James Vincent Bennett, one of nine children born to Tom and Alice Brennan Bennett, was born September 15, 1875. His parents settled on a homestead near Collis, Traverse County, Minnesota. James attended school in Graceville, Big Stone County, Minnesota, and continued his education at St. John's College in Collegeville, Minnesota. Following college he worked for his brother-in-law on an eastern South Dakota ranch near Sissiton until 1910.

In 1911 Bennett moved to Deer Lodge, Montana, and established a real estate business. Four years later he moved to Daniels County, Montana, where the railhead town and county seat of Scobey was being established. At two sites near Scobey, Bennett established dryland wheat farms encompassing some 7,000 acres, which he operated until his death. He also assisted in building the Northern Railroad from Scobey to Opheim, and served as a locator for the line, assisting homesteaders in establishing their farms. Bennett worked at various times as a lobbyist, as an auditor, and as a representative for several state agencies, including the State Land Office and the Soil Conservation Board. On January 16, 1918, Bennett married Isetta (Tess) Stetson, a school teacher from Deer Lodge. The couple made their home in Scobey and raised four children; Peyton, born 1922; James, born 1921; Gordon, born 1922; and Judith, born 1928. In 1936 when the children were ready for high school, Isetta Bennett moved to Eugene, Oregon. The boys returned to Montana each summer to help their father in the farming operation.

Five years later, in 1941, the family established a home in Helena, Montana, where Gordon and Judith attended high school. Throughout his life, James Bennett enjoyed reading, bridge, golf, hunting and fishing trips to Canada, politics, traveling, visiting museums, cooking, and movies. Bennett spent the last four years of his life in Saybrook, Connecticut. While on a hunting trip in Saskatchewan, he became ill and was taken to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, where he died on November 33, 1951.