Bent Family in America

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Bent Family in America THE BENT FAMILY IN AMERICA. BEING MAINLY A GENEALOGY OF THE JDescen~ants of John :f13ent WHO SETTLED IN SUDBURY, MASS., IN 1638, '\IVITII NOTES UPON TUE FAI\HLY IN ENGLAND AND ELSEWHERE. BY ALLEN H. BENT, .Memb,,. of l!u New En;rland Historic Genealogical Socidy. We set to-dny n votive stone, That. l'\cmnry 111.iy their <l<'<'<i redeem, When like our sires our sons arc ,Jone. -Emerson. BOSTON: PRINTED BY DAVID CLAPP & SON. 1900. CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION - ORIGIN OF TUE NA111E, ETC. 7 ENor,1sn ANTEc1m~:NTS 0-"' AMERICAN IlENTS 9 Tim FAMILY IN A.11rnmcA • 11 BENT's Fort·r, COLORADO 127 BrrnT CouNTY, CoLORAl)O • 128 UNCLASSIFIED l\IJmBims OF THE FAMILY 250 BENTS IN A~rnmCA NOT DESCENDED FROM JonN BENT OF SunuuRY, 1638 253 l\fE.IIIORIALS QUAINT AND OLDEN: 1VIJ,L 01'' JOIIN BENT OF ENGLAND, 1588 255 Wu,L 01'' EoITII BENT OF ENGLAND, 1601 255 WrLL OF RonERT BENT OF ENGLAND, 1631 256 WILL OF JonN BENT OF SunBURY, l\IAss., 1672 257 JonN liENT'S INVENTORY, 1672 258 PETITION OF ELIZABETH BENT, 1679 . 260 Gov. CHARLES BENT'S .ArPOINTllIENT AND EPITAPH 261 TnE lhllIILY IN 1VAR : COLONIAL WARS • 262 SOLDIERS 01'' TllE REVOLUTION 263 l\:IU,ITIA OFPICERS SINCE THE REVOLUTION 267 TnE CIVIL WAR 267 T1rn FAIIIILY IN PEACE: COLLEG}; GRADUATES 270 CLERGYJIIEN 270 PHYSICIANS • 271 LA WYERS • 271 POLITICAL STATISTICS 271 NoNOGJINAUIANS 272 MIDDLE NAMES BEFORE 1800 273 PE·nm llEN'r BmGnA111 • 274 TnE NA!l[E IN STORY 277 BENTS IN ENGLAND AND ELSEWHERE 277 CoATs-011-ARllls • 281 ADl>ITIONS AND CORRECTIONS 282 L.\ST Sc1rnE OF ALL-ARousEMENT-nY Miss FRANCES llgN1' l>!LLINGILUI • 286 ILLUSTRATIONS. OLD BENT Ho11rnsTEAD, :MARLBORO', JHAss. frontispiece. (From a photograph by Mr. W. L. Stevens of Marlboro'.) ,JuVGE GEORGE6 BENT 01!' NEBRASKA page 80 U. L.7 BENT 01• GARDNER, l\:!Ass •• 117 Gov. CIIARu:s7 BENT OF NEW l\'1Ex1co 121 LIEUT. SILAS BENT, u. s. N. 128 IloN. CIIARLEs7 B1mT 01,· Iu.1No1s 156 l\IAJOR LUTHER 8.7 BENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 192 HORATIO G. 8 BENT OF ILLINOIS 212 WM. H.8 BENT OF TAUNTON, M.Ass. 247 PREFACE. lfAl\ULY histories arc evolved slowly, notably so the Bent gene­ alogy. The writer first became interested in the subject at the cen­ tennial of his native town in 1885. In the summer of 1888 the 250th anniversary of the arrival of tho first Bent in America and the centenary of the birth of Hyman Bent, were celebrated by the de­ scendants of the latter at the ancestral home in Fitzwilliam, N. H. ]for this gathering a brief account of Hyman Bent's ancestry was prep:ired and afterwards printed. This cncsuraged further research, an<l in the New-England Historical and Genealogical Register for ,July, 1894, appeared a short account of the first four generations of Bents in America. Since then many pleasant hours have been spent in the company of old books, manuscripts and memorials of bygone years, in the endeavor " To summon from the shadowy Past The forms that once have been." The principal books containing information of the family are the History of .Marlboro', Mass., by Rev. Charles Hudson 1862; the old History of Framingham, Mass., by Rev. William Barry 1847; the new History of Framingham, by Rev. Josiah H. Temple 1887; the History of Rutland, Mass., by Deacon Jonas Recd 1836; the History of Milton, Mass., by Rev. Albert K. Teele 1887; the His­ tory of Canton, Mass., by D. T. V. Huntoon 1893; the History of Fitzwilliam, N. H., by Rev. John F. Norton and ,Tool Whittemore 1888; the