Home Guest Book Q u e r y E-Mail Footprints Updated: 15 Dec 2002 "History of John Clancy Denton" By: Irena Marion Denton Wooton (11th Generation Denton in America) © 1978, 1987, 1991, 1997 [Alphabetical Listing] John Clancy Denton The following biographical outline is quoted from that written by my Great-Aunt Elma Phoebe Denton Dayton: "Their grandfather was Jacob Jacobs (supposed to be a jew) who lived in Wales during the War of the Revolution and was very wealthy, owned castles, lands and three hundred serfs. He and his brother used the three ships on the sea that they owned to send provisions to the American Soldiers. This was against the law. His brother was watched one night as he was leaving the vessel and surrounded by a mob and hanged. His brother (Jacob) would have shared the same fate had he not been warned by an old and faithful slave. As it was, he and his young wife and infant son were permitted to come to this country leaving all their riches and serfs behind them. They settled in Long Island and the son grew up and married and four daughters were born to them, Sally (Sarah), Polly, Thirza, and Phebe. - By Phebe's marriage (to Jesse Denton) seven children were born: Polly, Sally, Rhoda, Senna, Ally, Benjamin, and Samuel. Benjamin married Grace Fuller (these are my grandparents) and nine children came to bless them. Benjamin is described as a little over five feet, straight, very white skin, blue eyes, black curly hair, and a man of his word, very strict with his children and Grace Fuller his wife as a "real Scotch Lassie", dark brown hair, rosy cheeks and beautiful dark eyes. She was firm yet gentle and beloved by all that knew her. The children's names are: Jesse born 1807, Phebe born 1810, Richard born 1812, Annaline born 1814, Daniel born ____, William born ____, John Clancy born April 19, 1826, Benjamin born ____, Ransom ____. Grace Fuller died August 4, 1832, only 45 years old. After waiting a year, Benjamin married Almira Tuttle (should be Little) "and two children were born, Almira and Chester. She lived only 6 years and again he married Sarah ____. No children by this union. After living 18 years, he died of consumption. The last two marriages were unhappy ones". There was also a child by Grace that died very young. To continue Great Aunt Elma's biography: "Jesse Denton (my uncle) born in 1807 married Mary Badgley in 1834. They settled in the town of Malta. Seven children came to bless them, George, Hattie, Alex, Duke, Orrie, Dallas and Isadora. Mary Badgley Denton lived only a short time after the birth of Isadora and Jesse married again. This time Eliza Baker. After living together a long time Jesse passed away very suddenly the 1st of Feb 1882 in his 75th year. 'He was very kind to those beneath him, but never cringe to those above'." I add the epitaph on his tombstone in Dunning Street Rural Cemetery, Town of Malta, Saratoga Country, N.Y.: `Be ye also ready' and says his age was 74 years, 5 months. - - - Again continuing Aunt Elma: PHEBE DENTON (My Aunt) Born in 1810, married Ephraim Ellsworth in 1836, settled in the town of Halfmoon and two children were born; Elmer E. and Charlie. Elmer Ellsworth was the late lamented Colonel whose life was so tragically brought to a close during the late war in 1861, the 24th of May. Charlie died in 1860 in Chicago of Scarioloid. - This family moved to the town of Malta where the sons were born, later moved to Mechanicville, N.Y. when the boys were small. All are buried in Hudson View Cemetery, Mechanicville in a plot dominated by a 25 foot granite shaft commemorating Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth. RICHARD DENTON (My Uncle) Born in 1812, married Jane Vanderwerken and settled in Sandy Hill. Three children were born: Fletcher, Daniel and Francis. Fletcher died quite young of consumption and Francis at the age of sixteen. Sandy Hill is now known as Hudson Falls. ANNALINE DENTON (My Aunt) Born in 1814 and married Let Wing. Three children by this marriage; Charles, Amanda and Lydia. Let Wing died ____ and Annaline married again, this time James Reed. Clarence is the only child living. They settled in LaSalle County, Ill. James Reed died in ____ and Annaline never married. DANIEL DENTON (My Uncle) Born in 181_, and married Harriet Covey settled in (maybe "northern", but paper is torn so the word is unfinished) part of N.Y. Children's names are Alonzo and Melissa twins (paper torn again), Eliza, William and Charlie. Daniel died in ____ of (paper torn). Unfortunately Great-Aunt Elma either wrote nothing further or the continuation has been lost over the years, which I would be inclined to believe is more likely the case since she