Note: For explanation of the strange given-name of Talitha Cumi see New Testament, St. Mark 5:39-42. This spelling is correct. Pronounce with a long i.
[William Taylor Dennis] took up a section of land in Pontatoc County, Mississippi and began to improve it. He bought machinery, plowed and planted with the help of Negroes he had acquired, but he was never known to treat them as slaves. On his rounds as sheriff, he always stopped at a tavern run by an Alabama planter by the name of George Bankhead. He fell in love with the daughter, Talitha, and after a short courtship, they were married, December 8th, 1836, and moved to his own plantation in Pontatoc County, Mississippi.
Talitha came to his plantation with a good dowry and her own Negro Mammy, Nancy, who was made head cook and house manager. William had held the position of Sheriff for six years but resigned soon after his marriage to manage his plantation, which involved building a beautiful home and supervising the slaves he had acquired.
Their first child, Helen Elvira was born 9th January 1838, and the next, Dorothy Jane (our grandmother) was born 16th June 1840, and James Madison, 13th May, 1842.
Their plantation home was typical of the South: white stucco with large verandas, shaded by vines and blossoming trees. Our grandmother described it in detail, as she lived there until she was fourteen. The children called Nancy "Mammy" and were taught to love and respect her the same as their mother. William Taylor Dennis treated his slaves with consideration and respect and they in turn were loyal to him.
Their fourth child, Sina Lucinda, was born 21st September 1843, and Mary Malinda, 11th April, 1845. Their first sorrow came when they lost their oldest child, Helen Elvira, at the age of nine. She died on the 17th of May 1847. Their sixth child, Grace Ann, was born the 10th of August, the same summer. Their seventh child was born the 12th of September 1849, and they named him George Washington. Soon after his birth, Mormon missionaries visited them and William was converted. He was baptized on the 14th of March 1850, and about six months later their baby boy, George Washington, died on the 26th of August.
They took great comfort in their new concept of life after death. William was made president of the small branch of the church in his area, and withstood the ridicule of his neighbors and one-time friends. Persecution of the Saints was at its height in the Southern States about that time, and they were shocked by the news that Elder Jolley, one of the missionaries who had converted them, had been killed by a mob. His companion, Preston Thomas, managed to escape.
Talitha's parents, the George Bankhead's, were very bitter, so in order to avoid a confrontation, Talitha and the children had not been baptized. When William started talking of going to Utah, the Bankhead's brought their daughter a beautiful set of burial clothes, saying they at least wanted her to have a decent burial, as they knew she would never reach Utah alive.
As they continued to prepare to go West, their friends and neighbors would come with terrible stories of scalpings and other atrocities, thirst and starvation. Finally, William told them he would go to Utah if it were only a Barren Rock.
Their eighth child was born the 31st of July 1851, and they named her Delia Catherine Caroline. Things kept happening to keep them from getting on their way West. On the 10th of December 1852, James Madison, the only boy they had left, died. The third child to die in a period of five years.
In the summer of 1854 they were finally ready to go, having sold part of the plantation and disposed of most of their slaves. Several young Negroes wanted to go with them, and they needed teamsters. They started out with three Prairie Schooners, two wagons, and the family carriage.
They traveled by land to Memphis, Tennessee, a distance of about a hundred miles, and from there up the Mississippi River by steamboat to St. Louis. In St. Louis they bought more supplies, including a set of irons for a grist mill, machinery for a sawmill, and the materials to build a fine house. On leaving St. Louis, they took a course through Missouri and into Iowa, where they picked up the "Mormon Trail."
Within a day's journey of the Missouri River, they camped one night and let the young Negro teamsters go into the small neighboring town for some fun. They never came back and when they went to inquire after them, they were told that they had started drinking and abolitionists, who were abroad in the area, persuaded them to run away to Canada. These were the days of unrest preceding the Civil War and now they were left without teamsters. Just at this time, Franklin McGee, the young man who thought he was in love with Dorothy Jane, showed up. He had stalked them all the way from Mississippi, and hit camp just when they were badly in need of teamsters. William gave up and put him in charge of one of the big Prairie Schooners.
Dorothy was having to drive another, and William, the third. There were still the two wagons and the family carriage without teamsters. But the delay had made them too late to make it through the Rocky Mountains before cold weather, so they made arrangements to stay in Iowa until spring. They settled down in a little place called Silver Creek and there their ninth child was born on the 6th September 1854. Early in the spring of 1855, William went back to Mississippi and disposed of the rest of his holdings at a great sacrifice.
