William Preston Bentley

As printed in 1910

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 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.