Articles & Stories
Dr. Daniel Van Bentley Left
His Mark In Letcher County
With The Encouragement Of His Wife, Dr. Bentley
Pursued His Career And Became A Beloved
Physician In Eastern Kentucky
Editor's Note: Georgia Hufford was reared at Goosecreek, about a mile from Neon, Letcher County, Kentucky. She graciously shares this information written in 1955 about Dr. Daniel Van Bentley that she feels readers will really enjoy. Dr. Bentley delivered many babies in Eastern Kentucky and many were named for him. Georgia's mother, Nettie Holcomb, was named after Dr. Bentley's wife, Nettie Collier Bentley. The doctor's wife was Nettie Holcomb's aunt.
Submitted by Georgia Hufford - 2009
In the lessening hours of Letcher County's
long dark night, just before its dawn, when King Coal, Letcher's
future wealth, slept beneath the hillside soil undisturbed, an
infant son was born to Quiller and Ellen Bentley in their modest
home on the sluggish waters of Boone Fork of the Kentucky River.
The proud parents named their son Daniel Van.
Through good days and bad (mostly bad if one considers the toil
of farming hillside land and its meager return) young Daniel
grew to manhood. Whether an individual realizes it or not, there
is some cause disposing him to choose one of several courses
of action, each of which may seem equally inviting or uninviting.
Young Daniel chose teaching in the country schools as the most
promising and the easiest obtained by one of meager funds, but
it was not the ease he had in mind. Teaching, while a creditable
profession, could be used as a steppingstone to a more desirable
and better paid profession, and Daniel was endowed the imagination,
foresight, and industry.
With his first teacher's certificate began a progression of teaching
and studying at the University of Louisville Medical College,
and sandwiched in between was one delicious moment of marriage
to Nettie Collier, the vivacious daughter of Willis and Elizabeth
Collier. This marriage, while ideal, did not solve the financial
problem, but only enhanced it. Hard work, frugality, and friends
met the challenge, and finally came the coveted day when Daniel
became a full-fledged Doctor of Medicine.
Then began a long and happy life of "doctoring" that
a country and small town doctor has to contend with.
Dr. Daniel Van and Mrs.
(Nettie) Bentley with their daughter, Hazel. Mrs. Bentley and
Hazel spent the last few months in Louisville with Dr. Bentley
prior to his graduation from Louisville Medical School when this
photo was taken ca. 1917.
(Photo submitted by Georgia Hufford)
At first he covered his trails on horseback.
Many early mornings Dr. Bentley (he later became known as Dr.
D. V.) could be seen coming in on his high-spirited horse to
an early breakfast, both doctor and horse having spent the night
at some country home. If one looked through the fatigue on his
face and saw the twinkle in his eyes, it was not necessary to
hear him say, "It was a big boy," or "it was a
fine girl;" one knew.
Years later when he came again, the little ones, those he helped
the "stork" to bring, would be standing at the door
or by the bedside of a mother or father and would say, "Doctor
Bentley, look at my new dress," or "see my pretty shoes.
Daddy bought them for me." Innocent human nature can always
detect a friend.
It is said that one time, when the doctor had been out on a late
call, when he and his horse returned to the barn, he forgot to
get off and stable the horse. He was fast asleep. Whether true
or not, it is the little anecdotes like this that tell of a great
love for this great man by his friends and neighbors.
With the passing of the horse, passed an era. Nothing primitive
is more attractive than a good horse and a good rider, especially
if the rider is a beloved doctor. While the era passed, Dr. Bentley
remained. He became as well-known in his car as on his horse.
Whether the car was shiny and new or mud-splattered and old made
no difference to him. When a call came, one could be sure Dr.
Bentley answered, and cheerfully.
"Howdy, Honey! How are you feeling?" became proverbial.
It was his way of bringing cheer to the sick, the first medication
of any successful doctor.
Mrs. Nettie Collier Bentley, who married Dr. D. V. Bentley in
1907, has been the typical country doctor's wife. To this happy
union were born two daughters, Hazel and Betty Ellen.