When he got back to Iowa, they joined up with a merchant train by the name of Gilbert and Garrish and made the journey in comparative comfort, as the arrangement solved some of their teamster problems. They bought oxen and milk cows in Iowa, and the men hunted buffalo, antelope, and wild game for meat.
One incident could have proved a disaster, but their lives were spared. They had camped for the night and William had gone on guard some distance from the Dennis wagons. In the wagon where Talitha was sleeping with the smaller children, a lantern was left burning. She had been taking care of one who was restless and not very well. She dozed off and somehow the lantern was tipped over, spilling the oil and setting the wagon cover on fire. Soon everything was in flames, but somehow she got the children out. She was badly burned, especially her hands. One of the little girls was so severely burned that the flesh fell off from her knees to her ankles. Talitha's hands were in bandages for the rest of the trip. Nancy, the Black Mammy, who of course was with them, was a great help in this emergency. Although Dorothy was still driving a Prairie Schooner, she helped Nancy with the cooking, washing, and the children.
They arrived in Salt Lake City on the 22nd of August 1855. Talitha and the children, and Franklin McGee, Dorothy's suitor, were all baptized that same day in the hot springs north of the city. Elder Ezra Taft Benson officiated and baptized them. A few days later, Dorothy Jane and Franklin McGee were married. He had been polite and helpful on the trip, and no reason could be found to oppose the marriage, even thought she was very young, only fifteen and a half.
They went from Salt Lake to Cedar Valley and spent the winter of 1855-1856 in a small fort. The Indians were troublesome and the men had to stand guard all night. In the spring they moved to Lehi. This was the terrible time of the grasshoppers and the crickets. William had brought food supplies with him from Iowa and he began to pass them out to relieve the suffering he saw all around him.
William moved his families from Lehi to Spanish Fork and from there to Pondtown (now Salem). His old friend, Dr. Hickman, from the Southern States had settled with his large family in Pondtown and had built a very fine home. Much of the material William had brought west to build his house had faded away in gifts to people in bad circumstances, but he went ahead and built a fine home across the street from the Hickman's.
After William's house was finished, he bought a farm, built a cane-molasses mill and started several other projects. His molasses mill was the first in the area.
He out-fitted several groups of men with teams, wagons and provisions to help stranded companies in Echo Canyon in the dead of winter. He was a restless, high-strung man and finally went to Southern Utah (on the Sevier River) to pioneer and prospect for gold. He took his second wife, Adelaide Fullmer, with him and most of her eleven children were born there. The tenth child of his first wife, Talitha Cumi Bankhead was born in Pondtown (not Salem) 12th November 1857 and died soon after birth. This was his last child by his first wife. His third wife Sarah Zabriskie bore him four children.
His oldest child, Dorothy Jane and her husband, David Pinkney Rainey, were called to pioneer in Richmond, Utah, in Cache Valley, near the Idaho border in June, 1860. David was bishop of Pondtown (now Salem) at the time of his call to Richmond, and it appears that William Taylor Dennis had already gone to Southern Utah, leaving his wife for Dorothy to take care of, so Dorothy and David took her mother, Talitha, with them to Cache Valley. The aged colored mammy, Nancy, also went with them. She died in Richmond, but was taken to Provo for burial, as there were other Bankhead Negroes buried there.
Talitha Cumi Bankhead Dennis was with her daughter until her death on 9th November 1882. She is buried in the "Rainey Plot" in the Richmond, Utah Cemetery.
William Taylor Dennis died in Marysvale, Utah, on the 25th of November 1895. He is buried in a little cemetery 2 ½ miles south of Marysvale, by the side of Inter-state Highway 89, just a few feet from the hard-surfaced road. His wife Adelaide Fullmer is said to be buried there also. Her death date is 1899. The cemetery is known as the "Dennis Cemetery", and there are supposedly thirteen graves.
Children from first wife, Talitha: Helen Elvira, died as a child; Dorothy Jane married David Pinkney Rainey; James Madison died as a child; Sina Lucinda married George Snell; Mary Malinda married Thomas H. Beck; Grace Ann married William Delason Young; George Washington died as a child; Delia Catherine Caroline married William Beers; Talitha Cumi married Charles LeFever; Celia Amelia died as a child.
