1. WILLIAM1 BENTLEY I was born 1589 in ENGLAND, and died Aft. 1663. He married ELIZABETH in England.
Notes for WILLIAM BENTLEY I:
Helen Woodruff (Mrs. Burrton Woodruff)
"Bentley is a proud name. The name in England is taken from "bent" and "lay", meaning cultivated ground.
There is a Parish in the Deanery of Dorcester in the south part of Yorkshire England called BENTLEY. I
believe the origin of our family was Bentley Hall in Staffordshire England".
"The Complete Book of Emigrants, 1607-1660", by Peter Wilson Coldham
1635 Jul 13. Persons to be transported (from London) to Virginia by the (SHIP) Alice, Mr. Richard Orchard:
Edward Hughes 21; James Morfy 21; Robert Haggar 33; Thomas Askew 21; Richard Cooke 21; Miles Atkinson 22;
Rowland Vaughan 19; Richard Natt 18; Francis Jenkinson 28; William Kendeall 20; John Wilson 29; Robert Baxter 21; JOHN BENTLEY 34; John Holdsworth 20; John Wright 21; Charles Peacock 28; Christopher Hudson 30; John Smith 20; John Cooper 20; Edward Waggitt 20; John Viccars 35; Thomas Atkinson 27; Rowland Sudgerner 21; William Massingburd 23; John Hutton 17; Elizabeth Dew 32; Ann Dew 9 months; Rachell Adams 16; Avis Deacon 19; Hanna Glifford 20; Elizabeth Blanch 20; Sophia Rottrie 16. (PRO:E157/20).
The John BENTLEY above was born abt 1601. Could he be a brother or cousin to our William?
JAMESTOWN, VIRGINIA
Roughly 400 years ago, on December 20, 1606, three merchant ships loaded with passengers and cargo embarked from England on a voyage that would later set the course of American history.
The Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery reached Virginia in the spring of 1607, and on May 14, their 104 passengers all men and boys began building on the banks of the James River what was to be America's first permanent English colony, predating Plymouth in Massachusetts by 13 years.
THE JAMESTOWN VOYAGES UNDER THE FIRST CHARTER, 1606-1609
LIST OF ORIGINAL PLANTERS:
(1) -- First Supply, Jan 1608 (aboard the ship "John & Francis" from Gravesend, England).
(2) -- Second Supply, Sept 1608
Britannica CD:
Jamestown, Virginia, 1st Supply ship, January 1608
William BENTLEY - Labourer (sic)
Christopher RODES
Jamestown City, Virginia Census of 1624
The Census of Virginia in 1624
Name: Bentlie, William
Age: 36
Status: FREEMAN
Head of Household: Farrar FLINTON
Location: Elizabeth City
Ship of arrival: Jacob
Date arrived: 1624
Census Date: February 7, 1624
VIRGINIA MAGAZINE VOL I, page 191
(28) William BENTLEY, [I] of Keccoughtan, in the Corporation of Elizabeth City (Virginia) "a new planter who came over into this country at his own charges in the JACOB, this present year, 1624;" for his first dividend 50 acres between Newport News and Blunt Point. Granted by Wyatt, December 1st, 1624.
NOTE: [I] William Bentley was born 1589, and was a member of the House of Burgess from Nutmeg Quarter, October, 1629. (Virginia)
House of Burgess:
Encyclopedia Britannica CD "98"
"To increase incentive the company (Virginia Company), beginning in 1618, offered 50 acres of land to those settlers who could pay their transportation to Virginia and a promise of 50 acres after seven years of service to those who could not pay their passage. Concurrently, the new governor of Virginia, Sir George Yeardley, issued a call for the election of representatives to a House of Burgesses, which was to convene in Jamestown in July 1619. In its original form, the House of Burgesses was little more than an agency of the governing board of the Virginia Company, but it would later expand its powers and prerogatives and become an important force for colonial self-government. "
Note: We see from The Virginia Magazine that our William Bentley payed his own passage on the "Jacob" and received 50 acres of land "between Newport News and Blunt Point" from the Virgina Company for paying his own passage
Old Kecoughtan, Elizabeth City County, VA - Old Records; Wm. & Mary Qtrly, Vol. 9, No. 2
OLD KECOUGHTAN, page 83
There are in the records of Elizabeth City county the details of a suit in ejectment, which are interesting not only for the legal phases that illustrate the course of law in the colony, but for the information they give about the
early settlement of Elizabeth City county. When the first emigrants arrived in Virginia, they found an Indian village near Point Comfort, called Kecoughtan, or Kicoughtan, or Kiccotan. There was in the neighborhood a large open country of two or three thousand acres in which the Indians raised their corn, beans and tobacco.
