who survives him with children: Volney.
his successor as head of the Bennett Lumber Company, formerly vice-president and
treasurer; Alfred K., ex-mayor of Merchantville, New Jersey; Killam E.,
president of Munger & Bennett, Inc., Camden, New Jersey; Emily J., married E. M.
Linnard, and resides at Pasadena, California; Olive E., married E. J. Wallis,
and lives at San Francisco, California.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

MEMORIAL CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW JERSEY

UNDER THE EDITORIAL SUPERVISION OF MARY DEPUE OGDEN

VOLUME III
MEMORIAL HISTORY COMPANY NEWARK,  NEW JERSEY
1917


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