[William Taylor Dennis] took up a section of land in Pontatoc County, Mississippi and began to improve it. He bought machinery, plowed and planted with the help of Negroes he had acquired, but he was never known to treat them as slaves. On his rounds as sheriff, he always stopped at a tavern run by an Alabama planter by the name of George Bankhead. He fell in love with the daughter, Talitha, and after a short courtship, they were married, December 8th, 1836, and moved to his own plantation in Pontatoc County, Mississippi.
Talitha came to his plantation with a good dowry and her own Negro Mammy, Nancy, who was made head cook and house manager. William had held the position of Sheriff for six years but resigned soon after his marriage to manage his plantation, which involved building a beautiful home and supervising the slaves he had acquired.
Their first child, Helen Elvira was born 9th January 1838, and the next, Dorothy Jane (our grandmother) was born 16th June 1840, and James Madison, 13th May, 1842.
Their plantation home was typical of the South: white stucco with large verandas, shaded by vines and blossoming trees. Our grandmother described it in detail, as she lived there until she was fourteen. The children called Nancy "Mammy" and were taught to love and respect her the same as their mother. William Taylor Dennis treated his slaves with consideration and respect and they in turn were loyal to him.
Their fourth child, Sina Lucinda, was born 21st September 1843, and Mary Malinda, 11th April, 1845. Their first sorrow came when they lost their oldest child, Helen Elvira, at the age of nine. She died on the 17th of May 1847. Their sixth child, Grace Ann, was born the 10th of August, the same summer. Their seventh child was born the 12th of September 1849, and they named him George Washington. Soon after his birth, Mormon missionaries visited them and William was converted. He was baptized on the 14th of March 1850, and about six months later their baby boy, George Washington, died on the 26th of August.
They took great comfort in their new concept of life after death. William was made president of the small branch of the church in his area, and withstood the ridicule of his neighbors and one-time friends. Persecution of the Saints was at its height in the Southern States about that time, and they were shocked by the news that Elder Jolley, one of the missionaries who had converted them, had been killed by a mob. His companion, Preston Thomas, managed to escape.
Talitha's parents, the George Bankhead's, were very bitter, so in order to avoid a confrontation, Talitha and the children had not been baptized. When William started talking of going to Utah, the Bankhead's brought their daughter a beautiful set of burial clothes, saying they at least wanted her to have a decent burial, as they knew she would never reach Utah alive.
As they continued to prepare to go West, their friends and neighbors would come with terrible stories of scalpings and other atrocities, thirst and starvation. Finally, William told them he would go to Utah if it were only a Barren Rock.
Their eighth child was born the 31st of July 1851, and they named her Delia Catherine Caroline. Things kept happening to keep them from getting on their way West. On the 10th of December 1852, James Madison, the only boy they had left, died. The third child to die in a period of five years.
In the summer of 1854 they were finally ready to go, having sold part of the plantation and disposed of most of their slaves. Several young Negroes wanted to go with them, and they needed teamsters. They started out with three Prairie Schooners, two wagons, and the family carriage.
They traveled by land to Memphis, Tennessee, a distance of about a hundred miles, and from there up the Mississippi River by steamboat to St. Louis. In St. Louis they bought more supplies, including a set of irons for a grist mill, machinery for a sawmill, and the materials to build a fine house. On leaving St. Louis, they took a course through Missouri and into Iowa, where they picked up the "Mormon Trail."
Within a day's journey of the Missouri River, they camped one night and let the young Negro teamsters go into the small neighboring town for some fun. They never came back and when they went to inquire after them, they were told that they had started drinking and abolitionists, who were abroad in the area, persuaded them to run away to Canada. These were the days of unrest preceding the Civil War and now they were left without teamsters. Just at this time, Franklin McGee, the young man who thought he was in love with Dorothy Jane, showed up. He had stalked them all the way from Mississippi, and hit camp just when they were badly in need of teamsters. William gave up and put him in charge of one of the big Prairie Schooners.
Dorothy was having to drive another, and William, the third. There were still the two wagons and the family carriage without teamsters. But the delay had made them too late to make it through the Rocky Mountains before cold weather, so they made arrangements to stay in Iowa until spring. They settled down in a little place called Silver Creek and there their ninth child was born on the 6th September 1854. Early in the spring of 1855, William went back to Mississippi and disposed of the rest of his holdings at a great sacrifice.
