Wed in Saint Louis En Route to California in 1848

On this day 176 years ago, my hubby's 2d great-grand uncle, Elisha Morgan Bentley (1823?-1884) married his wife Charlotte Raymond (1821-1890) in St. Louis, Missouri. At top, the handwritten registration of this marriage performed on July 21, 1848 by a Justice of the Peace and filed, a bit belatedly, on December 22, 1848. 

The registration notes that Elisha was of Elkhart County, Indiana, and Charlotte was of St. Joseph County, Indiana. Elisha was born in Oswego, New York, and Charlotte was born somewhere in New York State. By the time of their marriage, they had already gone far from their roots. I wondered whether they had met and decided to marry while on the "National Road" which stretched from Maryland to Illinois and then to St. Louis or when traveling further west via the "California Trail" that stretched from Missouri to California.

Either way, the time needed to go from Indiana to California in 1848 was a matter of many months. Perhaps Elisha and Charlotte were acquainted before they embarked on this journey, since the two counties adjoin each other, about 30 miles apart. Or they may have met along the way and tied the knot at a convenient place.

I know Elisha and Charlotte settled in Visalia, Tulare County, California, where he raised cattle. They had two sons. Older son James died at age 20 as a result of an accident. Younger son Charles may have served a stretch in San Quentin and then in Folsom Prison for robbery and assault. If this is the correct Charles E. Bentley, he was recommended for pardon by leading citizens of Visalia, and Tulare County but the Supreme Court of California refused to recommend that the governor pardon him. 

More research is in my future to dig even deeper into this situation. Meanwhile, I'm thinking of Elisha and Charlotte, who were married for 36 years, beginning on July 21, 1848, until Elisha's death in November, 1884.

Genealogy by the States: The Bentley California Land Rush!

William Tyler Bentley, hubby's 3rd great-grandpa, seemed to be drawn west throughout his life. Born in New York in 1795, he moved his family to what became Elkhart county, Indiana, in 1835. Though they were early settlers, most of the family didn't put down permanent roots in Indiana.

Tulare County, CA

During the 1850s, William and his grown children* (except two of his married daughters, Lucy E. Bentley Larimer and Lucinda H. Bentley Shank) moved to California in search of fertile farm and ranching land. Remember that California only became a state in 1850, and Visalia was the county seat of Tulare in the early days. By 1858, Visalia was being served by the overland stage coach from St. Louis to San Francisco. The Bentleys were part of this exciting time in California history!

The 1867 voters' records of Visalia (Tulare county) list William Tyler Bentley as a farmer. His son Elisha Morgan Bentley (married to Charlotte Raymond) was raising livestock on 320 acres in Visalia (according to the 1870 non-population Census).

William's daughter Elizabeth E. Bentley Light and her husband Emanuel were farmers in Tulare county. Another daughter, Abbie Eliza Bentley Curtis and her blacksmith husband, Leonard Curtis, lived in Santa Cruz, CA.

William's obit from the Visalia Times Delta of April 3, 1873 reads: "Died on South Tule River, March 29, 1873, Wm. T. Bentley, aged 77 yrs, 7 months, father of E.M. Bentley, of this place."

To learn more about the Bentleys' lives in California, I'm sending for the obits of Elisha Morgan Bentley and his wife, Charlotte (see below, right). *According to Lucinda H. Bentley Shank's obit, Wm Tyler Bentley left for California in 1848 and five of his seven children followed to California in 1851.

Special note to "Cousin Elizabeth"--please get in touch again re William A. Bradford.

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Genealogy by the States was started by Jim Sanders of Hidden Genealogy Nuggets.