A Puritan who had lived in Amsterdam for a period, he established the first large plantation in the colony of Virginia in North America, in what became known as Warrosquyoake Shire (later as Isle of Wight County).
Bennett is credited with recruiting more than 600 immigrants to the new world, most of whom were transported as indentured servants, required to work off their passage for periods of five or seven years.
Later as an adult, as part of the Protestant Reformation he became associated with the Puritans, who supported Calvinism and wanted to return the Anglican Church to early simplicity.
The Wisemans were from the County of Essex and owned the manor of Rivenhall in Witham Hundred on the Blackwater River.
As part of his business as a wealthy London merchant, Bennett owned a large fleet of ships used for trading with Virginia and the Netherlands.
Bennett married Mary Bourne at All Hallows Church, City of London, England on 1 April 1619.
[3] Because of religious persecution from the established Anglican Church, Bennett and his family joined the Puritan migrations, settling for a period in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
His status as a successful merchant meant that he was selected as an elder of the Ancient Church established by the Puritans.
Puritan merchant Christopher Lawne developed the first English plantation in the Warrosquoake region, dating to 1618.
Edward Bennett received a land patent here in 1621 from the Virginia Company, and began to recruit people in order to fulfill the headrights clause requiring him to settle 200 persons there.
[4][5] The indigenous tribes of the Powhatan Confederacy were unhappy about competing with the English colonists for game and territory, and tensions rose between them.
The settlement was briefly abandoned as the colonists retreated to properties on the north side of the river and closer to Jamestown, which was fortified.
In the Fall of 1622, Governor George Yeardley commanded an expedition which drove out the Warrosquoyacke and the Nansemond peoples from their villages and the Jamestown area.
A census of settlers in 1623 shows on 16 February a total of "33, including 4 negroes" at Bennett's plantation and another 20 at Basse's Choice.
The following year, the "County of Warascoyack" was represented by Richard Bennett, Captain Nathaniel Basse, and three others, all Puritans.