When he got back to Iowa, they joined up with a merchant train by the name of Gilbert and Garrish and made the journey in comparative comfort, as the arrangement solved some of their teamster problems. They bought oxen and milk cows in Iowa, and the men hunted buffalo, antelope, and wild game for meat.
One incident could have proved a disaster, but their lives were spared. They had camped for the night and William had gone on guard some distance from the Dennis wagons. In the wagon where Talitha was sleeping with the smaller children, a lantern was left burning. She had been taking care of one who was restless and not very well. She dozed off and somehow the lantern was tipped over, spilling the oil and setting the wagon cover on fire. Soon everything was in flames, but somehow she got the children out. She was badly burned, especially her hands. One of the little girls was so severely burned that the flesh fell off from her knees to her ankles. Talitha's hands were in bandages for the rest of the trip. Nancy, the Black Mammy, who of course was with them, was a great help in this emergency. Although Dorothy was still driving a Prairie Schooner, she helped Nancy with the cooking, washing, and the children.
They arrived in Salt Lake City on the 22nd of August 1855. Talitha and the children, and Franklin McGee, Dorothy's suitor, were all baptized that same day in the hot springs north of the city. Elder Ezra Taft Benson officiated and baptized them. A few days later, Dorothy Jane and Franklin McGee were married. He had been polite and helpful on the trip, and no reason could be found to oppose the marriage, even thought she was very young, only fifteen and a half.
They went from Salt Lake to Cedar Valley and spent the winter of 1855-1856 in a small fort. The Indians were troublesome and the men had to stand guard all night. In the spring they moved to Lehi. This was the terrible time of the grasshoppers and the crickets. William had brought food supplies with him from Iowa and he began to pass them out to relieve the suffering he saw all around him.
William moved his families from Lehi to Spanish Fork and from there to Pondtown (now Salem). His old friend, Dr. Hickman, from the Southern States had settled with his large family in Pondtown and had built a very fine home. Much of the material William had brought west to build his house had faded away in gifts to people in bad circumstances, but he went ahead and built a fine home across the street from the Hickman's.
After William's house was finished, he bought a farm, built a cane-molasses mill and started several other projects. His molasses mill was the first in the area.
He out-fitted several groups of men with teams, wagons and provisions to help stranded companies in Echo Canyon in the dead of winter. He was a restless, high-strung man and finally went to Southern Utah (on the Sevier River) to pioneer and prospect for gold. He took his second wife, Adelaide Fullmer, with him and most of her eleven children were born there. The tenth child of his first wife, Talitha Cumi Bankhead was born in Pondtown (not Salem) 12th November 1857 and died soon after birth. This was his last child by his first wife. His third wife Sarah Zabriskie bore him four children.
His oldest child, Dorothy Jane and her husband, David Pinkney Rainey, were called to pioneer in Richmond, Utah, in Cache Valley, near the Idaho border in June, 1860. David was bishop of Pondtown (now Salem) at the time of his call to Richmond, and it appears that William Taylor Dennis had already gone to Southern Utah, leaving his wife for Dorothy to take care of, so Dorothy and David took her mother, Talitha, with them to Cache Valley. The aged colored mammy, Nancy, also went with them. She died in Richmond, but was taken to Provo for burial, as there were other Bankhead Negroes buried there.
Talitha Cumi Bankhead Dennis was with her daughter until her death on 9th November 1882. She is buried in the "Rainey Plot" in the Richmond, Utah Cemetery.
William Taylor Dennis died in Marysvale, Utah, on the 25th of November 1895. He is buried in a little cemetery 2 ½ miles south of Marysvale, by the side of Inter-state Highway 89, just a few feet from the hard-surfaced road. His wife Adelaide Fullmer is said to be buried there also. Her death date is 1899. The cemetery is known as the "Dennis Cemetery", and there are supposedly thirteen graves.
Children from first wife, Talitha: Helen Elvira, died as a child; Dorothy Jane married David Pinkney Rainey; James Madison died as a child; Sina Lucinda married George Snell; Mary Malinda married Thomas H. Beck; Grace Ann married William Delason Young; George Washington died as a child; Delia Catherine Caroline married William Beers; Talitha Cumi married Charles LeFever; Celia Amelia died as a child.
