Edward Campbell Bennett

Birth: He was born in 1861 at West Virginia.  

Family Information: He married Emma J. Bennett in 1910 at Coles, Illinois.  

Description: In 1929 he was a 70 year-old teacher from West Virginia.  

Pre-Colony History: In 1880 he was living in West Virginia with his parents and siblings while employed as a farm worker.

In 1910 he was living in Illinois with his wife and daughter, Mattie, while working as a farmer and college teacher.

In 1920 he and Emma were living in West Virginia where both were unemployed. They came to the colony in 1928.  

Home in Colony:

Job in Colony: In September 1928 he was on the college faculty along with: Lowell H. Coate - Superintendent and instructor in Sociology, Economics and Public Education; E.C. Bennett - English and History; Benjamin Roe - Scientific Agriculture; Guy F. Rogers - Mathematics; Eugene Hough - Psychology; F. Hamel - Spanish, German and Latin; Mary Erma Wilson - Voice and Piano; R.B. Snyder - Director of Orchestra, Wind and Stringed Instruments, Chorus and Ensemble; Geo. T. Pickett - Industrial Science; Daisy Daugherty Domestic Science; Edna Mae Coffin - Manual Art, Sculpture and Architectural Drawing; Austin McLane - Journalism; Nell Rogers - Botany; Hope Shoemaker - Shorthand, Typewriting and Book-keeping; Mr. Daugherty - Intermediate Grades; Mrs. A.E. Bennet - Primary Grades; Esther Allen - Health and Hygiene; Mary H. Atworth - Librarian and Instructor in the Art of Expression; Anna Tabb - School Nurse, Dr. J.P. Kimmel - College Physician; Alice Pickett - Girls Counselor; Theodore Atworth - Oil and Watercolor Art; Alma Wilson Bell - Dramatic Art.

In 1929 he was working in the planing mill where he lost two fingers -- he blamed the lack of guards on the machines.

In 1935 Professor Bennett was teaching the bulk of the eighth grade mathematics in the colony schools.  

Other Info: In 1929 he participated as the pronouncer in a colony spelling match held in celebration of Washington's birthday. In June of that year he was one of four college graduates in the colony including O.E. Enfield, John McSlarrow, E.G. Bennett and Ben Roe.

After the May Day Revolution of 1935, he signed a statement supporting John Szpila's letter, which had been published in the September 21, 1935 issue of the "Llano Colonist" and spelled out the reasons the overthrow of former General Manager, George T. Pickett, had been necessary.

In August 1936 Doc Williams, Roy Parson and Charley Derleth made a hasty run to Shreveport searching for a much-needed "dado" or groove cutting machine to be used, but none could be found. While there, they stopped to inquire after two colonists who'd been some time in the Shreveport hospital -- Mr. Bennett and George Collins. It was too early for visiting hours, but they inquired of the head nurse and she assured them that both patients were doing finely.  

Post-Colony History: Around 1929 he and his wife returned to West Virginia after staying only a year or so -- soon after his accident in the planing mill, though they apparently returned to the colony around 1935.  

Death: He died in 1948 and was buried in the Bennett Cemetery at West Virginia.  

Sources: US Census: 1880, 1910, 1920; Illinois County Marriage Records; "Can We Cooperate" by Bob Brown; "Vernon Parish Democrat": February 28, 1929; "Llano Colonist": September 15, 1928, September 22, 1928, March 2, 1929, June 8, 1929, October 12, 1935, August 8, 1936; FindAGrave.com