The Bentley Families of Nodaway County, Missouri

AMOS B. BENTLEY.

The subject of this sketch was born December 26, 1822, in Trumbull County, Ohio. His parents, although quite old, are still living, and reside on the farm where they commenced their married life sixty years ago. Amos Bentley was educated in the common schools of his day. He commenced the study of law at the age of eighteen years, and during his study taught school in winter to sustain himself during the summers in applying himself. He was admitted to the bar of the supreme court at Columbus, Ohio, April 17, 1845, and in the year 1852 he went to California, from whence, after about one year, he returned to Ohio and shortly after immigrated to Worth County, Iowa. There he remained until the year 1858, when he left the cold climate of Northern Iowa and came to Nodaway County, Missouri. Mr. Bentley is not only well versed in the law but is a school teacher of considerable experience, and is also a splendid mechanic. He has resided most of the time on Platte River, in Jackson Township of this county, with the exception of five years, during which time he was engaged in the practice of law at Maryville, and for a part of that time Hon. Lafe Dawson was a partner with him in that profession. Mr. Bentley's life has been an active one since his settlement in Nodaway County, and there are probably few men in the county whose attainments are so varied, at the same time so perfect. He was county judge for one term, and served with credit to himself and to the county. During the war Mr. Bently cast his lot with the Union. He was formerly a Democrat, but of late years he has espoused the Greenback cause. He is a man of good judgment, possessed of a keen sense of justice, and is a firm advocate of law and order. In September, 1843, ne was united in marriage with Miss Adelia D. Black. She was born August 26, 1826, in Cattaraugus County, New York. Mrs. Bently accompanied her husband to Nodaway County, where she shared with him the hardships and privations of pioneer life, bearing her part with that fortitude and endurance so characteristic of her. Some years ago she had a narrow escape from wolves while hunting horses on the prairie, but being equal to the occasion she used the horse for a breastwork, while, by menacing the wolves with a stick, and by shaking her apron at the hungry, carnivorous pests, drove them away. Mrs. Bentley is an excellent neighbor, and is now enjoying a happy old age, surrounded by her children and her large circle of friends. Their family consists of six children: James, Helen (deceased), Frank, Mary H., Anson and Martin V. Mr. B. is a member of the Masonic fraternity. He has 69 acres of good land, most of which is under cultivation, and his improvements are excellent. During the war he was captain in the state militia, and was never known to take or confiscate any property of individuals except when authorized so to do.

As printed in the source². Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

JOEL B. BENTLEY.

Among the well-known and highly-respected citizens of Ravenwood, Jackson township, none is held in higher esteem in the community than Joel B. Bentley, who. after many years actively spent in agricultural and business lines, is now living practically retired from active work, enjoying that rest which he so richly earned. Mr. Bentley was born in Trumbull county, Ohio, on December 4, 1840, and is a son of James and Temperance Ann Bentley. The father was a native of Pennsylvania and the mother of Connecticut, though their marriage occurred in Ohio, 'where they established their home. James Bentley was a pioneer farmer and in Ohio he cleared and improved a farm, on which he lived until his death, at the advanced age of ninety-four years. A son, Amos, had come to Nodaway county, Missouri, in 1858, having previously lived a few years in northern Iowa, but the severity of the winters induced him to go further south, and he located on the Platte, in Jackson township, this county, two miles south of where Ravenwood now stands, and there he bought the start of a farm. Joel B. Bentley came here also to secure land, most of which was second bottom land, for which he paid four dollars per acre. It is worthy of note that this same land is now worth one hundred dollars an acre. He sold it in 1870 for twenty dollars an acre. During the Civil war Mr. Bentley took an active interest and enlisted in the six-months militia, serving his full term, and in 1862 he enlisted in the Fourth Missouri Regiment, under Colonev Hall, his company being made up largely of Nodaway county men. At the end of three years’ service he was discharged, though it was some time before the close of the war. During his service he was in Missouri and Arkansas, having taken part in the fight at Springfield, in the Price raid of 1864, and was at Jefferson City and the battle of the Blue, now on the site of Kansas City. He was promoted to the rank of corporal and during his service he was never wounded or taken prisoner. He carefully husbanded his wages as a soldier and with this money he paid for the land he bought in Nodaway county, on which he settled on leaving the army. He operated this farm for about five years, at the end of that time selling it and engaging in the mercantile business at Sweet Home a short time. He then bought one hundred and twenty acres three miles west of Ravenwood where he lived about five years. He then bought an improved farm north of Maryville and devoted himself to its operation during the following four years. About 1890 Mr. Bentley came to Ravenwood, not being physically able to continue his farm ing operations, and here he engaged in the mercantile business in partnership with his brother-in-law, William Foote. This was a general store, but subsequently they engaged in the hardware business. Selling out his interests in this business, Mr. Bentley entered into a partnership with Madison Goodson in the lumber business, succeeding to the business of E. W. Bishop & Son. Two years later, however, Mr. Bentley sold his interests in this business to his son-in-law, Ira A. Goodson, and has since lived retired.