Note: For explanation of the strange given-name of Talitha Cumi see New Testament, St. Mark 5:39-42. This spelling is correct. Pronounce with a long i.
[William Taylor Dennis] took up a section of land in Pontatoc County, Mississippi and began to improve it. He bought machinery, plowed and planted with the help of Negroes he had acquired, but he was never known to treat them as slaves. On his rounds as sheriff, he always stopped at a tavern run by an Alabama planter by the name of George Bankhead. He fell in love with the daughter, Talitha, and after a short courtship, they were married, December 8th, 1836, and moved to his own plantation in Pontatoc County, Mississippi.
Talitha came to his plantation with a good dowry and her own Negro Mammy, Nancy, who was made head cook and house manager. William had held the position of Sheriff for six years but resigned soon after his marriage to manage his plantation, which involved building a beautiful home and supervising the slaves he had acquired.
Their first child, Helen Elvira was born 9th January 1838, and the next, Dorothy Jane (our grandmother) was born 16th June 1840, and James Madison, 13th May, 1842.
Their plantation home was typical of the South: white stucco with large verandas, shaded by vines and blossoming trees. Our grandmother described it in detail, as she lived there until she was fourteen. The children called Nancy "Mammy" and were taught to love and respect her the same as their mother. William Taylor Dennis treated his slaves with consideration and respect and they in turn were loyal to him.
Their fourth child, Sina Lucinda, was born 21st September 1843, and Mary Malinda, 11th April, 1845. Their first sorrow came when they lost their oldest child, Helen Elvira, at the age of nine. She died on the 17th of May 1847. Their sixth child, Grace Ann, was born the 10th of August, the same summer. Their seventh child was born the 12th of September 1849, and they named him George Washington. Soon after his birth, Mormon missionaries visited them and William was converted. He was baptized on the 14th of March 1850, and about six months later their baby boy, George Washington, died on the 26th of August.
They took great comfort in their new concept of life after death. William was made president of the small branch of the church in his area, and withstood the ridicule of his neighbors and one-time friends. Persecution of the Saints was at its height in the Southern States about that time, and they were shocked by the news that Elder Jolley, one of the missionaries who had converted them, had been killed by a mob. His companion, Preston Thomas, managed to escape.
Talitha's parents, the George Bankhead's, were very bitter, so in order to avoid a confrontation, Talitha and the children had not been baptized. When William started talking of going to Utah, the Bankhead's brought their daughter a beautiful set of burial clothes, saying they at least wanted her to have a decent burial, as they knew she would never reach Utah alive.
As they continued to prepare to go West, their friends and neighbors would come with terrible stories of scalpings and other atrocities, thirst and starvation. Finally, William told them he would go to Utah if it were only a Barren Rock.
Their eighth child was born the 31st of July 1851, and they named her Delia Catherine Caroline. Things kept happening to keep them from getting on their way West. On the 10th of December 1852, James Madison, the only boy they had left, died. The third child to die in a period of five years.
In the summer of 1854 they were finally ready to go, having sold part of the plantation and disposed of most of their slaves. Several young Negroes wanted to go with them, and they needed teamsters. They started out with three Prairie Schooners, two wagons, and the family carriage.
They traveled by land to Memphis, Tennessee, a distance of about a hundred miles, and from there up the Mississippi River by steamboat to St. Louis. In St. Louis they bought more supplies, including a set of irons for a grist mill, machinery for a sawmill, and the materials to build a fine house. On leaving St. Louis, they took a course through Missouri and into Iowa, where they picked up the "Mormon Trail."
Within a day's journey of the Missouri River, they camped one night and let the young Negro teamsters go into the small neighboring town for some fun. They never came back and when they went to inquire after them, they were told that they had started drinking and abolitionists, who were abroad in the area, persuaded them to run away to Canada. These were the days of unrest preceding the Civil War and now they were left without teamsters. Just at this time, Franklin McGee, the young man who thought he was in love with Dorothy Jane, showed up. He had stalked them all the way from Mississippi, and hit camp just when they were badly in need of teamsters. William gave up and put him in charge of one of the big Prairie Schooners.
Dorothy was having to drive another, and William, the third. There were still the two wagons and the family carriage without teamsters. But the delay had made them too late to make it through the Rocky Mountains before cold weather, so they made arrangements to stay in Iowa until spring. They settled down in a little place called Silver Creek and there their ninth child was born on the 6th September 1854. Early in the spring of 1855, William went back to Mississippi and disposed of the rest of his holdings at a great sacrifice.
