Chapter 21

The Simeon F. Denty Family

            The third child of James Compton and Sophia Barker Denty was Simeon, born on 10 Jul 1839.  Like his older brother Alexander, Simeon remained a bachelor until relatively late, although he had moved out of his parents' home by the 1870 Census, when he described himself as a farmer with real and personal property worth $1,500 and $1,300 respectively.  Enumerated on a neighboring farm was the Rotchford family.  Three years later, on 27 Apr 1873, thirty-five year old Simeon married twenty year old Rebecca Janepher Rotchford, the "girl next door".   Perhaps they'd been in love for some time, but had difficulty obtaining her parents' approval; for the Rotchfords were devoutly Catholic, the Dentys staunchly Protestant.  Whether Simeon formally converted prior to the marriage is undetermined, but certainly, they were married by a priest, their children were all raised to be devout Catholics, and Simeon was buried in a Catholic cemetery.

The 1880 Census was the only one in which Simeon did not identify himself as a farmer.  He instead described his occupation that year as grocer, with the family residing at 26 West Royal in Alexandria, Virginia, perhaps over or adjacent to their store. By 1900 he'd returned to farming, although it's doubtful that Simeon, increasingly disabled, could have managed without the aid of his four bachelor sons.  By 1903, he had "almost lost" his sight and by 1910, was listed by the census taker as "blind", with no occupation.[1]  Sadly, by 1916, due to either depression or, more probably, age-related dementia, Simeon was in no condition to run either the farm or the family.  In 1916 his thirty-three year old daughter Corinthia wrote the following letter to her brother Will, who was living in Montana.[2] 

Dear Will

Well everything has come to a climax. Mother says she can't stand running this place any longer.  She is sick and forced to go to a milder climate.  Cleoan and Lizzie[3] are dreadfully unhappy and say they are going to leave and get employment.  Dick[4] is here and has talked with Mother about selling the place, so she has agreed to let them sell it if they can get Father to sign his right away.  You see Will, the laws in Virginia are such that a woman can't sell her real estate without the husband's signature.  The boys think that after Mother has gone and the girls are away he will be competent to agree.  The ____  loom in the company right now. New people from the North have come in and have friends whom they desire places for.  Dick says it could be sold in a month if we tried.  Mother says if it's sold she wants it equally divided between us all and that they can board Father in an old man's home or some place where he will be comfortable.  Mother says he will kill her if she stays another winter with him, and not one of his children can stand him he is so mean.  He has gotten so that he uses the edge of the poarch for a toilet and goes out on Sundays naked and bathes on the poarch, matters not who might be around, and they are scared to death to say a word.  Mother says she don't want anything done until she gets away, as she isn't able to stand the strain.  She wants to go in an old woman's Catholic home, but I told her she was welcome to have a home with me.  What little she eats I won't miss, and will need very few clothes. 

There is one part of the place that can be sold without Father's signature.  That is the land Grandfather bought and deeded to her.[5]  In the deed he said it was to be free from the control of her husband.  She knows now that I am writing you and I told her of my other letter to you, so you are free to mention anything you want.  Will don't bother about the pass if it will inconvenience you.

                                Trusting this finds you all well, I am

Your loving sister

Corinth

In the bottom corner, in very different handwriting, is written "I lost part of this letter someplace".  Perhaps Will was referring to the request for a railroad pass to enable mother "Jenny" to travel for her health's sake.  Will apparently did reply to Corinthia, but that letter was lost.  He also, however, wrote the following to his sister Janepher not long after.[6]

Deer Lodge, Mont.