"Cavaliers and Pioneers, Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents and Grants, 1623-1800, Richard, VA: Dietz, 1934, Vol 1 (of 5 vols.), p. 5 (Patent Book No. 1-Part 1)". The Abstracting and Indexing was done by Nell Marion Nugent of the
Virginia Land Office, Richmond, Virginia.
"WILLIAM BENTLEY, 50 acres, Dec. 1, 1624, page 24. In the Corporation of Elizabeth City, a new planter who came to this country at his own charges in the Jacop in 1624. As his first divident, between Newport News and
Blunt Point, adjacent Giles ALLINGTON and Thomas GODBYE."
Webster's New Geographical Dictionary, 1977:
Elizabeth City ( A former County in Virginia) since 1958, comprises the independent city of Hampton. An independent City, South East Virginia, on Hampton Roads 7 miles North East of Newport News; 57 square miles, population (1970c) 120, 779. Settled by colonist from Jamestown 1610 (oldest continuous English community in America); burned by British in War of 1812 and by its own inhabitants to prevent occupation by Union troops 1861; incorporated as city 1908; consolidated with Elizabeth City County 1952.
Elizabeth City County, one of the eight original shires, was created in 1634. It was originally known by the name of
Kecoughton. The name was later changed to Elizabeth City County which became extinct in 1952 when it was incorporated into the City of Hampton. The City of Hampton was burned during the Revolutionary War, The War of 1812 and during the Civil War. Some records exist from 1634 to 1861. The records are complete from 1865 to present day.
Encyclopedia Britannica 1998, CD
Hampton, Virginia
It originated around Fort Algernourne (now Fort Monroe), built in 1609 on the site of the Indian village of Kecoughtan to protect the James River to Jamestown. Permanent settlement dates from 1610-11, which makes it the nation's oldest continuously settled community of English origin. It became part of Elizabeth City County in 1620. St. John's Church was established in 1610; the present structure dating from 1728 has been restored. Organized as a town in 1705, Hampton was named for the 3rd earl of Southhampton and grew as a seaport, being later surpassed by Norfolk. Attacked during the American Revolution and again in the War of 1812, it was burned by Confederates in 1861 to prevent its capture by Federal forces occupying Old Point Comfort (q.v.) and Fort Monroe. Rebuilt after the Civil War, it incorporated as a town in 1887 and developed fishing and seafood processing industries.
SOUTHERN HISTORICAL FAMILES by Boddie, Vol. XVI, Appendix V pp. 167-168
The Bently (Bentley) Family
"WILLIAM BENTLEY of ELIZABETH CITY COUNTY, VIRGINIA was born 1588/9 and died probably after 1663. He seems to have been the ancestor of the North Carolina Bentley's, though the Elizabeth City County records have been mostly destroyed, and it cannot be proved that he was the father of Richard Bentley and his brother William who settled in the 1660's in what later became Perquimans Co., N.C. Hotten's EMIGRANTS shows William Bentley, aged 36, who came over in the JACOB in 1624, living in the MUSTER of January 25, 1624/5 in the family of Farrar (Pharaoh) Flinton, aged 36, and his wife Joane, aged 38. who came over in the ELIZABETH in 1612. Bentley is probably a relative of the Flinton's, as he is not shown among the five servants in the MUSTER, but along with the husband and wife. On December 1, 1624, William Bentley was granted 50 acres in the Corporation of Elizabeth City. "being a new planter who came to this country at his own charge in the JACOB in 1624", and on the same date Thomas Godby, yeoman and ancient planter, was granted 100 acres adjoining (NUGENT, Cavaliers & Pioneers, p.5).
"In March, 1628/9 William Bentley of Elizabeth City Co. was brought to trial before the General Court for killing his neighbor, Thomas Godby, in a brawl in a tavern, Godby apparently being drunk at the time. Bentley was
condemned to death for manslaughter by the jury, but escaped execution by appealing to the ancient law of 'benefit of Clergy' (i.e., proving that he could read and write, and appealing to the Church Court (the Ordinary), which usually set people free when they had these qualifications). The testimony in this case is given fully in Boddie's COLONIAL SURRY (pp.61-63). Bentley evidently survived, for grants to others September 24, 1645 and January 9, 1662/3, mention his land as though he were still living (NUGENT, op.cit.,pp.159 and 420). An Elizabeth Bentley, claimed as a transportee of Thomas Normanton in a grant to him of 259 acres in Elizabeth City Co., April 11, 1635 (NUGENT, p.37) was probably William Bentley's wife."
