Samuel Dent was born around 1835 in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Enslaved from birth, he labored as a butler in home of Edmond Elliot. Dent liberated himself in April 1862 when the 19th Illinois Infantry advanced on Decatur and Tuscumbia. Dent approached the regiment, seeking a job. He acquired a position with the U.S. Army assisting the 19th Illinois' surgeon, Dr. Roswell G. Bogue, washing dishes, cooking and tending horses.

He gained such skill with horses that after the Civil War he came north and found work in Chicago driving carriages. Amidst the losses of the Chicago Fire of 1871, Samuel Dent and his wife Eliza Jane decided to relocate to Lake Forest, which had a small Black community and an African Methodist Episcopal church.

At first he earned a living chopping wood, but soon noticed a business opportunity. Though Lake Forest’s hotels, Academy, and most homes were close to the train station, they weren’t so close that people were able to haul their own trunks and parcels. Samuel Dent borrowed $85 from a professor at Lake Forest Academy to buy a horse and wagon and started a livery service - a vehicle for hire to move goods and people. He paid the long-term loan back in three months and eventually built a stable near the site of 179 E. Deerpath, with eight horses and several fine carriages.

Samuel Dent became a well-known resident of Lake Forest and a leader in the AME church. His outgoing personality gained him a reputation as a tour guide and promoter of the community.

After Samuel Dent died in 1890, citizens of Lake Forest
built a monument at his gravesite in Lake Forest Cemetery “in token of their esteem
for a humble Christian, a respected citizen, a faithful friend.” Years later,
in 1965, a local jazz band sought to capture his spirit through their music and
named themselves in his honor the “Samuel Dent Memorial Jazz Band.”