Whiteside County IL Archives Biographies.....Dent, Zachariah 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com December 3, 2007, 12:56 am

Author: Portrait & Bio Album, 1885

Zachariah Dent is the earliest pioneer settler in Clyde Township. He moved 
into the township June 1, 1839, previous to the organization of Whiteside 
County, and at a date when its original state of nature was almost uninvaded. 
Mr. Dent was born July 26, 1805, in Buckingham, Norfolkshire, England. He was 
named for his father, who was an English yeoman. Elizabeth Dent, his mother, 
was a native of the same country. The elder Dent died about 1811, and his son 
was brought up chiefly by strangers. The mother survived some years, dying 
after the removal of her son to America. Mr. Dent learned the trade of a cloth-
weaver, and followed that vocation until 1832, the year in which he emigrated 
to America. He first located in Ontario, Can., where he obtained a clerkship 
near Newmarket. He passed several years in one employ, and for some time 
subsequently he was similarly engaged in the interests of a second employer. 
Meanwhile he came to Illinois and located his claim, which he purchased of an 
Englishman, and was careful to settle in the "timber," as it was then 
generally the opinion that the prairie was comparatively useless for 
agricultural purposes. While in Canada he took part in the contest known to 
history as McKenzie's Rebellion, or the Patriot War, espousing the cause of 
the rebels. He was on the losing side, and shared the consequences, which in 
his case was a term of imprisonment at Toronto. During the short-lived 
struggle he was involved in its several conflicts, but escaped without 
receiving injury, and on being released from prison he was again admitted to 
his former social position. Useless as were the efforts to shake off the bonds 
of the British Government, the underlying principles were in accordance with 
strict justice and in the natural order of things must in the course of time 
prevail. On removal to Clyde Township for a permanent residence, he 
constructed a home in the woods where he located for reasons stated. He lived 
alone for some years, engaged in a struggle with the adversities and trials of 
an early settler in a new country. The condition of things may be inferred 
from the fact that the value of a bushel of wheat was less than a pound of 
coffee. Mr. Dent was married about the year 1848 to Eunice Montgomery. She was 
born in August, 1810, in Roxbury, Delaware Co., N. Y., and was the daughter of 
Martin and Louisa (Waite) Montgomery. Her parents were born in New York and 
were of New England ancestry. They were a branch of the family who were 
prominent in New England and in the State of New York in the period of the 
Revolution. The family of Mrs. Dent removed to Illinois in July, 1839, and 
have all been dead some years. No children came to add to the home happiness 
of Mr. and Mrs. Dent. She died in the winter of 1869, and since that event Mr. 
Dent has lived in quiet retirement, on section 15 of Clyde Township. He is the 
owner of 250 acres of land, finely situated and comparing favorably with the 
farms in the vicinity. He is a Democrat of the Jackson school, and has always 
adhered to his first political principles. He has officiated some years in 
township offices but finally withdrew from active duty as a citizen on account 
of old age. He is 80 years of age at the date of this writing (1885).

Additional Comments:
Portrait and Biographical Album of Whiteside County, Illinois, Containing Full-
page Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative 
Citizens of the County. Chicago: Chapman Brothers, 1885.

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