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UNITED KINGDOM
In Bristol where I had my upbringing there were very few Dentons other than those in my close family – I recall there were just six Dentons listed in the Bristol telephone directory during my childhood; we weren’t one of them.
However, years later living in Bedford it proved quite a common name. Our daughter Sarah had another Denton in her class. So, from where did my surname originate?
The word Denton appears to be a topographical term, derived from a place not a person. In Old English a farm or settlement was a tun, and a valley was a denu – thus denu-tun, means a settlement in a valley, which was later anglicised to Denton. Unsurprisingly England has numerous settlements in valleys and quite a number have thus been named as Denton.
The original family Denton simply took its name from a place in Cumberland (Cumbria) because they were located on the Scotttish borders in that county. We were reivers, raiders that picked fights and stole livestock along the border area. Sir Walter Scott immortalied the reivers in a poem called The Reiver’s Wedding. The reivers were both English and Scottish raiding both sides of the border avoiding those with powerful protectors and exempting kin. English raiders were reported to have hit the outskirts of Edinburgh, and Scottish raids were reported to have reached as far south as Lancashire and Yorkshire. The main raiding season was early winter, when the nights were long and the cattle and horses fat from having spent the summer grazing. The numbers involved in a raid varied from a few dozen to major campaigns engaging three thousand riders.
As a qualifier to their first name our ancestors added ‘de Denton’, which was later anglicised to ‘of Denton’ and later still the ‘of’ was dropped.
I have identified just one Denton town:
| Denton – Tameside: The largest is a town within the Tameside Metropolitan Borough of Greater Manchester. Tameside Borough’s coat of arms combines those of the townships of Denton and Haughton – with the strapline ‘Persevere’. See below that the Denton family coat of arms predates and is clearly a source for this. R D Wingfield’s series of Frost novels that inspired the TV series Touch of Frost starring David Jason is set in the fictional town of Denton that is not intended to be any of the seventeen listed above. Applying references and images from the TV series, both Reading and Oxford are mentioned, maps of Reading and Swindon are displayed in the control room and early sequences feature the M4 and A417. This all adds up to suggest it is intended to be in Berkshire or Oxfordshire, although the series was filmed in Leeds and outside locations were usually in West Yorkshire. Originally founded in 1922 the team became Denton Town FC in just 1994 and plays in the Cheshire League Premier. Its coat of arms is essentially that of the Tameside town. |  Tameside Borough coat of arms  Greater Manchester location  Denton Town FC badge
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There are nine villages and hamlets with Denton in their name:
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 Denton village green |
Denton Hall, Wharfdale, N Yorks: located between Otley and Ilkley in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire. It is located on the river Wharfe with a population of c100.
The history of Denton Hall goes back to at least 1253, when the then-owner, one Athelstan (not the king), made the estate over to the See of York, which had manorial rights in nearby Otley. Denton was the birthplace and seat of Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron, famous as a general and commander-in-chief on the Parliamentary side of the English Civil War. The church in the village is noted for some its windows which instead of stained glass, are panels where the artists have painted directly onto the glass. Denton Hall, a Grade 1 listed building built in 1770, in the Palladian Style. It was once home to the Fairfax family, and designed by the architect John Carr of York. It is set within a larger Denton estate of about 2,500 acres (10 km2), including a village, church, and landscaped gardens. It is a Grade I listed building
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| Denton – Darlington, Co Durham: has fewer than 18 houses and a population of under 100. These houses cluster around Denton Hall Farm. They are all part of the vast Raby Estate.
Denton Hall Farm is a mixed farm of arable and livestock. Horse racing / training is a large part of village life. The houses are mostly whitewashed There are many local legends to explain this. The most common is that Lord Barnard was lost in the mist and sought refuge in a farm house. Believing it to be one of his own he demanded his keep, only to discover that it was privately owned. To prevent such a mistake occurring again he ordered that all his buildings should be painted white. St Mary’s Church has a Norman chapel that was rebuilt in 1810. A stone coffin was discovered, assumed to be that of a Knight Templar, and a sculpture of a woman, with an inscription in Lombardian French that stated ‘Here lies the wife of Aubrey de Conyers’. |
 Denton village and Hall Farm
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 Denton, Lincs
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Denton, Lincolnshire: This village is located between Belvoir Castle and sits 4m west of Grantham in Lincolnshire.
