Letters of
Dwight W. Denton (1956 and 1957)
(sent by Doris McDuffee Denton)
Lancaster, Ohio
June 7, 1957
Mr. and Mrs. Farris:
Dear Folks:
I am sending this letter in care of Mr. Frank Denton at 400 Lake St., simply because I
neglected to get your first names, as well as your address. When we were ready to leave
Pana the next morning, I looked in the phone directory and found “Ransom Farris, 311
Orange St.,” but am not sure this is the right name or address. You might send your
correct names and address because I’ll be writing you occassionally to enlist your
help in unravelling this one branch of the Denton family. Outside the Court Houses at
Shelbyville and Taylorville, I picked up more authentic information at your place than at
any other place in our four day trip. Then too, I’m writing the Library at Ft Wayne
for the address of that cousin of yours who supposedly has the other old Bible. We are
supposed to have all next week off on vacation yet, but may get called in on samples
Monday or Tuesday. If we dont get called in we may head for northern Indiana and might be
able to stop and see this Emerson or Ervin or both.
I have tried to unravel the maze of information contained in your old Bible and think I
have one family, at least, figured out.
It looks like the first Jonathan b 12-28-1773 and his wife Susanna b 9-19-1775 were the
parents of at least 10 children, namely and in order: -Samuel 7-2-1796, Mary 11-2-1797,
Jonas 7-20-1799, Jemima 5-13-1801, Isaac 1-11-1803, Rebeccah 11-30-1804, Jonathan
10-25-1806, Elizabeth 6-25-1808, Flemmons (not sure of spelling) 2-26-1810, and Preston
12-4-1811.
It looks to me too, that the Jonathan born 10-25-1806 may have been your direct ancestor.
He married Catherine Armstrong on Aug. 31, 1834 at Shelbyville, Ill. by G. Parks who was
either a minister or Justice of the Peace. Your father, Francis Marion Denton told me his
fathers name was Elias and his mother’s maiden name was Gass. I found at Shelbyville,
among the marriages, one Elias Denton married Sarah Gass on July 11, 1861 by J. P.
Williams, J P. This was evidently your grandfather and grandmother Denton. The Bible did
not have the date of Elias’s birth.
I found at Taylorville the following marriage record: “Frank Denton of Flat Branch,
Ill., - Farmer - age 25 - white - son of Elias Denton and Sarah Gass - married Nita Gordon
- aged 21 - white - of Flat Branch, Ill., daughter of Levi Gordon and Mary Ann (Larkin)
Gordon, Married Aug. 24, 1891.
These were evidently your parents. On a separate sheet inclosed herein, I have listed some
questions, with blank spaces left open for answers, some of the things your Dad might be
able to answer. He no doubt can provide the answers but Im not sure, due to his advanced
age, whether or not he can use a pencil or pen, so If you will bear with me for a few
letters, perhaps between the two of us, and your Dad we can riddle out some of the
answers.
Had I known Mr. Farris a day or so earlier, I surely would have asked him to go along to
Taylorville to help get all those Probate Books down off those high shelves. Probate Court
reports usually show, whether a person left a Will, or, if not, would show an
administrator’s report if said person died intestate, or without a Will. It also, in
a great many cases, is the only source where the names of a deceased person’s
children are named. (as beneficiaries)
If I ever get out that way again, Ill certainly take the Mister up on his offer to help
out on those big books.
We went to see several other Dentons after we left your place. The one who runs the
Auction House is related to several other Dentons around Pana but I know definitely they
are no kin of ours because their family came over from England only 75 or 80 years ago.
Met two other Dentons at Ramsey that same evening who might be connected.
Want to thank you again for your hospitality, letting me come into your home and copy the
information from the Book. Until next time I remain
Sincerely Yours
Dwight W Denton 230 Harrison Ave
Lancaster, Ohio
July 7, 1956
Mr. and Mrs. Farras
Dear Folks:-
Well, Im a little bit in arrears on letter answering now! Your second letter came
yesterday and glad indeed to hear from you again and thanks loads for all the names,
dates, etc.
We stopped to see and meet Miss Lida Jane Hunt on the way home from our visit with you
folks. I had corresponded with her several years ago and was anxious to meet her. I
don’t have her connections straight but there were six Hunts who married seven
Dentons in her family. She is, Id say, in her seventies and a very fine person. I think
she was a newspaper writer and apparently has a very good education. As to her lineage,
from just pure memory, her Dentons and Hunts also came from Kentucky and settled not too
far from your section of Illinois, but again, I dont know too much about them. The main
reason I tried to riddle out her branch was that there was an Isaac who was mixed up in
them, but Ive never been able to prove who he was, so until now he is just another Isaac.
The one I’m hunting was born probably in the Eastern Shore section of Maryland Sept.
