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52 Ancestors: Week 9, Berril and Mary Elizabeth (Crouch) Dennis

Orginal post: 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

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Burr and Mary Dennis; photograph in possession of their grandson Dwight LeRoy Dennis.

Berril "Burr" Dennis, son of Henry and Barbara Ann (Hammond) Dennis, was probably born in Ward Township, Hocking County, Ohio 27(?) February 1855 (or 1856)1 and died of acute appendicitis at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Lincoln, Lancaster County, Nebraska 20 February 1917.2,3 He married at the home of his brother Benjamin Dennis in Jackson Township, Sullivan County, Missouri 10 December 1875, Mary Elizabeth Crouch,4 daughter of Noah Blankenship and Menema (Waggoner) Crouch. She was born in Sullivan County, Missouri 22 February 18595 and died at the home of their daughter Sylvia (Dennis) Carter in Table Rock, Pawnee County, Nebraska 1 June 19136,7. Burr was buried alongside his wife at Alexandria Cemetery in Alexandria, Thayer County, Nebraska 23 February 1917.3,8

In 1860 and 1870, Burr was living with his parents in Sullivan County, Missouri.9,10 In 1880, he was listed in the household of the unrelated Lewis Dennis working on his farm in Jackson Township.11 Meanwhile, his wife and three young children were living with her step-father and mother, Isaac and Menema (Waggoner) (Crouch) Easley.12 Isaac Easely was recorded as music teacher. On 31 October 1882, several months after the death of their mother, Burr and his brothers Reuben L. Dennis and Frank Dennis sold a piece of land inherited from her to their brother Benjamin Dennis.13

In 1886, Burr and his family came to Alexandria, Nebraska by wagon.14,15 By 1900, he was residing in Eureka Precinct, Jefferson County, Nebraska.16 He and several of his children moved to Idaho in the 1900s, and in 1910, he is recorded in Idaho Falls, Bingham County, Idaho (now Bonneville County).17 He does not appeared to have owned his own land after leaving Missouri. No deeds were discovered in Nebraska and Idaho, and he is listed as a renter on both the 1900 and 1910 censuses. By 1912, he left his farm and was living at the intersection of 13th Street and Holmes Avenue in Idaho Falls working as a teamster.18 He was still there in 1914.19 Around this time, there was an exodus of the Burr Dennis' children from Idaho Falls. Some moved elsewhere in Idaho, some moved to Utah, some moved to Canada, and some returned to Nebraska. In 1916, Burr returned to Alexandria, Nebraska where he was living at the time of his death.2,3

Children of Berril and Mary Elizabeth (Crouch) Dennis, first six born in Missouri, remainder in Nebraska:

  1. Sylvia Cenora Dennis, b. 29 Sept. 1876; m. William Girton Carter.
  2. William Wallace Dennis, b. 27 Jan. 1878; m. Luella Mabel Heckendorn.
  3. Hattie Nevada Dennis, b. 23 Aug. 1879; m. (1) John Alfred Modeen, (2) Arthur Alfred Roper.
  4. Bessie Bronard Dennis, b. May 1881; m. Donald R. Helvey.
  5. Warren Benjamin Dennis, b. 23 March 1883; m. (1) Elizabeth May Wilson, (2) Luella Elkington.
  6. James Noah Dennis, b. 3 April 1885; m. Harriet Adeline Bell.
  7. Orval Francis Dennis, b. 13 July 1887; m. Edith B. Whitesides.
  8. Guy Owen Dennis, b. 3 May 1889; m. (1) Sarepta Gladys Jolley, (2) Mabel Harris.
  9. Winnie Mae Dennis, b. 19 Dec. 1890; m. Francis William Bybee.
  10. Jennie Agnes Dennis, b. 8 Feb. 1893; m. (1) James Bleazard Watts, (2) Orville Clyde Evans.
  11. Dorsey Darrel Dennis, b. 25 Oct. 1896; m. Marie A. Morehouse.
  12. Maize V. Dennis, b. Oct. 1897; d. Alexandria, 26 March 1900.
  13. Treasia Dennis, b. 11 April 1901; m. Ralph R. Wiley.
  14. Delphis Garland Dennis, b. 3 Nov. 1904; m. Thora Louise Winder.

