Jacob Kent Jr.

Jacob Kent Jr. was born in Newbury, Vermont on April 26, 1800, a son of Jacob Kent Sr. (1764-1852) and Martha (Noyes) Kent (1766-1851).[1] Kent was raised and educated in Newbury, and became a farmer.[1] In the 1830s and 1840s, he was the proprietor of the Coosuck House hotel in Wells River, Vermont.[1] A noted horseman, Kent joined the militia as a young man, and advanced from private to commander of the Newbury-area regiment with the rank of colonel, a post his father had previously held.[1]

Kent was active in the Democratic Party, and served as Sheriff of Orange County from 1842 to 1844.[1] He was appointed as a Deputy United States Marshal in 1830, 1840, and 1850, and was responsible for conducting the United States Census in Orange County.[1] For several years, Kent was a trustee of Norwich University.[1] In 1845, Kent was appointed United States Marshal for the District of Vermont and he served until 1849.[2]

In the early 1850s, he relocated to Chicago, where he was active in several business enterprises.[1] At the start of the American Civil War, Kent accompanied a relative, Loren Kent, who was an officer in the 29th Illinois Infantry Regiment, which he eventually commanded as a colonel.[1] Jacob Kent traveled with the 29th Illinois, and was present at the April 1862 Battle of Shiloh.[1]

Kent returned to Vermont in 1866 after inheriting the Newbury property of his sister Anna.[1] He then took up residence on the family farm, where he lived with his brother Clark, who died in 1884.[1] In 1879, Kent was injured when he was thrown from a carriage, but he recovered and continued to remain active on the farm.[3] He continued to remain active in politics and attended several local and county Democratic conventions as a delegate.[4][5]

Beginning in 1826, Kent was involved in Freemasonry.[1] He was the master of the Newbury lodge when it closed in 1834 as a result of the Anti-Masonic movement that was active from the 1820s to the 1840s.[1] Kent maintained his interest in Masonry and was a recipient of the Royal Arch Masonry degrees.[1] When in his 80s, Kent was known to walk from Newbury to Bradford (about 8 miles) in order to take part in meetings of Bradford's Royal Arch lodge.[1]

Kent remained a bachelor until 1870, when he married a widow, Nancy J. (Smith) Mattocks.[6] They began divorce proceedings in 1880,[7] when Kent was listed in the census as unmarried and living with his brother Clark.[8] The divorce was finalized in January 1881.[9] In 1884, Nancy Smith married Benjamin B. Darling of Lyndon, Vermont.[10]

In the last year of his life, Kent became increasingly ill.[11] He died at his Newbury home on March 13, 1886.[1] Kent received Masonic funeral honors and was interred at Oxbow Cemetery in Newbury.[1]

• Jacob Kent Jr. at Find a Grave (The gravestone incorrectly gives his birth date as 1801)