Son of John Dennis (Tennison); husband of (1st) Mrs. John Dennis; father of Mary C (1813--1861), John (1814-1870), William A. (abt 1817-, Levi R. , Celia J. (abt 1822-) Husband of (2nd) Parnina Gunnels ; father of Thomas Jefferson, Nancy Zemora Dennis, Catherine Summer, George Washington, Andrew Jackson, Daniel Pitts,and Sarah Jane


James was orphaned early in life (1808) and Turner Patterson was named guardian "for James Tennison, an orphan" in Dec. 1808 (or 1810) court along with Asa Tenneson (North Carolina). (Green p. 211) Turner was married to James' older sister Celia.

Little is known of James' first wife whom he married in about 1812 in TN. She appears to have died at or near the time of the birth of James Browder in 1823.

James marries our Parnina Gunnels in 1824 in TN, together they have 7 children.

"James Dennis was a native of North Carolina. He died in Tennessee at age of fifty-two years. His wife passed away in 1875, aged seventy-eight. She was before her marriage Miss Parmina Gunnells, and her mother, whose maiden name was Beenefield, came to this country from Europe. By a previous marriage James had six children, and by Permina he had seven." (Green p. 39 as copied from "The Lone Star State", Lewis Publishing Co., 1892 Chicago, Ill. Reproduced by Walsworth Publishing co. Inc. pages 962-963).


"James died in Overton Co. TN in 1838 without a will leaving his second wife, Parnina to petition for dower in October 1839. The claim was settled in 1840 with the widow receiving 172 acres on the "waters of Ashburn creek". In 1840 the Administrator of James' estate sells on the courthouse steps "at auction to satisfy heir's demand for division of estate" five slaves, two being Cupid and Eddy of the Edmund Lyons deed."
Sue Dennis Green, volumn 2, "Descendants of James Dennis" contains detail information on the descendants of James Dennis