25 1787 and I believe he is the Isaac who moved to and lived for a time in or near
Taylorville. He was a jailor there about 1840 and served on a petit Jury at about the same
time. These facts I learned about him in the Detroit Historical Library in 1954. Ive
always had a strong hunch that this Isaac of Taylorville was my great grandfather’s
brother because there are records of at least six of his neices and nephews (children of
Rev. Benj. Denton) who lived or visited in Shelbyville and Taylorville at least from about
1850 thru the 1890’s. There certainly must have been some good reason for these six
just picking Taylorville or Shelbyville to move to or visit!
I haven’t found the answer yet but if alive and well, I may spend a few more days out
that way next summer.
One marriage I feel absolutely sure of in Taylorville was “Jackson Denton to mary E
Peel on Aug. 21, 1860”. He was the son of Rev. Benj. Denton and Tabitha (Jackson)
Denton of Rockingham County VA., born there on July 6, 1838 and believed to have died at
Taylorville Sept. 20, 1861. As you will note, he was married only about 13 months at the
time of his death. Id give a lot to know whether or not a child was born to this Jackson
and Mary!
With all the stuff I dug up at the two Court Houses along with what you’ve sent me, I
have a mass of material to try to “riddle out”. Its these things that makes this
family history hobby so very interesting.
We visited your cousins Mr. and Mrs Erven Denton of Ft. Wayne and saw the old Bible. The
only entries in the “vital pages” were of the “Conlee” family. There
were eleven Conlee births and one Denton, Reuben Denton b Aug 11 1820. This is the same
Reuben, I think, who married one Kizia Armstrong at Shelbyville on Aug 26, 1841 by B.
Roberts (MG? or JP?)
The old Bible, so Erven said had been in an attic for years and was in pretty bad shape.
Some of the original deerskin was still on the cover and as your father said, all the
small s
letters were like f. It was very interesting to look over and I read several places in it,
among other things, a note written in (by some of your ancestors probably) as follows:
“Book of Ezekial, 6th verse of 16th Chapter, for stopping blood.”
Erven and his wife are a nice couple and Ill bet, a barrel of fun. We were there an hour
or so, the week after we were at your house. I told him of meeting you and your Dad and
how very nice you all had been with us. He said it had been a long time since he had seen
you, but would try to get down for a visit next time he could get down that way. He drives
a truck for Essex Wire, between St. Louis and Ft. Wayne. We look for them to stop here if
and when they get a vacation.
Since I came home, I received a nice letter from one C. L. Denton of Ramsey. I didn’t
know of him or I would have looked him up. He is a real estate man and an ordained
minister. His grandfather was Johnston Denton, his father was David Denton. Johnston came
in a covered wagon from Virginia before 1818 and settled at or near Vandalia Ill. The
place where they built their log cabin was at Vera, Ill. 19 children were born in that
cabin. I’m enclosing his letter for you to read and return at your convenience. Just
thot you might know of them.
You asked about the name of Denton. It is an English word and is a “place” name.
Many other names are place names, a profession or their work name such as Carpenter,
Miller, Shipman etc. Den means valley or vale and ton is Anglo-Saxon for town, hence
Valley-Town-Denton.
The first records Ive ever seen of Dentons coming to America, I found in the Virginia Land
Company records in the Ohio State and Richmond, Va. Libraries. These two were Adam Denton,
Merchant and his cousin Thomas Denton who came to Jamestown Va on the “goode ship
Margarite” in 1619. I haven’t been able to trace any Dentons after 1619
(descendants of these two) but I have their (Adam and Thos) lineage back for 20
generations to the eleventh Century. The name back there originated with one Baron of
Benth Castle who named a son Denton after the place where they had Benth Castle. I dont
know of any coming over from England between 1619 and 1630 but in the latter year, one
Rev. Richard Denton and six sons came over from England on the good ship
“Arabella” in company with John Winthrop, later governor of Massachusetts Bay
Colony. Rev Rich. was b 1586 in England and returned there in 1659 where he died about
1662. He was a graduate of Cambridge University in 1623. He was a “settled”
minister at Coley Chapel in Halifax in England. His six sons were John born 1618, Timothy
born 7-23-1627, Richard
baptised 1622, Nathaniel b. 3-9-1628, Daniel b. 7-10-1632, Samuel b. 5-29-1631, and Phebe
b 9-20-1634. Daniel wrote and published the first “Historye of Newe Yorke”. I
have seen and read this little booklet at Ohio State Library. Three of the above were born
in America and the others were born in England.
All of his children stayed in America and most of the Dentons in America come from these
six sons. They lived in N.Y., Conn., and Mass up until about 1700 then some of them came
down thru the upper Shenandoah Valley in Va where they were living from at least 1710 thru
the Revolutionaary War. After the War, Tenn. and Ky. were opened up and quite a few
Dentons migrated to these two states as well as North Carolina. I feel reasonably sure,
although not absolutely so that your tribe of Dentons comes down from one of these sons of
Rev. Richard but have no idea from which son. There is a very extensive compilation of
Denton History in the Detroit Library, dealing with Rev. Rich. and a great many of his
descendants. In fact there are six books, each containing 500 pages, written in ink, in
long hand by one Walter Bion Denton now deceased. We spent several hours there in ‘54
and just barely skimmed the surface of the history written there. I would like to go back
there for a few days sometime if the old ticker holds out long enough.
