Bell County, TX - Obits: William Pinkney Denman - 1862-1931 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Submitted by: Marion Grayson - MGRAYSON98@aol.com ************************************************************************ USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter,and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. Files may be printed or copied for personal use only. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. ************************************************************************ The Belton Journal July 9, 1931 W. P. Denman Died at his home on Monday, July 6th at 4 pm. Born in Harrison County in 1862 and lived there 9 years. Moved in 1871 to Bell County with his parents. Remained in Bell county throughout his life. Was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Belton. He was a Deputy Sheriff of Bell county, and was the County Commissioner of Precint 1 for 16 years. He is well known for his participation in all the great roads in Bell County. He ran for Representative for Bell county, but did not get appointed. Although he did fill a vacancy for 1 session. At the time of his death he was a Claim Agent for the Santa Fe Railroad. (note: Sante Fe has offices in Temple, and there is a museum as well!) He was survived by his wife (name not mentioned), and 3 daughters; Mrs. R.L. Miller, Blue Eyes MO; Mrs. Lewis C. Newman, Tyler; and Mrs. Paul McCormick, Yuma, AZ. Also, 2 sons (note: the article said 2 sons, but 3 were listed!?); W.B. Denman, Belton; R.P. Denman, Paris TX; Sam Denman, Houston. Also survived by 19 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren. Active pallbears; Roy Potts, Edwine Cline, Albert McKay Jr., Otis Baines, T.E. Sanderford, E.L. Upshaw, John R. Bigham (Sheriff), and A. E. Taylor. The names of Honorary pallbearers I will not list, but I can tell you they were the "Who's Who" of Belton at the time! Many of the families still live in this area. I will also tell you that "Pink" and his family lived in the area known as Sparta (right outside of Belton), that was flooded in the 1950's or so, to create Lake Belton. Their bodies were originally buried in Sparta in the Denman cemetery, but were re-buried in Resthaven due to the lake. I also found in a book about the history of Sparta the following tidbit that you might find interesting: "Pink Denman's wife and his Father's third wife were sisters. What is the family Relation? Pink could say - my Father is my brother-in-law. He could say: my Father's children are my brothers and sisters, and that they are also my nephews and nieces. He could say my children and my son's children are cousins and my children and my son's children are uncles and aunts. Is that all?" Also, Moses H. Denman was "Pink's" father, and the cabin that Moses lived in has a historical marker on it, and was moved from it's site at 604 N. Pearl street in Belton, to the Barton House in Salado. (The following is something I found posted at Virtual Texas about the house) The Moses-Denman Cabin is a neighbor of the Boles-Aiken Cabin and was recently moved to this location by the Salado Historical Society as a gift from Robert and Doris Denman. Originally the home of Rev. Moses Denman, it was moved to Belton when the Sparta community was submerged during the creation of Lake Belton. Later, it was moved to Troy. The Denmans located the cabin in Troy and moved it next to their home in Salado. When the home was recently sold, the cabin was donated to the Historical Society. It is furnished with authentic pieces from the mid-1800s, many of which came from the personal collection of the donors. Also, there is an area near the lake named Sparta Road, and right off that road there is Denman's Loop, and Denman's Mountain Rd. _______________________________________________________________