ended at the very last line of the paper. Nonetheless, I am very grateful to her daughters, Clara and Frances Dayton, for loaning me such a valuable bit of information. From the way she wrote and what she said regarding the "late war", it would be my assumption that she wrote the biographical sketch some time around the turn of the century for which I am also grateful. To go on with my story . . . . Jesse Denton (6th generation being the son of Richard (5th), son of Richard (4th), son of Richard 3rd, son of Nathaniel 2nd, son of Rev Richard Denton (1)) was born December 11, 1761, christened at Huntington, Long Island, N.Y. Presbyterian Church March 7, 1762. His mother was Tabitha Rogers. Jesse Denton married Phebe Jacobs and they had seven children: Polly (Mary), Sally (Sarah), Rhoda, Senna (Lucena), "Ally" (Almira), Benjamin and Samuel. Benjamin Denton (7th generation being the son of Jesse (6), Richard (5), Richard (4), Richard (3), Nathaniel (2), and Rev Richard (1)), was born about 1785 or 86, died September 22, 1848 in his 62nd year. In 1807, Benjamin married Gracilla (Grace) Fuller born 1787, died August 4, 1832. Ten children were born to them: Jesse 1807, Phebe May 1, 1810, Richard 1812, Annaline 1814, Daniel 18__, William March 3, 1822, died June 25, 1848, John Clancy (8) my great-grandfather, April 19, 1826, Benjamin 18__, Ransom November 24, 1819 died February 9, 1849, and one child who died young and whose name I am not certain of, possibly Samuel. After Grace died in 1832, Benjamin on July 20, 1833 married Almyra Little of Stillwater, Saratoga County, N.Y. per records in the State Library at Albany, N.Y. - exerts of records from the newspaper of the day. They had two children, Almira and Chester who was born 1834, died 1924. Almyra Little Denton died September 9, 1838 and is buried in the Yellow Meeting House Cemetery, Stillwater as is Grace. As his third wife, Benjamin married some time before April 1, 1840 Sarah ____. No children of this marriage. When Benjamin died September 22, 1848, his Will dated 4 November 1847 filed in Saratoga County Records Volume 15, page 1 at Ballston Spa, N.Y. names a widow Sarah and heirs and next of kin Phebe Ellsworth, Richard Denton, Ransom Denton, Daniel Denton, Clancy Denton of Sandy Hill, Washington County, N.Y. (this would be my great grandfather John Clancy who was, evidently, living with his Uncle Richard Denton), Annalina Wing of Ill, and minors Almira, Benjamin and Chester, also a Gracilla, and a son Jesse is named as executor along with the wife. The first item in Benjamin's Will states he wanted to be "decently buried in the Congregational Church yard in said Town of Stillwater". This was known as the Yellow Meeting House - and Benjamin is interred there. The family was broken up even more after Benjamin's death and the home sold as census records of 1850 show Almira Denton age 13 living with the Hiram Ferguson family; Chester age 15 was living with the Eldridge family. He later married Nancy Wiggins born 1833, died 1912 whose brother married ____ Eldridge. All four are buried in the same plot in Malta Ridge Cemetery, Route 9, south of Saratoga Springs (Ballston Spa), N.Y. The widow Sarah age 42 was living with the Melanothon Myers family and John Clancy was living with the John Arnold's. Going back to Benjamin, like his ancestors for generations before him, he invested in and owned considerable amounts of land. He also was listed as being a "repairer of shoes" which trade his son Richard also followed at Sandy Hill (now Hudson Falls). On 8 May 1832, Benjamin Denton and Girsella his wife (this was Grace Fuller) sold land, the sale not being recorded however until 12 April 1842 about 11 a.m., ten years after Girsella (Grace) died in Sept 1832. As mentioned, Benjamin married Almyra in 1833, and in 1834, Benjamin and Almira sold land. Benjamin again bought land in 1834 from Elizabeth Hamilton (the widow of Alexander Hamilton and daughter of General Philip Schuyler). Records show that 2 May 1838 Benjamin and Almira sold land, and 10 October 1838 Benjamin sold land. Almira had died Sept 9, 1838. Then starting 1 April 1840, records show that land was listed in the name of Benjamin and Sarah. These lands were, primarily, located in what was known as the Grand Division of the Saratoga Patent with some being in the Kayderosseras Patent. In 1845, the town of Ballston bought a farm "to keep the poor on" for $425.00 from Benjamin Denton and Rial Moore, who was married to Benjamin's sister Rhoda. Benjamin and Daniel Carthy Denton represented the Town. All of these records would indicate that Benjamin was considered amount the fairly well-to-do residents of the area. Since