R. F. BENNETT, A. M., who has been prominently identified with the educational interests of Miami County for more than fifty years, and at present is superintendent of the public schools of Newberry Township, was born January 15, l836, at Piqua, Ohio, a nd is a son of Enoch and Margaret (Withcott) Bennett.

The parents of Professor Bennett moved to a farm in Washington Township, Miami County, when he was four years old, and there he grew to manhood. He secured his education in the country schools and in a select school at Piqua, which he attended for two years, and when twenty years of age taught his first term of school, that being in Newberry Township. He continued to teach, and after four years in Washington Township he took a course at the Ohio Wesleyan College at Delaware. In 1863 he came to Covington, and has been continuously connected with the educational affairs of this city and neighborhood ever since. For a period of thirty-two years he served as superintendent of the Covington schools and for the past ten years has been superintendent of the schools of Newberry Township. He owns a valuable farm of 240 acres, situated in Washington Township, a part of it being the Bennett homestead, formerly owned by his father.

In 1867 Professor Bennett was married to Miss Frances Jordan, who died in 1900. One son was born to this marriage, Professor L. J. Bennett who has been superintendent of the Covington schools for the past five years, filling the same office in which his father had made so honorable a record for so long a period.

Professor L. J. Bennett was born February 28, 1878, at Covington, and from boyhood displayed evidences of a quick and receptive mind. With credit he graduated from the Covington and the Piqua schools, and subsequently the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware. Flattering offers were made to him from educational institutions upon his return, and he taught one year in the Bethel Township High School and one year in the Covington High School and then returned to Bethel Township for one year as superintendent. Although he was re-elected to the same office for the following year, he decided to accept the similar position at Covington, two other superintendents, in the meanwhile, separating his incumbency from that of his honored father. He is one of the board of three school examiners in Miami County. He married Miss Addie Harwood, and they have one daughter Frances.

Professor R. F. Bennett is a member and one of the trustees of the Covington Methodist Episcopal Church. His fraternal affiliation is with the Odd Fellows. He has been honored on many occasions by educational bodies, and positions of political importance have been offered him, but he has had no leaning toward public life. He is one of the trustees of the Miami County Children's Home. He has witnessed a wonderful change in the attitude of the people and in educational methods since he first entered the field, and it has been his pleasant task to contribute much to the high standard which is maintained in the schools of Miami County at the present day.