The parish includes within its boundaries a stretch of the Grantham Canal and the Denton Reservoir a source of water for the canal. The village and surrounding land is part of the Welby Estate, although many of the village houses are now in private ownership. In 2001 the village had a population of 283 housed in 134 dwellings. Denton Manor house is a Grade II listed 17th-century house standing in Denton Park. Another larger house, generally known as Denton Hall, was rebuilt by the Welby family in 1879, It is on the site of an earlier house, to the designs of architect Sir Arthur Blomfield. It was restored after a fire in 1906 but demolished in 1940. Denton is also the site of an ancient Roman settlement. It may also have been a site of the Beaker culture, based on archaeological finds made here. Iron ore was quarried in the parish from about 1888 onwards, the ore taken by narrow gauge tramway to the Great Northern Railway branch at Woolsthorpe. The first quarries were worked by hand with the aid of explosives, From 1918 steam diggers began to be introduced and from 1938 diesel and electric machines. However, the Denton Park quarry closed in February 1974. |
| Denton, Northamptonshire: Situated between between Bedford and Northampton. The village has one small pub-hotel, The Falcon.
Itis the odd one out in that it did not derive from the Old English topographical denu-tun but instead from the settlement of a character named Dodda, the town being called Dodintone in the Domesday Book, later transmogrified into Denton. The nearby Great Doddington shares a connection with Dodda but lies nine miles away on the other side of the Castle Ashby estate (owned by a late-16th century Johnny-come-lately family!). |
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Denton (and Caldecote), Huntingdon, Cambs: This is located 11m from Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire. The Denton part has always recorded fewer than 100 population. It was listed in the Domesday Book as having a church and a priest, plus one manor in the Hundred of Normancross, there were 13 households, suggesting a population of 45 to 65.
All Saints Church in Denton was substantially rebuilt between 1629–1671, but has 12th and 13th century elements. It was abandoned in the early 1960s and is currently in a ruinous state. However, the roofless church and tower remain Grade II listed and occasional services and events are held within it. However the Friends of the Church are suggesting it is currently under threat of being cleared for development.
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| Denton, near Bungay, Norfolk: Situated between Harleston and Bungay, at the 2001 census it had a population of 352 inhabitants living in 149 dwellings, but had declined to a population of 326 by 2011.
The Church of Denton St Mary is one of 124 existing round-tower churches in Norfolk. Its original round tower fell probably in the 16th century, and was repaired in the most economical fashion, built of brick and square, but retaining the eastern curved part built of flint. Denton Great Green postmill was an open trestle mill that stood on the south side of Windmill Road at Great Green. When sold in 1862 it was described thus: The main post and mill buck were set on 5ft piers. Two pairs of French burr stones were powered by 4 sails, the inner pair being common sails and the outer pair being patent sails, each with 7 bays of 3 shutters and 1 bay of 3 shutters. The mill buck had a canopy over the porch and a tail pole was used to turn the mill into the wind. To the north-west at Darrow Green are the surviving earthworks of Denton Castle, a small medieval motte-and-bailey castle. See Denton ward in west Norfolk below. |
 Denton House, Norfolk
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 Stables at Denton House, Oxon
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Denton, Oxfordshire: This is a hamlet in the civil parish of Cuddesdon and Denton (or Dinton) in Buckinghamshire, about six miles west of Aylesbury, on the Oxfordshire border. Denton is near the River Thame, in a fold of the landscape, between the two hills on which Cuddesdon and Garsington stand. Denton is an ancient manor that had its own civil parish, but was merged with neighbouring Cuddesdon in the 20th century.
Cuddesdon is 5.5m ESE of Oxford.Residents number approximately 430 in Cuddesdon’s nucleated village centre and about 70 in the hamlets of Denton and Chippinghurst. Cuddesdon has the largest Church of England clergy training centre, Ripon College.
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| Denton, Newhaven, East Sussex: a village near Newhaven in East Sussex, the Manor of Denton was held in Saxon times by Earl Godwin, Father of King Harold II Godwinson.