I have already included my Great-Aunt Elma's biography, of some of the children born to Benjamin and Grace and have added information I have obtained, I shall go to my Great-Grandfather John Clancy Denton. He was born April 19, 1826 in the town of Malta, or Stillwater, Saratoga County, N.Y. Like his brothers and sisters, he was bapti at Stillwater, N.Y. The Congregational Church "Yellow Meeting House" records dated August 26, 1820 show children of Benjamin and Grace belonging to the church were Jesse, Phebe, Daniel, Carthy, Annaline, Richard and Ransom. These records further show Mrs. Grace Denton April 10, 1820, Benjamin Denton February 24, 1820 and again June 24, 1824, then Benjamin son of Benjamin February 14, 1828, and Samuel Denton 1849, died 1853. When John Clancy's mother (Grace Fuller Denton) died, he was only six years old, but his sister Phebe was already a woman of twenty-two and sister Annaline was eighteen. Phebe assumed care of the family with Annaline's help, and John more than ever became a favorite of Phebe as her name was then being spelled. In later years when John's oldest daughter, Elma, went to live with the Ellsworth's, Phoebe told her that John was mostly a good, quite boy, eager to help and who minded his elders. She always felt that losing his mother had had a very sobering "a quieting" effect on the little fellow, and strengthened the already close bond between them since Phoebe had mothered him from the time he was born. How John took to his stepmother the following July is not a matter of conjecture since the story handed down through Phebe is that to him the term "stepmother" was almost synonymous with "devil". This must have been heightened when Almira, after adding Chester and Almira in 1834 and 1837 respectively, to the household, died and Benjamin married for the third time when John was thirteen. I do not know how long John remained at home; but when his father, Benjamin, died in 1848, John was living with his brother and sister-in-law, Richard and Jane (Vanderwerken) Denton in Sandy Hill, Saratoga County, N.Y. The Stillwater, New York census of 21 August 1850 by Moses Clement shows John C. Denton, age given as 20, was a "laborer" living with the John Arnold family. Quite probably John's age was guessed at by the member of the Arnold family who furnished the data to the census taker. The same census also shows Chester, age 15, also a "laborer" living with the Warren Eldridge family. Some years later, one of the Eldridge girls married ______ Wiggins and Chester married Nancy Wiggins born 1833, died 1912. Chester died 1924. Returning to the aforementioned census, it lists Almira age 13 living with the Hiram Ferguson family; and the stepmother Sarah ______ Denton, age 42 living with the Melancthon Myers family. Whether or not she was related to them, I do not know as of this writing. As to the boys living with other families, it was the custom of the times and the way they learned their trade and/or their living and as "laborers" would be listed as farm hands. After his own mother, Almira, died in 1838, Chester, then only about four years old went to live with his half-sister, Phebe Ellsworth who had married Ephraim Elmer Ellsworth in 1836. After mothering her brothers and sisters for so many years, Phebe and Ephraim became the parents of a son, Elmer Ephraim Ellsworth on April 11, 1837. He and Uncle Chester were to spend many carefree boyhood hours together first in Malta, N.Y. where Elmer was born, then in Mechanicville with Elmer's brother, Charlie, tagging behind. Chester had many vivid memories of barefoot summer days along the Hudson River and watching the railroad trains as the engineers tooted and waved to the boys....before they grew up and Elmer became the world famous Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth leader of the colorful Zouave drill team. Then the sad day when he became the first hero-martyr of the War between the States, the Civil War, killed at Alexandria, Virginia on May 24, 1861 - only 24 years of age....struck down performing an act he hoped would avert what he felt was inevitable. If this was not indeed the spark that ignited the smoldering embers of civil war, neither did it serve to put them out. Brother Charlie had died of smallpox before this and Chester was apprenticed to a farmer thus Phebe and Ephraim were now alone and desolate, and it would take another family tragedy to bring another young one into their home, their lives and the wealth of love they had to give. John Clancy Denton had, in 1860, married the school "marm" he had been courting for "quite a spell". She was Abbie Jane Scidmore (Skidmore, Sidmore, Scudamore) born