Charles Bentley

M, #12726, b. 23 May 1752, d. 16 October 1834
Father*William Bentley b. 9 Nov 1707, d. 22 Oct 1756
Mother*Orange Tozer d. 1 Mar 1797
ChartsBentley (paternal side) - Dr William Bancroft Anderton Bentley
Note*  Charles was a Revolutionary Soldier,1776 - 1778. He married 1st Abigail Ransford. 2nd Phoebe Pember, 3rd Hannah Wilson. Chartles at age of 16 was apprenticed to a blacksmith. Family tradition holds he helped to make the iron chain which was stretched across the Hudson River below West Point. Charles also lived in Skenesboro, now Whitehall, N.Y., Arlington, VT, and Tyringham, MA. Sources: Memoirs of Rev. Dr. Bentley VR & CR Tyringham, MA. Tombstone inscriptions U.S. Pension Records The following is an excerpt from a letter written to Dr. William B.A. Bentley from his father Edward S. Bentley - Our line comes through Charles the 8th of ten children who was born at Franklin on May 23,1752. Actually Charles was the second child of that name, and was given the name of his elder brother Charles, who died in infancy some two years before. Charles was a blacksmith and seems to have been quite a character. His first marriage was an elopement with Abigail Ransford of Westminster (Canterbury) Connecticut. However, war was coming, and in August 1776, Charles enlisted in the Connecticut Militia for three months. His company had reached West Chester, New York,when his enlistment expired. He then enlisted in the Continental Army for a period of six months, and was stationed on York Island (New York) until it was captured by the British. His unit escaped across The North River (Hudson) to Hackensack Bridge, New Jersey and thence to Morristown, New Jersey, where he was taken sick and placed in a hospital. His enlistment expired, and after recuperating at a private in the Village, he returned home. In May 1777 he enlisted again - this time for eighteen months. He rejoined his unit in Morristown and marched with them back across the North River, and thence to West Chester (White Plains) again. Later he was ordered to Fishkill, where he spent the rest of his service working on the forging of the chain which was strung across the Hudson River to prevent the British Fleet from proceeding north to meet Beneral Burgoyne who was coming down from Canada. That ended the war for Charles, and in 1779 he returned home. Abigail died in 1783, after fiyr children, and Charles then married Phoebe Pember. She had two children and died in 1787. Charles then moved to Skenesboro (Whitehall) New York, where he lived with his older brother Richard. On August 6, 1787 at Cambridge, New York, he married for the third time to his cousin, Hannah Wilson of Wells (Castleton) Vermont. They later moved to Arlington Vermont, and then to Tyringham, Massachusetts, where he died on October 16, 1834. (continued with William born 2/11/1797.) 
Note*  See Hannah Wilson notes. 
Birth*23 May 1752 Charles Bentley was born on 23 May 1752 at Norwich, Connecticut. 
Marriage*6 August 1789 He married Hannah Wilson, daughter of John Wilson, on 6 August 1789 at Cambridge, New York. 
Death*16 October 1834 Charles Bentley died on 16 October 1834 at Coleshire (now Monterey), Massachusetts, at age 82. 

Family

Hannah Wilson b. 12 Oct 1768, d. 13 Sep 1843
Children
Last Edited17 May 1998