It seems likely that Denton was destroyed during the Saxon rebellion of 1068, as it does not appear in the Domesday Book of 1086. Denton’s church, St. Leonard’s, was first built around 1288, later extended and carefully restored during the Decorated Period. The walls are of flint and stone and the Vestry was added during the 20th Century. The remains of what is thought to have been a priest’s house in the west end of the churchyard, dating from about 1280, have recently been partly restored. There is also a man-made island called Denton Island, in the middle of Newhaven Harbour, which featured a Toll Bridge, although the residents of Denton village were exempt from paying this. Ralph Reader who created the Gang Show for the Scout movement was from the village and the local Scout group is known as ‘The 2nd Denton & South Heighton (Ralph Reader’s Own)’. |
 Denton, East Sussex – Earl Godwin’s Manor House
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 Lord Kitchener, Baron Denton
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Denton (with Wootton), Dover, Kent: 7m north-west of Dover in East Kent.
Field Marshal Lord Kitchener was created Baron Denton, of Denton in the County of Kent, on 27 July 1914 To the southwest of the village is the Grade II listed Jacobean timber framed Tappington Hall which dates to the 16th century.
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There are two electoral wards called Denton:
 Denton Burn images  Denton Turret, Hadrians Wall in Denton N-u-T  A fragment of Hadrian’s Wall in east Denton.  East Denton Hall | Denton electoral ward, Newcastle-upon-Tyne: · Denton Ward in Northumberland is essentially now a part of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, it boasts six schools and a fire station. It has 4,800 housing spaces, 45% are semis, 31% are terraced, 18% are flats, 6% are detached. It dates back to Roman times, and is along the route of the Wall. It is the site of Milecastle 9. See Denton Turret main tained by English Estates. It was split into East and West Denton in medieval times. One of Northumberland Coalfield’s longest working pits, the Montague Colliery was in East Denton. There is a pub called ‘The Denton’ (top right hand image in Denton Burn montage). With a population (2011) of 10,800 it constitutes just 4.2% of Newcastle. It sits north of the Tyne on the outskirts of Gateshead. There is a Denton Burn, an East Denton and a West Denton, located where the A186 intersects with the A696. Crime in the area has risen within recent years, in a lot of cases due to the West Denton Wild Boys street gang, consisting of mainly white, Asian and Afro-Caribbean teenagers. In recent years the street gang has been in the local news for the stabbing of a 19-year-old man, and in 2007 the gang was suspected of a murder of the 29-year-old Stephen Stafford, however it was never proven it was the gang. The gang had nothing to do with the original West Denton Wild Bunch who were around during the 70s and 80s and had copied the name. The gang stayed out of the media for a considerably large amount of time, until an online video was uploaded to YouTube showing members of the gang ‘brandishing firearms, bearing knives and speeding on motorbikes’. East Denton Hall, dates from 1622, in the 18th century it was the seat of the prominent Montagu family. Elizabeth Montagu, the cultural critic and founder of the Blue Stockings Society, spent some time there. The Hall is also known as the Bishop’s House, the official residence of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle. |
| Denton electoral ward, King’s Lynn, W Norfolk: Denton ward is set between Downham Market, Thetford and Ely. In 2018 it had just over 8,000 residents. It has 8,500 population and 3,250 households, which due to the proximity of RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall is c10% American. Denton is ranked in the bottom 20% in England, ranked 6855 out of 7968 wards for access to services. Nearby Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital has a Denton Mixed Surgical Ward. The farthing token pictured here is held at the British Museum, it has a large colletion of them. It describes this farthng thus: Alloy token. A stick of candles (?). Above, each supposed candle, and on the other side of the stick, there appears to be a ring, and on close inspection the five drops are not the shape of candles. It says ‘ROBERT DENTON OF’ on one side and ‘SWAFHAM 1660’ on the other. Henry VIII had debased English coinage due to his profligacy, Queen Elizabeth I was trying to restore faith in it. For