History of Paris, .Me., by vVillimn B. Lapham 1884; the History of Annapolis County, N. S., by W. A. Calnek and Judge A. vV. Savary 18U7, and of course Savage's Genealogical Diction­ ary of New England, with which all good genealogical students be­ gin their researches. :Many scattered items of interest are to be fu.nd in the History of Sudbury, by Alfred S. Hudson 1889, and norn about Bent's Fort, Col. vVilliam Bent and Gov. Charles 4 BENT FAMILY. Bent is to be found in the History of the Arkansas Valley, Color:ulo, published by O. L. Baskin & Co. of Chicago, in 1881, the History of Colorado, by Frank Hall, The Old Santa Fe Trail, by Colonel Henry Inman 1897, the Story of New Mexico, by Horatio 0. Ladd 1891, and an article by William ,Valdo of Texas, publishc,l by the Missouri Historical Society in 1880. Many other publications have contributed smaller but necessary items to the present volume. One noticeable family trait that may be dwelt upon profitably is the pioneer spirit that has pervaded a large part of the family - the spirit that has been willing to brave the unknown quantity of the wilderness to make a home, the spirit of imlependence that is the foundation of the Republic. John Bent, who came from England in 1638, went immediately to one of the frontier towns; his sons fol­ lowed the advancing frontier, and deeper and deeper still their chil­ dren and childt·en's children penetrated the outlying portions of New England. Until 1760, however, all of the family, so far as known to the writer, remained in Massachusetts. In that year the procla­ mation of Gov. Lawrence of Nova Scotia, opening the lan<l8 of the unfortunate Acadians, who had heen transported from their homes five years previous, seems to have made some impreBsion in N cw England, and several of the Bent family, including DavicP of Sud­ bury, Samuel•, a native of Milton, and probably Elijah" and Peter' of Sudbury, moved to Annapolis County, N. S. Four years later Jesse5 and John• of Milton located in Cumberland County, N. S., and in 1772 ,Joseph" Bent, a Plymouth fisherman, transferred his home to the Yarmouth shore. I do not fin<l any of the family among the Royalists who sailed away in such numbers a few years later. It was not until toward the close of the Revolutionary vVar that Massachusetts men began to settle in the wooded parts of northern New England. In 1780, Samuel• Bent of Sudbury cleared a fat·m in Fitzwilliam, a comparatively new town in southwestern New Hampshire. About the same time his cousin Stephen•, also of Sud­ bury, moved to Dublin, N. H., not far away; and in 1797, Nathan, a brother of the latter, located farther west, in the same couhty, at Winchester. After the war, Vermont was rapidly taken up. Ttw first of this family to remove thither was David• Bent ,Tr., formerly of Rutland (Mass.), who located at :Mt. Holly, in the heart of the PREFACE. 5 Green Mts., in 1786. In after years three of his brothers follo,ved, Thaddeus to Rutland about 1800, Phineas to Underhill, well to the north, in 1803, and Samuel B. to Middlebury in 1818. Another brother, Darius, went to Montreal about 1808. In 1810 Samuel Bent Jr. left his early New Hampshire home and settled in Stock­ bridge, Vt. In 1796 Wm.6 Bent of Mi<ldleboro' located in Paris, Mc.; in 1800 Isaac6 Bent of Quincy moved to New Sharon, Me., and nine years later Davi<l J. 8 Bent of Sud.bury transferred his home to Bangor, Me. Then the children of the early Vermonters began to overflow into northern New York, the first of this family being Pcter6 Bent (in 1801), followed a few years later by three of his brothers. Meanwhile, two longer migrations had taken place, Lemuel6 Bent of Canton, Mass., to Virginia, sometime before 1792, and Lieut.