Bennett, Robert, 1829-1905

Robert Hazlet Bennett was born in Baltimore, Maryland on July 26th, 1826 and left Baltimore for California on January 26th, 1849, on the ship "Jane Parker", stopping ten days at Rio de Janeiro, ten days at Callao and Lima, Peru and arriving in S.F. on July 21st, 1849. Bennett joined Washington L. Kirby of Baltimore in 1849, in the firm "Bennett & Kirby", a general store. Burned out by the two first great fires of S.F. they relocated and went into the hardware business. The third S.F. fire burned them out again in June 1851 and their business closed. With Thomas I. Lamb of Baltimore, in 1851, Bennett took the Schooner "James B. Lippincott" with provisions to Sacramento where he joined the Auction and Commission House of Reed, Green & Co. In 1853 he joined with Washington L. Kirby and went into the Flour, Grain, and Produce business, occupying the store-ship "Steiglitz", under the firm name of R.H. Bennett & Co. In 1860 Bennett and Kirby were owners of the "Entaw Flour Mills", shipping much of the first cargo of wheat being to England from S.F. They also opened the navigation of the Salinas River into Monterey Bay. R.H. Bennett also shipped flour and merchandise to Central America and Panama, importing coffee, cocoa, cedar, and other woods. An active member of the Vigilance Committee of 1855, and was in business in Seattle from 1892 to 1898. Bennett married Matilda Denny Norris in Baltimore, January 1851 amd had a son, Robert H. Bennett Jr. and daughter, Susan E., wife of Nicholas A. Acker.