example, in 1601-2 she authorised the Mayor and Corporation of Bristol to issue a Corporation farthing. Such trade tokens were issued in the seventeenth century across England, Wales and Ireland by corporations, merchants, tradesmen etc. The Stuart kings, James I and Charles I followed suit, but there was abuse with some issuing far too many and forcing them onto their customers. Kent, Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk were so heavily burdened that silver coins disappeared replaced almost entirely with token farthings. These were due to be replaced by a proper currency but the civil wars intruded. During the Commonwealth no copper money was coined. A Google Book ‘Tokens Issued in the Seventeenth Century…’ lists 9,500 such token farthings. There are seven Swafham tokens dated between 1658-1667. Two have a cannon for the Cannon family, one for Edward Case shows a Virginian smoking with a roll of tobacco under his arm, one for Thomas Dawson shows crossed keys, two for Iohn Hooker, one of which says The Grocers’ Arms, and this Denton one – was Robert a candlestickmaker? Thoughm te British Museum says they are not candles, they do resemble the sort of candles I have seen in folk museums. One of the Robert Denton farthings sold at auction in 2014 for £240. The lower token, bearing the Prince of Wales’ crest, is offered on eBay for £195, I mention it here merely because I was amused that the inscription gives the Denton address in Lambeth as ‘near the Asylum’. It bears no date, and the ‘mule’ in its title appears to mean that it has a toothed obverse and a beaded reverse. |  Denton ward, King’s Lynn & West Norfolk  Robert Denton of Swafham issued this token in 1660, defined as a farthing   Denton’s Mule Farthing token, Lambeth Surrey |
There are three small places named Denton:
 Denton Holme location  St James’s Denton Holme  Dixons Chimney, Shaldon Mill | Denton Holme, Carlisle, Cumbria: Denton Holme is an inner city district in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The population of this ward was 6,383 at the 2011 census. Denton Holme is usually regarded as a “village within the city” and is situated to the immediate south west of the city centre on the western bank of the River Caldew. A man-made stream or mill race known as the Little Caldew flows through and underneath the area. With the neighbouring districts of Caldewgate and Wapping it was Carlisle’s main industrial district with many textile mills, engineering works and other factories such as car seat manufacturers and confectioners. Today, very few factories remain. However at Shaddon Mill, on the boundary of Denton Holme and Caldewgate, stands a very tall chimney which was at one time the tallest in the UK. This structure, known as ‘Dixons Chimney’, is shorter than its original height and has recently been restored. The main street, Denton Street, has many small shops and other businesses along it. |
| Denton’s Green Lane, St Helens, Merseyside: Denton’s Green Lane is located within the county of Merseyside, 10m east of Liverpool, 19m north of Chester and 21m west from Manchester. It spans fifteen WA postcode areas and is served by St Halen’s central railway station. |  Denton’s Green Lane location  Denton’s Green Lane (Pinterest) |
 Defra map from netherdenton.com  St Cuthbert’s Nether Denton  Hadrian’s Wall and the site of Willowford Bridge | Nether and Upper Denton, Cumbria: These two very small places in Cumbria to the east of Carlisle prove to be the Denton ‘ground zero’. My family research was much more successful than I could have dreamed, taking me back twenty-nine generations to those two small places in Cumbria. This was because ‘our’ particular denu was formed by the River Irthing which for fifteen miles describes today’s Cumbria-Northumberland border. It is a very beautiful and unspoilt spot, despite the fact that the valley sits hard up against Hadrian’s Wall. The Romans built the Birdoswald Roman Fort nearby with a bridge to reach it at Willowford. Today the river has changed course leaving the bridge some forty-four metres from the river Nether Denton is a scattered settlement and civil parish in rural Cumbria, England, situated about 12m north-east of Carlisle, by the A69 road. The population of the parish taken at the 2011 census was 415. Nether Denton is a couple of miles south-west of the village of Upper Denton. The parish contains the village of Low Row. |
The DFB (Denton Family Bible) is a journey that will take us into almost every part of England and elsewhere as it uncovers a number of surprising Denton folk along the way.