When he got back to Iowa, they joined up with a merchant train by the name of Gilbert and Garrish and made the journey in comparative comfort, as the arrangement solved some of their teamster problems. They bought oxen and milk cows in Iowa, and the men hunted buffalo, antelope, and wild game for meat.
One incident could have proved a disaster, but their lives were spared. They had camped for the night and William had gone on guard some distance from the Dennis wagons. In the wagon where Talitha was sleeping with the smaller children, a lantern was left burning. She had been taking care of one who was restless and not very well. She dozed off and somehow the lantern was tipped over, spilling the oil and setting the wagon cover on fire. Soon everything was in flames, but somehow she got the children out. She was badly burned, especially her hands. One of the little girls was so severely burned that the flesh fell off from her knees to her ankles. Talitha's hands were in bandages for the rest of the trip. Nancy, the Black Mammy, who of course was with them, was a great help in this emergency. Although Dorothy was still driving a Prairie Schooner, she helped Nancy with the cooking, washing, and the children.
They arrived in Salt Lake City on the 22nd of August 1855. Talitha and the children, and Franklin McGee, Dorothy's suitor, were all baptized that same day in the hot springs north of the city. Elder Ezra Taft Benson officiated and baptized them. A few days later, Dorothy Jane and Franklin McGee were married. He had been polite and helpful on the trip, and no reason could be found to oppose the marriage, even thought she was very young, only fifteen and a half.
They went from Salt Lake to Cedar Valley and spent the winter of 1855-1856 in a small fort. The Indians were troublesome and the men had to stand guard all night. In the spring they moved to Lehi. This was the terrible time of the grasshoppers and the crickets. William had brought food supplies with him from Iowa and he began to pass them out to relieve the suffering he saw all around him.
William moved his families from Lehi to Spanish Fork and from there to Pondtown (now Salem). His old friend, Dr. Hickman, from the Southern States had settled with his large family in Pondtown and had built a very fine home. Much of the material William had brought west to build his house had faded away in gifts to people in bad circumstances, but he went ahead and built a fine home across the street from the Hickman's.
After William's house was finished, he bought a farm, built a cane-molasses mill and started several other projects. His molasses mill was the first in the area.
He out-fitted several groups of men with teams, wagons and provisions to help stranded companies in Echo Canyon in the dead of winter. He was a restless, high-strung man and finally went to Southern Utah (on the Sevier River) to pioneer and prospect for gold. He took his second wife, Adelaide Fullmer, with him and most of her eleven children were born there. The tenth child of his first wife, Talitha Cumi Bankhead was born in Pondtown (not Salem) 12th November 1857 and died soon after birth. This was his last child by his first wife. His third wife Sarah Zabriskie bore him four children.
His oldest child, Dorothy Jane and her husband, David Pinkney Rainey, were called to pioneer in Richmond, Utah, in Cache Valley, near the Idaho border in June, 1860. David was bishop of Pondtown (now Salem) at the time of his call to Richmond, and it appears that William Taylor Dennis had already gone to Southern Utah, leaving his wife for Dorothy to take care of, so Dorothy and David took her mother, Talitha, with them to Cache Valley. The aged colored mammy, Nancy, also went with them. She died in Richmond, but was taken to Provo for burial, as there were other Bankhead Negroes buried there.
Talitha Cumi Bankhead Dennis was with her daughter until her death on 9th November 1882. She is buried in the "Rainey Plot" in the Richmond, Utah Cemetery.
William Taylor Dennis died in Marysvale, Utah, on the 25th of November 1895. He is buried in a little cemetery 2 ½ miles south of Marysvale, by the side of Inter-state Highway 89, just a few feet from the hard-surfaced road. His wife Adelaide Fullmer is said to be buried there also. Her death date is 1899. The cemetery is known as the "Dennis Cemetery", and there are supposedly thirteen graves.
Children from first wife, Talitha: Helen Elvira, died as a child; Dorothy Jane married David Pinkney Rainey; James Madison died as a child; Sina Lucinda married George Snell; Mary Malinda married Thomas H. Beck; Grace Ann married William Delason Young; George Washington died as a child; Delia Catherine Caroline married William Beers; Talitha Cumi married Charles LeFever; Celia Amelia died as a child.
