Amos and Susan Fluker Kent

Photo taken at Woodland Cemetery, Kentwood, Louisiana.

Kent/Amacker Family Researchers:

Mary Anne Amacker Hammond would like to be contacted by other Kent/Amacker reseachers. She is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution; she has family records, a copy of Maud Amacker Arnett's Kent book, Mrs. Arnett's "Amackers of the Deep South" about Nathaniel's parents, John Jacob Amacker and Sarah Varnado, and other goodies to share.

Renee Kent has a Kent Family Tree, and a book called the Kents of Kentwood. She is willing to do lookups, and would like to be contacted by other Kent family researchers.

I found this picture of Oak Hill in a book called "Tangipahoa Parish Centennial Official Souvenir Program," published 1969 by the Centennial Committee. I believe this was part of the Chamber of Commerce, they were celebrating the centennial of Tangipahoa becoming a parish.

AMOS KENT DEAD
The venerable patriarch passes to his reward at the age of 94 years, 8 months and 27 days.

On Wednesday morning at 3:30 o'clock, there passed from the activities of life one of the most notable men, in many ways, of this section -- Mr. Amos Kent, who had reached the ripe old age of 94 years, 8 months, 27 days.

Mr. Kent was a New Englander by birth, having first saw the light of day among the New Hampshire hills on May 14, 1811, at the little town of Chester, where his early years were spent, and where his mind, morals and physique, received their first training, which so eminently qualified him for the long and active life which it was his good fortune to round out in the town that bears his name.

In 1829 he departed for the southwest, landing in New Orleans with no fortune, save his strength of mind, body and character, from whence he went in a short time to Baton Rouge, where for a time he engaged in the mercantile business, and some years later became a resident of Greensburg, being appointed Register of the Land Office at that place.

In 1853 he moved to the site where the demon of death found him, and where in 1859 he made his first venture in the lumber manufacturing business, his circular mill being one of the first in this part of the country.

In all his long life, it has been the boast of Mr. Kent that he has met every obligation that devolved upon him as a man and as a citizen. Honesty has been the keystone of his character, and [missing] death finds him beloved by [missing] yet the world is bet[missing] he having lived.

Mr. Kent sustained a fall about a week ago and this injury though apparently slight, added to the weight of years, no doubt hastened the end.

His last hours were peaceful and without pain. He gradually grew weaker and weaker, till the last breath fluttered out, scarcely unobserved. He was perfectly conscious up to a short while before he died, and recognized all those around him, conversing intelligently and rationally.

On December 23, 1839 he was married to Miss Susan Fluker.

This aged wife who has walked down the lane of life with him for three quarters of a century is now confined to her bed, and her friends and family appreciating the effect of this blow are deeply solicitous for her recovery.

In his younger days Mr. Kent was an enthusiastic Mason, and in 1872 was elected Grand Master for the State of Louisiana, but declined to serve as he did not live in the city of New Orleans and did not care to assume the labor and worry of the position.

The funeral services, marked for their simplicity, were conducted on Thursday by Rev. G. P. White pastor of the Methodist church at his late residence and a large concourse of sorrowing friends followed the remains to their last resting place in Kentwood cemetery.

Source:
The Kentwood Commercial
Friday, February 2, 1906
Pg. 3, Col. 2

AMOS KENT
Amos Kent was born at Chester, N. H., May 14, 1811, and died Jan. 31, 1906. He was the son of Amos Kent and Abigail Atherton, both members of prominent New England families, and descended from distinguished English ancestors.

At the death of his father, young Kent, then seventeen, left the bleak New Hampshire hills, as so many young men were then doing, to seek his fortune in the south. Settling in Baton Rouge he engaged in merchandising, and was enjoying well-earned success, when the great financial panic of 1836 swept his all before it.

Nothing daunted, he went forth with indomitable will and courage into the virgin forest of St. Helena parish; subdued and converted it into broad fields, that yielded a rich reward for his energy and good judgment.