-Col. Silas 5 Bent of Rutland, Mass., to Ohio, with the first settlers, in 1789. In 1806 Silas6 Bent ,Tr. pushed on from Ohio to St. Louis, only three years after the great territory of Louisiana Jrn,cl come into the hands of the United States. This branch seems to have led the family in the westward course of empire. Two of the latter's sons went to Colorado as early as 1826, and three years later Charles had reached what is now New Mexico, and established his home. About 1824 Horatio G.7 Bent went to Georgia, thence to Alabama, and finally to Louisiana. EdwarcF Bent of :Missouri was one of the earliest permanent settlers of California, and so they have spread until members of the family are or have been located in nearly every State in the Union. The list is far from being ex­ hausted, but to prolong it here might be tiresome. Henry Van Dyke, in one of the most charming of out-of-door books, Bl\YS: "Little rivers have small responsibilities. • • • • '\Vhcn you act out to explore one of these minor streams in your canoe you have no intention of epoch-making discoveries, or thrilling and worhl-famous adventures." "It is not require<l of every man and woman," he adds, "to be or to do something great; moat of us must content ourselves with taking small parts in the cho.rus." The Bent family is one of the "little rivers" of history. The his­ torian is the canoeist. ·wm you accompany him in his frail bark? ALLEN H. BENT. BOSTON, l\fass., Feb. moo. EXPLANATION. IN the arrangement of the foJlowing records the plan adopted by the New-England Historical and Genealogical Society has been fol­ lowed in the main. The reader, after looking in the index for a certain name, say J osiah8 Bent of Milton, finds the page to be, in the example chosen, 105.
Recommended publications
  • REVEREND WILLIAM NOYES, Born, ENGLAND, 1568
    DESCENDANTS OF REVEREND WILLIAM NOYES, BoRN, ENGLAND, 1568, IN DIRECT LINE TO LAVERNE W. NOYES, AND FRANCES ADELIA NOYES-GIFFEN. ALLIED FAMILIES OF STANTON. LORD. SANFORD. CODDINGTON. THOMPSON. FELLOWS. HOLDREDGE. BERRY. SAUNDERS. CLARKE. JESSUP. STUDWELL. RUNDLE. FERRIS. LOCKWOOD. PUBLISHED BY LA VERNE W. NO-YES, CHICAGO; ILLINOIS. 1900. PRESS OF 52 W. JACJCSON ST. LAV ERSE W. N oYi-:s. ~u9fi persona[ interest, and curiosity, as to liis antecedents, f lie pu6frslier of tliis 6ook lias 9atliered, and caused to 6e 9atliered, tlie statistics lierein contained. $ecause flieg Cfl)ere so dijficaft to coffed, as CftJe{{ as to figlifen tlie task of of liers of liis ~ind­ . red cwlio mag liave a simifar curious interest in ancesfrg, lie decided to print f.iem, and liopes tliat tlieg mag prove of maferiaf assistance to otliers. e&af/erne W. J2oges. CHICAGO, 1900. NOYES FAMILY. Reverend William Noyes was born in England during the year 1568. He matriculated at University College, Oxford, 15 November, 1588, at the age of twenty years, and was graduated B. A., 31 May, 1592. He was Rector of the Parish of Choulderton in Wiltshire, situated between Amesbury in Wiltshire and Andover in Hampshire, and eleven mile~ from Salisbury, which contains the great Salisbury Cathedral, built in the year 1220 A. D., whose lofty tower overlooks the dead Roman city of Sarum and '' Stonehenge," the ruins of the won­ derful pre-historic temple of the ancient Celtic Druids, in the midst of Salisbury Plain. The register of the Diocese shows that he officiated in the Parish from 1602 to 1620, at which time he resigned.
