Cascade Co. MT Biography - James A. Dennison

Submitted by:
Lorene Frigaard
lorfri99@bmi.net

The following biography of James A. Dennison is found in Montana, Its 
Story and Biography: A History of Aboriginal and Territorial Montana and 
Three Decades of Statehood, Vol. I-III, Edited by Tom Stout, and published 
in Chicago and New York by the American Historical Society, 1921.
 
Volume III, Page 952:
 
JAMES A. DENNISON, the leading contractor in painting and decorating 
at Great Falls, has been a resident of Montana for over thirty years.  He 
started life a poor man, and by persistent industry has achieved the best 
rewards of success and an honored position in this community.
 
He was born at Salem in Washington County, New York, March 30, 1855, 
son of Andrew and Jane (Clark) Dennison.  His father was born in Ireland 
and came to this country when a young man, the voyage on the sailing ship
 requiring seven weeks and three days.  For a time he remained in New York 
City and then went to Washington County, New York, where he lived out 
his life as an industrious farmer.  He died at the age of sixty-five.  His wife 
was a native of Scotland and died at the age of sixty-eight years and thirteen 
days.  Of their 13 children James A. was the seventh son.  His father cast a 
vote for Abraham Lincoln for president.
 
James A. Dennison received his early education in New York and Ohio.  At 
the age of fourteen he left home and began working as a farm hand in New 
York.  At eighteen he moved to Ohio, worked on a farm and in a nursery for 
about a year, and then invested his modest capital in a stock of notions and 
for the next three years traveled over the states of Ohio Indiana, Illinois and 
Missouri, selling his stock to the retail trade.  Returning to Ravenna, Ohio, he 
married and for about a year worked on a farm.  He and his wife then went to 
Michigan where he used his team to haul cordwood, and Mrs. Dennison also 
contributed to the support of their household by husking corn.  With her wages 
she bought a young calf, and that proved an important part of their capital in 
farming.  In 1888 Mr. and Mrs. Dennison came to Billings, Montana, where he 
was engaged in the saloon business until 1894.  Since the latter year his home 
has been in Great Falls.  He was employed in the smelters until 1899, and since 
then for twenty years has been a contracting painter and decorator.  He now 
has a well equipped store on Fifth Street, stocked with a complete supply of 
paints, wall paper and other commodities used in his trade.  Mr. Dennison is 
a republican in politics.
 
February 16, 1877, he married Alice Calvin.  She was born in Berrien County, 
Michigan, a daughter of Orin B. and Maria (Allen) Calvin, both natives of 
Pennsylvania.  Her father went to Michigan when a young man and as a 
carpenter built many houses and barns in the southern part of the state.  
Mrs. Dennison was the second in a family of three sons and one daughter, 
two of whom are still living.
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MONTANA DEATH INDEX 1907-1953:
 
DENNISON, James A.
Died:  06 Jun 1926 at 71 years of age
Index #: GF 2407
 
DENNISON, Alice
Died:  04 Jun 1927 at 71 years of age
Index #: GF 2744