Here he lived until he was appointed Receiver of the General Land Office at Greensburg, La., by President Pierce in 1851. But in 1854, when the New Orleans, Jackson & Great Northern Railroad, now the Illinois Central, was being built, Mr. Kent with his usual clear-sightedness saw the great possibilities opening up along the line of this road. He bought lands near the new road, and established a small sawmill, which has gradually increased in capacity to its present enormous proportions.

Mr. Kent belonged to the Whig [missing] a young man he joined the Masonic fraternity, was a life member of St. Helena Lodge No. 96 but when Kentwood Lodge No. 218 was organized he became a member of that lodge. He was a life member of Jacques de Molay Commandery of Knights Templar, and a member of St. Helena Chapter of Royal Arch Masons; was an enthusiastic member, and at his death was the oldest Mason in the state.

He was opposed to secession, but when the civil war began he espoused the cause of the south with all his might. Although over the age for active service in the field, he equipped three sons to battle at the front for southern rights, and contributed liberally of his substance for the cause. After the war he was elected representative to the state legislature and did all that one man could do to check the robbery carried on in those dark days of reconstruction.

Mr. Kent was married sixty-six years ago to Miss Susan Fluker, daughter of Col. Robert Fluker, of St. Helena Parish. Besides his aged wife, eight children survive him- Mrs. Abby M. Amacker, Mrs. Susan Kennon, Miss Theresa Kent, Mrs. Cassie Woolver, Mrs. Fannie Tate, Walter C. Kent, Charles A. Kent, Mrs. Mary M. Ellis. Three sons preceded him to the grave, James Fluker Kent, John Reid Kent and George Kent.

Mr. Kent was ever honored by his integrity and sterling worth, and in his old age was loved and revered by all with whom he came in contact. Although ninety-five years of age he retained all his faculties; was always cheerful and happy; took an active interest in the things which interested those around him; was deeply sympathetic and cheerful, responsive to the calls of distress and charity. His family cherish his blameless life as a blessed heritage.

Source:
The Kentwood Commercial
Friday, February 23, 1906
Pg. 1, Col. 4

FLUKER
The Place called Fluker is located between the village of Tangipahoa and Arcola on U.S. Highway 51 at the junction (on the west side of U.S. 51) with La. Highway 10. In 1960 the population was about 150.

The name Fluker was chosen by Richard Amacker Kent (1871-1926), for the site of his home on the Illinois Central Railroad. R. A. Kent was the fourth child of James Fluker Kent (1843-1886). The latter's middle name honored his mother, Susan Fluker, (1823-1906), the daughter of Col. Robert and Susan Kendrick Fluker, who were St. Helena pioneers from the State of Georgia. Susan Fluker married Amos Kent, who came from New Hampshire to Louisiana in 1828.

Source:
Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, Centennial
Official Souvenir Program
Published 1969

KENTWOOD
Kentwood, the northernmost town in Tangipahoa Parish, is near the Louisiana-Mississippi state line, several miles north of the village of Tangipahoa on U.S. Highway 51.

The name of the town does not stem from the earliest settlers who came there in the first decade of the nineteenth century, among them the Amackers and the Tates. Kentwood honors, instead, Amos Kent (1811-1906), who came to the area about fifty years later. Kent, originally of Chester, New Hampshire, sailed to New Orleans, walked to Baton Rouge, moved to Greensburg, and eventually settled in the vicinity of Kentwood. At this time the New Orleans, Jackson, & Great Northern Railroad was being constructed through the region, and Kent established a lumber mill and a brick plant on the railroad just south of where the town was to develop. On Line Creek Road northwest of his mills, Kent built his home, Oak Hill. Here he lived happily with his wife, the former Susan Fluker, and twelve children.

In 1887, William Gramps Hall of New York came to the locality. He and his brother-in-law, Fred Woolver, as promoters for the Immigration Department of the Illinois Central Railroad, began to develop the cutover land north of the "Kent's Mills" into a town. On February 29, 1888, a post office was established with Hall as its first post-master. He is the man who selected the name of Kentwood for the town.

On March 18, 1893, Kentwood received its charter. Originally a sawmill town, it is now a center of Louisiana's dairy industry. The population of the town in 1960 was 2,607.

Source:
Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, Centennial
Official Souvenir Program
Published 1969