August 19, 1837 in the town of Ballston, Saratoga County, N.Y, died February 16, 1907 at Buffalo, N.Y. Abbie Jane was the daughter of Elisha and Guelmah (McLees) Scidmore. Elisha had a twin brother, Elijah, who took to the hills as a young man, went north to the Adirondack Mountains, married and raised a large family according to what one of my great-aunts wrote me one time. Some of the Scidmore children with whom I went to school in Ballston Spa during the 1930's are, I'm sure, descended from that branch of the family. [NOTE: Guelmah McLees above was the daughter of Cornall and Mary (Wright) McLees. See "Insearch Of" for our search for Mary Wright.] Abbie's brothers and sisters were: Mary Elizabeth Scidmore born 1836, died 1903, married as his second wife Patrick Henry Meehan who was a lawyer, judge and Post Master of Galway, N.Y. Abbie Jane was next, then John and Charles, one or two that died in infancy, William I. born 1848 died 1916, and Alwilda who also went north to the Adirondacks after their mother died and married_______ Pelcher, lived at Lake Pleasant, N.Y. The Will of William I. Scidmore Box 450 No. 18, Vol 47 page 48 Ballston Spa, N.Y. lists legatees: Alwilda Pelcher, Lake Pleasant;[sister] Charles Scidmore, Grand Ridge, IL; [brother] William Scidmore, Waterloo, Iowa, nephew; nieces Bertha Snell and Grace Davenport, Tacoma, Wash; Elma Dayton, Geneva, Ohio; [niece] nephew William C. Denton, East Line, N.Y. (Ballston Spa). The July 20, 1850 census for town of Halfmoon, Saratoga County, N.Y. by Moses Clement shows Abbey J. Scidmore living with the family of Ebenezer Boyce indicating her mother had died before that date. She had, in fact died March 10, 1849 - was born October 9, 1813. Her father married a second time, Hannah E. Clark. My Great-Aunt Bertha asserted that Abbie would never call her "mother" but always referred to her as "Aunt Hannah". Hannah died July 12, 1883; Elisha died September 6, 1886 age 83 years. William I. Scidmore married Frances Mary Bertrand (Fannie) born 1857 died February 28, 1916. William died July 28, 1916. Elisha's father was Revolutionary War soldier John Scidmore, descendant of pioneer Thomas Skidmore, who died November 28, 1830 in his 80th year. These Scidmore's are buried in Malta Ridge Rural Cemetery on Route 9 south of Saratoga Springs, N.Y. After their marriage, John and Abbie planned to "pioneer out west" which, at that time, meant Indiana, Illinois or Iowa. John's sister, Annaline Wing, lived in Chicago and wrote letters to charge the imagination of the lively Abbey; and his nephew, Col Ellsworth, only added to the lure and excitement of the new lands opening "out west". However, all feared and dreaded the not so distant rumblings of a war between the north and south, as many of their cousins lived in southern states as were scattered throughout the north which only added to their Quaker distaste for battle. While their Quaker upbringing did not condone war, non-the-less, the call to arms saw some of both the Denton and Scidmore families answer. And John and Abbie put aside their pioneering though it would probably be safe to say that it played an important part in their private conversations. For now, John was needed to help on the big Scidmore farm, to tend his own and to give help wherever he could. In the meantime, Abraham Lincoln had been elected President of the United States and had placed Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth in complete control of "the safe conduct of the President-elect" and his party during the inaugural journey to Washington, D.C. Orders were that the President-elect would make no attempt to pass through any crowd until such arrangements were made as would meet the approval of Col Ellsworth, and security officers along the train route were advised to put Col Ellsworth in communication with the chief of security at each stop immediately upon arrival of the train. Through a quirk of fate, Ellsworth had met Abraham Lincoln who had immediately taken to the boy and had taken him into his Springfield law office where their friendship grew to the point where Lincoln looked on Ellsworth as a son. They must have made a father-son picture as well, Lincoln being so tall and lanky and Ellsworth no more than 5'6" tall. At any rate, one can imagine the family pride in young Ellsworth what with his Zouave fame, his friendship with the new President, and now the honor of being thought worthy and capable of carrying out the highest security enforcement possible. Everyone turned out as the train passed through Troy, New York (where Ellsworth once worked), hats off and eyes glistening with tears of pride as these two men of humble