William Bent - Marriages and Family

Marriages and Family

In 1835 Bent married Owl Woman (Mis-stan-stur), the oldest daughter of White Thunder and Tail Woman, in a Cheyenne ceremony. Her father was an influential Cheyenne leader and medicine man. He was the tribe's "Keeper of the Arrows," four arrows thought to have a sacred or medicinal role. The prestige of his position as a medicine man meant that his daughters also had high status.

Owl Woman

As a part of the marriage ritual, Owl Woman was carried into a lodge which was constructed for them in the Cheyenne village near the fort, while Bent dispensed numerous gifts to her people. Bent later became a "Cheyenne sub-chief", as he was given tribal membership with his marriage to Owl Woman.

The marriage was important for both Bent and Owl Woman's father White Thunder. For Bent, the marriage reinforced his relationship with the Cheyenne. White Thunder believed the marriage would strengthen his alliance with Bent and provide protection for the Cheyenne. On a personal level, it enhanced his prestige within the tribe.

Owl Woman and Bent had the following children, named in English and Cheyenne:

• Mary, named for Bent's favorite sister, was born January 22, 1838. Her Cheyenne name was Ho-ka.
• Robert, named for Bent's youngest brother, was born about 1840-1841. His Cheyenne name was Octavi-wee-his.
• George, was born July 7, 1843, named after Bent's brother. He was also named Ho-my-ike.
• Julia or Um-ah was born in 1847; she was named in English for Bent's oldest sister.

As a successful man, Bent followed Cheyenne custom and by 1844 took Owl Woman's two younger sisters, Yellow Woman and Island, as secondary wives. He had another son with Yellow Woman:

• Charles (Charley) was born in 1845. His Cheyenne name was Pe-ki-ree, meaning White Hat.

Owl Woman died in 1847 or later. In the following six years, life for the family changed dramatically. In 1849 a cholera epidemic swept through the Cheyenne tribe, killing up to half of the people, including the children's maternal grandmother, Tail Woman. After this, Bent destroyed his old fort and built a new stone one at Big Timbers.

Island became the primary caregiver for Owl Woman's children. She did not want to stay in the Bents' new stone fort, nor did she want the children there. In February 1854, she had her lodge moved to just outside the new fort. That winter, William's oldest son George Bent, then age 11, was sent to Kansas City to attend an Episcopal boarding school. In the following years, he was separated from his family for much of the time in order to attend school. Island later left Bent for Joe Baraldo.

In 1864 Yellow Woman also left Bent. She left with their son Charley Bent, then 19, who joined the Dog Soldiers. This group of warriors formed to retaliate for the Sand Creek Massacre that year, when US forces attacked and killed numerous Cheyenne.

Adaline Harvey

After Yellow Woman and Island had both left him, Bent married Adaline Harvey, the 20-year-old mixed-race daughter of his friend Alexander Harvey, a fur trader based in Kansas City and a Blackfeet mother. He was then 60 years old. They married on April 4, 1869 in Jackson County, Missouri. Harvey traded in the Upper Missouri region; his company was named Harvey, Primeau & Company.

When the son George Bent met his father's new wife, he recognized Adaline Harvey as having been a student at his school; she was five years younger than he. They had both been assigned Robert Campbell as a guardian while at the boarding school.

The marriage was short, as William died later that year. Pregnant at his death, Adaline Harvey Bent was reported to have had a daughter. Adaline Bent inherited her husband's property in Kansas City in 1869 and sold it in 1871.