Silas Bent (judge)

Silas Bent Jr. (April 4, 1768 – November 20, 1827) was an American land surveyor, attorney, and jurist who served as a Judge of the Missouri Supreme Court from 1817 to 1821.

Three of his other sons William, George, and Robert had been in business with Charles and built Bent's Old Fort and other outposts of trade in the American Southwest.

[2] His father, also called Silas, may have been involved in the Boston Tea Party (there are differing opinions) and became a lieutenant colonel in the Massachusetts militia.

Upon marrying one of Doddridge's cousins, Martha Kerr, some time prior to 1800, he and his wife relocated to Charleston, West Virginia, where three of their children were born: Charles, Juliannah (also known as Julie Ann) and John.

Bent spent brief periods running a store, serving as postmaster of the courthouse in Brooke County, Virginia, and sitting as a judge in the court of common pleas.

Bent's father (Silas Sr.) had held one share in the Ohio Company of Associates after serving with Putnam in the American Revolutionary War.

On January 26, 1813, Shadrach Bond, Edward Hempstead, and John B. C. Lucas wrote a letter to President James Madison recommending Silas Bent to fill an open judge position on the Supreme Court of the Territory of Missouri.

George Bent recounted that his uncle worked about 1816 in the Upper Mississippi region for the American Fur Company.

[3][14][15] William, born May 23, 1809, in St. Louis, entered the fur trade with his brother as a youth, about 1823 or 1824, beginning with learning to trap.

[3][14] Juliannah (also known as Julie Ann), born in Charleston, West Virginia, became the first wife of Lilburn Boggs, who later became governor of Missouri; she died in 1820.

Mary married Major Jonathan L. Bean[3][12][14] Bent died in St. Louis on November 20, 1827,[3] having become a wealthy man.