Washburn County WIGenWeb Project

People Histories

Nat. Adelbert Kent
(13 Nov 1837 - ? )

-As transcribed from the "COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF THE UPPER LAKES REGION"

by J. H. Beers & Co., Chicago, IL, 1905

pages 233 - 234

Nat. Adelbert Kent, one of the oldest settlers in the vicinity of Shell Lake, Washburn county, is well known as an intelligent and public-spirited citizen. He was born in Onondaga county, N. Y., Nov. 13, 1837, son of Ira and Lucretia (Chittenden) Kent, the former a native of Massachusetts.

The ancestors of Ira Kent came from England in early Colonial days, one of them being a captain in the Continental army, from Massachusetts. Ira Kent became a forwarding commission merchant, with headquarters in Rochester, N. Y., his goods being transported by the Erie Canal. He was a prosperous and highly esteemed citizen; his death occurred during the early boyhood of his son Nat. Adelbert. Ms. Lucretia (Chittenden) Kent, a native of Vermont, was an active, well-preserved woman until her eighty-ninth year, when she died at Jordan, Onondaga Co., N. Y., in 1879. Of her eleven children the only living ones are Asher, a farmer in Jordan; and Nat. Adelbert, mentioned below. One of her ancestors was the first from that State to fall in the Revolutionary war, and a monument has been erected to his memory.

The boyhood of Nat. Adelbert Kent was passed in his native place, where he received a good common school education. On Sept. 30, 1862, he enlisted in Company G, 154th N. Y. V. I., serving until discharged June 26, 1865. Until 1864 he was in the Army of the Potomac, when the 11th Army Corps, to which his regiment belonged, was transferred to the West, becoming part of the 20th Army Corps, and taking part in Sherman's Atlanta campaign, in the famous march to the sea, and subsequently across the Carolinas to Washington. Among the principal engagements in which Mr. Kent participated were Chancellorsville, the chief engagements of Sherman's army from Chattanooga to Atlanta, Bentonville and Goldsboro, N. C. He was present at the surrender of Gen. Johnston, and at the Grand Review in Washington, being mustered out at Bladensburg, Md., and discharged at Elmira, N. Y., escaping without capture or serious wounds. After the war Mr. Kent went to Red Wing, Minn., and from there to Stillwater, where for three years he was clerk for Walker, Judd & Veazie, lumbermen, who were operating a huge logging camp on the Totogatic (Namekagon) river, in Washburn county, at a place since known as Veazie. In 1876 he took up a homestead claim in the Bashaw valley, in Burnett county, Section 24, Town 38, Range 14, six miles west of the present village of Shell Lake. In 1881 he was appointed a railway mail clerk by Hon. Thaddeus C. Pound, of Chippewa Falls, and held this position until May 1, 1901, when he resigned. His route was first between St. Paul and Elroy, then between St. Paul and Ashland, and then for ten years between Eau Claire and Ashland. Mr. Kent is with one exception, the oldest resident in the vicinity of Shell Lake, and continues to live on his farm of 200 acres, which is improved with first-class buildings, etc. He served a number of years as chairman of the town of Bashaw, Burnett county, which at that time comprised all the present county of Washburn. Later he was chairman of the town of Rusk, Burnett county. He has always been a stalwart Republican, and has taken part in many conventions.

On July 2, 1879, Mr. Kent married (first) Kibbie Shinawa, a native of Burnett county, who died March 25, 1898, aged forty years. He married (second) Oct. 10, 1898, Mary Thayer, also a native of Burnett county. Mr. Kent has been identified since 1885 with the Masonic order, and is at present a member of Shell Lake Lodge, No. 36, Eau Claire Chapter, R. A. M., and Eau Claire Commandery, No. 8, K. T. He is also a member of Cresent Chapter, No. 17, O. E. S., at Shell Lake.

1 - Editorial Note - No information could be found on Mr. Kent regarding his death or burial location.