Biography of George O. Denison, pages 412/413/414/415.  History of 
DeKalb County, Indiana; B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc., Indianapolis, 
1914.



George O. Denison



	It is not an easy task to describe adequately a man who has led 
an eminently active and busy life and who has attained a position of 
relative distinction in the community with which his interests are 
allied. But biography finds its most perfect justification, 
nevertheless, in the tracing and recording of such a life history.  It 
is, then with a full appreciation of all that is demanded and of the 
painstaking scrutiny that must be accorded each statement, and yet with 
feeling of satisfaction, that the writer essays the task of touching 
briefly upon the details of such a record as has been that of the 
honored subject whose life now come under review.

	George O. Denison is a native of Richland county, Ohio, where he 
was born on August 17, 1845, the son of George D. and Salome E. 
(Fenner) Denison. He is of the ninth generation of the family in this 
county, the emigrant ancestor, William Denison, having come from 
England some time during the early colonial period, settling at 
Roxbury, Massachusetts. The family originated in Scotland where the 
name was spelled Danielstown. The subject of this sketch was reared on 
his father’s farm to the age of seven years, when the family moved to 
Wood county, Ohio, where he resided about eighteen years, the home 
being located south of Toledo. In addition to his farm there the father 
also owned a tract of land southeast of Waterloo, Indiana, in Grant 
township, DeKalb county, and in 1866 he came there with the intention 
of improving and selling it, George and his brother Flex being left to 
run the farm in Ohio.  However, after living here for a time the 
parents found their Indiana home more to their liking than the Ohio 
place, consequently they sold the latter and their sons came to their 
Hooseir home, where they made their permanent residence.  The subject 
of this sketch had always given his attention to agricultural pursuits, 
but in 1880 he engaged in the ice business, having constructed an 
artificial lake on his farm for that purpose, and he soon had an 
extensive business, furnishing all the ice to the town of Waterloo, 
Auburn and Garrett. His brother, Levi, was associated with him in this 
business until about 1898, when they split the business, Levi taking 
the trade at Garrett, and George continuing at Waterloo.  He has 
carried on this business until the present time, and is this as well as 
in farming has achieved definite success.

	In public affairs Mr. Denison has been prominent for a number of 
years. In 1890 he was elected trustee of Grant township, holding the 
office for five years, and in 1898 he was elected clerk of the circuit 
court, assuming the duties of his office in October, 1900.  In addition 
to the regular four years term for which he was elected, by legislative 
action his term was extended to the end of the year 1904, after which 
he served a deputy clerk, in which capacity he has served most of the 
time since, his continuous service in this position being due to his 
intimate knowledge of the official records and the business connected 
with the office of county clerk. This also noteworthy owing to the fact 
that as a Republican he served under Democratic clerks.  In March, 
1913, after destruction by fire of many of the count’s books of record, 
Mr. Denison was appointed and commissioned in conjunction with Mr. 
Austin to restore the destroyed records, and is now engaged in his 
responsible work, for which he is probably better qualified than any 
man in the county.

	In 1873 Mr. Denison was married to Joanna Bowman, who was born 
and reared near Auburn, the daughter of Joseph and Ida (Borst) Bowman. 
Her parents were early settler of DeKalb county, having come here from 
Canton, Ohio, at a period prior to the advent of railroads here, making 
their permanent location about two miles west of Auburn, where Mrs. 
Denison lived until her marriage.  To Mr. and Mrs. Denison have been 
born the following children: Nettie is the wife of Willis J. Eberly, of 
Waterloo, and they have three children, Fred, Helen and David; Daisy is 
the wife of Clyde Fee and lives on a farm east of Waterloo, and they 
have five children, Hubert, Georgia, Kenneth, and twins Alene and 
Irene; Vay is the wife of Verne Grosscup, and lives in Auburn, they 
have two children, Catherine and Dorothy; George Bradford, the only son 
is now running the farm and ice business for his father. He married 
Agnes Brown, and they have two children.

	Politically, Mr. Denison is, as before stated, a Republican and 
has been a stanch supporter of his party during the campaigns, an in 
this connection it is noteworthy that the official position held by him 
have all been attained without any solicitation on his part-certainly a 
marked testimonial to his personal standing and efficiency.  
Fraternally, he is a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and in the latter order he has passed 
the chairs in the local lodge and served as a delegate to the grand 
lodge.

	Mr. Dension has clear recollections of DeKalb county at a time 
prior to many of the public improvements which now characterize this 
county, having, in early childhood, come here on a trip with his 
parents, who were looking for land.  He recalls the rough and unsightly 
appearance of the country, which was characterized by the entire 
absence of good roads and bridges, necessitating many detours in order 
to avoid streams and swamps.

In the Denison family the military spirit has been prominent for many 
generations, the trait having been marked even in the first ancestor in 
America, who had been a valiant officer of high rank in the English 
army and possessed a coat-of-arms. Although Mr. Denison was legally too 
young for military service in the Civil war, he enlisted, but was too 
late to see any active service in the field. He has since been a member 
of the Waterloo Rifles, a well known local military company.   His 
brother, Levi L, was a captain during the Spanish-American war, in 
which the subject’s nephew, Wilson H. Denison, was a lieutenant, and 
the subject’s son Bradford, is now a lieutenant in the national Guard, 
and is considered one of the best marksmen in the state, having been 
one of the eighteen sharpshooters chosen by contest at the state 
encampment to go to Sea Girt, New Jersey, where they took part in the 
great contest of National Guardsmen from the different states.  He has 
been twice selected for this contest.



Submitted by:

Arlene Goodwin

Auburn, Indiana

Agoodwin@ctlnet.com