Bennett, Vardamon

Although Vardamon Bennett (d.1849) himself may never have set foot in Santa Cruz County, his family did. Bennett and his family came to California in 1843, after trekking west via the Oregon Trail the previous year. Wife Mary and the children moved to Santa Clara ~1845 while Vardamon stayed in San Francisco, and the Bennetts acquired San Lorenzo Valley timber land in 1847, where a sawmill was built on what is now called Love Creek (for Mary's second husband Harry Love). Daughter Catherine married Isaac Graham in 1845, and later ran away from him. That story and many others are told in Quite Contrary, The Litigious Life of Mary Bennett Love, a 2014 biography.

Son Winston and daughter Mary (Shelby) were Soc. of Pioneers members. Another son, Mansell V. (1836-1884), has a biography in Martin and is buried in Santa Cruz.