    [Show full text]
  • Bent's Fort Primary Resource
    1 Bent’s Fort: Trade in Transition How did family relationships influence trade relationships on the southern Colorado plains? What role did Bent’s Fort play in the westward expansion of the United States? What does the story of Bent’s Fort suggest about the relationship between trade and war among American Indians and Colorado settlers? By Jennifer Goodland* Standards and Teaching Strategies by: Corey Carlson, Zach Crandall, and Marcus Lee** Paid for by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences * Jennifer Goodland has a master’s in history from University of Colorado Denver, where she concentrated on history tourism and the American West. She taught history at Metro State in Denver. Goodland runs a history research business called Big Year Colorado. ** Corey Carlson teaches 4th grade at Flatirons Elementary in Boulder, Zach Crandall teaches 8th grade U.S. Society at Southern Hills Middle in Boulder, Marcus Lee teaches and is the chair of the social studies department at George Washington High School in Denver. 2 Contents Standards Addressed Overview Essay Resources Growing the Border 1. The Louisiana Purchase and Missouri Territory 2. Bent and St. Vrain Families 3. Colorado’s Changing Borders 4. Bent’s Fort and the Border 5. Cheyenne Territory Travel and Trade 6. Bent’s Fort Floor Plan 7. Fur Trappers and the Bent, St. Vrain and Company Network 8. Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau 9. Fugitive at Bent’s Fort 10. Mexico Retaliates 11. Battleground: Bent’s Fort 12. Kearny’s March 13. Rebellion in Taos 14. Cut Off 15. Destruction of the Fort 16.
    [Show full text]
  • The Noyes FAMILY of Andover -5-A
    The NOYES FAMIL'1 of' ANDOvER Rev. William Noyes, rector of Uhoulderton,( 11 miles from Salisbury and near the seat of the ~arl of ~embroke,)was born in 1568; He married Anna Parker, who died and was buried in Uhol­ derton, Mch. 7,1657. She was sister to the Rev. Robert ~arker. ~er will, made Mch. 18,1655; probate Apr. 21, 1658, at Somerset s Deacon Nicholas House, Loncton, leaves 1 she to son7Rev. James Noyes and.< ~, ana cousin, ( nephew), the Rev. Thomas Parker, all of New England. These three came here in 1633. Wililam, the Rector, had most of his estate confiscated because he became a dissenter. His son the neve games and his colleague, Thomas ~arker were for the presbytery as opposed to the congregation, and opposed the Boston platform. Wil t shire, . James, born in/ 1608; went to Brazenose Uollege, OXford, but did not graduate. He taught, for his uncle ~homas Parker, in the Free School of Newbury, EnglandJuntil he came here to America. He became a preacher because of their influence. He married Sarah Drown, daUghter of Joseph Brown, of Southampton, Rants uo., ~ngland, just before they set sail from England in the MARY & JOHN, 1633. urunes d. Oct. 24, 1656 ; she d. Sept. 13, 1691. He left an estate of 657 bbs.llsh;6 d. James, who inherited intellectllal gifts from both sides of his family, was called one of the most learned and gifted of the Massachusetts preachers of his day. Even *th~r" one of his opponents, spoke highly of his talents. He was said to be the father of the non-conformists, in this country.
