The Bennetts eventually earned their freedom. CATTELL: Milch Cowes, 4 Bull, 1 Piges, 3 house, 1 Sowes, 2 ARMES: peeces, 9 Coates, 3 swords, 4 powder, 3 lb lead, 50 lb. PROVISION: Corne, 17 barreles Meale, 1 hoghead Fish, 300. SAMIELL BENNETT aged 40 in the Providence 1622

WILLIAM BROWNE aged 26 in the Providence 1622ĪNTHONIE BURT aged 18 in the Hopewell 1622 ROBART MORE aged 50 in the Providence 1622 THE MUSTER OF WILLIAM TILER in the Francis Bonaventure 1620ĮLIZABETH TILER in the Francis Bonaventure 1620 Ībout a year later, an official census (Muster of 1624/25) was taken, listing Samuell and Joane Bennett as servants in the household of William Tiler, in Elizabeth City. The Bennetts and their two sons survived, however, and are recorded as living at Elizabeth City. In May 1622, a surprise Indian attack devastated settlements throughout the Jamestown Colony. They reached Virginia during a turbulent time. In 1622, they sailed together aboard the ship Providence, to Jamestown. Before 1622, he married, to Joane, whose maiden name is unknown. We do not know the identity of his parents. ©© Kathy Alexander/ Legends of America, updated September 2022.Ĭopyright © 2023 Legends of America.Samuell Bennett was a Jamestown colonist.

Samuel Bennett died on September 21, 1853, in Shreveport, Louisiana. Ironically, even though he was well known as a con artist, someone was always sure they could beat the crafty conman, only to walk away without their money.

Bennett would feign reluctance, in the end, he would show his “skills” to the other passengers. Inevitably, his name was so associated with the game that curious passengers on the riverboats would often ask him to demonstrate it. Bennett claimed that he had been playing the game since he was a boy, and as an adult, he was so proficient at it that he soon earned the nicknames of “the King of the Thimbles” and “the Napoleon of the Thimble-Riggers.”īennett made his living at the thimble ruse and other con games so proficiently that in the early 1840s, stringent laws were passed in several states that specifically prohibited the game. “Dr.” Samuel Bennett, from Shreveport, Louisiana, was one of the best-known “thimble artists” to ever cruise the Mississippi River.īennett was born in New Hampshire on January 1, 1791, and grew up to work as a fur trader, merchant, and tavern keeper, before making a name for himself as a “thimble artist.” Bennett was never actually a physician, but somewhere along the line, he acquired the honorific title of “Dr.”Ī variation on the “shell game,” Bennett’s con game was played with three thimbles and a tiny paper ball.

FICCIONES by Samuel Bennett