William Bennett was a prominent planter, businessman, and justice of the peace in Chowan County. The husband of a signer of the Edenton Tea Party Resolves, Bennett was a member of Edenton's committee of public safety in 1775 and assisted the Edenton militia. In 1777 he signed an oath swearing his allegiance to the State of North Carolina and promised to report any treasonous conspiracies that might threaten North Carolina's independence. He died in Edenton on January 19, 1801.