Bentley, Richard

Born: 1784 Virginia

Died: 1873-11-XX Bond County, Illinois

In 1829, Bentley moved from Tennessee to Bond County, Illinois, where he farmed and sat on the county court from 1835-36. He was elected to the General Assembly, serving in the House of Representatives alongside Abraham Lincoln from 1836-38 and 1840-42. Bentley, a Democrat, proposed a bill to repeal all laws relating to the removal of the capitol to Springfield--one of Lincoln's pet projects. In 1848 and 1850, he served as sheriff for Bond County. In 1847, he moved to the newly established village of Greenville, serving as one of the first presidents of the village board. Religiously, Bentley was a Baptist.

William Henry Perrin, ed., History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois (Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1882), 1:84, 104, 2:75; Will C. Carson, comp., Historical Souvenir of Greenville, Illinois (Effingham, IL: LeCrone, 1905), 16; John Clayton, comp., The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac, 1673-1968 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 205, 209; Paul Simon, Lincoln's Preparation for Greatness: The Illinois Legislative Years (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1971), 227; Gravestone, Lansing Cemetery, Greenville, IL; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Bond County, IL, 386.