  1. The only document created during his lifetime which gives an exact date is the 1900 U.S. census which records February 1855.↩

  2. "Deaths and Funerals," The Nebraska State Journal (Lincoln, Nebraska), 21 February 1917, p. 9, col. 1, death notice for Burr Dennis; digital images, Newspapers.com.↩

  3. Nebraska Health and Human Services System, Death Certificate, no. 3101, Burr Dennis, 20 February 1917; image copy in possession of author.↩

  4. Sullivan County, Missouri, Marriage Record B:290; digital images, FamilySearch, DGS 7515674 > image 300.↩

  5. Sullivan County, Missouri, Record of Births, 1835-1898, alphabetical entries, Mary Elizabeth Crouch, 22 February 1859, registered 1 May 1871; digital images, Ancestry, "Missouri, U.S., Birth Registers, 1847-2003" > Sullivan > ALL > 1835-1898 > image 4.↩

  6. Nebraska Health and Human Services System, Death Certificate, no. 5763, Mary E. Dennis, 1 June 1913; image copy in possession of author.↩

  7. "Mrs. Mary E. Dennis Passes Away at Table Rock," Lincoln Journal Star (Lincoln, Nebraska), 3 June 1913, p. 3, col. 7; digital images, Newspapers.com.↩

  8. Ancestry, Find a Grave, memorial 142247799, Burr Dennis (1856–1917), Alexandria Cemetery, Alexandria, Thayer County, Nebraska.↩

  9. 1860 U.S. census, Sullivan County, Missouri, population schedule, p. 226 (penned), unnamed locality, dwelling 1555, family 1555; digital images, FamilySearch, DGS 5170239 > image 302.↩

  10. 1870 U.S. census, Sullivan County, Missouri, population schedule, p. 8 (penned), Jackson Township, dwelling 53, family 53; digital images, FamilySearch, DGS 4273880 > image 420.↩

  11. 1880 U.S. census, Sullivan County, Missouri, population schedule, enumeration district 198, p. 10 (penned), Jackson Township, dwelling 88, family 89; digital images, FamilySearch, DGS 5161269 > image 408.↩

  12. 1880 U.S. census, Sullivan County, Missouri, population schedule, enumeration district 198, p. 8 (penned), Jackson Township, dwelling 69, family 69; digital images, FamilySearch, DGS 5161269 > image 406.↩

  13. Sullivan County, Missouri, Deed Record U:521-522; digital images, FamilySearch, DGS 8489274 > images 643-644.↩

  14. Karen Baltz Gibbs, Dennis Family Group Sheets; copy in possession of Maximilian Dennis. Sheet cites various records presented here and family tradition attributed to William Wallace Dennis.↩

  15. LeRoy Dennis, "Excerpts from the Lives of Burr Dennis and his Father Henry Dennis," biography written by Burr Dennis' grandson; digital images uploaded to Ancestry by Karen Baltz Gibbs.↩

  16. 1900 U.S. census, Jefferson County, Nebraska, population schedule, enumeration district 85, sheet 4-A, Eureka Precinct, dwelling 66, family 67; digital images, FamilySearch, DGS 4119892 > image 779; citing NARA microfilm T623.↩

  17. 1910 U.S. census, Bingham County, Idaho, population schedule, enumeration district 291, sheet 16-A, Idaho Falls, dwelling 226, family 237; digital images, FamilySearch, DGS 4970728 > image 1134; citing NARA microfilm T624.↩

  18. "U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995", database and images, Ancestry, Idaho > Idaho Falls > 1912 > Idaho Falls, Idaho, City Directory, 1912 > image 14.↩

  19. "U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995", database and images, Ancestry, Idaho > Idaho Falls > 1914 > Idaho Falls, Idaho, City Directory, 1914 > image 13.↩