Caleb Bentley

"RHODE ISLAND GENEALOGICAL REGISTER VOL I", P. 91-103, By Alden G. Beaman Ph.D. October 1978

"A LINE OF DESCENT FROM WILLIAM BENTLEY OF KINGSTOWN" By Alden G. Beaman, Ph.D

Family of Ezekiel (4) Bentley by Mrs. Cyril M. Edmunds p. 95

"Caleb (3) Bentley (William (2-1))

• was born about 1711 of Westerly son of William Bentley (ba 1676) and Elizabeth [Gardiner ?] (ba 1680), and
• his will was proved 7 Feb 1792 at Exeter.
• He married (1) 21 Jan 1738 at North Kingstown Dorcas GOULD
  • who was born about 1715 of North Kingstown daughter of John Gould (ba 1682) and Elizabeth Gardner (ba 1686).
• He married (2) Tabitha GOULD
  • who was born 12 July 1738 at South Kingstown daughter of William Gould (ba 1710) and Penelope _________ (ba1712), and
  • died after 3 May 1802 when Frederick Chappel was to care for her."

"In his will Caleb Bentley mentioned twenty children all by name except for one deceased daughter who was mentioned only as the deceased mother of the testator's grandson Lodowick Taber. These children were named in 3 groups:

• First, five sons who had all received before and who were presumably his older sons and listed in order of their birth and are no doubt of his firsrt wife.
• Second, the 8 daughters of his two wives also presumably in order of birth; all but the youngest unmarried (when the will was dated 13 Jan 1790) daughter Tabitha had received before.
• Third, 7 sons who were no doubt younger than thefirst 5 and in order of birth who were all named in one item and who jointly received a farm. No death date for the first wife and no marriage date for the second wife have been found, and only 5 of the 20 children have known or calculated dates of birth. Thus it is somewhat difficult to divide the children between the two wives, to intersperse the girls amoung the boys, and to approximate the unknown dates of birth.

The second wife was born 12 July 1738 and so may have been married by about 1756. She was certainly married before 31 Oct 1765 when she signed the South Kingstown Land Evidence as wife of Caleb Bentley.

• The daughters have been divided so that Penelope is given to the second wife Tabitha since Tabitha's mother was named Penelope. This makes the next youngest daughter Waite a daughter of Tabitha which checks since the second wife Tabitha had a sister Waite. Finally, the next youngest daughter Sarah appears to be Tabitha's since Sarah married Fredrick Chappell who was assigned to look after Tabitha in her old age, and it would seem that he would be Tabitha's son-in-law rather than a son-in-law of the first wife. The son Thomas (who was one of the 7 presumably younger sons who shared the tract of land) was born 24 Aug 1750 as calculated from his age at death, and he (called son of Caleb of Exeter) was married 17 Sep 1769 which agrees with the calculated birth date and precludes a significantly later birth date for him. The next younger son Ezekiel appears to have been the Ezekiel Bentley who was called 45+ in the 1800 Census and who died 24 Feb 1833 age 82 years and so was born in 1751. It seems very improbable that these sons born in 1750 and 1751 are sons of the second wife Tabitha who was born 12 July 1738, and they ate therefore assigned to the first wife Dorcas. The son Ebernezer named immediately after Ezekiel in the gift of the farm to the 7 younger sons has been assigned to the second wife Tabitha. It appears that the second son named Gideon was not born until after the death of the first son Gideon whose inventory was taken in 1773."

"GENEALOGICAL CLASSIFICATION BY FAMILY GROUP CODING FOR DESCENT FROM COMMON ANCESTORS", Vol II, p. 1178, by Cameron Ralph Stewart

"FBD. Caleb Bentley, son of Wiliam Bentley, Jr., and first wife. The first wife, mother of Caleb, was identified by descendant Gamaliel ALDEN Beaman as Elizabeth Gardiner in his letter of May, 1978. In his letter Alden states that he is descended from Penelope Bentley, Dtr od Dorcas Gould and Caleb Bentley, son of William Bentley, son of WILLIAM BENTLEY."

"This searcher has referred to (1) Caleb Bentley's WILL for the names of nineteen children (excepting "Elizabeth"), three grandsons, and wife (second) (Be599.) nd (2) A. G. Beaman's "Archive Record" sheets as a guide to the tentative classification of Caleb's offspring (Be598.). This searcher has not made a detailed trace to living descendant Alden G. Beaman, P.O. Box 585, East Princeton, MA (01517), the compiler-publisher of several volumes entitled

"RHODE ISLAND VITAL RECORDS, NEW SERIES". The books are currently available from him (1978)".

More About Caleb Bentley and Dorcas Gould:

• Marriage: January 21, 1738, North Kingston, Washington, Rhode Island.

More About Caleb Bentley and Tabitha Gould:

• Marriage: July 12, 1758, South Kingston, Washington Co., Rhode Island.

Children of Caleb Bentley and Dorcas Gould are:

• 1. Oliver Bentley, b. Abt. 1738, d. date unknown.
• 2. Elizabeth Bentley, b. 1740, d. date unknown.
• 3. Gideon Bentley, b. Abt. 1741, d. date unknown.
• 4. Dorcas Bentley, b. Abt. 1743, d. date unknown.
• 5. Caleb Bentley, b. Abt. 1744, d. date unknown.
• 6. William Bentley, b. Abt. 1745, d. date unknown.
• 7. John Bentley, b. Abt. 1747, d. date unknown.
• 8. Ann Bentley, b. Abt. 1748, d. date unknown.
• 9. Gould Bentley, b. Abt. 1749, d. date unknown.
• 10. Thomas Bentley, b. August 24, 1750, d. date unknown.
• 11. +Ezekiel Bentley, b. Abt. 1751, Exeter,Washington Co.,R I, d. February 24, 1833, Shelby,Orleans Co.,NY.
• 12. Mary Bentley, b. Abt. 1754, d. date unknown.

Children of Caleb Bentley and Tabitha Gould are:

• 1. Penelope Nancy Bentley, b. Abt. 1758, Exeter,Washington Co.,R I, d. date unknown.
• 2. Ebenezer Bentley, b. Abt. 1761, d. date unknown.
• 3. Waity Bentley, b. Abt. 1763, d. date unknown.
• 4. +Norman Bentley, b. December 8, 1766, d. Bef. November 14, 1831.
• 5. Sarah Bentley, b. 1768, d. date unknown.
• 6. Tabitha Dorcas Bentley, b. May 1, 1770, d. date unknown.
• 7. Gideon Bentley, b. Abt. 1773, d. date unknown.
• 8. Arnold Bentley, b. Abt. 1775, d. date unknown.

Source: [http://www.genealogy.com/ftm/l/a/f/Katie-M-Lafferty/WEBSITE-0001/UH...]