My Genealogy Hound

FRED A. BENTLEY, a well-known citizen of the town of Busti and vice-president of the Chautauqua County National Bank, is a son of Gustavus and Cornelia (Stewart) Bentley, and was born in the town of Busti, Nov. 30, 1846. Among the pioneers settlers of the town of Busti was Uriah Bentley, the paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch. Uriah Bentley was the son of Caleb Bentley of Berlin, Rensselaer county, where he was born June 21, 1779. In May 1810 he settled on lot 9, township 2, range 12, now in the northern part of the town of Busti. He cleared a piece of land, built a house after the common pattern of those pioneer days and in November brought his family to Mayville and, for want of a road, he shipped them down the lake in a long canoe, reaching his home at midnight. He was an industrious man and useful citizen. On December 28, 1800, he married Nancy Sweet, who was born May 7, 1779. They reared a family of ten children: Nancy, Polly, Uriah S., Sybl E., Hiram, Simeon G., Alexander, Gustavus A., Ulrica C. and Minerva. Gustavus A. (father) the fourth son, was born August 12, 1817, and followed farming on the home farm until his death. He was a republican in politics and married Cornelia Stewart, who died in February 1888. She was the daughter of John Stewart, a Methodist, who was born in Herkimer county, married Eunice Wilcox, by whom he had five sons and five daughters, and died in the town of Harmony in 1826. He was the son of Eliphalet and Mercy (Coates) Stewart, who settled in 1810 in Busti near Jamestown, where Mr. Stewart followed farming and lumbering. Gustavus A. and Cornelia (Stewart) Bentley reared a family of three children: Marian E., who died in 1857; Frances V., wife of J. S. Briggs, a grocer of Jamestown, and Fred A.

Fred A. Bentley grew to manhood on the farm and received his education in Randolph and Jamestown academies. Leaving school, he was engaged in farming on the homestead farm near Lakewood until 1886, when he was elected vice-president of the Chautauqua County National Bank of Jamestown and since then has given his time principally to the business of the bank.

He married Clara Ball, a native of Pennsylvania, who died shortly after her marriage, and after her death he united with Mary B., daughter of Flint Blanchard, a farmer of the town of Ellicott. By his second marriage he has two children: Jane and Marian E.

In politics Mr. Bentley is a republican. He served three terms continuously as supervisor of the town of Busti. He has been very careful of the interest of his bank and has spared no effort to strengthen and maintain its well earned reputation.