BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, BELMONT COUNTY, OHIO

"History of the Upper Ohio Valley" Vol. II, 1890.

Presented by Linda Fluharty from hard copies provided
by Mary Staley & Phyllis Slater.


Pages 513-514.


JOHN W. BENTLY, a prosperous farmer of Union township, Belmont county, is a 
descendant of one of the pioneer families of the valley.  His grandfather 
was one of the early settlers in West Virginia. His father, William, and 
mother, Martha Bently, were residents of Ohio county, W. Va., where John W. 
was born February 19, 1827, and when he was twelve years of age they 
removed to Belmont county, where William Bently purchased 185 acres of 
land. The father died in 1870, and the mother in 1884. They had five 
children who are living: Mary, wife of John G. McConnell, of Muskingum 
county; Solomon, who married Emily Smith, and now resides in Union 
township; William, who married Mary Evans, of Marshall county, W. Va., and 
lives near Barnesville; John W. and Thomas, who married Elizabeth Mitchell, 
of Richland township. John W. was reared as a farmer, and is now the owner
of the homestead. A part of the house he occupies was built in 1815, and is
in a good state of preservation. He has been an industrious and hard working
man, and has the esteem and good words of all. He was married in 1874 to
Martha A. Gatts, of Moundsville, W. Va., who was born in 1837, of parents
who were natives of Virginia. By this union he has two children, Cora M.
and John H.