The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

r'r "â€"'» fÂ¥r~i?F'”"“‘”*””"”'“' , - -- - - ,:;;le~ "_.-"'-- +s~;,;::::§:::aggpi_hu,p_mbmgumgmn-gwwn~wwmwg 2 /? M )1 Q HISTORY or THE DENNLS EAMLLY j ‘ In the year 1819 the late Jotatht:mBmitth with his wife and seven children left their home i " in Pough Keepsie, Duchess County, New York, and came to make themselves a home in what was r ; then a dense wilderness of Oxford County; ‘We can only rnjective how they managed to comm- ':. ; unicate with the friends left behind, but one year later the late Robert Dennis with his 5 wife and eight children undertook the same venture. i. They travelled mostly on foot but made use of the lndian and his canoe whenever it was I , possible. The Dennis, family crossed the Niagara River near Lewiston on a rope ferry, the horses being so frightened that the mother removed her blue home spun apron to cover their i j heads. They were offered a large tract of? land,where the City of Brantford now stands,but 1 i refused to buy thinking the soil too light. They came on westward locating, the Emigh ( 1 family on the farm owned at that time by Mr. A. Frain (now by Arthur Kelly) and the Dennis l t family on the farm now owned by a grand-daughter, Mrs.‘Wm. Fleming (now by Paul Fleming). I ; 5E; There was no covers for their heads until they could fell trees and lay up a log shanty. k _,': There were neither doors or windows. Bear and wolves were very plentiful. The wheat or y i corn was ground in a hollow scooped out of a hard wood stump worked with a spring pole which . had a stone attached. Wild fruit was abundant and the maple trees gave sweet. Wild bees - i gave honey for all. Wild game came almost to the doors, turkey, geese, ducks, pigeons,deer etc. _" , f They manufactured their own clothing from wool, when they Could get it, and Spun and wove ( lex. _' " l ‘5 The question is often asked, how are the families related. The mother of the late Robert _ i, Dennis was own sister to the late Jonathan Bmigh, hence uncle and nephew; _ f We have before us a picture of whet can be accomplished by patience and persevertu1c'oeo We i have no boast of millionaires yet a pauper of either name is unknown as fer as this branch of r E family is concerned. With slight exception both families have always upheld literal ideas. i In church relations the Baptist faith held an easy first. The baptist Church at Burgessville " ; stands as a living monument to the christian zeal of the early fathers among whom the Dennises l i, and Emighs must be given a fore most place. i ', y l' E All honor to our noble dead and may the rising generations ever seek to emulate the example s f of those gone before. _ I As for relationship of the Dennis family to other outstanding families is concerned, that i l the following names are connected with the Dennises - Holmes, Sackrider, McLees, Woodrow. i, I Also from records that have been traced back to two or three generations In Duchess County, we 1 4 find that Bmighs and Nichols are also decendents of the Dennises. other names are matte and ' 1 1 Tuttles. The'Woodrows, Motts and Siples and some other older settlers came into the county H as early as 1810. Z The names of the sons and daughters of Robert Dennis and Eve Tanner are: Jarvis, , William T., Platt, James, John, Henry, Maria, Hannah, Rachel and Emmaline. : We might mention that the farm where Cecil Dennis lives hes been in the hands of the , g Dennisee about 146 years and where Verne Dennis lives has been occupied over 100 years. I When settlement was first made a block of 400 acres was bought from the crown\ where Cecil ii and Baul Fleming now lives). C l, i r w'" ‘ j, Typed by Mrs. Wilbur Morley - March 31st. 1966 , 1 } ‘9 Written by Stella Mott e _ i