Hancock County Historical Society Scofield's History of Hancock County
Page 1186DENTON, Henry Kent, one of the prosperous business men of Hamilton, is a native son of Hancock County, having been born in Wythe Township, December 7, 1861, his parents being E. P. and Jemima Ellen (Whitney) Denton. E. P. Denton and his wife were both born in Kentucky, and their parents were also natives of that state. In 1853, E. P. Denton brought his family to Illinois, and bought a farm near Columbus, in Adams County, where they lived for five years, and then came to Hancock County, buying 160 acres in Wythe Township. He made a specialty of stock, breeding and raising road horses, Durham cattle and Poland-China swine, of registered stock, holding semi-annual sales, and gaining and holding a wide-spread reputation throughout this state as well as in adjoining ones. He was a charter member of Black Hawk Lodge No. 238, A. F. & A. M. The children in his family, in addition to Henry Kent, were as follows: Charles, who lives at Butler, Mo.; served eight years as district judge, and then was appointed for a four-year term as pardoning attorney by Governor Hadley; Edwin G., who was for years a farmer, is now in the oil business at Hamilton, Ill.; and Albert C., who is a grocer at Hamilton, has also been a rural mail carrier on Route No. 1 for eighteen years.
Henry Kent Denton attended the country schools, and assisted his father on the farm until he attained his majority, at which time he went into the stock business and was a horse trainer for several years. Following that he established a livery business at Hamilton, and still owns it, although in recent years he has confined his activities to buying and selling and shipping stock upon an extensive scale.
In 1887 Mr. Denton was married to Mary J. Young, a daughter of Absalom and Emily (Palmer) Young. Mr. and Mrs. Denton have two children, namely: Orion Kent, who was born in 1892, married Sylvia Gibson, a daughter of Cromwell Gibson of Burnside, Ill., the ceremony taking place in 1913, and the children of this marriage are, Morrill, born in 1914; Emily, born in 1916, and Mary Belt, born in 1917; and Herschel Palmer, who was born in 1896, is at home. Mrs. Denton has three sisters and one brother, namely: Alice, who is Mrs. John Ferguson, lives at Hamilton; and her twin sister Ida, who is Mrs. Benjamin Smith, lives at Morrow, Ohio; Rosa, who became the wife of Dr. Patrick Hession, lives at Guttinger, Iowa; and Hamilton Young, who lives at Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The family are Unitarians. Mr. Denton is a Republican. He belongs to Black Hawk Lodge No. 238, A. F. & A. M., and both of his sons are members of the same order.