beginnings sped toward the White House in Washington. These people of Troy and its surrounding towns were as proud of their Ellsworth as Springfield was of its Lincoln - and both justly so. Then on May 24, 1861 the tragedy that devastated the whole family, shook the entire nation and ignited the smoldering fuse of Civil War; The son of John's sister Phebe, the much loved "Little Colonel" Elmer Ephraim Ellsworth, twenty-four years old, was shot and killed by the proprietor of the Marshall House at Alexandria, Virginia. He had, draped over his shoulder, the Confederate Flag that had flown over this building, had been seen by President Lincoln from the White House and would have caused assembled regiments, including Ellsworth's Zouaves, to besiege the city had they seen it. Ellsworth's assassin, hotel owner Jackson, was immediately shot and killed by Ellsworth's companion, Corporal Frank Brownell of Troy, N.Y. There is no describing the shock to the family, the country. It was akin to our own experience in the death of our late President John F. Kennedy shot down by an assassin's bullet. Abraham Lincoln openly wept as did Mrs Lincoln and they ordered that Ellsworth's body be moved into the East Room of the White House where it lay in state until taken by carriage and train to Troy, N.Y. under military escort lead by Cpl Brownell. There, it was met by the bereaved family and taken by carriage to Mechanicville, N.Y. where he was laid to rest on a hill high above the city overlooking the Hudson River that had helped to spin the dreams that had taken him to such far horizons in such a short time. His resting place in Hudson View Cemetery is marked by a monument of Quincy granite twenty-five feet high, about five feet square at the base, and perched on top is a bronze eagle with outstretched wings. Each of the four sides of the monument has an inscription, the front having the name Ellsworth cut in bas-relief letters five inches high. The plot is enclosed by a wrought iron fence kept silvered by those who do honor to this hero, often a project of the local high school students. Buried in the plot with Elmer are his brother Charlie, his parents Phebe (Denton) and Ephraim Ellsworth, and her brother, Elmer's uncle, John Clancy Denton (my Great-Grandfather). So - John and Abbie Jane helped the bereaved parents through their ordeal as best they could and life gradually returned to what normalcy there could be during a war. Some of the men of the family who had gone to war returned; and finally, John and Abbie took the step and started preparations for their covered wagon trip west to their own new horizons. Abbie's brother's John and Charlie weren't to be left behind and accompanied Clancy (as they called him) and Abbie to Illinois were the latter took up a farm near Ottawa, LaSalle County, Illinois. Charlie Scidmore took up a farm nearby along with his brother John. However, before long John wandered on finally settling in Clarinda, Page County, Iowa. It was said that John prospered, married and raised a large family, the William Scidmore mentioned in the Will of William I. was undoubtedly John's son.  [We now find that the William mentioned in the will was the son of Charles Scidmore.] As for John and Abbie, they built a long cabin and there their first three children were born: Elma Phebe Denton July 20, 1863, William Clancy Denton (my grandfather) December 2, 1865, and Bertha Daisy (which she later in life changed to Marguerite) Denton, December 25, 1868. Neighbors helped each other and assisted John Clancy in clearing his land and soon there were wheat and corn fields, vegetable gardens, cows and chickens and pigs along with the horses that were vital to survival in those days. And by the time Bertha arrived, John Clancy had moved his family into a solid two story house built by his own skill with help from those around him for whom he would return the favor. The children loved this wide open land and the snug farm house as much as their father and mother did. However, Bertha never forgot roaming into the big corn field and getting lost. Abbie was adventurous so when neighbors started talking of going west fired by "Kansas Fever" that ran high, she talked John into going on, go along and see what lay beyond the horizon. So, the good farm was sold and again the covered wagons rolled westward. "Westward, the Star of Empire takes its way" wrote Aunt Bertha. Just as we see in the western movies and the documentaries today, so did they travel through the sun and dust of day, wagons circled around and meals cooked over the campfire at night. The stars, the moon, the clouds or the rain their canopy; and the farther west they