~ THE BENT FAMILY ~

The following is information from Ella Bigelows Book

Centuries ago in 1596, John Bent was born in Penton, Grafton England.  It seems a long time past, for old Queen Elizabeth, the daughter of  Henry VIII., was then living.  John grew to manhood, and when the rule of Charles 1. became unbearable, and despotic taxation and the tyranny of religious Bigots, made the wildernesses of America seem the only- asylum in which the sufferers could enjoy civil and spiritual freedom, John became filled with the pioneer spirit which he has handed down to posterity, and made the willingness to brave the unknown quantity of the wilderness to make a home-the spirit of independence that is the foundation of the Republic. At this time John was forty-two years old and his good wife Martha, had borne him five children, all of whom for many nights were sleeping the sleep of innocent childhood while the parents were deep in consultation with friend and neighbor and in prayer for guidance in this momentous time of their life. At last the final decision was made; and little Peter, then nine years of age, entered into the excitement of the day of embarkation, when they all in 1638 set sail from Southampton for the land of freedom, in the ship Confidence, among whose passengers at this same time were the ancestors of our poet, Whittier. Arriving at their destination in clue time and finding their way to that part of Sudbury which was afterwards incorporated in 1639, with but 54 inhabitants, John settled down, and soon was made free man. That is, he became a member of the church of the Puritans, for the church was first in those days and only members were allowed to vote and was thereby allowed to take part in all town affairs. Prompted to find a home for his son Peter, as the latter grew to manhood, John joined the petitioners in 1656, for the grant of land which became Marlboro; altho he himself remained in Sudbury, where he and his wife were both buried some years later in the old cemetery.

Now for distinction we will call his son, Peter Bent the First, and say that the grant of land being given to the Sudbury petitioners, Peter moved to the new plantation and became a busy, prosperous man and a large landholder. He built the old grist mill on Stony Brook, in the now town of Southboro, where one day a small band of Indians crept up and scalped and left for dead his son Zacheus; and in 1661, he contracted 'to build a bridge across Sudbury River "for horse and man and laden carts to pass over." More than once he went to England-a great undertaking in those days, leaving his faithful wife Elizabeth, to guard the house and to protect their eight little children.

He had located himself upon the lot just south of Williams Pond, about a mile from the present center of Marlboro, and here his little family was growing up when suddenly the Indians, stirred up by the animosities of the 'Narragansett chief, King Philip. swooped down upon the town that eventful Sunday morning while all were at church. applied the fire brand and Marlboro was no more.

NOTE: The picture to the left is of a watercolor of the Peter BENT homestead painted by "Ellen M. Carpenter of Boston" when the homestead was still there at "Stevens Corner".  The painting can be seen at the Marlborough Library.

The neighboring garrison had afforded protection to their lives; but their property was laid in ashes; their fences thrown down; their fruit trees hacked and peeled, and their cattle killed or maimed. The Bents then returned to Sudbury, and two years later Peter died in England, where he had again gone on business; leaving behind him in America, his poor, sorrowing widow Elizabeth, whose pathetic petition to the Governor gives us a partial hint of her dire distress:

PETITION of ELIZABETH.
(The Mass. Archives, Vol. 69-P 229, contain the following petition embellished with many scrolls,)

"To the Honoble Gov. and Councill sitting in Boston the 29th ATay, 1679:
"The petition of Elizabeth Bent, relict, widdow of Peter Bent of Marlborough deceasd, Humbly sheweth that your Petitionrs Habitation and almost all that slice had was consumed by the Indians in the Last Warr and her husband went for England and there dyed and Lost all that he carryed with him and Left your petitioner a very poore Widdow with seven children, and in the time of the Late Warr, Shee billeted severale Souldiers so Long as that her bill did Amount to six pounds and Capt. Hull gave her a Note to the Constable for the payment of the same who will pay her onely Thre pounds in money. So that she is an Extraordinary Looser thereby. Also she had Two Horses Imprest (viz) one from Watertowne and another from Charlestowne wh. were out many months and at Last dyed never being returned home to her againe, and being a poore Ignorant widdow She never Looked after any Tickett or pay for them to this day. Yor Poore petitionr therefore humbly Intreats the favor of yor honor to Impute this Neglect of Duty onely to her Ignorance and that the Law which doth exclude all persons from making further claims to debts due from the Country after the time therein Limited may nott debarr your Petitior from that wh. is justly due, so shall your Petitior and her poore fatherless ones Ever pray for yor honole Ct.

"ELIZABETH BENT."

Peter Bent the Second, was born in Sudbury and was three years old when his father petitioned for the township of Marlborough and nearly all his life had been spent in the latter place. As he grew to late manhood he married his second cousin-tradition says she was thirty years younger than her husband-Abigail, daughter of Richard Barnes. To them six children were born; and after the return to Marlborough, he had the old homestead re-built which the Indians had burned down (in olden times emigrants to a new town or country did not as now sell out, but retained their former places for a retreat) and later on, his son Peter the third, added still more to the old house, which is standing today.

