David Bentley, b.1806, 1886 bio

BENTLEY, BURNHAM, VAUGHAN, GOODENOW, BATES, AGERS, LOCKWOOD, DUNLAP, ANDERSON, BEAVER, CONRY, CONERY

Posted By: LuAnn (Wentworth) Goeke (email)
Date: 11/18/2010 at 09:58:46

DAVID BENTLEY. Written among the annals of Clinton County are the names of its citizens, and prominent among them is that of our subject, who was born in Warren County, N.Y., Dec. 16, 1806. He is deserving of more than a passing notice for his enterprise and industry, and for the energetic spirit of manhood which at all times has won him the respect of his associates. His father, Richard Bentley, was one of the pioneers of Warren County, N.Y. He owned land and was a farmer in the town of Queensbury, and died there in 1842. His wife's maiden name was Dinah Vaughan. She was a native of Washington County, N.Y., and died a few years subsequent to her husband's demise.
Our subject was the second child in order of birth, in a family of seventeen, thirteen of whom reached man and womanhood. He made his home with his parents and assisted in the support of the family until he reached the age of twenty-two years. He had nothing to recommend him but his unvarying good health, and going to Sanford's Ridge, he opened a grocery store and conducted it one year, winning the liking and esteem of those about him by his uprightness and honorable dealing. He then returned and bought ten acres of land and a water-power and sawmill, and the following year he built a carding and fulling mill and operated the sawmill with it and a trip-hammer. He continued this till[sic] 1835, at which time he decided upon agriculture. Buying forty acres of land, rocky and wild, he engaged at farming and remained until 1841. In the fall of that year he sold out, and, accompanied by his wife, children and three other families, started for the Territory of Iowa. They made the entire journey overland, and the company arrived December 15, in Jackson County. They carried with them cooking utensils and made themselves as comfortable as possible under the circumstances. The trip occupied seven weeks. On their way they crossed the Mississippi River at Savanna, and came to Maquoketa. One dwelling was there at the time, a log building owned by John Goodenow.
For nearly six weeks the family stopped with Mr. Bates, and during that time our subject bought a claim on section 31, Maquoketa Township. A small log house stood on the tract and into this the family moved. There they lived a few weeks, and in the meantime Mr. Bentley built a frame house of local lumber, which he procured at Sabula. In March, 1842, his family moved into the residence prepared for them, and he commenced labor on the land. The Indians were numerous in the locality where he settled. By giving them a small present he secured the privilege of settling among them, and of course subsequently entered the land. The Indians afterward became angry, and quite a party of them, about twenty-five or thirty, came to his residence determined to hang him, but Mr. Bentley succeeded in pacifying them and they left without doing him any harm. Dubuque and Davenport were the nearest markets and were the depots for supplies. Mail came from Maquoketa once each week, and was carried on horseback. His stock at the beginning consisted of a pair of horses and one cow. On so small a beginning he, however, succeeded; his land grew under his cultivation, prolific and valuable, and the family made their home at this place until 1875, when he bought in South Fork Township, and they lived there till[sic] 1882. At that time they moved to the place he now occupies in Brookfield Township.
He left the estate of single blessedness and selected a life companion in the person of Lorinda Burnham, June 14, 1832. Mrs. Bentley was born in Washington County, N.Y., and is the daughter of Ashbel and Lydia A. (Agers) Burnham. Her father was born in Vermont and her mother in New York. They [Bentley's] were the parents of nine children, six of whom survive. They are as follows: Wright, living in Brookfield Township; Harriet, wife of Hiram Lockwood, living in Brookfield Township; Adelia, Mrs. William Dunlap, of Jackson County; Anna, wife of Jesse Anderson, of Brookfield Township; Albert living in Jackson County, and Mary, Mrs. Dan Beaver, of Jackson County. Jerome, the second son is deceased; Julia, the third daughter, married Reuben Conry[sic]; she is deceased, and Steven died also.
Mr. and Mrs. Bentley have spent a useful and companionable life together, and celebrated their fiftieth anniversary with friends and children gathered about, not long since. Many valuable presents were bestowed upon them, each being the recipient of gold-bowed spectacles. Not only were the gifts from friends and neighbors acceptable, as serving to show the spirit and feeling toward them, but the tender memories of a half century were the noblest and truest spirit that pervaded their survey of the past. - 1886 Portrait & Biographical Album of Clinton County, Iowa, pg 658-659.