This is Ellen Bennett, my great grandmother, and she is the inspiration behind this study.  She was living in Ferring Sussex in 1914 with her husband, 3 step children and 6 biological children.  In October of that year, my great grandfather, James Bennett, had a heart attack while in the fields and left her a widow without a home.  Their home at the time was a labourers cottage, provided to the horse carter by the landowner and once he passed, the home was needed for his successor.  In 1920, she packed up her 6 children between the ages of 6 and 18 and left England for Canada.  Want to know what happened after that?  You'll have to visit the Bennett one name study to find out! Her origins can be found in the Winter one name study.

This study is for all those Bennetts out there with great stories that should be passed on, or on a tree branch not knowing the one next to you started on the same tree trunk.

The Bennett surname has a few variants.  This was more dependent on your accent and spelling skills at the time!  It could have been Bennett, Bennet, Benet, Benett, Bennit, or Bennitt.  We'll try to cover all those, but Bennett will be the main name as that is how it was recorded in my family history.

The Bennett name is derived from the latin name Benedictus, which means blessed. 

There are so many Bennett's out there that have made a name for themselves  in so many fields 

Is there anyone that doesn't know Tony Bennett, the singer? What you might not know is that his real name is Anthony Beneditto, so he won't be added, but hey, we have

William Bennett - the longest serving premier of British Columbia, Canada

Thomas Bennett - Governor of South Carolina, USA 1781-1865  Richard Bennett Colonial Governor of Virginia, USA 1608-1675

Michael Bennett - winner of 7 Tony awards for his work in Broadway shows

Arnold Bennett - English novelist with novels, stories, plays and newspaper articles under his belt

Barry, Bert, Bryan, Chuck, Cornelius, Darren, Drew, Edgar, Eric, and Kyle - all football players

Joan Bennett - actress

and so many more!  Am I related to any of them?  Not that I know of, but as the study progresses, I might find out I am

According to Forebears, the Bennett surname was the 1,008th most common surname in the world in 2014.  Almost 535,000 Bennetts worldwide with the most prevalent in the USA, England, Australia, and Canada.  Once you take into consideration how many are born and die each year, that's a lot of Bennetts to account for!

I don't believe there are any countries that do not have a Bennett, but a big shout out to the one in Iceland and Romania!

This study is in the beginning stages so right now we will concentrate on births, marriages, and deaths.  That's a whopping 1.6 million records!

There is no Bennett DNA project at this time or plans for one in the future. Surnames carried by the paternal lineage are transmitted by the male chromosome.  That leaves me out but if there are any male Bennetts out there that want to start one, we may be able to help :)