This last mentioned Peter was the one about whom Marlborough knows the most. Here he was born -in 1707-and here he spent the whole of his long, honorable life. Both he and his good wife Mary, died centuries ago and were laid away in the old burial ground just back of the new High School Building. His large tombstone tells us today that he was a man justly esteemed for his integrity and usefulness, both in public and private life.

The picture to the left is of the "Bent Plot".  A larger color picture can be seen in the Gravestone section.

He was a man of great public spirit and his townsmen elected him to the highest office in their power: Assessor, Selectman, Representative to the General Court and member of three Provincial Congresses-at the second of which, convening at Cambridge. 1775, he was appointed by John Hancock one of a committee of three to examine the returns of the several towns and report upon their stock of powder, etc. At the third, which assembled in Watertown, General Joseph Warren was presiding officer, and Peter, who was again representative of Marlboro, was on two or three committees. At one time when he was re-elected representative. he was instructed to "pay no acknowledgement to any unconstitutional and new fangled Counsellors, etc." In the days of' the French and Indian wars. 1757. he was in Captain Abraham Williams' Company of militia. In 1770, he was one, of the six richest men in town. The old Bent farm in his day extended for a mile and a half along the road to Northboro. In those days the wealthier a man was, the greater amount of work was carried on in his household. Getting up early to five o'clock breakfasts in the summer, and six o'clock in the winter, a long day was before each one to complete the tasks regularly set before them. Peter raised beef for the market and that meant much work for those days of soap making. barrels of salted pork and of beef corned to a nicety, the sausage links and candle dripping; for altho lamps were beginning to be used frequently in the beginning of the eighteenth century and altho wax candles were often imported, the tallow candles were mostly in vogue. Mary B. Claflin, in her "Brampton Sketches," has an interesting account of the great housekeeping event of candle-making and states that in Berrytown (:Marlboro) they preferred bayberry tallow to beeswax as necessary addition to give hardness and consistency to the candles. Near the large old apple orchard was the spot where yearly the Indians used to come to camp. These annual visits were continued `yell into the nineteenth century and about a mile from the old homestead is their ancient burial place. Behind the old farmhouse, this interesting, long, rambling, old structure, built by successive generations, the oldest part dating back more than two centuries-on the slope toward the pond, stood until within a few years a gigantic, hollow chestnut tree, ten feet in diameter. It would hold nineteen people, and was often used by the Indians in time past and also was a shelter and hiding place for the white man. By the little brook which forms the outlet to the pond, half imbedded in the earth, covered with lichens and surrounded by brush, are two enormous old mill stones, which tradition says no doubt were those used by Peter Bent the First. This old homestead has been owned but by two families, the Bents, who came into possession of this farm by original grant, 1660, and the Stevens family, who inherited it when the Marlboro line of Bents became extinct.

For Peter Third left Peter, who was the one to march to Cambridge at the Lexington alarm, April 19, 1775, in Captain Daniel Barnes' Company. and was in the same company during the siege of Boston, May to December, 1775; and who lived on the old Bent place, and at his death bequeathed all his lands in Marlboro, Westboro and Southboro to his sister's son, Daniel Stevens.

[And here we must pay tribute to his unmarried brother, Jabez Bent, the last of the line of Bents in Marlboro, who at the Lexington alarm, was out six days in Captain William Brigham's Company and at his death made a bequest of one hundred dollars to the West Parish (Unitarian) of Marlboro, the income to be used for an annual lecture for the improvement of the young. This Bent lecture being still given every year].

NOTE: The 1803 map section to the left shows the location of the Homestead.  The street it was on is now called Williams St., the homestead was located at the corner of Williams, Forrest and Clover Hill Streets.  The land is now empty, the house long removed.

The following information comes from

A GENEALOGICAL DICTIONARY of THE FIRST SETTLERS OF NEW ENGLAND, SHOWING THREE GENERATIONS OF THOSE WHO CAME BEFORE MAY, 1692
ON THE BASIS OF FARMER'S REGISTER.
BY JAMES SAVAGE, published 1860

BENT, JOHN, Sudbury, came in the Confidence, 1638, aged 35, from Southampton, a husbandman of Penton in the same company with wife Martha, and children Robert, William, Peter, John, and Ann, all, by custom recorded under 12 years old; went home the same year to bring more of his family and came again next year in the Jonathan, had grant of land 1639, was freeman 13 May 1640, had Joseph, born 16 May 1641; Martha; and perhaps others His mother Agnes, sister Agnes Blanchard, and her infant child died on the voyage in the Jonathan. He was one of the proprietors of Marlborough; but died at Sudbury 27 September 1672. His widow died 15 May 1679. His daughter Ann (I think call Agnes at a later day) married Edward Rice; and Martha married 1663, Samuel Howe. His will, made a few days before he died made wife Martha, and eldest son Peter executors and gives to other son Joseph, and John, daughter Agnes Rice, and her son John, daughter Martha, and her h. Samuel, his son John Howe, beside two grand children Peter, son of Peter B. and Hannah, daughter of John B..

