Barbour County, West Virginia Biography of Arthur F. BENNETT ************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: Material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor. Submitted by Valerie Crook, , March 2000 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 352-353 ARTHUR F. BENNETT, former sheriff of Barbour County and now deputy fish and game protector for the Second District, is one of the best known of the younger men of Philippi, where he has performed good and efficient serv- ice in several different capacities. He was born near Belington in Barker District of Bar- bour County, April 11, 1884. His grandparents were Laban and Sarah (Keller) Bennett. Laban Bennett was also a native of Barbour County and died during the Civil war when his sons were all too young for service in the Confederate Army, where their sympathies lay. Jacob J. Bennett, father of Arthur F., was nine years of age when his father died, and he spent his life as a farmer. He died in 1913, at the age of fifty-four. He married Mary Shingleton, daughter of Jonathan and Nancy (Yea- ger) Shingleton. Her father was a farmer and died while a Union soldier. Mary, his only child, was born after his death, and she grew up in the home of her stepfather, John Anderson, secured a free school education and was married to Jacob J. Bennett in 1881. She became the mother of five sons and six daughters: Ida, wife of M. L. Weese, of Meridan, Barbour County; Arthur F.; William Floyd, of Barbour County; James F., of Parkers- burg; Sarah Ellen, wife of Corder Weese, of Barbour County; Talbott P., of Augusta, Georgia; Susan, wife of Owen Day, of Barbour County; Viola, Mrs. William Stal- naker, of Barbour County; Porter L., of Elkins, West Virginia; Hazel and Masel, who still live with their mother on the farm. Arthur F. Bennett was reared in Glade District of Bar- bour County, acquired a public school education, and with this education he began teaching and taught six terms of country school. His first term was in Hunters Forks School and his last in Mud Run in Glade District. During vaca- tion he worked on the farm, and he has never entirely separated, himself from farming interests and owns a farm today. Mr. Bennett was strongly inclined to take up and fol- low the profession of law. A good opportunity to acquaint himself with the practical side of the legal profession and acquire knowledge at the same time came when he became employed in the Belington office of the well known law firm of Ware and Viquesney at Philippi. He acted in behalf of the firm, handling some of the work required by their clients in Belington, and turning over matters of more importance to the head office. He read law there, and afterward read with Mr. Ware at Philippi. While a law student he was agent for several fire insurance companies, but soon afterward accepted the invitation of his friends to make the race before the primaries for the nomination for sheriff. He was successful over three competitors, and in the following November he defeated his democratic op- ponent and succeeded William B. Corder in the office. At that time he was the youngest sheriff Barbour County had ever had. He proved himself an able officer, and his administration during four years was all that could be asked. After retiring from the office of sheriff Mr. Bennett en- gaged in the real estate and coal business at Philippi, but in September, 1921, accepted appointment under the Forest, Game and Fish Department of West Virginia as deputy protector of the Second District, comprising the counties of Barbour, Taylor, Preston, Marion, Monongalia, Harrison, Doddridge and Ritchie. In the neighborhood where he was reared Mr. Bennett married, April 15, 19U6, Miss Cleo Booth, who was born and reared in the same locality and was educated in the country schools. Her parents were Jeremiah and Rebecca (Poling) Booth and her maternal grandfather was Israel Poling, of Barker District. She was born March 2, 1886, and ia the youngest of three children, the other two being Lloyd J., a farmer and country merchant in Glade Dis- trict; and Ottis, who married Stephen Fitswater, of Bel- ington. Mr. and Mrs. Bennett had one child, a beautiful daugh- ter named Opal Lilie, who was born February 11, 1907, and died December 22, 1917. Her funeral was preached by Rev. G. S. Kanleiter on the day before Christmas. Fraternally Mr. Bennett is a past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias and a member of the D. O. K. K., is a mem- ber of the Pythian Sisters, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Rebekahs, the Junior Order United American Mechanics, Knights of the Macabees and Woodmen of the World. He is one of the trustees in the United Brethren Church, and in politics is a republican. During the war he was a member of the local Legal Advisory Board.