Nov. 15^th 1916

My Dear Sister,

I received your most welcome letter, and you bet I was glad to hear from you.  I've been waiting for something like that to happen [at] home.  I was satisfied that something was wrong but of course I did not know.  I dreamed of home so much and of Mother and Father, and Corinth wrote me a letter asking me to get a pass for Mother to take a trip to California for her health and that she was very much ill.  Well I wrote her and told her that I'd be willing to do any thing to help Mother but I would not do anything with out every one of us children knowing and willing from you down so I did not hear any thing more until a few days ago she wrote me a short letter from Home and said every thing had come to a climax.  Now Janepher, Mother did not write me a thing about it, and I don't think it was right, me away from home I guess they don't think it is any of my business.  Well I guess it is not but I thought very strange of Corith, she wrote a very disrectfully [sic] letter of the way things were home.  Of course Dorothy is my wife and she never says any thing, and if it is the truth what Corinth says it is awful bad but I think she should keep it home.  She said Dick was going to sell the place.  Well I would like to know who is running things down there.  It looks awful funny to me now I have not heard whether they have gone to California or Georgia.  Well Janepher if she got Mother a pass, and got her on the road and something had happened and you and Mr. Webster[7] had not [k]nown about it why I would never wrested but I did not do it.  I always want to be right.  Love to all.

Will

 One feels sympathy not only for Simeon, but for his long suffering wife and children in a period of little understanding of dementia and no social safety net that could offer assistance.  Mother Jennie was able to make an "extended visit" to daughter Corinthia, now married, in California in 1917 - whether for her "health", to escape the situation at home, or both.[8]  Simeon died less than two years after Will's letter, on 8 Apr 1918, and was buried in Ivy Hill Cemetery in Alexandria.  Whether the family had been successful in selling the farm during Jennie's stay in California, or only after Simeon's 1918 death, by the 1920 Census Jenny and her children were living on Forest Glen Road in Bethesda, Maryland, just outside of Washington, DC.  Janepher Rotchford Denty died on 20 Sep 1927.

            Simeon and Janepher had ten children:

Called "Emma", Emeline Denty was born on 26 Feb 1874 and died of diptheria on 17 Oct 1881 at the age of seven.

Eva Denty, born on 6 Jun 1875, preceded her older sister in death from diptheria on 2 Oct 1881.  Both she and Emma are buried at Ivy Hill.

Janepher Rebecca Denty was born on 15 Dec 1876 and married John Brows Webster at Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC on 25 Oct 1898.  John, who'd been both a riverboat captain and a railroad worker, became finally a merchant, the Websters owning a general store in the vicinity of Lorton Station by 1910.  It was to Janepher, doubtless at the store, that Will wrote the letter dated 15 Nov 1916.  After John Webster died on 1 Feb 1927, Janepher continued to run the store, out of which she also operated the Lorton Post Office.  She was enumerated there on 11 Apr 1930 with twelve year old daughter Inez, and a boarder, widower Edward Harrover.  Eventually Janepher married Oren Pettys.   She died in 1956 in Montgomery County, Maryland and was buried in Ivy Hill Cemetery.  She and first husband John had two daughters: Celia Vivian (b. 27 Jun 1900, d. 13 May 1963) and Inez Frances Webster (b. 14 May 1917).  Celia Vivian had married William B. Tillinghast (identified as "Henry B." in the census) by 1920.[9]

Corinthia S. Denty, who was called "Aunt Cooneth" by her nieces and nephews, was born in April 1883.  According to the District of Columbia Directory, in 1913 she was employed as a secretary and was residing at 1307 K Street, NW.  Corinth married a man named Ledman before 30 May 1917, by which date her mother Jenny returned from visiting "Mrs. Corinthia D. Ledman" in California.  She must, therefore, have moved to California and married Mr. Ledman - the order remains uncertain - not long after writing that clearly desperate letter to brother Will.  She was enumerated under her married name in Montgomery County, Maryland in 1920 with her mother, brothers, brother-in-law James Sebastian, and sister Annie Denty Sebastian; but without Mr. Ledman.  Was Corinthia already widowed or divorced?  Apparently so, for in 1921 the California Santa Ana Register carried a notice that Bert DeVault, age forty-eight and born in Santa Monica, and C. Denty Ledman, age thirty-seven and born in Washington, DC, had applied for a marriage license on 5 Feb 1921.  When and where Corinthia died isn't currently known