He has also sold his farm land and has concentrated his holdings at Ravenwood. He owns a comfortable and attractive residence at Ravenwood and has built several good residence properties. Among the land sold by him was one farm near Ravenwood, for which he received sixty-five dollars an acre, and which is now held at one hundred and twenty-five dollars an acre.

In 1868 Mr. Bentley married Elizabeth Foote, the daughter of William Foote, Sr., a native of North Carolina, who became a pioneer farmer in Iowa, coming to Nodaway county in 1870 and operating a fine farm near Sweet Home, though he retired later and lived at Ravenwood until his death, at the age of about eighty years. At the time of her marriage Mrs. Bentley was engaged in teaching school, though but sixteen years old. She died after thirty-two years of happy wedded life. They became the parents of five children, namely: EATeline, who became the wife of Charles Funk, of Sterling, Colorado, was a teacher in the Nodaway county schools prior to her marriage; Caroline became the wife of Ira A. Goodson, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work; William James, who is a carpenter in Colorado; Eda Belle is her father’s housekeeper and companion; Martin Lee is engaged in the hardware business at Blocton, Iowa.

Politically, Mr. Bentley was a stanch supporter of the Democratic party until the Cleveland administration, since which time he has been aliened with the Republicans, though he does not take a very active part in public affairs. Fraternally, he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, while his religious membership is with the Methodist Episcopal church South, of which he is at present a member of the board of trustees. Mr. Bentley has been an eye-witness to and an active participant in the great transformation and development which has taken place in this part of the country and his reminiscences of the early pioneer days here are extremely interesting and valuable. Settlements were few and far between at that time and conditions were in many respects very forbidding. But the land held out great promise for the future and those who were courageous enough to hold on were the ones who reaped the results. Mr. Bentley is a man of strong character and because of his genuine worth he enjoys the unbounded confidence and the high regard of all who know him.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

FRANK B. BENTLEY, section 18, is a native of Trumbull County, Ohio, and was born in 1853. He is the son of Amos B. and Amelia (Black) Bentley, and at the age of four years, with his father's family, he immigrated to Worth County, Iowa, where they resided one year. From thence they came to this county. They are old pioneers here and were the first white family to settle in Worth County. The subject of this sketch was here raised to manhood and received his education, and has always followed his present occupation. He moved on the place where he now resides in the spring of 1882, and is the owner of eighty acres of choice land, most of which is under cultivation. Mr. B. was married in 1876, to Miss Nevada Hawk, daughter of Peter Hawk, an old settler of this county.

As printed in the source². Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

WILLIAM PRESTON BENTLEY.

When the woods and prairies of northwestern Missouri were yet, for the most part, in their virgin state and the homes of many varieties of bird and best that are not found here today; when the log cabin instead of the large frame dwelling dotted the hill rests, and when land as rich as ihe Union can boast could be had almost for a song, compared with what it costs today, then the Bentley family invaded this section and have been prominent in the industrial life here ever since, one of the best known of the family being William Preston Bentley, who was born in Rush county, Indiana, May 9. 1838. He is the son of Levi and Mary (Cain) Bentley; his father was born in Boyle county, Kentucky, and his mother in North Carolina. In 1844, when William P. was only six years old, his parents died and he was reared by his maternal grandparents, who, in 1844, took up government land in Platte county, Missouri, where they lived until 1849, then came to Nodaway county and settled in Green township, buying a farm here on which they lived the rest of their days, grandfather Cain dying prior to the Civil war. During the war between the states Mr. Bentley served very faithfully as a soldier in Company H, Fifty-first Regiment. Missouri Infantry. Tn 1861 he married Susan Jane Britton, daughter of George W. and Mary

(Arbuckle) Britton. She was born in Jackson comity, Indiana, and came to Missouri in the latter fifties. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Bentley, one of whom died in infancy; the other is Malory Ellen, wife of T. M. Trullinger, whose sketch appears in this work. Mrs. Bentley was called to her rest in 1903.

While Mr. Bentley was still a minor he purchased forty acres of land in Polk township, this county. After the war he improved it and lived there about twenty years. He then sold out and bought his present farm in March, 1886, in the eastern end of Green township, and he has made his home here ever since, having a good farm and a very comfortable home. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, as was his wife until her death.

Mr. Bentley is a very interesting talker of the days when he first came to Nodaway county, when there were all kinds of game, deer, wild turkeys, etc., also wolves and wildcats. Indians often came in the fall to hunt, and would be driven out by the whites. The towns of Skidmore and Burlington Junction had not been thought of. and at Quitman there was nothing but an old log water-mill.

As printed in the source³. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.