Source: Portrait & Biographical Album of Whiteside County, IL
Originally published 1885 Chapman Bros., Chicago, IL

Transcribed by: Becky Jones
Pages 242-243

John Kent, who has been for many years a prominent agriculturist of Whiteside County, is living in retirement from active business life at Morrison. He has been associated with the development and general progress of the county since 1839, when he became a land-holder in the township of Union Grove.

He was born in Morris Co., N..J., June 18, 1816 and is the son of Jacob and Nancy (Blackford) Kent, both being natives of the same State where the son was born. His father was a tanner and currier and also a shoemaker, as the custom prevailed in those days of combining the three callings. The family removed from New Jersey, in 1827, to Knox Co., Ohio. Late in life, the parents came to Illinois to pass the remainder of their lives with their children. The father died in Carroll County, Dec. 16, 1859, aged 74 years and 26 days. The demise of the mother occurred June 26, 1869, when she had reached the age of 73 years, 1 month and 12 days. They had 11 children, and only five survive to the present. Mrs. Elizabeth Chamberlain, of Morrison, is the oldest. Mr. Kent is the second who is living. Levi is a farmer in Douglas Co., Oregon; James L. is a farmer in Kansas; William is pursuing the same business in Nebraska, and is by trade a carpenter.

Mr. Kent was thoroughly trained in the theory and practice of farming, which he has made his life-long pursuit. He came to Union Grove, Whiteside County, in the full flush of the strength and ambition of his young manhood, and took a claim of 80 acres, which he secured when the land came into market and to which he added by further purchase until his property on section 3 aggregated 160 acres, of which he made a valuable farm. He attended diligently to his interests, and as he prospered he made further purchases, and now owns 160 acres of land on section 9, in the township where he first located, 114 acres on section 3, 20 acres of timber on section 1, 10 acres of timber in Mt. Pleasant Township, and 20 acres of the same valuable variety of real estate in Carroll Co., Ill., situated in the township of York. He is also the owner of his residence, the lot therewith connected and two vacant lots in Morrison.

At the date of Mr. Kent’s arrival in Whiteside County, a condition of almost primeval nature reigned. Claims were held by right of possession, households were like angels’ visits, few and far between, and glimpses of humanity were more welcome than the glow of the summer sun or the kiss of the prairie breeze on the cheek of the laborer who turned the soil with his plow, and dreamed wild dreams of the plentiful harvest, promised by the rich mold which had lain fallow since the continent rose from the depths of the sea. There were privations, toil and hardships, but the season of prosperity was too near at hand and too certain for the admission of discouragement, and the lovely prairie acres of to-day fully attest the quality of the energies brought to bear on their reclamation and conversion into fruitful fields.

Mr. Kent was married Oct. 7, 1841, in Union Grove Township, to Mary Jeffers. Eight children were born to them in that township, of whom five are yet living. Following is the record: Sarah was born June 10, 1844, and died Sept. 17, 1875; Mary M. was born April 9, 1848, and married Volney Twitchel, a farmer in the township where she was born; Ella A., born May 25, 1850 is the wife of John Blue, a farmer in Nebraska. Omar was born Jan. 18, 1852, and is engaged in farming in Nebraska. Lewis H., born June 11, 1854, is a practicing attorney in Nebraska. John W., a farmer in Union Grove Township, was born April 27, 1859. Their mother, a native of the State of New York, died July 13, 1876.

The second marriage of Mr. Kent, to Mrs. Diana Green, occurred March 14, 1878, near Tomson, Carroll Co., Ill. Her first husband, John Green, was a native of Johnstown, Licking Co., Ohio, and died March 18, 170, in Tomson. Their children were three in number. Sarah, wife of Jasper Whitney, a farmer of Tomson, was born in Licking Co., Ohio. Horton, also a native of Ohio, is a traveling salesman in the employment of the Union Knife Company of Chicago. Francis M. was born in Carroll County, and is a farmer in Dakota.