DENHAM, JAMES DEJARNETTE(1833~1920). James DeJarnette Denham was born on February 28, 1833, in Madison County, Kentucky to Parker Denham and Anna Freeman. Denham moved to Texas in 1847,at the age of 14, but later moved to Boone County, Missouri, where he married Margaret Mary Tucker on October 15, 1853.
James and Margaret had one child, and possibly two, before moving to Texas. A third child was born in Texarkana in 1857, but it appears Margaret did not survive the labor, for she died there, along with her second child.
After moving to Goliad, Goliad County, Texas, James married Ann Elizabeth Benham on January 24, 1861.
With the outbreak of the Civil War, he joined Company D, of the 12th Texas Cavalry, in Parson's Brigade, of the Trans Mississippi Army. Denham served from 1861 to 1864, before being mustered out of service.
Denham returned to Goliad, where he worked as merchant and a blacksmith. In 1881, after having nine children, Ann died and was buried in Red Top Cemetery, Centralia, Boon County, Missouri.
Needing help raising his children, Denham married Cornelie Hord in 1881, who appears to have died within a couple of years of their marriage.
Denham married for the fourth, and final time, in 1895. He married Sanoria Pope, who passed away in 1907.
There are no records showing Denham married again or had any more children. He worked in Goliad as a merchant and blacksmith and in 1902, applied for and received a Confederate Pension. On February 14, 1919, Denham, at eighty-five years old, moved into the Confederate Men's Home in Austin, Travis County, Texas, claiming old age as his disability.
On September 30, 1920, he was sent to the Austin Asylum, now the Austin State Hospital, where he died on November 26, 1920. He was buried in the Texas State Cemetery that same day.
Information taken from descendant, Confederate Pension Application, and Confederate Home Roster. |
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