    [Show full text]
  • Home of Rev. Thomas Parker and Rev. James Noyes
    HOME OF REV. THOMAS PARKER AND REV. JAMES NOYES THE FIRST PARISH Newbury, Massachusetts 1635 - 1935 Editors ELIZA ADAMS LITTLE LUCRETIA LITTLE ILSLEY Contributors MARION STACKPOLE BAILEY HARRIOT WITHINGTON COLMAN ELIZABETH HALE LITTLE ILSLEY RUSSELL LEIGH JACKSON MARGARET ILSLEY PRITCHARD WORTHEN HUDSON TAYLOR ROLA.i~D HORTON WOODWELL Newburyport 1935 NEWS PuBLISHING Co., INC. PRINTERS 1935 PREFACE The committee for the celebration of the tercentenary of the First Parish, Newbury, felt that its first duty was to awaken in the minds of the younger members of the parish an appreciation of three hundred years of community life and worship, and its second duty, to arrange for the preservation in suitable form of hitherto scattered records and traditions. Both of these purposes are, it is hoped, ac­ complished in the publication of this vo]ume. Publication has been made possible through the co-operation of the editors and contributors listed on the title page and of the fol­ lowing guarantors: Caroline L. Colman, Harriot W. Colman, Florence E. Dibble, C. Stanley Harrison, Maria P. Humphreys, William Ilsley, Agnes L. Little, Eliza A. Little., Hallet W. Noyes, Walter R. Noyes, Arthur S. Page, Joseph D. Rolfe, Roland H. W oodwell. The committee wishes to express its gratitude to Mrs. Annie K. Rarnett and to Mr. Gordon Hutchins fo.r making available the manu­ script diary of Miss Alice Tucker, and to Miss Agnes L. Little and Mr. Roland H. W oodwell for assistance in details of publication. Eliza A. Little, Chairman Rev. Charles S. Holton, ex officio Deacon Ed,vin Ilsley Elizabeth H.
    [Show full text]
  • 74 Kansas History the Chaos of Conquest: the Bents and the Problem of American Expansion, 1846–1849 by David Beyreis
    Bent’s Fort, as depicted by Works Projects Administration artist Harry Miller. Courtesy of History Colorado, Denver, Colorado. Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plains 41 (Summer 2018): 74–89 74 Kansas History The Chaos of Conquest: The Bents and the Problem of American Expansion, 1846–1849 by David Beyreis ames K. Polk’s election as the eleventh president of the United States upset Charles Bent deeply. Chief partner in the largest American trading firm in the Southern Plains, he feared that Young Hickory’s aggressive expansionist platform would disrupt the delicate balance of regional power necessary to the maintenance of Bent, St. Vrain and Company’s financial success. On January 24, 1845, from his home in Taos, Bent wrote Manuel Álvarez, the U.S. Jconsul in Santa Fe, “I am fearfull that this election will cause difficulty between this and our country.” Polk’s policies, combined with the rise to power of nationalist hard-liners in Mexico City, worried the trader, and for good reason. Rather than profiting from the territorial aggrandizement of the United States when war came in 1846, Bent, St. Vrain & Company suffered grievous losses. Expansion intensified conflict between white settlers and local Indian tribes over access to diminishing natural resources such as grass, timber, and the region’s shrinking buffalo herds. On its own, far from the reach of American power, the firm flourished. When the United States entered the Southern Plains, however, Bent, St. Vrain and Company’s fortunes declined rapidly.1 This article uses Bent, St. Vrain and Company as a case study to examine the impact of the U.S.-Mexican War on the American population living in the region at the time of the conflict.