 JOHN, Marlborough, son of the preceding born in England married 1 July 1658, Hannah, daughter of John Stone, had Hannah, born 6 May 1661; and probably by second wife Martha, daughter of Matthew Rice, had John, 29 November 1689; and David; and died September 1717. His estate was in Framingham.

JOSEPH, Marlborough, youngest brother of the preceding by wife Elizabeth had Experience; Elizabeth born 1673; and Joseph, 1675; and was killed that year by accidental shot of pistol in the head of Peter son of his eldest brother Peter.

JOSIAH, Marshfield, married 30 June 1666, Elizabeth Bourne, perhaps daughter of John of the same.

PETER, Sudbury, eldest son of the first John living at daughter of his first by wife Elizabeth had Peter, born 15 October 1603; Elizabeth Patience; Agnes, 1661; Martha; John, 1663; Hopestill, 1672; and Zaccheus; beside John, again, 1676, born at Cambridge, whither the family probably removed for safety from the Indians.  But Barry, 182, presumes this John to be son of Peter's son Peter. Cambridge records shows John, son of Peter and Elizabeth died 20 April 1676. The father died says Barry, probably in England 1678.

ROBERT, Newbury, died 30 January 1648.

The following is information from various sources

John Bent, Sudbury, came in the Confidence, 1638, aged 35, from Southampton, a husbandman of Penton in the same company with wife Martha, and children Robert, William, Peter, John, and Ann, all, by custom recorded under 12 years old.   He went home the same year to bring more of his family and came again next year in the Jonathan, had grant of land in 1639, was freeman 13 May 1640, had Joseph, b. 16 May 1641; Martha; and perhaps others. His mother Agnes, sister Agnes Blanchard, and her infant child died on the voyage in the Jonathan. He was one of the proprietors of Marlborough; but died at Sudbury 27 Sept. 1672. His widow died 15 May 1679. His daughter Ann (called Agnes at a later day) married Edward Rice; and Martha married 1663, Samuel Howe. His will, made a few days before he died made wife Martha, and eldest son Peter executors and gives to other sons  Joseph, and John, daughter Agnes Rice, and her son John, daughter Martha, and her husband Samuel, his son John Howe, beside two grand children Peter, son of Peter B. and Hannah, daughter of John B.

David Bent, son of John was one of the earliest settlers in Framingham; bought, in 1662, of Henry Rice, land West side of Cochituate Brook, and in 1683, of Gookin and How, 60 acres near his own land, all in Framingham.

Peter Bent, Sudbury, eldest son of John and Martha Bent,  lived at the daughter of his first by wife Elizabeth had Peter, born 15 Oct. 1603; Elizabeth Patience; Agnes, 1661; Martha; John, 1663; Hopestill, 1672; and Zaccheus; beside John, again, 1676, born at Cambridge. The family probably left for safety from the Indians.  He came to Marlborough soon after the incorporation of the town and located himself upon a lot south of the Pond where his descendants resided for several generations.  He contracted in 1661 to build a bridge across the Sudbury River, so as to afford a means of direct travel between the two towns.  He was a large land holder and his real estate at the time of his death was valued at 431 pounds.  He had a grant of land for building a mill on Stony Brook, which was probably the second mill built in Marlborough.  He married his second cousin, who traditionsays was thirty years his senior.

Peter Bent, grandson of Peter and Elizabeth Bent and son of Peter and Abigail (Barnes)  Bent, was a prominent man in town.  He represent the town in Genral Court and in the Provincial Congress during the days of the Revolution and was Assessor and Selectman for the town.  In the convening of the third Provincial Congress which was held in Watertown, he was appointed by John Hancock as one of a committee of  three to examine the returns of several towns and report upon their stock of power and wealth.  He was in Captain Abrahm Williams Company and participated in the French and Indian Wars .  Peter served as a minute man at the Lexington Alarm. In 1770 he was noted to be one of the six richest men in town.   Peter raised beef for the market.

Jabez Bent, son of Peter and Abigail (Barnes) Bent, never married and was the last of the line of Bents in Marlborough.  He was a Private in Captain William Brigham's Company, Colonel Jonathan Ward's Regiment which marched on the alarm of April 19, 1775, to Cambridge.  At his death he made a bequest of one hundred dollars to the West Parish, now the Unitarian Church, the income of which was to be used for an annual lecture for the improvement of the young.

Peter Bent, son of Peter and Mary,, Marlborough was a Private in Captain Daniel Barns's Company which marched on the alarm of April 19, 1775.  He was also in Captain Barns's Company, Colonel Jonathan Ward's Regiment which mustered Aug. 1, 1775. He enlisted April 26, 1775.
 

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