Benjamin Bentley and Deborah, his wife, had a son Laton born in Kent, Conn. 9/11/1775. He was supposed to be of the R.I. line in which there was a census of 1790 were very few and nearly all of them were of the R.I. line. The only one in Kent was Mary, widow of John William of the Conn. family. The Benjamin Bentley listed in Kingsbury in the 1790 census may have been the one mentioned above as father of Laton, or he may have been Joseph's younger brother. Shortly after his death, Cornelius Bentley told his daughter Harriet about his mother, Mary Knickerbocker, and how she brought up her family of whom six were under 16, one 18, and the others older. Two were married when their father Asa Bentley died in 1826. Cornelius, Maria and Caroline rendered some assistance but soon they were obliged to look to the interest of their own growing families. Maria and Caroline had worked with their father, who was an excellent tailor, and before his death, the question of a livelihood was not troublesome. The farm was poor but Mary was a good manager. She kept the younger children busy picking berries and gathering nuts in season and working on the farm, according to their abilities. The older girls and their mother spun and wove the wool from their own sheep into cloth for clothing and bedding, also knitting woolen socks and stockings in the evening for recreation. There was no bridge whist in those days and cards and dancing were the devil's own snare. She made oilcloths for parlor tables, which she decorated in various patterns and colors. She sold the surplus woolen cloth and socks to the merchants of Sandy Hill and Glens Falls, but she peddled the berries and oilcloth far and near. She would take one of the younger children and perhaps go to Hartford, N.Y. 18 miles away, with several bushels of huckleberries and blackberries. She always drove two horses and always returned home at night to her family. The children never got much schooling either before or after their father died, a few weeks in the winter was all, but the girls were all capable housekeepers, industrious and virtuous. Caroline, Delany and Mary Ann repeated their mother's example, when their husbands died, leaving them with small children. It was against their principles to try to make things easier by a second marriage. They managed their own affairs and kept their children together. Caroline, by her own exertion, had property at the time of her death valued at $20,000. Delany had two children. Mary Knickerbocker's daughters were all of the Dutch type beauty, tipping the scales at nearly 200 pounds, clear complexions and grey eyes. The sons were all strictly moral men, abstemious in food and drink, economical and industrious, three of them never used tobacco in any form, but their mother took snuff..
Mary Knickerbocker's brothers were all well-to-do and she drove her team, which was slow, to their houses about 20 miles from Poughkeepsie and returneed with much-needed greatcoats and cloaks, which they and their families had discarded for newer ones. Sometimes they helped her with money. Once, Mary's brother Cornelius, drove to Queensbury taking his daughters to visit their country cousins. Cornelius drove a spanking team, according to the account. He left Mary $600 at his death.
After my grandfather's account of his mother's family, I venture a brief description of a few of her grandchildren, whom I knew and liked especially. Of my mother, Mary Jane, I remember only that she was big and soft and very comforting to a small boy. Orville did not marry. He was of medium size, as were all of the other Bentley men that I have known. He and his sister, Mary Root, lived on a small farm just south of Fort Edward, and they knew how to make a visiting youngster happy a week at a time, although neither ever had any children. I always wanted to go again. Amanda Bailey, Mary Root and the daughters of Mahala, whom I knew best of all, were very gracious in manner and had an air of dignified reserve. Altogether, they impressed one as being real ladies of quality. All but one of them were tall, and most of them were fair. Only one of them approached the 200 lb. limit.
- Written by George H. Selleck, of Exeter, N.H. -