    [Show full text]
  • Noyes' Genealogy
    1 NOYES' GENEALOGY. \ RECORD OF A BRANCH OF THE DESCENDANTS OF V REV. JAMES NOYES, 1 i NEWBURY, 1634-1656, % COMPILED BY HORATIO N.^OYES. 0 CLEVELAND. OHIO, 1889. ' I o- X > PREFACE. After a hundred and fifty years of Colonial settlement, supple­ mented by a hundred years of National existence, it has become in these later years a pleasant pursuit of thoughtful persons to search the records of the past to learn something of the origin and history of their ancestors. The motive and spirit with which such researches are prosecuted in this country is rarely in the expectancy or even hope of elevating some ordinary though respectable individual or family in the public consid­ eration by the possible discovery that some person bearing the family name was a Knight in the army of William the Conqueror, and who •consequently became a lord of vast domains when the confiscated estates of the Saxons were parcelled out, though necessitated, like the Ameri­ can Indian, to impress his instead of writing his name — totem — the original of the later aristocratic "Coat of Arms" or of finding per­ haps "their noble ancestor" to have been a rich brewer and representative of a rotten borough inan ancient parliament. The inspiration- which prompts societies and individuals' to genea­ logical research inthis country, springs from a nobler sentiment, even likeunto that which we call patriotism, or love of birth-place, home or country, family affection, and reverential regard for the memory of ancestors. Nevertheless, the reflection is gratifying that inthe longlist brought to view in this record, no one bearing the name of Noyes has been found wanting inmoral rectitude, while several in the line, embracing a period of nearly three hundred years, have been eminent as clergymen and physicians, graduates of universities, deacons in churches, officers in -4­ civiland military life,and all manifestly excellent men and women, the heads of prolific families and good citizens.
    [Show full text]
  • Abel Lunt 1769-1806
    THE ANCESTRY OF ABEL LUNT 1769-1806 OF NEWBURY, MASSACHUSETTS BY WALTER GOODWIN DAVIS PORTLAND, MAINE THE ANTHOENSEN PRESS 1968 THE ANCESTRY OF ABEL LUNT ;;,,'._I•·' ,·'.- . ,.: ,' .... ,. ;,;t\tri.1i/:,.,, _, .. '~~j, .. \';:: ··: ·. ~\,r)? \("\ff.,./ •t ► l ··~!e~t,;.:z .i : · 1 CONTENTS .. INTRODUCTION. vu I. LUNT, OF NEWBURY 1 II. CoxER, OF NEWBURY . 43 III. PETTINGILL, OF NEWBURY . 49 IV. INGERSOLL, OF SALEM . 61 V. NOYES, OF NEWBURY . 69 VI. CUTTING, OF NEWBURY • . 79 VII. ALLEN, OF SALISBURY . 89 VIII. GOODALE, OF SALISBURY . 99 IX. HAYWARD, OF BEVERLY . 109 X. DIXEY, OF BEVERLY • . 117 XI. MARCH, OF NEWBURY . • . • . 123 XII. FOLSOM, OF EXETER • . 139 XIII. GILMAN' OF EXETER . 151 XIV. ANGIER, OF CAMBRIDGE . 161 xv. BATT, OF BosTON . 173 XVI. ST. BARBE, OF SALISBURY, ENGLAND . 189 XVII. EAYNTON, OF WILTSHIRE, ENGLAND . 199 XVIII. WEARE alias BROWN, OF WILTSHIRE, ENGLAND . 249 INTRODUCTION THIS is the sixteen th and final hook in a series dealing with the ancestry of my great-great-grandparents. It is a relief to have accomplished a task which I have often regretted having begun and which I do not advise any one to undertake. Here is the re­ sult, however, of much labor and research for my kinsmen and fel­ low genealogists to study as much or as little as they choose. In several previous books I have acknowledged the aid of Miss Sybil Noyes in reading proof with an eye for additions and corrections as well as accuracy in printing. Miss Noyes has a personal interest in the present volume as she descends from sev­ eral of the families dealt with-once from Lunt, twice from Noyes, Ingersoll, Allen and Goodall and three times from Cutting.