went, the dustier the land became; and the more homesick for his "good farm" John Clancy became, concerned and worried that this was not the land of his fathers that he could work and farm and bend to his touch, not the green, healthy country to bring the children up in. So finally, he talked Abbie Jane into turning around and going back. The Mississippi to cross, everything just seemed too foreign; so back they went, ferried across the big river in the other direction, Abbie quiet with disappointment and John Clancy reassuring her that it was best for them, the children just bursting with excitement and wonderment at all they did and all they saw. As their lives later indicate, they were inoculated with the desire to see more than just the place where they were to grow up, a wanderlust that would take them to all the places Abbie wanted to see. East toward the rising sun to Remington, Jasper County, Indiana where John Clancy found lodgings for his family and himself struck out to find land that he could farm. His daughter, Elma, once wrote that he "took up" a quarter section of land (about 85 acres). On this, he swiftly built another cabin and moved his family into it, happy once again. With good substantial barns built for his livestock, John Clancy started to turn the rich black soil that would yield the food for his young brood. The land was level and stones were few to make the planting of crops a delight to any farmer and John had been brought up working with and loving God's good earth but never more than now. Abbie had her cows and chickens and again set up a system by which she and her neighbors could summon each other in case of need or emergency. They would wig-wag flags which could be seen for miles across the flat prairie land. And here a fourth child, Grace Ellsworth Denton, was born on November 20, 1873. The oldest, Elma Phebe, had been named for the wife of William Penn (Elma) and for John's sister, Phebe; and Grace was named for John's mother as well as for this sister Phebe (Ellsworth). The only boy was named William both for William Penn and Abbie's brother with the "Clancy", of course, for his father. Here again, John's Quaker upbringing is evidenced. Though his mother was Scotch Presbyterian and John was quite possibly named for the Rev. John Clancy, Presbyterian Minister of Charlton, Saratoga County, N.Y. between 1825-1845, the children were apparently brought up in their father's church Congregation, the "Yellow Meeting House" of Stilwater, N.Y. They were a happy family according to what Elma and Bertha told me. Bertha always remembered running to keep up with Elma and Will on their two mile walk to school, running and roaming for miles at play on the flat prairie, the fright of a dust storm like a typhoon. When packages arrived from "back east", there was excitement and clamoring for the magazines and newspapers always an important part of each parcel. Then real excitement! Aunt Phebe Denton Ellsworth arrived to visit her favorite brother! How delighted she was with Elma, always the quiet reserved, dignified little lady conscious of being the oldest (as was Phebe) and unconsciously aware she was expected to look after, take responsibility for, the younger children. But how shocked Phebe was when Will and "Bert" were called in from the fields dragging long weeds with a gum on them and tramped in bare-footed. "Half wild" was Phebe's impression, but the joy of being together, with family, rapidly won her over. That was the summer before Grace was born. The summer after Grace was born, John and his nearby neighbors decided to open up new land. This meant burning off all the wild prairie grass so they could plow. As so often happened in that flat country, a wind came up suddenly and the terror cry of "prairie fire" was upon all. The men quickly plowed furrows around the barns, out-buildings and houses. Flames seemed to jump 20 to 30 feet at a time. Blankets were soaked in the horse watering trough and used to beat at the flames. To no avail. It swept on and on, and good conscientious John Clancy doing more than his share inhaled smoke until his lungs were seared to bursting. He collapsed and quickly pneumonia set in. Someone rode the long distance for a doctor, no hospital, oxygen tent, miracle drugs in those days. When the young doctor finally arrived, he and Abbie Jane worked over John, wrapped him in wet blankets, all that was known at that time. Anything that could be done within the scope of their knowledge was done. Elma took care of baby Grace while Will and Bertha, horrified, terrified huddled in a corner. To no avail, the big chested, black haired, strong and virile man gasped his