UNITED STATES PLACES:
 | Denton – Alabama: This is a small hamlet close to Dothan in Houston County AL, the county was named for an Alabama governor. Houston County is primarily agricultural with peanuts, cotton and corn being the principal crops. Small grains, melons and vegetables are also abundantly grown, and beef cattle, hogs and dairy cattle are the main livestock enterprises. |
| Denton – Arkansas: This was a village in Lawrence County, founded in 1830 as one of its first unincorporated communities. It was located at the intersection of the Powhatan-Smithville Road and Military Road. The nearby Black River and the fertile land of the Flat Creek valley attracted many settlers to this area prior to the Civil War. About ten years later in 1844, the New Hope Baptist Church of Denton was established. A new chapel built in 1940 still exists today. Denton grew to have approximately fifty homes and businesses. Acting on a petition by Ceber Denton, the federal government established a post office for the area on March 6, 1894, when the community officially became Denton. By 1910, the community was described as a village, was home to both a Masonic lodge and an Odd Fellows lodge. In 1912, a brass band led by Henry Cove was organised. Among the unique businesses was a millinery operated by Flora Davis and a mouse trap factory at T C Jones Grocery. In 1979, Everett Moore and Loma Moore were the last inhabitants to move away. It is currently uninhabited and its only remains are the Bethel Cemetery where former residents were buried. The cemetry, in 2011, was added to the national register of historic places. The area Denton once occupied is today a privately-owned farm property. I also found this ornate Denton headstone in Arkansas, but it was from 225m away. There are references to Denton Island, Arkansas but this is 229m away, near to Memphis TN. Other than its elevation (236 ft) I can find little about this place. |  Denton, Arkansas sign  Bethel cemetry  Headstone from McGehee Cemetery Desha County, Arkansas  Denton’s Island in west Arkansas |
  Denton GA City Hall | Denton – Georgia: Denton is a city in Jeff Davis County, Georgia. The population was 269 in 2000, 250 in 2010 and 189 in 2020. It has 112 housing units, the median home price is $84k. It was incorporated in 1911 as the ‘Town of Denton’ The community was most likely named after Samuel Denton, an early settler. Perhaps this was Samuel Denton who was born in 1806 in South Carolina. He moved to Georgia in 1815-20 and married Priscilla Ward on 12 December 1833, in Telfair, GA. They were the parents of at least five children (Joshua Thomas, Mary Margaret, John, William Manning and James Monroe). Samuel died in 1846, in Coffee, GA at the age of 40. |
| Denton – Idaho: Denton Idaho is a village in Ada County, 93m from Spokane in Washington State, and 440m from the state capital, Boise. It sits beside the Denton Slough, a shallow wetland that is part of Pend Oreille Lake. This slough supports many submerged plants, and associated wildlife. The most popular fish species caught here are the Northern pike, Smallmouth bass, and Largemouth bass. The area also supports a nesting colony of Western Grebes (30+ nests). Summer waterbirds include: Double-crested Cormorants, Great Blue Herons, Canada Geese, and Black Terns. Thousands of waterfowl (American Wigeon, Redhead, Lesser Scaup, Green-winged Teal, Mallard, Tundra Swan, Canada Goose) use Denton Slough during migration. |  Denton Idaho  Denton Slough |
 Denton Kansas location (above 137)  Denton Kansas  The Bank of Denton  | Denton – Kansas: This is described as a city in Doniphan County, Kansas, yet the 2010 census found the city had 148 people forming 42 families in 63 households. In 200 it had been 186 people, 47 families and 71 households. Denton was laid out in 1886, named for one of its founders, John Denton, though prior to 1905, it was called Darwin for some time, then Dentonville. Note the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail (1804-1806) runs across the top of the map. It runs for 4,900 miles from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to the mouth of the Columbia River in Oregon. The Bank of Denton was established on August 27, 1894, with a capital of $6,000.00. There were fourteen stockholders (including four Dentons): Wm M Gillen, J.F. Harpster, Seward McConnel, Dr. Robert Stewart, S.J. Denton, Jacob Denton, L .H. Priester, S.O. Harpster, George Denton, Wm. Denton, James Miller, John Small, W.H. Dorn and James B. Roberts. The Bank of Denton remains a strong financial institution serving the Denton and area communities for over 120 years. Magnetic sign from Walmart. |
