Individual Details

Event

A republican and Puritan, he was a leader of a group of Puritans who came in 1635 and made a settlement around the plantation of Edward Bennett, who perhaps was his father. Later these Puritans were forced out of VA, and went north to MD to live in 1648/9 with Edward Lloyd as one of their leaders. They settled on the Severn River near where Annapolis is now in AA Co., and called their area "Providence". Some went to the Eastern shore and settled.

Richard Bennett received thousands of acres both in AA Co. and Eastern Shore MD. He was at one time Governor of Virginia, and was the Commissioner of Parliament for settling the government of Maryland.

Event

He became Governor of VA 1652 to 1655. This would be while Cromwell was in control in England and Scotland, not the King. The Baltimores lost their authority during this time in MD but regained it later at the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II. The Bennetts and Lloyds were able to shift gears and work successfully with them when they came back into power.
The Puritans continued but Richard returned to Virginia in l658. He was a
member of the Council from 1642-1648 and from 1658 until his death. The political
situation changed. The king was beheaded and the Commonwealth established in
England in l649 and in l651 an Ordinance declared the Colonies subject to the
laws and regulations of the Parliament. More political changes follow. In
1652 Richard was made the first elected governor of Virginia. He fought the Dutch
and the Susquehannough Indians who were raiding the settlements. He
negotiated a peace treaty with the Indians for Maryland while in Virginia. He was
elected governor three times 1652-1655; served as Major General of the Virginia
Militia from l662-1672. His will was probated in l676 and he left 300 acres to
the parish, money for the poor, etc.,
5,000 acres were left on the Pocomoke River to his grandchildren, the
Scarsboroughs, and the bulk of his estate to his grandson, Richard III, who was
later "called the wealthiest man of His Britannic Majesty's dominions in
America.

Death

In his will (1675 in MD), Richard Bennett willed "to Richard, son of Thomas Buxton, the rents and profits of that parcel of land on which Edward Belson now liveth," (= a place in VA), which shows that there was a close connection between Bennett and this Buxton family. Richard Buxton may have been his namesake or god-son.

Speaking of General Lee and of Governor Bennet a recent historical writer has said: " When from his chosen place with kindling eye, he saw his ragged boys in gray in a hundred battles sweep the Federal lines from the field, it was the blood of Richard Bennet that thrilled in the veins of Robert E. Lee. His was the hand that first sowed the seeds of both civil and religious liberty in the soil of Virginia. He quickened into life the spirit of independence, which a century afterward fired the soul of Patrick Henry and drew forth the sword of Washington. Richard Bennet was the first, and one of the greatest of all the friends of liberty Virginia ever nurtured on her bosom, and who, preceding them all by a century, made possible their heroic achievements."