Merchants' Hope. He settled in Accomac County, Virginia,
married and had several children, as appears by his will, on
record in the Northampton County Court House. His son,
Donnock Dennis, was born in 1645, moved to Somerset
County, Maryland, and resided there until 1716, when he
died. He married Eliza Lyttleton, daughter of Nathaniel
Lyttleton. He was appointed Lord High Sheriff of the
county in 1685 by Governor Copley, an office at that time of
high rank and dignity, and was a lawyer by profession.

The descendants of Donnock Dennis held high positions in
each generation and were recognized as men of learning and
ability, holding offices in the courts and councils of the State
and of the Nation.

Lyttleton Dennis, fourth in descent from Donnock, mar-
ried Elizabeth Upshur. He was an able man and an eloquent
speaker. For many years he held the office of Judge of the
Court of Appeals and was a Whig Presidential elector tor
five elections.from 1801 to 1829.

His son, Lyttleton Upshur Dennis, married Sarah Waters.
He died at his estate in Somerset, known as "Essex," aged
29 years. Two children, George Robertson Dennis and Eliza-
beth Upshur Dennis, who married Mr. Murray Bush of
Philadelphia, survived him.

Colonel George Robertson Dennis married Fanny McPher-
son of Frederick County. He removed from the Eastern
Shore to Frederick County after his marriage, where he
engaged in farming, and in later years was elected president
of the Central National Bank of Frederick. In protecting
the property of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad during the
Civil War he became a warm personal friend of the late
John W. Garrett and was a director in the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad Company from ]862 until his death in 1902.

On his mother's side, the ancestors of John McPherson
Dennis were equally prominent in the early history of the
country. Governor Thomas Johnson, the first Governor of
Maryland, 1777-79, was his great-great-grandfather. Colo-
nel Robert McPherson took an active part in establishing the
independence of the Colonies and in the Revolution.

From the above record it is not difficult to see from whence
John M. Dennis derived his love of statesmanship and inter-
est in public affairs.

John M. Dennis was educated in the public schools of
Frederick County and for two years attended Milton Acad-
emy at Philopolis, Baltimore County, Maryland. At sixteen
years of age he left Maryland and was employed by the C.