David Bennett Hill

David Bennett Hill 1843-1910, American politician, b. Montour Falls, N.Y. He entered law and politics, becoming the upstate boss of the Democratic party in New York. He served as state legislator and, as lieutenant governor, succeeded to the governorship in 1885 upon Grover Cleveland's resignation. He was elected governor in 1885, and reelected (1888). As U.S. Senator (1892-97), he fought the free-silver wing in his own party.

Bennett, Floyd (1890–1928) naval aviator, born at Truesdale Hill, Town of Caldwell (now Lake George), New York. As an enlisted pilot serving on the cruiser USS Richmond in 1925, he applied for and was assigned to the Navy-MacMillan expedition to Greenland (1925). Bennett was a winner of the Distinguished Service Medal and the Congressional Medal of Honor, and was promoted to warrant officer by act of Congress. Bennett was chosen as pilot by Lt. Commander Richard E. Byrd for a flight to the North Pole (May 1926), with Byrd navigating, in a Fokker trimotor—a flight of 1,360 miles.

Bennett collapsed, suffering from double pneumonia, on a rescue flight to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Charles Lindbergh flew through a severe blizzard to bring him serum, but unfortunately it was the wrong kind for his type of pneumonia, and a few days later he died. In 1929, Byrd flew to the South Pole in a plane named the Floyd Bennett and at the pole they dropped an American flag from Bennett's grave.