    [Show full text]
  • Noyes' Genealogy
    GENEALOGY. Rev. James Noyes, the immigrant ancestor of our branch of the numerous Noyes family in this country, was born inChoulderton, Wilt- shire, England, in 1608, came to New England in 1634, and died in Newbury, Mass., October 22, 1656, in the forty-eighth year of his age. His father, Rev. William Noyes, was rector of the parish of Choulder- ton, situated between Amesbury and Andover, near the great Salisbury Cathedral, built in1220, whose lofty tower overlooks the dead Roman city of Sarum and "Stonehenge,"the ruins of the wonderful prehistoric- temple of the ancient Celtic Druids, in the midst of Salisbury Plain. The register of the diocese shpws that he officiated in the parish from 1602 to 1621, when he resigned and was succeeded by Rev. Nathan Noyes, possibly a son or nephew. The wife of Rev. William and mother of our immigrant ancestor, was sister of Rev. Robert Parker, a learned Puritan divine and a graduate of Oxford, who was driven to- Holland for non-conformity. Our ancestor, Rev. James, married in 1634 Sarah, eldest daughter of Mr.Joseph Brown, of Southampton,. England, and in March of that year embarked for New England, in company with his brother Nicholas and his cousin Thomas Parker, in the ship "Mary and John," of London. He preached first at Medford, Mass., where he was made a freeman September 3, 1634 ;then for a. time officiated at the Watertown church, and in 1635 he went to New- bury, where he preached until his death. His will was dated October 17, 1656, five days before his death, the inventory showing a good estate.
    [Show full text]
  • Bent, St. Vrain & Co., 1830-1849 a Dissertation Submitt
    UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE BUSINESS IN THE BORDERLANDS: BENT, ST. VRAIN & CO., 1830-1849 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By DAVID C. BEYREIS Norman, Oklahoma 2012 BUSINESS IN THE BORDERLANDS: BENT, ST. VRAIN & CO., 1830-1849 A DISSERTATION APPROVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY BY ______________________________ Dr. Albert L. Hurtado, Chair ______________________________ Dr. Paul A. Gilje ______________________________ Dr. Sterling Evans ______________________________ Dr. Catherine E. Kelly ______________________________ Dr. Sean O‟Neill © Copyright by DAVID C. BEYREIS 2012 All Rights Reserved. To My Dissertation Committee Acknowledgements Without financial support, this dissertation would not exist. Therefore, my first acknowledgements must go to those who helped support my work. Special thanks to the Department of History at the University of Oklahoma for providing me with five years of funding as a teaching assistant, research assistant, and instructor. The Anne Hodges Morgan and H. Wayne Morgan Dissertation Fellowship funded a transcontinental research junket. Finally, Cliff Hudson‟s generosity helped bring me to Norman, aided my research trips, and allowed me to attend national and regional conferences. Archivists and librarians make the work of historians possible, and I have had the good fortune to work with many fine individuals in repositories across the nation. On the East Coast, the staff at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University initiated me into the mysteries of archival work. In California, I wish to acknowledge the efforts of the staffs at the Braun Research Library, the Huntington Library, and the Bancroft Library.
    [Show full text]
  • Life in an Adobe Castle, 1833-1849
    . " Life in an Adobe Castle, 1833-1849 BY ENID THOMPSON Bent's Old Fort was an outpost of American civilization situated on the southwestern edge of the American frontier. A symbol of Manifest Destiny, the fort was located on the Moun­ tain Branch of the Santa Fe Trail, the crossroads of trade among the Indians of the plains, the trappers of the mountains, and the traders of the Southwest. Bent's Old Fort was the largest of all the trading posts in the mountain-plains region. The people who built and maintained the fort, and many of those who visited it, ;<an s a"I" Pueblo z(/) Spanish P e aks ~'':. ~.:~ z~ 5 ----~--..:~::_ Hoping to cash in on this trade, in December 1830 while were, in large part, the people who. guided by economic neces­ William Bent was trapping in the New Mexican mountains sity and commercial acumen, carried forward the Americaniza­ Ceran St. Vrain and Charles Bent formed a partnership so that tion of the area during the 1830s and 1840s. one of them could tend to the trade in Taos while the other could In the 1830s the trade on the Santa Fe Trail was increasing freight their trade goods on the Santa Fe Trail. By 1832 news of as the fur trade market was decreasing. With the beaver virtu­ the partnership of the Bents and St. Vrain had spread eastward. ally trapped out of the Missouri River drainage area and the On 10 January 1834 William Laidlaw, an American Fur Com­ introduction of the silk hat into European and American fash­ pan~ trader at Fort Pierre in present-day South Dakota, wrote ion, the fur trade market was severely affected.
