Francis Bennett, Jr. (1837-1929) was the son of Francis and Martha Proctor Bennett of Gloucester, Mass. His father was a seaman. Francis Bennett, Jr., worked for a period of time for Charles Fox Hovey and Company, dry goods merchants on Summer Street in Boston, Mass.
This diary, 10 January 1852 to 31 December 1854, was kept while Bennett resided in Gloucester and, subsequently, in Boston. He began the diary when he was fifteen years old and made only occasional entries for the years 1852 and 1853. They included references to the games which he and his friends played, steamer rides to neighboring islands, visits with relatives, picnics, parties, church services, and his father's departure for Calcutta on board the "Montpelier." Bennett also attended several lyceum lectures and rendered a brief opinion of each speaker, e.g., Theodore Parker (1810-1860), Wendell Phillips (1811-1884), and Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882).
During 1854, Bennett provided daily accounts of his activities and related news of various sailings. He worked for a dry goods merchant in Gloucester but maintained an active social life, including visits with friends, sleigh rides, attendance at balls, lectures, book auctions, temperance meetings, town meetings, and circuses.
There are references to books that he read, town and state elections, the activities of the Know-Nothing Party, and celebrations of July 4th and Election Day. Bennett commented on the Anthony Burns (1834-1862) fugitive slave case in May, 1854. He was a collector of "pictorials" and spent some time on that hobby.
On August 28, 1854, Francis Bennett, Jr., moved to Boston to begin work as a clerk in the thriving dry goods store of Charles Fox Hovey (1807-1859). He became active in the YMCA and attended lyceum lectures, concerts, and parades in that city.