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��COL. HENRY O. KENT.
��Jacob Kent, here referred to, died at Newbury in 1812, aged 86 years. He was a rioted man in his section, commander of the first company of militia raised in the towns of Newbury and Haverhill "in our Province of New Hampshire" — as says his old commission, signed in 1764, by Benning Wentworth, and which is now in Col. Kent's possession. He was a leader in church matters, was for years Town Clerk, and County Clerk of Orange County — and subsequently and for a long period a Judge of the Vermont Judiciary. In the Revolution, while burdened with the cares of the infant settlement, he was an earnest actor in those scenes which gave us our independence. He was Colonel of the forces in his vicinity, and on the advance of Burgoyne, started with his regiment for the field, and was pres- ent with it at the capitulation at Saratoga.
This Jacob Kent left three sons, Jacob, John and Joseph. John Kent, grand- father of the subject of this sketch, sold his share of the patrimony and purchas- ed a farm on Parker Hill, in the town of Lyman, where he died in 1842, leaving four sons and one daughter. The father of Col. Kent was one of these sons — Richard Peabody Kent — (his mother Tab- itha Peabody, a daughter of Lt. Richard Peabody, of the Revolutionary army, who lies buried in the old cemetery in Littleton, near the Connecticut), who was born at Newbury, Vt., Dec, 21, 1805, and is now in active business as a mer- chant, at Lancaster, being doubtless the senior in point of service of any business man in the region. He attended in boy- hood, for a time, the Academy at Haver- hill, but at an early age went into a coun- try store, on Parker Hill, as a clerk, thence to Wells River and Bath, and in 1.825, went to Lancaster with Royal Jos- lyn, where, in 1828, he engaged in mer- cantile pursuits for himself, and has steadily followed his vocation. During this long career his affairs have been transacted with scrupulous integrity, ex- actitude and honor. He has never been in public life, but has always been inter- ested in the development of the region and the improvement of the town— wit- nessing its growth and prosperity. He was formerly Cashier of Lancaster Bank,
��and is now President of the Corporation of Lancaster Academy.
On the maternal side the ancestry of Col. Kent is traced to Richard Mann, "a planter in the family of Elder Brewster," who was one of the colony of the May- flower. From him descended that John Mann, born Dec. 25, 1743, who was the first permanent settler of the town of Orford, October, 1765. To him were born fifteen children, of whom Solomon Mann was well known in the State, as for many years the proprietor of "The old Mann Tavern," at the upper end of Main street, Concord, (the place now or recently oc- cupied by Mrs. Smart, on the east side, under the great elms, just above Maj. Lang's.) To him were born eight chil- dren, one of whom, Phebe, married Geo. Hough, a printer of Concord, who sub- sequently, with his wife, went with Dr. Judson as missionaries to Burmah, Brit- ish India. The descendants of this daughter married with the British resi- dents of India, and are now resident in England, their children being married and settled around them. Emily, the second daughter of Solomon Mann, mar- ried Henry Oakes, a merchant, who for many years was an active and well known business man at Waterford and Thetford, Vt. To Henry and Emily (Mann) Oakes were born three daughters and a son, who died in infancy. Of the daughters, Emily Mann Oakes was married to Rich- ard P. Kent, June 5, 1832, at Littleton, among the friends present on the occa- sion being the late Chief Justice Henry A. Bellows and the Hon. Edmund Burke, then young lawyers just commencing
practice. To this union there have been born
three children, sons. Henry Oakes, Ed- ward Richard, and Charles Nelson. The second son, Edward Richard, is now as- sociated in business with his father at Lancaster, and the youngest, Charles Nelson, who graduated at Norwich Uni- versity and Harvard Law School and was subsequently admitted to the Suffolk Bar, is now in business in the city of New York.
Henry Oakes Kent was born in Lan- caster, Feb. 7, 1834. He attended the district school and Lancaster Academy,
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