Josiah Bent was born on April 26, 1771, at Milton, Massachussets, the son of John and Hannah (Coller) Bent. The father, a Revolutionary soldier, had been among those who responded to the Lexington alarm and had taken part in the siege of Boston.
Josiah, the eldest of eight children, was a Milton farmer until the age of thirty, but like many Yankees of his generation was little interested in agriculture and sought to escape into manufacturing. His name is associated with the manufacture of water-crackers which appear to have been "made first in this country" by him. Beginning with the Dutch oven of his own home in 1801 and peddling the crackers himself, he continued with a constantly increasing output until he retired in 1830.
These crackers, made simply of flour and water, without salt or shortening, and baked in Dutch ovens by the heat of hard wood fagots, became almost a household necessity in New England and attained an international reputation. Almost a century later they were still made by hand, and by essentially the same process.
While his neighbor manufacturers were turning to textile manufacturing he continued to bake crackers. After his retirement in 1830 he served as representative in the state legislature for one term, 1832-1833. Bent died in 1836.
Josiah Bent was a member of the US House of Representatives (1832-1833).
Bent was evidently a man of persistence, energy, and ability.
Josiah Bent married, March 28, 1794, Susanna (1776 - 1857), daughter of Samuel Tucker, Jr. , of Milton, by whom he had eight children.
