Alameda County
Biographies
NEWTON BENEDICT
Was born in Rhode Island, September 15, 1825, and is the son of David and Margaret (Gano) Benedict. He received his education in his native place, and there resided until seventeen years of age, when he went to Boston and became connected with the Boston Daily Times newspaper, at that time the leading daily morning paper in that city. Here Mr. Benedict resided most of the time until his departure for California. The father of our subject was a distinguished divine of the Baptists, and was the historian of the denomination, an erudite article which will be found in extenso in the Encyclopedia Britannica. On March 4, 1849, Mr. Benedict sailed from Boston in the ship Charlotte by way of Cape Horn for the Pacific Coast, and after a voyage of one hundred and ninety-two days, with all its attendant discomforts, cast anchor in the harbor of San Francisco. Proceeding at once to the mining county of El Dorado, he there embarked in a mercantile business which he continued until 1854. In that year he returned to San Francisco for a short time, and subsequently located in Todd’s Valley, Placer County – eighteen miles above Auburn, on the divide between the north and middle forks of the American River. Here he dealt in merchandise until 1862. He then passed four years partly in Washinton Territory and in the State of Nevada, still being engaged in the same business, and in 1866 came to Alameda County, located in Oakland, and assumed the affairs of several fire and life insurance agencies. In 1867 Mr. Benedict filled the office of Recording Secretary to the State Legislature of California; performing its functions the last three sessions in the senate until the year 1879-80. In 1875, he embarked in real estate transactions which he now continues, being associated with James R. Capell, under the style of Benedict, Capell & Co., real estate agents, and notaries public, at No. 457 Ninth Street, Oakland. Mr. Benedict married, September 14, 1853, Fanny S. Burrows, nee Sowles, a native of New York, and has: Anna H., and Harry G.
History of Alameda County, California…, Oakland, M.W. Wood Publ., 1883
p. 847-848
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
ROBERT H. BENNETT
Was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in the year 1826, and is the son of John and Elizabeth S. Bennett. Having received his education in the ordinary schools of that city, he entered the counting-room of a grain commission house where he remained until 1849. On the 25th January of that year he sailed from Baltimore in the ship Jane Parker by way of Cape Horn to San Francisco, where he arrived July 21, 1849. Mr. Bennett and two others on landing pitched their tent on the site now occupied by the Clay-street Bank, and there established a mercantile store, which was carried on with much success until the never-to-be-forgotten May fire of 1850. Notwithstanding this disaster the business was immediately started under the style and firm of Bennett & Kirby, hardware and commission merchants, and continued until July, 1851. Mr. Bennett now entered the commission and produce trade under the name of R. H. Bennett & Co., but in 1855, upon forming a copartnership with H. G. Blaisdell, ex-governor of the State of Nevada, the same business was carried on in the store-ship Steiglitz at what is now the corner of East and Washington Streets. At the end of a year the firm resumed its old style of R. H. Bennett & Co., by which it is still known and highly respected in San Francisco. In 1878 Mr. Bennett came to Haywards and took the warehouses there. He with his family were residents of Oakland between the years of 1864 and 1876, in which latter year they moved to Fruit Vale, where they at present dwell. Mr. Bennett is married and has a family of two children surviving.
History of Alameda County, California…, Oakland, M.W. Wood Publ., 1883
p. 848
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
AUGUSTIN BERNAL
Was born in San Jose, Santa Clara County, California, May 25, 1848. His father, Augustin Bernal, who died June 19, 1872, was born at the Santa Teresa Rancho, in Santa Clara County, and was eighty-seven years of age at the time of his demise. For more than twenty years he served as a lieutenant in the Mexican army, for which he received eleven leagues of land in the San Ramon and Livermore Valleys, known as the Rancho El Valle de San Jose, and which he divided equally with his brother, Juan Pablo Bernal, and two sisters. As patented, the rancho contained forty-eight thousand acres, and extended from Sunol Valley to Livermore. He was twice married, and left a widow and large family of sons and daughters to mourn his loss. He was much respected for his honesty, integrity, genial and generous disposition, while, he was an exception to the general run of his countrymen. He was very careful and held on well to his property, and made it secure by dividing it among his children; the result is that the Bernals hold their ground on the original grant better than any other of the native families. When but an infant the subject of this sketch was brought by his parents to what is now known as Alameda County, where he has since resided, at present owning an estate of eleven hundred and fifty acres, which he rents, and maintains a residence himself in Pleasanton. Married Miss Francesca Soto, a native of San Mateo County, by whom there is no issue.
History of Alameda County, California…, Oakland, M.W. Wood Publ., 1883
p. 848
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler