Sarah Elizabeth Read and Wilson Dennis had at least 8 children born betweeen 1855 and 1870. I have identified 10 grandchildren born between 1880 and 1908; and 15 great-grandchildren and 11 second great-great grandchildren and 8 third great-grandchildren. Total descendants equals 52.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

Sarah Elizabeth Read was the eldest child of the eight children of David Read and Mary Hawk. Her name includes those of both her great-grandmother Sarah Sutton Read and her grandmother Elizabeth Ogden Read Wintersteen. She was born 22 July 1832 in Hardwick Township, Sussex (now Warren) County, New Jersey. Sarah was baptised when she was 6 and a half years old, on Christmas Eve 1838 in the Stillwater Presbyterian Church, in the village of Stillwater, Sussex County, New Jersey. There is evidence that Sarah's paternal grandfather John Read may have been raised as a Baptist and that her father may have been raised as both a Baptist and then later as a member of the Christian Church. Sarah's paternal grandmother Elizabeth Ogden Read Wintersteen was a charter member of the Christian Church in Johnsonburg, Sussex (now Warren) County, New Jersey in 1824 (Snell 1881:666). Neither the Baptist nor the Christian Churches practice infant baptism; they only baptist adults. David and Mary Read may not have joined the Presbyterian Church until 1838. On the same day that Sarah was baptised, her youngers sisters Margaret Ann and Lydia Jane were also baptised. A third sister, Mary Catherine, had died the previous September at the age of two. She had not been baptised.

Sarah appears on the 1840 census as a member of her father's houshold in Hardwick Twonship. She was one of the two females between the ages of 5 and 9 who lived in the household, the other was her sister Margaret Ann. The census states that four individuals in the household were engaged in agriculture. There was only one male in the household, Sarah's father David. The three oldest females in the household were Sarah's mother Mary Hawk Read, a unknown female between the ages of 15 and 19, who was probably a domestic servant, and Sarah, who was almost 8 years old (1840 United States Federal Census, Hardwick Township, Warren County, New Jersey, page 378). It is possible that Mary, the teenage servant and Sarah were involved in agriculture pursuits such as raising chickens for eggs to sell in the local villages, or that they were involved in the processing of wool form the farmeres sheep which they wove into cloth, or that they had a buttery where they produced butter and/or cheese for sale at local markets. Sarah also appears on the 1850 census as a resident of her parent's household in Hardwick Township. She was 17 years old and single. Her younger sisters Margaret, Lydia and Rachel were in school, but Sarah was not. She was at home helping her mother with the innumerable chores associated with such a large household. In addition, her mother had a toddler, 2 year old William, and an infant, ten month old Emma, who needed to be watched and kept away from the dangers of open fires and hot iron stoves (1850 United States Federal Census, Hardwick Township, Warren County, New Jersey, page 498, 19 August 1850).

Sarah married David "Wilson" Dennis, on 30 December 1854 in Stillwater (Sussex County Marriage Records, Book AF, page 292). Wilson was the son of John Dennis and Mary Wilson. He was born 2 January 1824 (Kern 1938). The 1850 census lists David Dennis as a 27 year old teacher. He resided in Vernon Township, Sussex County, New Jersey in the household of Casper and Rachael Kerr (1850 United States Census, Vernon Township, Sussex County, New Jersey, page 43A, 23 August 1850). Four years later David and Sarah were married. He was almost 31 and she was 22. The couple was living in Stillwater Township in Sussex County by 30 July 1857. Their second son Frank was born on that date and his birth date is recorded in the Township records (LDS Batch #C509541; Pascal 1998). The couple's eldest son David was born in 1855, but his birth does not appear in either the Stillwater Township or the Hardwick Township birth records. Hardwick Township in Warren County shares a common border with Stillwater Township in Sussex County (indeed Stillwater had been a part of Hardwick Township until Warren County was formed in 1824 (Snell 1881)). The family does not appear to have owned property in Stillwater in the 1850s. The 1860 census gives no real estate value for "David W. Denis," but it does list personal property valued at $1,500. The Dennis household included David and Sarah, their two sons and a live-in domestic servant named Isabel Hoover (Table 1). Isabel was a 15 year old native of New Jersey. The census specifically gives her occupation as domestic. Both she and the older Dennis son attended school during the census year. Wilson Dennis was employed as a "Farmer and Courier" (or currier) in 1860. The census was enumerated about a month after the birth of David and Sarah's daughter, Anna Mary Dennis. She is not listed in the census as her birth occurred after the 30 June cut off date for census information collection (1860 United States Census, Stillwater Township, Sussex County, New Jersey, page 290, 2 August 1860, Post Office Stillwater Township).

Table 1: Household of David W. and Sarah E. (Read) "Denis" in 1860
1860 United States Federal Census
Stillwater Township, Sussex County, New Jersey, page 290.

By 1870, Wilson Denis owned land valued at $3,500. He held a personal estate valued at $1,000. The Dennis family in 1870 included David W. (or Wilson) and Sarah and their children: David, Frank, Anna, William, Violetta and Flora (given as Laura on the census, see Table 2). The family lived in Hardwick Township. All of the children, except Flora (who was 2) were in school. Wilson's occupation was given as farmer. No occupation other than "at school" was listed for either David R. or Frank Dennis. The boys were 14 and 12 respectively and were old enough to help their father with the heavier farm work (1870 United States Census, Stillwater Township, Sussex County, New Jersey, pages 204-205, 5 July 1870, Post Office Stillwater Township).

Table 2: Household of David W. and Sarah E. (Read) Dennis in 1870
1870 United States Federal Census
Stillwater Township, Sussex County, New Jersey, pages 204-205

Wilson Dennis died on 10 October 1872; he was 58 years old. Sarah was left to raise their eight children, who ranged from 4 to 17 years of age. Over the next decade, the Dennis children grew up and moved out of their mother's house. David married Virginia R. Shreakgast in about 1878. They left Sussex County and moved to the city of Paterson, New Jersey, where David found work in a silk mill (1880 United States Federal Census, Enumeration District 159, City of Paterson, Passaic County, New Jersey, page 203C, 1 June 1880). Frank Dennis had also moved out of his mother's house. He was 22 in 1880. I have been unable to find him in the 1880 census, but suspect that he was in school, as he later became a physician. Annie and William Dennis were 19 and 16 years old respectively in 1880. They were both employed by Marshall Cook of Blairstown Township in Warren County. Annie did housework for the Cooks and William worked as a farm hand. Eleven years later, after Marshall's wife Carrie died, Annie became his second wife (1880 United States Federal Census, Enumeration District 191, Blairstown Township, Warren County, New Jersey, page 286A, 5 June 1880). Fourteen year old Violetta Dennis was also "working out" in 1880. She was employed by John and Magga Wintermute of Frelinghuysen Township. The census indicates that she was a "servant" (1880 United States Federal Census, Enumeration District 193, Frelinghuysen Township, Warren County, New Jersey, page 321B, 8 June 1880). Only Flora Dennis remained at home with her mother. Sarah and Flora lived in the village of Stillwater. Flora was twelve and was in school. Sarah was "keeping house." The dwelling that Sarah and Flora lived in contained two households, that of Sarah and Flora Dennis and that of the family of James Miller, who was the pastor of the Presbyterian Church. The dwelling that the Miller and Dennis families lived in was dwelling 279. The Millers were family 284 and Sarah and Flora Dennis were family 285. Sarah's sister Lydia Snover and her husband Thamer lived with their two sons in dwelling 280 and were family 286. Thamer Snover was the local school master (1880 United States Federal Census, Enumeration District 185, Stillwater Township, Sussex County, New Jersey, page 186B, 29 June 1880).

