Joel B. Bentley

As printed in 1910

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 Past and present of Nodaway County, Missouri (1910). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.