Family Group Record for Captain John Dent *********************************************** Copyright Rick Dent. All rights reserved. http://www.fgs-project.com/copyright.html *********************************************** Submitted by: Rick Dent Email address: Husband Captain John Dent Born: February 13, 1755 - Loudoun County Virginia Baptized: Died: September 20, 1840 - Monongalia County Virginia Buried: September 1840 - Old Zoar Cemetery,Monongalia County Virginia Father: George Dent (1727-1757) Mother: Elizabeth Harrison (1733- ) Marriage: June 13, 1780 - Charles County Maryland Wife Margaret Evans Born: December 7, 1763 - Loudoun County Virginia Baptized: Died: November 23, 1851 - Dent's Run,Monongalia County Virginia Buried: November 26, 1851 - Old Zoar Cemetery,Monongalia County Virginia Father: Colonel John Evans (1737-1834) Mother: Rebecca Martin (1738-1827) Children 1 F Elizabeth Dent Born: December 26, 1781 - Monongalia County Virginia Baptized: Died: Buried: Spouse: Rawley Martin (1782-1857) 2 M John Evans Dent Born: January 24, 1783 - Monongalia County Virginia Baptized: Died: March 10, 1868 - Putnam County Il Buried: Spouse: Rebecca Hamilton (1786-1832) Marr: March 18, 1804 - Dent's Run,Monongalia County Virginia Spouse: Mary Cowen ( - ) Marr: July 9, 1839 - Putnam County Il 3 M George Washington Dent Born: November 18, 1784 - Monongalia County Virginia Baptized: Died: July 30, 1805 - New Orleans. La Buried: Spouse: Sarah Chapman (1785- ) Marr: June 9, 1804 - Monongalia County Virginia 4 M Dudley Evans Dent Sr. Born: March 1, 1787 - Monongalia County Virginia Baptized: Died: April 18, 1843 - Elizabeth,Wirt County Virginia Buried: Spouse: Mahala Berkshire (1794-1860) Marr: September 29, 1812 - Dent's Run,Monongalia County Virginia 5 F Nancy Ann Dent Born: May 23, 1789 - Monongalia County Virginia Baptized: Died: Buried: Spouse: Captain Felix Scott (1786-1858) Marr: 1808 6 M Nimrod Dent Born: June 18, 1792 - Monongalia County Virginia Baptized: Died: January 2, 1864 Buried: Spouse: Susan Graham (1802-1867) 7 F Margaret Dent Born: April 1, 1794 - Monongalia County Virginia Baptized: Died: July 12, 1872 - Henry County IL Buried: Spouse: John Rochester ( - ) Marr: June 16, 1812 - Monongalia County Virginia Spouse: Peter Smith ( - ) Marr: April 7, 1842 - Putnam County Il 8 M Enoch Martin Dent Sr Born: May 21, 1796 - Monongalia County Virginia Baptized: Died: November 18, 1872 - Wenona Illinois Buried: Spouse: Judith Gapen (1799-1876) Marr: February 14, 1817 - Monongalia County Virginia 9 M James Evans Dent Born: August 15, 1798 - Monongalia County Virginia Baptized: Died: 1874 Buried: Spouse: Dorcas Berkshire (1797- ) Marr: February 19, 1820 - Monongalia County Virginia 10 M Dr. Marmaduke Dent Born: February 25, 1801 - Monongalia County Virginia Baptized: Died: February 10, 1883 - Preston County West Virginia Buried: Spouse: Sarah Price (1809- ) Marr: August 2, 1827 - Dent's Run,Monongalia County Virginia 11 F Anarah Cathrine Dent Born: April 8, 1803 - Monongalia County Virginia Baptized: Died: April 1, 1892 - West Virginia Buried: Spouse: Peter Fogle (1799- ) Marr: December 30, 1822 - Dent's Run,Monongalia County Virginia 12 M Rawley Evans Dent Born: February 28, 1808 - Dents Run Monongalia County Virginia Baptized: Died: Buried: Spouse: Maria Miller (1811-1832) Marr: October 3, 1831 - Monongalia County Virginia Spouse: Nancy Barker (1815-1876) Marr: September 17, 1834 - Monongalia County Virginia General Notes (Husband) Captain John Dent wrote on his application for a Revolutionary War pension that he was born February 13, 1755, in Loudoun county, Virginia. In the spring of 1776 when he was 21 years old, he crossed the Blue Ridge, Shenandoah, and Allegheny mountains into the virtually unsettled wilderness ofMonongalia county, Virginia (now West Virginia). He no doubt followed much thesome route across the mountains that George Washington had pioneered 20 years before. A year before he made this pioneering trek, the battles of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts had signalled the beginning of the American Revolution. In April of 1777, a year after his arrival in Monongalia county, John Dent enlisted as a private under Capt. David Scott in the Thirteenth Virginia Regiment of Militia to fight in this war. John Dent's service in the American Revolution is described in Gleanings of Virgina History by William F. Boogher: "Marched to Ft. Pitt, then to Ft. Kittanning, where he remained two months. In the fall of 1777, as Sergeant, with twelve men, marched to a point near Wheeling, where they built a fort. In the spring of 1778 was appointed lieutenant of Capt. Jacobus Sullivan's company, under Gen. Mclntosh; marched toBeaver Creek, where they built a fort. In the fall of 1778 marched to Tuscaroahriver, where they built Fort Lawrence, February. 