About a year before the 1880 census, Sarah's father, David Read, died. His death occurred on 13 September 1879 in Stillwater. Six days later, Sarah joinned her sisters Rachel Smalley and Lydia Snover, and their neice Flora Smalley (daughter of their sister Margaret), in a petition to the Surrogate Court of Sussex County. The petition asked that their brother William Reed be appointed as administrator of the estate of their late father, David Reed. Sarah's sister Lydia Snover lived in Stillwater near Sarah. Her other surviving sister, Rachel Smalley, lived in the city of Newark, New Jersey. Rachel was the widow of Isaac W. Smalley. Isaac Smalley had been married to another Read sister—Margaret Ann—who died in 1866. After Margaret's death he had married Rachel. The petition also named Mary L. Bowls and Flora Smalley of Newark who were Margaret's daughters by Isaac (and who were Rachel's step-daughter/neices). Sarah's only surviving brother, William W. Read was a merchant who lived in Philipsburg, Warren County, New Jersey (Sussex County Surrogate Court Records, hereinafter SCSCR, Petitions of Guardianship and Renunciations Book A, page 134).

Sarah probably lived in Sussex County for the rest of her life. She is listed adjacent to the household of her sister Lydia Snover in 1900. The two sisters lived in Stillwater Township. Sarah Dennis owned her home, which was dwelling 142. Lydia and Thamer Snover also owned their home and were in dwelling 143. Thamer was no longer teaching school; he was 62 and had taken up farming (1900 United States Federal Census, Enumeration District 175, Stillwater Township, Sussex County, New Jersey, Sheet 6B, 14 June 1900). Sarah and Lydia's brother William died in Ohio in February 1904. The following month, Lydia's husband Thamar Snover died. In July of that year, their sister-in-law Annie Armstrong Read also died in Ohio. Of the children of David and Mary (Hawk) Read, only Sarah Dennis, Lydia Snover and Rachel Smalley were still alive by the end of 1904. Sarah and Lydia were in Stillwater and Rachel was in Newark.

Sarah was still in Stillwater in 1910, but was not listed adjacent to her sister Lydia on the census. Lydia was in dwelling 19 and Sarah was in dwelling 28. Both sisters owned their homes (1910 United States Federal Census, Enumeration District 184, Stillwater Township, Sussex County, New Jersey, Sheet 2B, 23 April 1910). Lydia died in March 1911, almost a year after the 1910 census was enumerated. Sarah should have appeared on the 1920 census, but I have been unable to find her. She was not living with any of her children or grandchildren in that census year. She and Rachel were the sole survivors of the family after 1911. Rachel died in East Orange, New Jersey in 1924 and was buried in the Read family plot in the cemetery of Marksboro Presbyterian Church in Frelinghuysen Township, Warren County. Sarah lived until 11 April 1929 (Kern 1938; Stillwater Cemetery). She was buried with her husband in the Dennis plot in Stillwater Cemetery in the village of Stillwater. Five of their eight children are also buried in the plot: David Read, John Ogden, and Martin R. Dennis,Violetta L. Dennis Thompson (and her husband Thomas) and Flora L. Dennis Van Sickle (and her husband Albert). Two of the Dennis grandchildren—Albert Van Sickle and Edith Van Sickle Cottrell—are also buried in the plot.

When Sarah died in 1929 she was a few months short of her 97th birthday. She had outlived her husband and all of her sisters and brothers. Four of her eight children had died before her. John and Martin had died as babies. David had died in 1891 and Frank died in 1927. Four of her children were still living: Anna Cook, William Dennis, Violetta Thompson and Flora Van Sickle. In 1929, Sarah had ten grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren, and one great-great grandchild. None of the grandchildren had predeceased her and only one great-grandchild (one of the Hunt children) had died before her. Table 3 lists those grandchildren and great-grandchildren who were living at the time of Sarah's death (or who were born shortly thereafter in 1929). The great-great-grandchild who was born before Sarah's death was Florence J. Guzzo nee Vandermark (who was born in 1928).

Table 3: Living Grandchildren and Great-Grandchildren of
Sarah E. Read Dennis in 1929

REFERENCES

PRIMARY

Cemetery

Census

Marriage Records

SECONDARY

WEB SITES

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