William Weaver Bennett (February 4, 1841 – June 13, 1912) chaired the three-man township committee at the formation of

Teaneck, New Jersey Teaneck () is a Township (New Jersey), township in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a bedroom community in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 United States census, 2010 U.S. census, th ...

, making him the first

Mayor of Teaneck, New Jersey Teaneck, New Jersey was incorporated on February 19, 1895. It was created in Chapter XXVII in the ''Acts of the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey'' in 1895. The office of mayor did not initially exist as such. In 1895, the Township Act ...

Biography

Bennett was born in

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

on February 4, 1841. When six months old, his parents came to America to live in

Binghamton, New York Binghamton () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the conflue ...

, where the father died around 1853. At the age of 17, he met John Stewart Wells, of

, and he became an apprentice carpenter. He stayed with him three years. After working for a time at his trade at home, he enlisted as a mechanic, in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, in 1862, and stayed with the army in one capacity or another, with the construction and repair work on railways, going to

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Downto ...

, then to Norfolk and

Suffolk, Virginia Suffolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and as such has no county. As of the 2020 census, the population was 94,324. It is the 9th most populous city in Virginia and the largest city in Virginia by boundary land area as ...

. In 1863, he was assigned to the

quarter-master Quartermaster is a military term, the meaning of which depends on the country and service. In land armies, a quartermaster is generally a relatively senior soldier who supervises stores or barracks and distributes supplies and provisions. In m ...

's department and then was employed in the construction of barracks and prison houses, and in the manufacture of army furniture. After the

Siege of Petersburg The Richmond–Petersburg campaign was a series of battles around Petersburg, Virginia, fought from June 9, 1864, to March 25, 1865, during the American Civil War. Although it is more popularly known as the Siege of Petersburg, it was not a cla ...

and the capture of

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

, he applied for his discharge papers. He moved to Teaneck and built a series of

row houses In architecture and city planning, a terrace or terraced house ( UK) or townhouse ( US) is a form of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century, whereby a row of attached dwellings share side walls. In the United State ...

and then became the

property manager A property manager or estate manager is a person or firm charged with operating a real estate property for a fee when the owner is unable to attend to such details personally or is not interested in doing so. The property may be individual title o ...

for

William Walter Phelps William Walter Phelps (August 24, 1839 – June 17, 1894) was a United States Congressman and diplomat who served as United States Ambassador to Germany and Austria-Hungary. He was the son of John Jay Phelps, a successful New York City m ...

. He was the first

, from 1895 to 1909. Bennett died on June 13, 1912, in

, at the age of 71. He was buried at

Brookside Cemetery, Englewood Brookside Cemetery is a historical cemetery in Englewood, New Jersey. History It was started in May 1876, by a group of Englewood residents who purchased of land for a cemetery. The property sits on the East side of Engle Street adjacent to Tena ...

References

1841 births 1912 deaths People from Derbyshire English emigrants to the United States Mayors of Teaneck, New Jersey Burials at Brookside Cemetery (Englewood, New Jersey) 19th-century American politicians Military personnel from Derbyshire {{NewJersey-mayor-stub