[William Taylor Dennis] took up a section of land in Pontatoc County, Mississippi and began to improve it. He bought machinery, plowed and planted with the help of Negroes he had acquired, but he was never known to treat them as slaves. On his rounds as sheriff, he always stopped at a tavern run by an Alabama planter by the name of George Bankhead. He fell in love with the daughter, Talitha, and after a short courtship, they were married, December 8th, 1836, and moved to his own plantation in Pontatoc County, Mississippi.
Talitha came to his plantation with a good dowry and her own Negro Mammy, Nancy, who was made head cook and house manager. William had held the position of Sheriff for six years but resigned soon after his marriage to manage his plantation, which involved building a beautiful home and supervising the slaves he had acquired.
Their first child, Helen Elvira was born 9th January 1838, and the next, Dorothy Jane (our grandmother) was born 16th June 1840, and James Madison, 13th May, 1842.
Their plantation home was typical of the South: white stucco with large verandas, shaded by vines and blossoming trees. Our grandmother described it in detail, as she lived there until she was fourteen. The children called Nancy "Mammy" and were taught to love and respect her the same as their mother. William Taylor Dennis treated his slaves with consideration and respect and they in turn were loyal to him.
Their fourth child, Sina Lucinda, was born 21st September 1843, and Mary Malinda, 11th April, 1845. Their first sorrow came when they lost their oldest child, Helen Elvira, at the age of nine. She died on the 17th of May 1847. Their sixth child, Grace Ann, was born the 10th of August, the same summer. Their seventh child was born the 12th of September 1849, and they named him George Washington. Soon after his birth, Mormon missionaries visited them and William was converted. He was baptized on the 14th of March 1850, and about six months later their baby boy, George Washington, died on the 26th of August.
They took great comfort in their new concept of life after death. William was made president of the small branch of the church in his area, and withstood the ridicule of his neighbors and one-time friends. Persecution of the Saints was at its height in the Southern States about that time, and they were shocked by the news that Elder Jolley, one of the missionaries who had converted them, had been killed by a mob. His companion, Preston Thomas, managed to escape.
Talitha's parents, the George Bankhead's, were very bitter, so in order to avoid a confrontation, Talitha and the children had not been baptized. When William started talking of going to Utah, the Bankhead's brought their daughter a beautiful set of burial clothes, saying they at least wanted her to have a decent burial, as they knew she would never reach Utah alive.
As they continued to prepare to go West, their friends and neighbors would come with terrible stories of scalpings and other atrocities, thirst and starvation. Finally, William told them he would go to Utah if it were only a Barren Rock.
Their eighth child was born the 31st of July 1851, and they named her Delia Catherine Caroline. Things kept happening to keep them from getting on their way West. On the 10th of December 1852, James Madison, the only boy they had left, died. The third child to die in a period of five years.
In the summer of 1854 they were finally ready to go, having sold part of the plantation and disposed of most of their slaves. Several young Negroes wanted to go with them, and they needed teamsters. They started out with three Prairie Schooners, two wagons, and the family carriage.
They traveled by land to Memphis, Tennessee, a distance of about a hundred miles, and from there up the Mississippi River by steamboat to St. Louis. In St. Louis they bought more supplies, including a set of irons for a grist mill, machinery for a sawmill, and the materials to build a fine house. On leaving St. Louis, they took a course through Missouri and into Iowa, where they picked up the "Mormon Trail."
Within a day's journey of the Missouri River, they camped one night and let the young Negro teamsters go into the small neighboring town for some fun. They never came back and when they went to inquire after them, they were told that they had started drinking and abolitionists, who were abroad in the area, persuaded them to run away to Canada. These were the days of unrest preceding the Civil War and now they were left without teamsters. Just at this time, Franklin McGee, the young man who thought he was in love with Dorothy Jane, showed up. He had stalked them all the way from Mississippi, and hit camp just when they were badly in need of teamsters. William gave up and put him in charge of one of the big Prairie Schooners.
Dorothy was having to drive another, and William, the third. There were still the two wagons and the family carriage without teamsters. But the delay had made them too late to make it through the Rocky Mountains before cold weather, so they made arrangements to stay in Iowa until spring. They settled down in a little place called Silver Creek and there their ninth child was born on the 6th September 1854. Early in the spring of 1855, William went back to Mississippi and disposed of the rest of his holdings at a great sacrifice.