last breath on June 11, 1875. Thus wrote his daughter Berthan to her grandniece, Irene (me). John Clancy Denton "was buried in a pretty corner of the new country cemetery" near the land he loved. However, a few years later, his sister, Phebe, had his body taken back to Mechanicville, N.Y. and interned in the Ellsworth plot in Hudson View Cemetery. It is from his headstone there that I obtained the dates of his birth and death. Abbie Jane's death is noted on the back of John's stone. When his body was returned from Indiana, his son William "Will" met it at the depot with his uncle and saw his father's body when the casket was opened to make certain that it was John Clancy's remains they were meeting. "Will" lived the rest of his days haunted by the belief that his father had originally been buried while still alive because his hair and beard had grown very long. Grief stricken and in shock, Abbie Jane first took the children to visit her brother Charles Scidmore and old friends near their former Illinois home. Then back to their Indiana farm to decide whether to stay on or to sell. A letter from her brother, Will Scidmore, inviting Abbie to return with her children to the old home at East Line, town of Malta, Saratoga County, N.Y. to live, more a letter of advice than invitation, really. She decided this was the thing to do and "near Christmas (of 1878) after a strange and rather sad trip in the cars", wrote Bertha to me, Abbie Jane and her bewildered children arrived at Ballston Spa, N.Y. An old fashioned winter with lots of snow which these children had never seen. Uncle Will Scidmore bundled them in robes in his big cutter and the experience of the sleigh ride out to the old Scidmore homestead where Elisha and his brothers were born, "up the hill" in East Line west of route 67 to what area residents today call "Elmer Weed's place". Grandpa Elisha Scidmore was along in years and cantankerous and made their welcome less than cordial which was not helped by Abbie calling his wife "Aunt Hannah" refusing to call her "mother". There was a convention of all the relatives in the already over-crowded house, everyone giving Abbie advice; and already, she regretted her return. I have recently been in the house and can heartily concur as to how crowded it must have been. Abbie was given no chance or choice in proceedings. Years later, her daughter Elma wrote me that she was a weak woman. Phebe Ellsworth already favoring good, quiet Elma then about 11 or 12 years old promptly made it clear that Elma would live with her. Abbie's sister, Mary Elizabeth Scidmore Meehan, taken by Bertha's curly hair and rosy checks immediately adopted her as her charge leaving the heartsick Abbie with her only boy and her baby Grace. - - - - thus was Christmas remembered for 1878. Elma needed no admonitions from her mother but Bertha was taken aside and told never to let her aunt and uncle know she was homesick and to be thankful for all they were doing for her. Will hid and could not be found to say goodby as Elma was taken to the Ellsworth home in Mechanicville, and Berthan in the other direction to Galway, NY, where Uncle Patrick Meehan was Post Master and Justice; and with Aunt Mary wondering what he would say when she returned with a young child. Berthan later wrote me that she quickly won him over and became more his favorite than Aunt Mary's. Christmas 1878 - a day of sadness and heartbreak and very likely the reason Will and his sons after him never felt the day to be one of rejoicing. It was, probably, also part of the reason Great Aunt Elma wrote me that her mother, Abbie, was a weak and foolish woman. The family was together about once a year after this until Bertha left the area at the age of 17. Through her Aunt Phebe with her quaker-like ways, Elma grew up a gentle girl with deep love for housekeeping and children, the later so obvious in her writings of family and "the children who came to bless them". September 4, 1888, she married Frank Dayton a railroad accountant then stationed in Mechanicville, later transferred to Boston, Mass., where their first child, Philip, was born. He never married, died July 3,____. It was while living in Boston that Elma wrote the "Anecdote of Col Elmer E. Ellsworth" that was donated to the Chicago Historical Society on May 15, 1920 by F.J. Wilder, 46 Cornhill, Boston, Mass. Frank and Elma were next sent to Tacoma, Wash.., where daughter Frances was born; then to Cleveland, Ohio were Clara was born; then to Buffalo where Durell was born. Some time during these moves, Abbie had either gone to live with the Dayton family or was visiting them as she died at Buffalo, NY where she is buried in Ridge