Born on 9 May 1881, William Xavier Denty, see photo, worked in the oil fields of Oklahoma, the shipyards of Bremerton, Washington, and finally for several railroads.  The Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad sent him to their division shops in Montana as a boilermaker in 1909.  In Deer Lodge he met and married Dorothy S. Marcotte, daughter of a pioneer family, on 30 Dec 1911.  He was, of course, the recipient of that letter from Corinthia and the author of the letter to Janepher Denty Webster.  In 1920 "Will" was shown residing with mother-in-law Odelle Marcotte at 800 Main Street in Deer Lodge.  He died about 1951 and Dorothy died on 8 Mar 1980.  They had two children: William Edward Denty (b. 5 Dec 1912, d. 24 Oct 2002) and Ruth Melba Denty (b. 16 Oct 1914, d. Feb 2002).[10]

Simeon Francis Denty was born in November 1884.  Like two of his three brothers, he evidently never married.  In 1910 he was residing with his parents and  Frank   P.   Grimsley  on  the  "home farm".  In 1920 he was living in Bethesda, Maryland with  his  mother  and siblings, and working as an oiler in a powerhouse.  After 1920, it becomes less clear.  In the 1930 Census thirty-eight year old "Simond F. Denty" was boarding in the Baptist Home in Washington, DC, employed as an electrician for the "Street Railway Co"; in the 1930 District of Columbia Directory he was listed as "Denty, Simeon F opr Capitol Traction Sub Sta r 1236 Wis Av SW"; and in the 1931 Directory as "Denty, F.  Sims eng r 1236 Wis Av SW".  While the job descriptions do change over time, they are obviously related, and agree with the family tradition that "Uncle Sim" was a streetcar conductor.  Such job descriptions could well mark Simeon's rise through the ranks of the streetcar company.  Confusingly, however, there was also a "Denty, Simeon F tel opr r 1407 33d NW" in 1931.  He must have been working at two different jobs; it's difficult to believe that there could have been two Simeon F. Dentys in Washington, DC, albeit possible.  Certainly "our" Simeon stayed in the area.  On 16 Apr 1936 the Herndon Observer ran a snippet reading "Mr. S. F. Denty spent Sunday with sister, Mrs. Cleon White."  Simeon died on 2 Aug 1949 and was buried in Ivy Hill Cemetery. 

Patrick Henry Denty, born in March 1887, also lived with the family through 1910, but was not with them in 1920.  He was almost certainly still serving in the Army, "Henry Denty of Springfield" having been inducted and sent to Camp Lee in June, 1918.[11]  In 1930 he was employed as a "starter" at the Traction Company, an occupation that sounds quite similar to that of brother Simeon the same year, and was one of three boarders in Bessie Tennyson's house on North Carolina Avenue in Washington, DC.  In 1958, the Bill of Complaint filed by Emeline Denty Talbott petitioning the court to allow the sale of property belonging to the estate of James Franklin Denty, mentioned a "Henry Denty" whose mailing address was Box 273, Benjamin Franklin Station, Washington, DC.  This was presumably Henry Patrick.

Born on 2 Apr 1889, Richard R. Denty, was residing with his parents and Frank P. Grimsley, employed as a "stove laborer", in 1910.  According to sister Corinthia, it was "Dick" who urged his mother to sell the farm in 1916.  In 1920, he was listed as the head of household on Forest Glen Road in Bethesda Maryland; a household consisting of his mother, brother Simeon, sisters Cleon and Corinthia, and Annie Denty Sebastian and her husband James.  That year Richard was employed as a fireman in a powerhouse.  He died, age thirty-three, on 19 Mar 1923, his tombstone in Ivy Hill Cemetery bearing the inscription "My Son".

