Dinah ‘Diana’ Bentley

Do not confuse with her second cousin, Dinah Straight, daughter of Thomas Edgar Straight and Amey Greenman. That Dinah married Robert Briggs and later Barnabas Wixom, my ancestor. Both women were called either Dinah or Diana in several sources, causing confusion.

Green Bentley (about 1741- about 1821), son of William Bentley & Bathsheba Greene, married Dinah / Diana Straight, daughter of Thomas Straight & Herodias Gardner, (b about 1745 - ?) in about 1760. She may have been as young as 12. We don’t know her death date.

Birth date seen as 03/23/1748.

DAR established children include:

1. Benjamin m: Mary Kenney & 2. Jane Otterson
2. Eunice m: Thaddeus Bennett
3. Green M m: Olive Hopper
4. Hannah m: Ephriam Bennett
5. Rhoda m: Jacob Teeples
6. Sarah m: Daniel Coryell

   ---

Children of Green Bentley & Diana Straight

Summary

https://www.familysearch.org/memories/memory/68074033?cid=mem_copy

This is a summary of the other documents and memories and facts listed in Family Search for Greene Bentley including the thorough document by Marlin G. Criddle.

Green(e) Main Bentley was born on the 23rd of March in 1741 in Westerly, Washington, Rhode Island, United States. When he was 19 years old his father died and he was married about a month later to Diana Straight who was possibly only 12 at the time. They went on to have 11 children - 8 girls, 6 of whom lived to adulthood, and 3 boys, one died as a baby.

A cane in the possession of his grandson indicated that he was a very tall man. He was also said to have had red or light hair. He was by trade a tailor.

At age 37, he served for 7 years with the Patriots in the Revolutionary War in the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign. It is also said that he also served in the French and Indian War and was ever after known as Sergeant Bentley.

In 1788 Green Bentley and about twenty other families built a boat upon which they placed their effects and pushed and poled up the Susquehanna and Chemung Rivers. All men not engaged in propelling the boat, and children old enough to walk, drove the livestock along the river banks. After a tiring journey of 30 days, the group reached a site known as Wellsburg. Green Bentley and his group were the first European-American settlers of the area. The local history states that the first settler of Veteran township was Green Bentley, who built a log house in 1794 on the banks of the creek that now bears his name. From his known character for patriotism when the town was organized it was called, in his honor, "Veteran" to signalize his valor by being a veteran in two wars and a veteran pioneer.

On 2 September 1789 the settlers organized the Wellsburg Baptist Church, which was an important event to them. Separation of church and state was a gradual process and for a long time, people in various states were required to pay taxes to the Congressional Church and those who refused or held other religious meetings were often fined or imprisoned. It was probably in Connecticut that Green Bentley encountered his difficulties with the authorities over his Baptist faith. He suffered religious persecution and was arrested and subjected to fines. Bentley decided to leave. When he started westward, the sheriff overtook him and proposed to detain him. Backed by his musket, Bentley safely guided his party over the Connecticut-New York state line.

He died at the age of 79 and is now buried in the Old Bentley Cemetery in Millport, New York.

References

1. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LBXN-D49
2. Criddle, Marlin G. (November 28, 2014). Life histories of Green Bentley (1741-1820), and Diana Straight (about 1745 - ). < PDF >; (document attached)