    [Show full text]
  • Genealogy of the Descendants of Nathaniel Clarke of Newbury, Mass
    m • *• • k e 1885 sw. t Id/rlo^ "^npEliyBOBneTi NYoiT. GENEALOGY 1 OF THE DESCENDANTS OF NATHANIEL CLARKE OF NEWBURY, MASS. TEN GENERATIONS, 1642-1885. 1 BY GEORGE K. CLARKE, LL.B.,• Member of the JVeto England Historic Genealogical Society. SECOND EDITION. REVISED ANDENLARGED. BOSTON: PRESS OF T. R. MARVIN& SON/ 1885. i \ PREFACE FTER a rather discouraging experience of more than four years incollecting material, Ipublished in the fall of 1882, a genealogy of the descend­ ants of Nathaniel Clarke of Newbury. This book Iknew to be imperfect, but hoped that it would awaken a more general interest in the matter, and enable me to obtain more complete records for a second edition. The result justified my expectations, although only a por­ tion of the edition was sold, and since then Ihave obtained records with comparative ease. \ In the preparation of the second edition great care has been taken incopying manuscripts and inreading proof, to avoid errors if possible ;but there are doubtless some, as in a work of this kind it is well'High impossible to exclude them alto­ gether. Often Ihave received conflicting records from differ­ ent sources, and inmany instances have made persistent effort to learn which were correct. It willbe noticed that in a very few instances in the earlier generations, Ihave a record of the birth of male children and know nothing further of them, un­ less itbe the mere fact that they lived to manhood, and it is reasonable to suppose that some of them have descendants ; 4 PREFACE. t but the most diligent research, and the investigation of every clue, has failed to discover any trace of these "lines.
    [Show full text]
  • COLORADO MAGAZINE Published by the State Historical Society of Colorado
    THE COLORADO MAGAZINE Published by The State Historical Society of Colorado VOL. VII Denver, Colorado, March, 1930 No. 2 The W. M. Boggs Manuscript About Bent's Fort, Kit Carson, the Far West and Life Among the lndians1 Edited by LEROY R. HAFEN 2 Old Fort Bent, or Bent's Fort, as it was generally called by all western men or travelers to the Rocky ]\fountains or to Santa Fe, New Mexico, either by the Cimarron route or by way of Bent's Fort on the Arkansas River, was situated some forty miles below what is now known as the city of Pueblo, and not far from the junction of the Huerfano and the Arkansas River. 3 'l'he route from Independ­ ence, Missouri, the old frontier town and the original starting place for all the old Santa Fe traders and trappers for the extensive p!ains and hunting grounds of the Rocky Mountains and New Mexico, either passed from Independence in Missouri by way of Bent's Fort and the Raton Mountains or took a route farther south by way of the Cimarron and Wagon l\Iounds, San McGill [Miguel] and the old Pecos Mission into Santa Fe. Another route was by rack trail from Bent's Fort through and over the mountains by the Sangre de Cristo Pass and the Spanish Peaks, or as the Indians called them, the two "Wahhatoyas," by way of Taos, or "San Fernando de Taos,'' the home of Charles Bent, of the firm of "Bent and St. Vrain," owners of Bent's Fort.
    [Show full text]