Its going to take some time to straighten out all the data I dug up in Illinois along with
what you’ve sent. I dont find any connections as yet but am safe in saying that back
there somewhere, we all had a common ancestor. But theres many a generation between then
and now!
I’m enclosing a snapshot I took of Erven and his wife and their adopted daughter. As
stated before, they are a very nice couple to be around. I hope you have the pleasure of
meeting them one of these days. His brother lives near them in Ft Wayne and I believe just
recently went to work for the Bus Company there.
Ill probably have some more questions for you as I go along with the compiling of the
stuff I have.
I just now found another note I received from one Rev H. A. Denton, of Pittsburg, in 1941.
It reads in part: “In my own lineage, Jonathan and William Denton came to Kentucky
from Virginia with Daniel Boone and stopped at a point now known as Harrodsburg Ky. Soon
after, Wm went to Tennessee and Jonathan located on Licking River at the mouth of Fox
Creek in Bath County, just across the river. This Jonathan was my great, grandfather.
Further, I am unable to tell you.” (End of his letter.)
You might ask Dad again if Bath Co., Licking River or Fox Creek sound familiar to him. I
think this could very well be the first Jonathan b. Dec. 28, 1773, in your Bible.
Hope to hear from you again and thanks again for all your help. From perhaps a 42nd Cousin
with Kindest Regards -- D. W. Denton
Lancaster, Ohio
July 10, 1957
Dear Mrs. Farris:
Have been trying to compile and put in proper order, the death dates and names of those
you sent me and tying in, as far as possible, the marriages we found in Shelbyville and
Taylorville. There was a total of 86 marriages we found in the two counties, that
concerned Dentons!
I wrote the County Clerk in Bath County, Ky, purely on a hunch, to see if there were any
Denton items recorded. If they are open on Saturdays and I get any kind of a favorable
reply from him (or her) we plan to go down there some Friday Eve. and spend a few hours in
their Court House on the following day. Most Court Houses are open until noon on Saturday
but I wrote to find out anyway. We’ll probably go down on July 19th or 26th. If I
find anything worthwhile, that ties in with what I already have, I’ll forward copy of
same to you.
I have one of my family data forms inclosed for you to complete, on your own family. Also
inclosed is another of those “questionaires” for which you may have the answers.
I wonder if that cousin of yours of Mowequa could, or would copy, word for word, that part
of the Shelby County History that deals with your great grandfather Jonathan?
Then this Morris M Denton was the son of your Dads uncle and aunt Samuel and Nancy Jane
(Snellgrove) Denton, Im sure!
Then I figure this Jonathan T. (Tolley) d 1-22-1855 at age 10 yr 24 days, was a brother to
Elias and another son of Jonathan and Catherine Denton. Just cant see any other place to
put him. He is in that old Bible of yours. (Death record.)
It looks like your great grandfather was one of 15 children. Did your Dad ever hear
anything to that effect? Quite a large family.
I’d sure like to spend a few more days out your way after we go to Ky. and may do
just that, next summer if not before!
Those dates and names you sent in your last letter are the best records one can find. They
helped tie quite a few of these Dentons together; however I am a long way from the
finished story.
I sincerely trust I dont annoy you folks too much. Its nice to know these things about our
families and to know something of our background. Regards from
DW Denton
[Doris Denton note: Attached to this letter is some information written in a different
hand and I recognize part of the material as copied from the Shelby Co. history. This was
probably a draft of notes made to send to Dwight Denton]
Jonathan Denton now one of the oldest residents of the township, came here in 1832. He
lived for 2 years in the family of Robert Tolly and then married Miss C Armstrong and
built a cabin on section 14 in the year 1834. here he improved a farm. He still resides
within a short distance of where he settled. Mr. Denton is a native of Barren County Ky.
His father Jonathan Denton Sr. was one of the early settlers of Montgomery co, Ill. and
lived near the Village of Zanesville: it was there that Jonathan Jr’s boyhood was
principally spent. Farmer and stockraiser
Ruben Denton was one of the first settlers on the W side of the branch. He first located
on section 16, where F. Ney [?] now lives. He began this improvement about 1847.
Nancy one of the twins married Jon Casey he performed marriage ceremonies for Preston, Wm,
Phebe, Martha and Samuel Denton.
Dads father Elias died at age 64.
Alpha Cutshaw Decatur
Lottie Bonner 1810 n [?] St
Mable Corrington
Velma Cook
Mrs. (Alice) Ted Grabowski 1612 E Condit St
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