Permelia Cleon Denty was born on 25 Mar 1891.  She also remained single for a long time but eventually married a Mr. White after 1920.  In the 1958 Bill of Complaint her address was given as Burke Station, Virginia.  Cleon died in September 1972 in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Called "Lizzie", Annie Elizabeth Denty was born in February 1893, the last of Simeon and Jennie's children.  Reportedly a hairdresser in Washington DC, she married James Clayton Sebastian, a plumbing contractor, before 1920.  That year they were residing in the household of brother Richard R. Denty in Bethesda, Maryland, along with mother Janepher, brother Simeon, and sisters Cleon and Corinthia.    In the 1958 Bill of complaint filed by Emeline Denty Talbott, Lizzie's address was given as 4603 5^th Street NW, Washington, DC.  Annie is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery.  She and James had no children.

Research Notes: Simeon and Janepher Rotchford Denty  

Simeon's birth date: 10 Jul 1839.  [Tombstone in Ivy Hill Cemetery; month and year verified by 1900 Census]   Josette Baker claims birth year of 1837. 

Janepher's birth: Jun 1852.  [1900 and 1920 Censuses]

Janepher's parents were Richard and Permelia Carson Rotchford; father born in VA, mother MD.  Brother was Father John A. Rochford, Dominican priest.  [Vital Records, p. 16; IGI; Josette Baker]

24 Aug 1870 CENSUS, Fairfax Co, VA  (Lee Township): Farmer Simeon Denty 32, with real and personal property valued at $1500 and $1300 respectively.  (Next door is the Rotchford family.)  [Pg 322]

Marriage: 27 Apr 1873.  Bride: "R. Janepher Rotchford", age 20; Groom: "Son of Jas C. and Sophia Denty", age 35, occupation farmer.  Ceremony performed by C. Cicaterri.  [Certification of Vital Record: Copy provided by Mike Denty; Vital Records, p. 16]

1880 CENSUS, Alexandria, VA: Grocer Simeon Denty 43; Rebecca 28; Emeline 7; Eva 5; Rebecca 4.  (The family is residing at 26 West Royal.)  [ED 2, Sheet 6]

1900 CENSUS, Fairfax Co, VA  (Lee District): Farmer Simeon Denty 62, born Jul 1839, married 27 years; Janepher age 47, born Jun 1852, mother of 10 children, 8 living; William 19, Corinthia S. age 17, Simeon 15, Patrick 13, Richard R. age 11, Permelia 9, and Annie E. age 7.  [ED 19 Sheet 11]

Simeon had "almost lost" his sight by 1903, according to the Fairfax Herald.  [11 Dec 1903]

19 Apr 1910 CENSUS, Fairfax Co, VA  (Lee District): Simeon Denty, age 72, with no occupation listed, blind; Janepher age 57, mother of 10 children, 8 living; Simeon F. age 25 and Patrick H. age 24, who labored on farm; Richard R. age 21, who labored in a stove factory; Permelia C. age 19; Annie E. age 17.  (Simeon is listed as the head of household, but so is Frank P. Grimsley, farmer age 54.  Frank had witnessed the will of James Compton Denty in 1870.  Francis and Sabina Denty were enumerated next to this household.)   [ED 33, Sheet 2]

Simeon's death date: 8 Apr 1918.  [Tombstone in Ivy Hill Cemetery, Sec G, Lot 70, No. 5; also inscribed "My Husband".]  

1920 CENSUS, Bethesda, Montgomery Co, MD: Janepher 68, born VA, enumerated with head of household Richard R. age 30; Simeon F. age 33; and Cleon J. Denty 25; Corinthia D. Ledman 37; and James C.  and Annie E. Sebastian, 33 and 26 respectively.  [ED 143, Sheet 12]

Janepher's will can be found in Alexandria City, Book 4C, p. 469.

There is some confusion about birth order and names of children of Simeon and Janepher.  The late William Edward Denty believed there were twins named Eva and Iva, but no evidence either for twins or for Iva has yet been found.  If Iva did exist, the result would be eleven children borne by Janepher; but in the 1910 Census, she stated that she'd borne only 10. 

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