Thomas Bentley and Eliza Hough Bentley

1804, 29 May Thomas, born to Thomas, who is listed as gentleman on James’s baptismal certificate, and Ann Bentley, Battersea, Surrey, London, according to London records. Headstone says 30 May.

1804, 24 June christened at St. Mary, Battersea.

1808 Sarah (Sally) Holland, Thomas’s first wife is born, according to her death certificate.

1812, Oct. 5 Eliza is born to William and Sarah Hough and christened on 25 Dec. 1812 in Duffield, Derbyshire. Some accounts say she was born in London, but no records support that claim. William is Sarah Hough Jones’s brother.

 

1813, 17 July Thomas’s brother James born. Christened at St George the Martyr in Southwark on 19 Sept 1813. He dies in Illinois in 1858.

1826, 4 Sept Thomas marries Sarah Holland at St Mary Battersea., Wandsworth, Surrey. Witnesses are Caroline Ambrose, William Young, Bertha Young, nee Chapman, who got married on the same day just after Thomas and Sally, and Sally signs her name on their certificate as Sally Bentley.

1828, 25 Nov Sarah Ann Bentley born to Thomas and Sally.

1829, 19 April Sarah Ann is christened at Saint Mary Magdalene, Bermondsey, London, England.

1831, 24 Aug Thomas Bentley born to Thomas and Sally when they are living on Edward Street, near Bermondsey, St. Mary Magdalene, in Southwark.

1832, 1 Jan Thomas christened at Saint Mary Magdalene, Bermondsey, London, England.

1836, 29 Dec Fanny, Thomas and Sarah’s daughter is born.

1837, 5 Feb Fanny christened at Saint Mary Magdalene, Bermondsey, London, England.

1837, 25 Feb Sally’s sister Fanny Holland marries Henry Palmer in the presence of William Holland and Eliza Hough at St Mary Newington in Surrey. Eliza is a witness. William could be either Fanny and Sally’s father or brother.

1839 Records show Sarah Bentley and Elizabeth Jane Bentley dying in the 3^rd quarter in Bethnel Green. Is Elizabeth Jane Thomas and Sally’s daughter? Sarah’s address is Chatham Place, Locksfield. She is buried at St. Peter Walworth in Southwark.

1840 Nov. 26. Eliza marries the widower Thomas Bentley at the parish church in Camberwell in London, south of the Thames. Her father William’s occupation is listed as a joiner. His father is a customs house officer. Sarah and Henry Jones are the witnesses. Eliza becomes the stepmother of Sarah Ann, born Nov. 25, 1828, Thomas, born Aug 24, 1831, and Fanny, born Dec. 29, 1836.

1841 English census. Eliza, 25, and Thomas, 35, are living with Thomas’s children next door to Henry Jones and his family in the Henry Cottages on the Peckham Footpath in Camberwell. Thomas lists his occupation as a currier. Also living with them are Thomas’s father and his younger brother James, 25, who is also a currier.

1841, 3 Dec Eliza and Thomas’s daughter Eliza Ann is born and christened in May, 1842, at the same time as Henry and Sarah Jones’s daughter Louisa is christened. No subsequent records of Eliza Ann can be identified.

1843, 23 Feb Eliza and Thomas’s daughter Alice is born and christened on 23 Nov 1843. She later marries John Todd and then John Carby in Illinois. She is one of Eliza’s two children who are mentioned in Henry Jones’s will.

1843, Nov Thomas’s father, Thomas, dies at age 74 and is buried on 22 Nov at St. George the Martyr.

1846, 30 Dec Eliza and Thomas’s daughter Emily is born.

1847, 30 Dec Thomas is about to receive a “purse” from Eliza Jones, who finished the gift on 5 Jan. 1848, according to her diary.

1848,17 April Eliza and Thomas’s son Henry is born. They are still living on Peckham Footpath.

1848, 13 August Eliza and Thomas have both Emily and Henry christened. Eliza Jones mentions in her diary that her family attends the christening.

1849, 17 April 18 Emily dies.

1849, 18 Aug Thomas and Eliza Hough Bentley arrive in New York on the Northumberland with Thomas’s three children with Sally, as well as their two children. This is the same ship that also carries Sarah Hough Jones and her entourage.

1849, 9 Sept Thomas Bentley buys land with William A. Rawlins from Isaac and Euphema Sodowsky for $165. It’s in section 28, twp 19 range 12.

1849, 11 Sept Thomas Bentley buys land from Franklin Guymon for $880 in section 28, twp. 19, range 12. But, confusingly, records show he buys this same parcel on 3/30/1853.

1850 US census lists Thomas, 46 as a farmer with $1,000 worth of land. Eliza, the children, and his brother James Bentley, 38, with $300 real estate, are living with him.

1851 Jessie Louise Bentley is born to Eliza and Thomas Bentley. She dies in 1864.

1855, April. James Bentley is born to Eliza and Thomas. He is the one of the two Bentley children named in Henry Jones’s will.

1855, 23 Aug. Thomas’s daughter with Sarah Holland, Sarah Ann Bentley, marries Richard Jones, son of Henry and Sarah Hough Jones.

1856, 18 Aug Thomas Bentley dies, according to his gravestone, though Eliza Hough Bentley’s obituary says Thomas’s death was on 13 August, 1856. Buried in Jones Grove.

1856, 26 Sept Sarah Hough Jones, Henry’s wife, dies.

1856. Shortly thereafter Eliza moves in with Henry Jones and keeps house for him, according to her obituary.

1859, 28 May Her daughter Alice marries John Todd, a new arrival from Lincolnshire. He keeps a grocery and has bought $225 worth of land, according to the next year’s census. They soon have a son, John. Alice’s husband has a brother Richard, with whom it looks as if he immigrated.

1862, Nov. 10 Henry Jones dies, leaving land to Eliza and to Alice and James Bentley, implying they are his children, not Thomas’s. Henry’s son Richard moves into the family home. We do not know when Eliza moves out.

Feb. 20, 1864 Jessie Louise Bentley, daughter of Thomas and Emily, dies.

1870 US census. Eliza, aged 58, is living with her son Henry, 22, and James, 15. She is listed as having no property. Where is the land she inherited from Henry?

About 1871 Eliza is reported to have become a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Catlin.

1871, 5 Nov Eliza’s son Henry marries the American-born Serena Goings.

1876, Oct. 27 Eliza’s son, Henry Bentley of Great Britain, receives his naturalization papers.

1879, Feb. 6 Eliza dies and is buried in Jones Grove. For about seven months before her death, she is said to have had a painful illness, “paralysis of the nerves.”

June 7, 1880 James Bentley, Eliza and Thomas’s son, and Matilda Dickinson marry.