When he got back to Iowa, they joined up with a merchant train by the name of Gilbert and Garrish and made the journey in comparative comfort, as the arrangement solved some of their teamster problems. They bought oxen and milk cows in Iowa, and the men hunted buffalo, antelope, and wild game for meat.
One incident could have proved a disaster, but their lives were spared. They had camped for the night and William had gone on guard some distance from the Dennis wagons. In the wagon where Talitha was sleeping with the smaller children, a lantern was left burning. She had been taking care of one who was restless and not very well. She dozed off and somehow the lantern was tipped over, spilling the oil and setting the wagon cover on fire. Soon everything was in flames, but somehow she got the children out. She was badly burned, especially her hands. One of the little girls was so severely burned that the flesh fell off from her knees to her ankles. Talitha's hands were in bandages for the rest of the trip. Nancy, the Black Mammy, who of course was with them, was a great help in this emergency. Although Dorothy was still driving a Prairie Schooner, she helped Nancy with the cooking, washing, and the children.
They arrived in Salt Lake City on the 22nd of August 1855. Talitha and the children, and Franklin McGee, Dorothy's suitor, were all baptized that same day in the hot springs north of the city. Elder Ezra Taft Benson officiated and baptized them. A few days later, Dorothy Jane and Franklin McGee were married. He had been polite and helpful on the trip, and no reason could be found to oppose the marriage, even thought she was very young, only fifteen and a half.
They went from Salt Lake to Cedar Valley and spent the winter of 1855-1856 in a small fort. The Indians were troublesome and the men had to stand guard all night. In the spring they moved to Lehi. This was the terrible time of the grasshoppers and the crickets. William had brought food supplies with him from Iowa and he began to pass them out to relieve the suffering he saw all around him.
William moved his families from Lehi to Spanish Fork and from there to Pondtown (now Salem). His old friend, Dr. Hickman, from the Southern States had settled with his large family in Pondtown and had built a very fine home. Much of the material William had brought west to build his house had faded away in gifts to people in bad circumstances, but he went ahead and built a fine home across the street from the Hickman's.
After William's house was finished, he bought a farm, built a cane-molasses mill and started several other projects. His molasses mill was the first in the area.
He out-fitted several groups of men with teams, wagons and provisions to help stranded companies in Echo Canyon in the dead of winter. He was a restless, high-strung man and finally went to Southern Utah (on the Sevier River) to pioneer and prospect for gold. He took his second wife, Adelaide Fullmer, with him and most of her eleven children were born there. The tenth child of his first wife, Talitha Cumi Bankhead was born in Pondtown (not Salem) 12th November 1857 and died soon after birth. This was his last child by his first wife. His third wife Sarah Zabriskie bore him four children.
His oldest child, Dorothy Jane and her husband, David Pinkney Rainey, were called to pioneer in Richmond, Utah, in Cache Valley, near the Idaho border in June, 1860. David was bishop of Pondtown (now Salem) at the time of his call to Richmond, and it appears that William Taylor Dennis had already gone to Southern Utah, leaving his wife for Dorothy to take care of, so Dorothy and David took her mother, Talitha, with them to Cache Valley. The aged colored mammy, Nancy, also went with them. She died in Richmond, but was taken to Provo for burial, as there were other Bankhead Negroes buried there.
Talitha Cumi Bankhead Dennis was with her daughter until her death on 9th November 1882. She is buried in the "Rainey Plot" in the Richmond, Utah Cemetery.
William Taylor Dennis died in Marysvale, Utah, on the 25th of November 1895. He is buried in a little cemetery 2 ½ miles south of Marysvale, by the side of Inter-state Highway 89, just a few feet from the hard-surfaced road. His wife Adelaide Fullmer is said to be buried there also. Her death date is 1899. The cemetery is known as the "Dennis Cemetery", and there are supposedly thirteen graves.
Children from first wife, Talitha: Helen Elvira, died as a child; Dorothy Jane married David Pinkney Rainey; James Madison died as a child; Sina Lucinda married George Snell; Mary Malinda married Thomas H. Beck; Grace Ann married William Delason Young; George Washington died as a child; Delia Catherine Caroline married William Beers; Talitha Cumi married Charles LeFever; Celia Amelia died as a child.
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