| Denton – Kentucky: This Denton is in Carter County, Kentucky. It is situated on hte Glancy fork of the Straight Creek. A post office existed here from 1881 until 2004 when it was closed and mail service was transferred to nearby Hitchins. It is centered around the former Chesapeake and Ohio Railway track where several stores and a hotel once operated. The former hotel and a store building are still standing. The community was initially called Heflin, then renamed for Fanny Denton, the Tennessee-born wife of a local landowner Charley Stewart. Fanny ran the hotel after Charley’s death. |  Denton Kentucky location  1900s view of Denton Kentucky  Outside Hi Rogers store Denton KY (year and individual not known) |
 Denton Maryland’s location  Denton Maryland  Denton’s modern bridge  Parade in Denton Maryland  Promotional piece | Denton – Maryland: A town in Caroline County, Maryland. It began as a tiny settlement on the Choptank River about 1781. It quickly became a trade centre for a fairly wide agricultural area. In the days when commerce between the Eastern Shore and Baltimore was chiefly by water, Denton Wharf on the Choptank River was a busy loading point. The Caroline County Court first met in march of 1774 at Melvill’s Warehouse which was located north of Pig Point on the Choptank River – temporary quarters which had to suffice for conducting the administrative and judicial business of the county at that time. Plans for the construction of a permanent courthouse at Pig Point were begun during that first court session, but the impending conflict with Great Britain caused the postponement of construction of the public buildings at Edentown. In 1827, a market place was opened where the Masonic Hall now stands facing the public square. Farm produce was sold here as were slaves. In 1835, the first factory was build in Denton to manufacture ploughs. Early travel to Denton was by water. The first steam boat came up the Choptank River to Denton from Baltimore before 1850. The “Cyrus” as it was named, made only one trip, but later the “Dupont” made weekly trips to Denton and Baltimore with freight and passengers. Sometime before 1860, there was a stage line started between Easton and Felton, Delaware via Denton. After 1860, the stage met the Chester Riverboat at Queenstown. Back in 1811, the Denton Bridge Company was formed and a toll bridge was constructed. This bridge remained a toll bridge until shortly before the Civil War, when it was sold to the county and in about 1875 was replaced by the iron bridge which remained standing until 1913, when another iron bridge was constructed. Much of the business district was wiped out by a fire of 1863. A company of Union soldiers stationed as guards in Denton celebrated the Fourth of July with skyrockets and other explosives and set fire to a shop building. The ensuing fire burned most of the business part of the town, which consisted of several stores, a hotel and a rum shop. |
| Denton Township – Michigan: Denton Township is located in central Roscommon County along the southeast coastline of Houghton Lake, Michigan’s largest inland lake and the reason for tourism to the area. Its largest community is Prudenville, where township offices are located. Originally named Edna, Prudenville was settled in 1870 and had about 150 residents most were homesteaders. The village shipped logs, fish and fur. In 1875, the logging era began, over the next fifteen years hundreds of lumberjacks or ‘shanty boys’ were imported to harvest white pine trees. As the population increased, the immediate need arose for hotels, a school, general stores, a blacksmith shop and a post office. Clara Denton was the first postmaster in 1875. As of the census of 2000, there were 5,817 people, 2,649 households, and 1,817 families residing in the township. The median income for a household in the township was $29,397. |  Denton Michigan location  Prudenville within Denton Township |
 Denton County, Misissippi  Denton and Dentontown locations  Dentontown Mississippi aerial view | Denton – Mississippi: Denton (aka Denton County) is a community in Quitman County, NW Mississippi. Denton is located on Mississippi Highway 3, south of Lambert. Dentontown is a community in Calhoun County, N Central Mississippi, United States. A post office operated here under the name Denton from 1900 to 1904. Denton to Dentowntown is 88 miles ESE. |
| Denton – Missouri: Denton is a community in Pemiscot County, Missouri 63877. The community took the name from Neil V Denton, the original owner of the site. It is 207m south of St Louis, and 211m west of Nashville TN. However 370m NW is another Denton, a community in Denton, Chilhowee Township, Johnson County, MO 64040. It is 65m E of Kansas City and 240m W of St Louis. The community is on Missouri Route 2, northwest of Chilhowee. The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad passes the south side of the community. This Denton was laid out in 1905, and named after a railroad employee. A post office called Denton was established in 1905, and remained in operation until 1954. |  From Denton MO to Denton MO  Denton Hotel, Missouri |