Thomas GODBEY -- born 1587 in England; married Joane ? circa 1622; died February 8, 1628 in Merry Point, Lower Norfolk County, VIrginia murdered by a neighbor, William Bentley, in a drunken brawl. He immigrated from England to Jamestown, Virginia arriving on May 23, 1610. He left from Falmouth, England on June 8, 1609 on the ship "Sea Adventure" and arrived in Jamestown, Virginia on the ship "Deliverance". The journey was interrupted by a shipwreck in the Bermuda Islands on July 28, 1609. This adventure was thought to have inspired Shakespeare’s play “The Tempest.”
Godbey lived on December 1, 1624 in Kiccoughtan, Elizabeth City, Virginia, between Newport News and Blunt Point. The land record reads "Thomas Godbye, of Kiccoughtan, in the Corp. of Elizabeth City, Yeoman & an Ancient Planter, 1 Dec. 1624, p.25. 100 acres, between Newport Newes & Blunt Point, abutting westward upon land of William Bentlye &c. For his first per. devdt. (Cavaliers and Pioneers)"
"Colonial Surry", by Boddie, pages 81, 82 (Surry County, Virginia)
"Benefit of Clergy Claimed"
"In March 1628, in Virginia a person found guilty of manslaughter escaped death because he could read and write. The persons concerned in the case are not Surry people but it is thought this incident may be of general interest.
One William BENTLEY, who patented land in Elizabeth City in 1624 (C. P. 50) was brought before the General Court on a charge of manslaughter. The first witness was Richard RICH, aged 25, who testified "that on the 8th day of February last, Thomas GODBY, the deceased, was at the house of William PARKER at Merry Point, and that he, the deponent, and divers others, drank between them five pints of burnt claret wine, that Thomas GODBY consumed about four cups of the same. At which time William BENTLEY, who has just come ashore in a boat, came into the house and asked if it were not their orders when they heard a man call to come help them out of a boat. Whereupon GODBY answered `do you think we have nothing better to do but to fetch you out of the water.' *** BENTLEY replied `hold your peace' and GODBY called BENTLEY a rascal and a rogue and BENTLEY did the like to him. Thereupon the said BENTLEY, sitting upon the bench on the left side of GODBY, struck him from the bench and presently rose up and gave him a kick as he lay upon the ground. *** And in the morning GODBY was found dead in the said house."
William BENTLEY had pleaded "not guilty" and had asked for a jury trial. (Put himself upon the Country). A jury of 12 men of whom was Francis FOWLER of Surry, "found the said BENTLEY guilty of manslaughter and he being asked what he had to say for himself that he ought not to die demanded his clergy whereupon he was discharged to the Ordinary" (15)
Before the ordinary in a church court BENTLEY would be required to plead not guilty and to produce witnesses who would state that they believed the defendant's oath. Nothing as to the fate of BENTLEY is shown but he probably escaped further punishment as no witnesses were heard against a prisoner in a church court and he was usually purged of the charge and set free.
Thus it seems the English doctrine of the Benefit of Clergy became part of the Virginia Laws.
In England, when a prisoner claimed benefit of clergy, the text usually selected by the Court for him to read was the first verse of the 51st Psalm beginning "Miserere mei deus", "Lord have pity on me". This was comonly called his "neck Verse". "
NOTE: October 16, 1629, William BENTLEY was present at the meeting of the Nuttmegg Quarter of the House of Burgess in Virginia. Form this we see that our William not only survived his ordeal with the Church Court but became a respected citizen appointed to the House of Burgess.
wm. bentley
More About WILLIAM BENTLEY I:
Census: 1624, Jamestown City, Virginia
Occupation 1: 1624, Planter of Elizabeth City County, Virginia
Occupation 2: October 16, 1629, Virginia House of Burgesses, Nuttmegg Quarter
More About WILLIAM BENTLEY and ELIZABETH:
Marriage: England
Children of WILLIAM BENTLEY and ELIZABETH are:
