Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett (1608 – 12 April 1675) was an English planter and Governor of the Colony of Virginia, serving 1652–1655. He had first come to the Virginia colony in 1629 to represent his merchant uncle Edward Bennett's business, managing his plantation known as Bennett's Welcome in Warrascoyack (later known as Isle of Wight County). Two decades later, Bennett immigrated to the Maryland colony with his family, and settled on the Severn River in Anne Arundel County.

Bennett also acquired his own land patents, ultimately owning and developing thousands of acres in Virginia and Maryland. Initially, he settled with other Puritans in Nansemond. There he and others later converted to become Quakers under the influence of George Fox. In 1665 he acquired 2500 acres at what is known as Bennett's Adventure, developing a plantation on Wicomico Creek in Wicomico County, Maryland.

Early and family life

Born in Wiveliscombe, Somerset in 1608 and christened 6 August 1609, Bennett served as governor from 30 April 1652, until some time in March, 1655 (2 March 1655) or 31 March. His uncle, Edward Bennett, was a wealthy merchant from London and one of the few Puritan members of the Virginia Company. He received a land patent in 1621 and transported 120 persons to settle a plantation in Warrascoyack. He was helped by his brothers Robert (who managed it until his death either during the massacre of 1622 or 1624), and Richard (who took over management but died himself in 1626). Edward Bennett went to the colony himself, along with his nephew Richard Bennett (the subject of this article) and won election to represent his plantation and neighbors in the House of Burgesses in 1628. He returned to England the following year, leaving Richard in charge.

Career After assuming management of his uncle's Virginia business interests and taking his seat in the House of Burgesses in 1629, Richard rose to prominence in the business, political, and religious life of the colony. He became leader of the small Puritan community south of the James River, taking them from Warrasquyoake to the drainage of the Nansemond River beginning in 1635. Warrasquyoake was renamed as Isle of Wight County in 1637 and Nansemond County was formally split from Isle of Wight county in 1646.

In 1648, under political and religious pressure during the English Civil War, and upon the invitation of new Maryland governor William Stone of Hungers Creek, Bennett became one of the leaders of the Virginia Puritans who received a grant from Lord Baltimore and established a settlement on the Severn River in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. There, Bennett received at least one land grant of 250 acres on the banks of the Severn River near the Broadneck Peninsula known as the Towne Neck or later Greenberry Point, and returned to Virginia for settlers on what they called "Providence". During this time (especially in 1655 as discussed below) Bennett returned to England to oppose Lord Baltimore's claim to Maryland.

On 30 March 1655, Bennett voluntarily abandoned his Virginia office (the House of Burgesses electing fellow planter Edward Digges governor in his stead), and sailed for England to see Oliver Cromwell.

In early 1671, George Fox, founder of the Quaker movement, who had been released from Scarborough Castle in Yorkshire in 1666, set sail for the American colonies. He initially landed in Jamaica, then visited Barbados (the wealthiest colony in that era) before setting sail for Maryland. There Fox attended the First General Meeting of Friends at West River in Anne Arundel County in April 1672. After Fox journeyed to The Cliffs in Calvert County, he, missionary John Burnyears, Robert Widders and George Patterson sailed for the Eastern Shore (where they set up what became the Third Haven Meeting at Easton), while sending John Cartwright and James Lancaster to New England, and William Edmundson and others to visit Virginia Puritans in Nansemond County. Fox preached and planted Meetings in many areas, especially around Chesapeake Bay, and met the Speaker of the Maryland Assembly (Samuel Chew, who with his wife Ann Ayres were ardent Quakers) as well as two members of the Maryland Governor's Council and a persecuted justice from the Potomac area of Virginia, before returning to England from the Patuxent Roads area two years after he had left. Accounts differ as to whether Edmundson or Fox himself converted Bennett to his faith.

Personal life Richard Bennett was the son of Thomas Bennett (1570–1616) of Wiveliscombe, Somerset, England. In 1666, Virginia Secretary of State Thomas Ludwell wrote to Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington that Richard Bennett seemed to be of the same family, sharing the same coat of arms (also shared by the Bennetts of North Bavant, Wiltshire). Biographer John Boddie, however, discounted the accuracy of the report.

By 1642, Richard Bennett married Mrs. Mary Ann Utie, the widow of councillor who had died in England in 1637. She and Utie had three sons: John Utie Jr. (1620-1642), Capt. Nathaniel Utie and George Utie (d. 1678). Bennetts children, all born in the 1640s, were: Richard Bennett Jr. married Henrietta Maria Neale, daughter of James Neale. They had daughter Susannah Bennett Darnall Lowe (1666-1714) and son Richard Bennett, 3rd (1667-1749). Bennett prepared his will 29 Jan 1666 in Maryland prior to his voyage to England, likely to represent his father's business interests. He died there by 6 May 1667, the date his will was probated. Both children were born in England but returned to Maryland in 1677, two years after their grandfather's death. (Richard 3rd had inherited the bulk of Governor Bennett's estate). Bennett's widow later married Philemon Lloyd. Anna Bennett (died November 1687 in Cecil County, Maryland), first married Virginia merchant and speaker of the House of Burgesses Theodorick Bland of Westover in 1660 and had three sons: Theodorick Bland, Richard Bland (who had many notable descendants), and John Bland, great-grandfather of Chancellor Theodorick Bland of Maryland. Her second marriage was to immigrant, burgess and Col. St. Leger Codd(1680-1732), and they had one son, also named St. Leger Codd (1680-1732). and who bore at least eight children, of whom six survived her.

Death and legacy Bennett probably died on his Virginia plantation, although many descendants would also live in Maryland, including his grandson Richard Bennett III. He is considered one of the founders of Annapolis, which later became that colony's capital. The Wicomico County, Maryland house built by the next owner of Bennett's Adventure in the eighteenth century still stands, and in 1975 was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Bennett's descendants include Richard Bland II, John Randolph of Roanoke, Henry Lee III, Robert E. Lee, and Roger Atkinson Pryor.