 Denton Montana location  Denton Montana sign  1914 photo of Denton rail station and town | Denton – Montana: A town in Fergus County, Montana MT 59430. Central Montana Rail, Inc. is headquartered in Denton. It is located 180m from the state capital, Helena. The 2000 census declared that there were 301 people, 133 households, and 82 families. The median income for a household in the town was $28,393. A post office called Denton has been in operation since 1888. It was named after the Missouri county where the postmaster had previously lived. The town was established at its present site when the railroad was extended to that point. Denton Public Schools educates students from kindergarten through 12th grade. They are known as the Trojans. Denton High School had just nineteen students in 2021. Famous in habitants are Don Koehler, one of the few people on record to grow over eight feet tall. James A Shelton, a Navy ensign who received the Navy Cross posthumously for his service during the Battle of Midway. |
| Denton – Nebraska: A village in Lancaster County, Nebraska NE 68339, situated SW of the capital Lincoln. Denton was established in 1871 when the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad was extended to that point. It was named for Daniel M Denton, the original owner of the town site. Denton was incorporated in 1913. In 1930, a fire burned down many buildings in the village, creating an even worse environment for the already-struggling businesses following the stock market crash a year prior. The Denton office of the U.S. Postal Service serves 346 rural route addresses and 70 box numbers. At the 2010 census there were 190 people, 82 households, and 51 families in the village. The Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary is located here. |  Denton Nebraska location  Denton Nebraska street scene  Denton Nebraska community centre |
 Maps of Denton NY locality  Historic Joseph Denton House now a McDonald’s (before 2017 renovation)  George Washington Denton House | Denton – New York: The community of Denton is in upstate NY, near New Hampton at Wawayanda, NY 10958. However there are also two Denton mansions 80m SE, on Long Island NY: The Joseph Denton House at New Hyde Park, NY 11040. The building was built as a farmhouse for the family of Joseph Denton in 1795. The owners were descendants of Richard Denton, a Presbyterian minister who immigrated in 1630 and a founder of the town, and his son, colonist Daniel Denton. In the 1860s, it was converted into a Georgian-style mansion, with ornamentation. The house ceased being a private residence after World. War I, at which point it became a funeral home and then a series of restaurants. McDonalds acquired the dilapidated property, an agreement with locals, saw the McDonald’s opened within the historic building on 13 April 1991. As store number 12,000 it has been called ‘World’s Fanciest McDonalds’. Some 8m north, there is another Denton mansion in New York – George Washington Denton House, Roslyn, NY 11576, This is a historic home located in the Incorporated Village of Flower Hill, in Nassau County, New York |
| Denton – North Carolina: This is a small town located in southeastern Davidson County, North Carolina 27239, close to Charlotte, Winston-Salem, and Greensboro. Highway 109 passes though Denton, it was known as the ‘Old Tory’ Road, the road along which supporters of England travelled it to rally against the revolutionaries. It was later widened as British soldiers used it to enjoin the fighting. A crossroads close to other communities named Finch Roads, Finch’s Crossroads and Sycamore became known as Finches Crossroads. In 1882 two young men J M Daniel and B I Harrison decided that the cross roads would be an appropriate location for a general store, and it grew. With a 2020 population of 1,722, it is the 269th largest city in North Carolina and the 8197th largest city in the United States. Unlike many US Denton’s it is sustaining growth. The average household income in Denton is $45,735. The founding of Denton NC, in 1907, may be dated from the time the place acquired a post office, began to be called Denton NC and ceased to be Finch’s Cross Road. Home to 1,700 residents, and 170 businesses, Denton claims it represents small-town America at its best. It is home to the Southeast Old Threshers’ Reunion, at the Denton Farmpark, the largest display of antique farm, gasoline, and steam equipment in the SE United States. It holds an annual Denton Street Festival, and has its Farmer’s Market. Despite researching, and this extensive history, I could find no reference to how the community became ‘Denton’. The history site lists all the mayors and postmasters – not a Denton among them, There does appear to be a number of Huguenots in the town’s early history. |  Denton North Carolina, location   Denton NC’s old town hall   |
 This Oklahoma gravestone is at the Nowata Memorial Park, there are twelve other Dentons buried here. Howeber this is 232 miles NE from the city, but I couldn’t resist. | Denton – Oklahoma: Denton, Central High, OK 73055 is 160m SW of Oklahoma City, located in in the State of Stephens County. Very little data available except about its local church, local Baptist church and its cemetery. |
