Van S. Bennett

Van Swearengen Bennett (March 15, 1836 – August 24, 1914) was an American lumberman, Republican politician, and Wisconsin pioneer. He was a member of the Wisconsin State Senate (1882 & 1883) and State Assembly (1869 & 1870), representing Vernon County. He also served as a Union Army officer during the American Civil War.

Early life Van S. Bennett was born in Medina, Ohio, in March 1836. He received his early education there before moving with his parents to the Wisconsin Territory in 1846. They settled in the town of Medina, in Dane County, where Bennett completed his education. The family moved again, to Jefferson County in 1852.

In the Fall of 1853, the seventeen year old Bennett walked across the state of Wisconsin, from Jefferson County to La Crosse, where he purchased a section of government land to establish a homestead in Vernon County, Wisconsin. The following year, he worked in the town of Kickapoo, Wisconsin, assisting in the erection of the first saw mill in that town. In 1855, his family took up his homestead in Vernon County, and Bennett went to Richland County to work in the lumber camps. The regiment left the state in January 1862 and was sent south down the Mississippi River to Kentucky. That spring, the captain of Company I, Hartwell Turner, resigned, and Bennett was promoted to replace him. He served the rest of his enlistment as captain of the company. A post office was established there in 1871, and Bennett was the second postmaster at Rockton.

Bennett remained active in state and county affairs into his later years. Serving several more times on the county board of supervisors and the town board, and serving as a trustee for the state asylum in Vernon County.

Personal life and family Van S. Bennett was the eldest of five children born to Jacob V. Bennett and his wife Eliza ( Groshong). Van's younger brother, William H. Bennett, also served in the Union Army during the Civil War, and died as a prisoner of war in Macon, Georgia, in 1864.

Wisconsin Assembly (1868, 1869)

Wisconsin Senate (1881)