JAMES LENT, a prosperous merchant of Hopeville, was born in
Holmes County, Ohio, July 9, 1829, a son of John Lent, who was a native of
Vermont. Our subject passed his youth on the home farm, receiving a
common-school education in the rude log-cabin subscription schools of his
native county. He was married May 1,
1851, to Miss Mary A. Allison, daughter of James Allison. To this union were
born eleven children, seven still living – Melville, Lewis, Low A., Samuel,
Leonard, Lillie and Elwood. Mr. Lent came to Clarke County, Iowa, when he
settled in Doyle Township. He enlisted
in the late war in Company I, Missouri State Militia, in which he served
fifteen months. He re-enlisted and served a year and ten months in Company L,
Third Iowa Cavalry. He participated in the battles of Ebenezer Church, Selma,
Macon and Columbus, Georgia; Lexington, Missouri, Independence, Blue Hill,
Harrisonville, and other engagements of minor importance. Since returning from the war he has made
farming his principal vocation, although he has sold goods and kept hotel for
several years, and is still proprietor of a hotel. He is at present dealing in
hardware, farm implements, barb-wire, furniture and tinware, and is carrying on
a good business. Mr. Lent has been
constable several years, and has filled other local offices of trust. He has
been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church for twenty-one years. He is a
member of the Odd Fellows’ order, to which he has belonged for twenty-two
years. He is also a comrade of the Grand Army of the Republic.
SOURCE: Biographical and Historical Record of Clarke
County, Iowa, Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois, 1886 p. 399-400