| Denton – Pennsylvania: South Mahoning Township, PA 16256, USA. It is 65m NE of Pittsburgh. South Mahoning Township is a township in Indiana County, PA. The population was 1,841 at the 2010 census. Historic communities in the township include Ambrose, Denton, Elkin, Frantz, McCormick, Rossmoyne and Wells. 2000 census showed1,852 people, 616 households and 481 families, with a median household income was $32,308. There are forty nearby mountain summits ranging in height from Gault Hill at 1,224 ft (20m west) to Rager Mountain at 2,575 ft (45m south). Denton Hill State Park and the adjoining Susquehannock State Forest, have a 29-mile Cross-country Ski Trail System, though this appears, as I write this, to be closed. |  Denton PA location  The 4.9m Clark Run Rager Mountain Trail Loop  Trail in Denton Hill State Park |
 Denton Tennessee location  Andrew Russell Denton (1839-1863) 43rd Tennessee Infantry (Source: Denton Despatch) | Denton – Tennessee: Denton TN is in Cocke County (bottom rh corner of the map), but has apparently not featured in any census data, though Cocke County had an overall population of 36,047 people in 2009. Denton Knob (1,804 ft) is one of the Summits in Cocke County, TN Andrew Russell Denton was born in Jefferson County, Tennessee. In the Civil War he enlisted in the 43rd Tennessee Infantry at Knoxville where he worked his way up to becoming first sergeant. He was part of a unit that attacked a Yankee position. The attack was successful but he was among twenty-seven injured. Hit between the legs, he survived for four days but eventually died from blood poisoning. His only child was born four months after his death. Looking at his picture one can’t help but wonder if he was the result of some of the reported Denton inter-breeding with local Indian groups. |
| Denton – Texas: Denton 76205 TX is a city within the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area. It was founded in 1857 in order to become a central county seat, It is on Interstate Highway 35 where it forks to become 35E to Dallas and 35W to Fort Worth. Denton was not incorporated until 1866. Its population in 2000 was 80,537. Both the county and the town were named for Captain John B Denton (1806-1841), a Methodist preacher, lawyer and soldier. He was ambushed and killed during a skirmish with the Kichai people in what is now Tarrant County. This event helped to open up the north Texas prairie to agricultural settlement. Five years after his death the grateful people of Texas gave his name to a new county, carved out of the wilderness which today supports a population of several million. At the centre of the city of Denton is the striking Denton County Courthouse-on-the-Square Museum explores local history. Nearby, the Bayless-Selby House Museum is a grand Queen Anne–style home with Victorian interiors. Outdoor sculptures dot the University of North Texas campus. Southeast, huge Lewisville Lake is ringed by parks and marinas, and full of bass and catfish. Denton Record-Chronicle notes preservation efforts on the old Taylor Cabin, performed by log cabin restoration expert Bill Marquis. |  Denton TX (at top of map)   Two views of the Denton TX courthouse  Restored Taylor Cabin Denton TX |
| Denton – West Virginia: While there are mentions of a Denton WV, and some hits that it is in Marion County northern WV, but I could find no data. |
OTHERS:
| Denton, Central River Gambia: Denton in the region of Central River, with its 1,712 citizens it is located in Gambia. It is 111m east of Banjul , the country’s capital city. There are several UNESCO world heritage sites nearby, the closest Stone Circles of Senegambia is 33m NE. It consists of over 1000 stone circles and tumuli spread across an area 350km long and 100km wide. This is the largest concentration of stone circles seen anywhere in the world and an extensive sacred landscape. In the capital Banjul, there is a Denton Bridge. It connects St. Mary’s Island, to the mainland. It was named after Sir George Chardin Denton KCMG FRGS FZS, the former Governor of Gambia (1901-1911), the bridge has a span of 210 m and crosses over the Tanbi Wetland Complex. The bridge is a girder bridge that opened in 1986 and is the sole roadway connecting the mainland to Banjul, with the only other method of entrance being a ferry from Barra. I assume that the town was named for the governor, but have no basis for this. |  Denton to Banjul  Central River region  Stone Circles of Senegambia  Denton Bridge, Banjul  Sir George Chardin Denton and party in 1905 |
| Note on shorthand acronyms being used in the DFB: – GGF1 / GGM1 – means first great-grandfather /mother; – GU11 / GA11 – means eleventh great-uncle / great-aunt; – 1C3 – means first cousin three times removed |
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Back to First Principals Index – Back to Denton Family Bible
