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Stephenson County
CECIL N. BENTLEY, a prominent representative of the farming interests of Harlem Township, is located on section 22, where he has a fine body of land. It has been customary to speak of men who have raised themselves to honorable stations in life without the aid of wealth or influential friends, as self-made men, and in this sense the subject of this biography is essentially a self-made man. His parents were Eldred and Lydia (Niles) Bentley, the father a native of New York State, and the mother of Rhode Island. They first settled at Stephenson, in Rensselaer County, N. Y. We hear of them in Chautauqua County, that State, in 1829, having gone there from Berkshire County, Mass. There is where they died. The father was a farmer by occupation. His wife bore him seven children, three boys and four girls. The paternal grandmother of our subject was a sister of Gen. Ethan Allen, of Revolutionary fame.
Cecil N. Bentley, of this sketch, was the sixth child of his parents. He was born amid the Berkshire hills of Massachusetts, July 24, 1826, and was only three years old when his parents removed to Chautauqua County. He remained at home until the death of his father, which took place when he was sixteen years old. After his father’s decease, he set out to earn his own living. He returned to his native county with the belief that there would be the place to augment his fortunes, but after remaining there one year, he sought his old home again in Chautauqua County, remaining until November, 1853. He then came to Stephenson County and settled in Harlem Township. He only lived there, however, about two years, and then took up his residence in Winslow Township. Here he lived until April, 1858, when the demon of unrest still possessing him, he left for Kansas, but stopped in Iowa. After roaming around, he finally determined to return to Illinois, and settled in Harlem Township.
Mr. Bentley has acquired 300 acres of land here, and 160 acres in Iowa. He has steadily increased the value of his possessions, putting up substantial buildings and effecting other improvements on his farms. He was married in Fredonia, Chautauqua Co., N. Y., July 8, 1844, to Miss Electa Smith, daughter of Jeriol and Amy (Doud) Smith. The wife’s parents were natives of Connecticut, but settled in Genesee County, N. Y., and later on came from Chautauqua County, N. Y., to Stephenson Count, in the spring of 1853, making their permanent home in Harlem Township, where they died. They had twelve children, five boys and seven girls.
Mrs. Bentley was the fifth child of her father’s family. She was born in Genesee County, N. Y., Aug. 19, 1823. Mr. and Mrs. Bentley have had nine children, three of whom survive. Lucy I. is the wife of Hercules Price, and resides in Freeport, Ill.; George married Lillie Barton and resides in Kansas; Charles C. married Theresa Mulnip, and resides in Harlem Township. Lewis D. was kicked by a colt, and died from his injuries June 23, 1866, when twenty-one years old; Alva was scalded to death when twenty months old; Arva died when four years old; Lydia was three years old at the time of her decease; Viola and another child died in infancy. Mr. Bentley has been a School Director, Trustee, Constable and Highway Commissioner, and Treasurer of the Commissioners for many terms. In politics, he is a Democrat.
Lewis D. Bentley, who met his untimely death by accident, during the late war was a member of Co. D, 46th Ill. Vol. Inf. He had enlisted only two years before the close of the war. He had earned the reputation of being a good soldier, obedient to duty and always ready for action. When the war ended, he returned home, February 2, and the following June was removed from earth, cut off when his young manhood gave promise of a bright future.
Mr. Bentley is orthodox in religious views, benevolent and kind in his manners, a good neighbor and a kind father and husband. He is entitled to the confidence of his neighbors and friends, which he possesses in a marked degree.
Transcribed by Carol Parrish
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