Biography

In 1816, Miss Almira M. Bennett, who came to Auburn in 1814, in company with her brother, Hilem Bennett, from Sheffield, Berkshire Co., Mass., opened a select school for young ladies where the Cayuga County Bank now stands, which she kept til the fall of 1823, when she removed to the foot of Owasco Lake where she opened a boarding school with her sister called "Harmony Retreat." She kept it for twelve years, commencing with twelve pupils and closing with about fifty. The school had throughout its career the earnest endorsement of the Rev. Dr. D. C. Lansing, then pastor of the First Presbyterian church. Harmony Retreat continued until the late thirties. Miss Bennett was married May 28, 1837 to Dr. Joseph Clary, then a resident of Throopsville, where he died in 1863.