1779, marched to Fort Pitt. where he commanded seventy-five men to harass the Indians. In the Winter of 1779-80 he returned to Fort Mc Intosh, where he was in command, by order of Col. Gibson, of cavalry company in pursuit of deserters, where he remained until November 1780, when he resigned," (The forts mentioned were on or near the upper Ohio river where it is the boundary between West Virginia and Ohio.) A pension certificate dated September 4, 1834, shows John Dent entitled to a pension of $320 per year beginning March 4, 1831, for his military service in the American Revolution. The Dent family always lived in Monongalia county - a sparsely settled, thickly forested wilderness in the valley of the Monongahela river. They were among the first settlers in the area. Quoting from The Making of Morgantown by James Calahan: "These pioneers left the ease and security of well ordered settlements to encounter the perils of unknown forests inhabited by wild beasts, and rivers unspanned by bridges, to found a civilized community in the heart of the wilderness untrodden by civilized man and remote from the settlements of the East. Armed with axe and rifle and with intense individualistic spirit, but bound by certain community of interests, they built theirlog cabins and promptly turned to the conquest and subjugation of the primeval wilds which the Indians had sought to retain unconquered. John owneda large amount of land at Granville, about six miles from Morgantown. It was on Dent's run (creek) which was named for him. Here he built a house later known as"the old Dent homestead. He was a member of the Virginia Assembly, justice ofthe peace, and according to tradition, the first sheriff of Monongalia county. John Dent died September 20, 1840, at his home in Monongalia county,West Virginia. He was 85 years old. Margaret Dent, widow of John, died there on November 23, 1851. She was 87 or 88 years old. John and Margaret (Evans) Dent were the parents of twelve children, all of whom were born in Monongalia county, West Virginia. Their names and birthdates are taken from the family Bible. The names of their spouses are taken from the Dent family lineage in Colonial Families of the United States of America, (Vol. 3 pp. 152-153 as submitted by Alfred Barbour Dent. DENT, Lt. John Monongalia Co., Va. 28 Aug. 1832 appeared JOHN DENT, a resident of said county, aged 77 and made declaration to obtain benefits of provision made by the Act of Congress passed June 7, 1832. He enlisted as a private soldier for three years in the said county of Monongalia in the month ofApril 1777 with Capt. David Scott of the 13th Virginia regiment of Continental troops, commanded by Col. John Gibson, Lieut. Col. Richard Campbell and Major Taylor-that in the same month, he marched to Fort Pittand from there to Kittanning to a fort on the east bank of the Allegheny River about 50 miles above Fort Pitt, where he and his company remained about two months... ...that in the spring of 1778, Col Gibson received intelligence thatGeneral McIntosh was marching to Fort Pitt and sometime in the spring Genl. McIntosh arrived and in about three weeks afterwards he waspresented with a Lieutenants commission without any application on hispart. That he was then attached to Capt. Jacobus Sullivan's company thatduring the summer or early part of the fall of 1778 he with the troops under Genl. McIntosh descended the Ohio River to Big Beaver Creek near towhich the troops erected a fort and named it after the commanding officer, that during the fall of 1778, Genl. McIntosh, with said department, the 8th Pa. reg. and several regiments of militia marched to Tuscarora, a tributary of the Muskingum River where Fort Laurence was built, where he remained until about the first of Feb. 1779...... /s/John Dent John Dent was inscribed on the roll at the rate of $320 per annum on 28Nov. 1832. On 27 Sept. 1841, his wife Margaret Dent, a resident of Monongalia Co., Va., and aged 78, made a declaration to obtain the benefits of her husband, John Dent. She was married to John Dent in June 1780 and he died on 20 September 1840. Capt. John Dent, aged seventy eight years in May, next, a resident ofsaid county and to me personally known, after being duly signed, doth depose and say that in the year 1778, he was a Lieutenant in the 13thContinental Regiment of Va. Troops, that during the fall of that year, he saw a regiment of Va. militia in the service under the command of Col.John Evans, who is now a resident of this county, that the said regiment marched to Beaver creek on the Ohio River and assisted to build Fort McIntosh near the mouth of said creek, and from thence marched to Tuscarawa a branch of the Muskingum, where they assisted to Build Fort Lawrence, that he does not know what time the said regiment entered the service, but believe they were discharged in December of that year. /s/ John Dent (before Geo. McMeely, a Justice of the peace for Monongalia County