Lawn Cemetery per information from Clara Dayton. The last move for this family was to Geneva, Ohio where son Robert was born and where Frank died. Elma Phoebe Denton died at age 86 on April 3, 1949, a long, happy and fruitful life. Frances and Clara never married. Durell worked at the U.S. Treasury Dept. in Washington, D.C., married a widow and had one child. Robert married and had two children, a boy and a girl, Robert and Ruth, I believe. Mary and Patrick Meehan with no children of their own knew nothing about caring for a child but spared nothing in dressing Bertha up and seeing to her education. By 17, she was teaching in the Galway County School but after one term gave it up and, with assistance from Uncle Ephraim Ellsworth, entered Business College at Albany, NY, where she finished a legal secretarial course in two months. She went to work for the law firm of Thompson and Bentley. News of the new northwest, rumors of finishing the Northern Pacific Railroad and the Territory of Washington about to enter into statehood was on everyone's lips. A group of adventurous business men decided to go to Washington, get in on the boom reported in Tacoma. With no word to her family, Bertha packed her belongings and her "Caligraph Typewriter" and headed west with them. Via Canadian Pacific Railway to Vancouver, B.C., then packet boat "North Pacific" to the wharf at Tacoma, Washington territory. Bertha Daisy Denton landed on November 10, 1889 - the day BEFORE Washington became a state, leading her ever after to claim she was a pioneer having been there in a territorial day. Bertha readily found employment at the State Capitol in Olympia where she progressed to secretary to the Governor and played no small part in the formation of the State Government. On August 23, 1893, she married Marshall King Snell of Tacoma, one of the leading lawyers of the State. Mrs. Snell immediately involved herself in her husband's office and legal cases, studied law as well; and in 1899, she became the first woman admitted to the Bar in Washington. The Snells had no children of this marriage though Marshall had a son by a previous marriage. His first wife died. Marshall died June 1939. Bertha practiced law until 1953, died at age 89 on October 20, 1957, having been an honored member of the Tacoma Bar Association for fifty eight years. I have a copy of the resolution honoring my great-aunt as passed by the Tacoma Bar Association on May 29, 1958. After selling the Indiana Farm, Abbie Jane bought a small home in East Line, town of Ballston, Saratoga County, NY. There, Will and Grace grew up with Will helping to support them by working for various area farmers. When St John's Episcopal "Clergy House" was built, Abbie Jane became the matron in charge. In February 1885, Will went to work for the Delaware and Hudson Railroad and remained with that company. On June 19, 1894, he married Irena Anna Wakeman born July 25, 1865, one of the two children of Frederick Wakeman and Anna Elizabeth Peek, daughter of Col Calvin T. Peek and sister of Judge Jesse L'Amoreaux, and descendant of the Huguenot Andre L'Amoreaux. Will and Irena had four children: Frederick Wakeman Denton (my father) born April 29, 1896, died November 20, 1960 killed in an automobile and bus collision; Clancy Ellsworth Denton born September 25, 1897 died January 19, 1967 of stroke related to hardening of the arteries; Elma Mae Denton born January 18, 1899, died 4 July 1987 at St Petersburfg, FL after suffering a stroke; Marshall King Denton born June 16, 1904, died December 22, 1974 of emphysema. Frederick Wakeman Denton married Emma Jordan, daughter of Garrett and Jennie (Alderschoff) Jordan on January 31, 1918. They became the parents of four children: Irena Marion (myself) born December 23, 1918; William Frederick, born March 11, 1920; Elinor Julia born January 3, 1923; and Loraine Eunice March 25, 1924. Emma died October 2, 1936. Clancy Ellsworth Denton married Lena Bailey on March 17, 1923. They had two children: Everett Ellsworth Denton born March 28, 1924, died November 10, 1969; William Claude Denton born May 17, 1928. Elma Mae Denton married Arland Christian, February 7, 1948 at St Petersburg, FL. No children of this marriage. Marshall King Denton married Audrey Sheppard Grubb on December 14, 1927. Three children of this marriage: Marshall King Denton, Jr. December 27, 1928; Charmaine Virginia Denton born January 17, 1930; and Ronald Bruce January 17, 1931. To submit your bit of HISTORY you may use the mailbox below. Please place in the Subject Line: WEBPAGE-HISTORY To return to previous page use the "Back Button" on your browser Home   Guest Book Q u e r y Top E-Mail Footprints