In discussing the early life of Dr. Bentley, Mrs. Bentley related
many interesting events in their lives. She told how he managed
to meet her after his mother had told him what a fine worker
she was. She related how he came to her home pretending to visit
her brother, but that in a short time one could easily see he
was not interested in her brother. She also related how Dr. Bentley
first made their living by farming in Knott County, where they
lived the first year they were married. They sold their crop
in the fall and moved to Neon. Mrs. Bentley stated their first
home was a one-room log cabin, with a lean-to attached. The windows
were of wooden shutters with leather hinges, that were used for
light only and pulled together at night and fastened.
They left Knott County and moved to Neon and Barlow Branch, living
there about one year. The next move was to Whitaker for a year
or so, then they moved back to Neon, later moving to Jenkins
where Dr. Bentley taught in the Burdine Grade School for a time.
This was in their sixth year of marriage, and their first child,
Hazel, was born there. In the fall of 1913, Dr. Bentley decided
there was not much future in teaching; and he, Ben Potter, and
B. F. Wright, entered school to become doctors. Ben became ill
and had to temporarily discontinue his studies, but everyone
knows that Dr. Bentley and Dr. Wright went on to finish their
studies and have been great benefactors to their people and families.
When Mrs. Bentley was asked how she felt when her young husband
decided to enter medical school, which would take him away for
as long as five months at a time, she stated, "Well, like
any young wife, I was grieved that we were to be separated so
soon after marriage for such long intervals, but I felt it my
duty to encourage him, and do what I could to help him."
Dr. Bentley provided a two-room house for Mrs. Bentley and Hazel
at the Neon Junction near the home of his father and mother.
Mrs. Bentley said, "I made a garden and did all I could
to keep myself and the baby from being a burden to him. I canned
all the food we could use and dried apples, beans, and other
types of food that was dried in those days. I also pickled quite
a lot of other food as money was scarce and cans could not be
purchased easily. I only saw him at Christmastime and after school
was out for the year. He came home each summer and worked at
odd jobs, as well as helping me raise a garden and get in coal
and wood for the winter. Each summer he picked up enough coal
to do me all winter. He would work at any kind of job to earn
a few extra dollars for us and his schooling.
"He started active practice in Neon in 1917 and since that
time he has been very successful. He had several serious sick
spells. One was diagnosed as meningitis that left his hearing
impaired, and no doubt affected his general health. Unlike most
people he came through the 1930 Depression practically unscathed,
due to his ability to cut corners, and doing all his work himself
during that period.
"Dr. Bentley was from a conservative family, who oftentimes
denied themselves the comforts they could have well afforded,
however, he has always seen to it that his family were well and
comfortably provided for."
Mrs. Bentley states that while a country doctor's wife has many
ups and downs, with many good meals to go to waste and lonely
hours to be spent, she would not trade her life with Dr. Dan'l
for anything in the world.
Dr. Bentley lived in an isolated section of Kentucky and had
a varied and lengthy education. He graduated from Richmond High
School and Eastern State Normal, after receiving all the education
he could get in his beloved mountains. He attended Letcher County
Grade School and Clintwood High School. In his early life no
trains or highways served this area of Kentucky, but he was determined
not to be denied his chance to make a name for himself and at
the same time serve his people.
According to members of his family, he had to endure many hardships
and privations during his college years, such as being poorly
dressed, living in scant quarters, and not having all the food
that a young healthy man would have enjoyed. All reports say
that Dr. Dan'l, as he is lovingly known by his legion of friends,
always had a sense of humor and still does.
Dr. Bentley graduated in a class with Dr. B. F. Wright, who along
with Dr. Owen Pigman, set up office quarters in Neon in the little
brick building on Railroad Street, which was later occupied by
the Service Dry Cleaners. Later on Dr. Bentley purchased Dr.
Wright's and Dr. Pigman's interest in the business. He operated
in this location until 1930 when he erected the building which
was later occupied by Wright's Jewelry Store. In the latter 1930s
he erected the only stone building in Neon which housed his drug
store, along with a hotel upstairs, the Bank of Neon, and Stallard's
Barber and Beauty Shop.
Soon after Dr. Bentley became firmly established, he built for
himself and his family a lovely brick home, the first and only
brick home in Neon.
Georgia Hufford, 903 N. High Street, Hillsboro, OH 45133, shares this information with our readers.
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