Nathaniel Bennett

Nathaniel Bennett (June 27, 1818 – April 20, 1886) was one of the first Associate Justices of the California Supreme Court. Early life and education On June 27, 1818, Bennett was born in Clinton, New York, to a family of merchants and farmers. Bennett was raised on a farm in Erie County, New York, and beginning at age 12 he attended military academies in Buffalo and then in Canandaigua, New York. In 1835, he studied at Hamilton College for one year, and then completed his degree at Yale University. After graduation, he read law and was admitted to the New York bar in 1840 as an attorney and in 1843 as a counselor. He then engaged in private practice with Eli Cook, whose brother was an attorney in California. In Bennett's youth, he was a follower of the Democratic Party, but a horseback tour in Fall 1842 of several southern states caused him to switch his allegiance. Questioning his previous politics, he followed the Barnburner faction of the Democratic Party, attending the 1848 convention in Buffalo that nominated Martin Van Buren for President of the United States. In 1856, Bennett joined the Republican Party at its formation. Legal and judicial career In January 1849, Bennett and a group of friends decided to move to California. Arriving in June 1849, they went to mine the gold fields on the Tuolumne River. In Fall 1849, he returned to San Francisco and began a law firm with John Satterlee, who was part of the group which moved with Bennett and in 1851 became a judge of the San Francisco Superior Court. After the adoption of the constitution of California in November 1849, Bennett was elected a state senator from the district of San Francisco.