 Alice was widowed in 1724, and Gent travelled to York, marrying her in York Minster in December 1724, and by marriage, obtained a print business in York.Gent became publisher of Yorkshire's only newspaper, the "Original York Courant, or Weekly Journal", previously the "York Mercury".John White Jnr, printer of Newcastle, son of John White, who had hoped but failed to obtain the York Press for himself set up a rival business in York; the competition prompted Gent to begin to author his own works, and he published a history of York in 1730, followed by one of Ripon in 1733, and of Hull in 1735.