A Brief Historical Sketch of John B. Denton,
Namesake of Denton, Texas,
Commemorating His 160th Birthday

Written for: Feature Writing Class —- Dr. Mitchell Land
April 3, 2001

Denton County, The City of Denton, Denton Creek, Denton High School—So many institutions named after the obscured, historical figure John B. Denton.

Other institutions, such as banks, schools, a municipal airport, even a waste management system are indirectly so named, though pay no homage to the man whom their name originates.

May 24th marks the 160th year after his martyrdom.

Who was this man Denton? Good luck asking the average Dentonite. He is probably likely to shrug his shoulders and take a wild guess.

The name of Captain John B. Denton carries on— If only in name in the minds of the people of the city which bears his name.

His remains lie on the southeast corner of the Courthouse-on-the-Square. A stately historical marker surrounded by a waist-high iron fence marks the monument. The plaque informs passers-by he was a “frontier preacher, lawyer and soldier.”

The raised iron letters of the plaque lament the loss of Denton during a battle with the Keechi tribe, an offshoot of the Caddo nation.

The details of the life of John Denton are corroded by the passage of time even faster than paper deteriorates.

From what can be ascertained, Denton was born in Tennessee in July of 1806. One of his earliest biographers, William Allen, tells in his book “The Life and Times of Captain John B. Denton” his parents died when he was a mere eight years old.

A family named Wells adopted young Denton shortly before they migrated to the Arkansas Territory. According to Allen, Denton wasn’t as well accepted as the natural born Wells children. He ran away from home at 12 years old.

Denton found work as a flatboat pilot on the Arkansas River and managed to live on his own. Denton probably never went to school and was illiterate throughout his teenage years.

By age 18, he had found a wife, Mary Greenlee Stewart of Louisiana. Stewart was well educated and from an affluent family. They met as the Stewart family visited Arkansas. According to Allen, it was love at first glance.

It must have been a beneficial relationship-- Mrs. Denton taught John how to read and write in the years which followed.

In one of those years, Denton accepted Jesus Christ as his savior. Feeling the call to become a preacher, he joined the course of study for minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church. Denton preached during this time, as the Methodists at that time allowed lay preachers. After receiving his ordination, he served for 10 years in Arkansas and Missouri as an itinerant minister.

In the Fall of 1836, he and his family crossed the Red River with the Rev. Littleton Fowler into the newly independent Republic of Texas on a mission. Christian congregations were as sparse as finances in the crossed timbers of east Texas. In order to provide for his family, he studied law.

Incredibly, six months later, he became a lawyer in partnership with fellow Methodist preacher John B. Craig of Clarksville.

Allen wrote the lack of religion on the frontier, as well as an intense disgust for the Mexican church-state system, caused Denton much difficulty in reaching the masses for Christ. If the settlers weren’t hostile enough, Native American tribes would provide formidable resistance enough to convince a lesser-motivated preacher to pack up and go back east.

Nevertheless, Denton amassed large crowds to his sermons, often outdoors. The evidence of his mass sermons are anecdotal. However, he is attributed to have given the first sermon in the area that is now called Denton County.

As Denton became heavily involved in legal affairs of the new Republic, he ran for the Texas Senate against Robert Potter. It was not known if Denton had run for many years. But according to Texas Senate archives, Denton did run. Although Denton was a well-recognized person in his area, he lost to Potter who was well-known himself for his involvement in the Regulator-Moderator War in Shelby County, Texas.

Political upheaval wasn’t the only form of violence on the plains of Texas. Denton faced numerous Indian attacks as he traveled along the winding trails. Denton’s home of Clarksville was especially a target of belligerent tribes. Many settlers in east Texas were killed by Indians and some rebellious members of a ranging company.

Mike Cochran, candidate for Denton City Council and a long-time researcher of the life of John Denton, said this massacre inspired Col. Edward Tarrant (whom Tarrant County is named for) to conscribe a militia to seek vengeance against the Keechi tribe for that act of frontier violence.

“Though the history books describe Denton as a hero, by modern standards that would be difficult to justify,” Cochran said. “They were successful because the men were off hunting; Tarrant even kidnapped one child and they plundered the supplies of the villages.”

Denton willingly volunteered for this mission. Alas, this act of vengeance would be his tragic downfall.

Though Cochran said the plundering of Native American villages does not count as heroism by today’s standards, he does attribute such action to the settlement of our region, which at the time was mostly uninhabited.

“Studying one man can allow you to understand the movement of which he was a part,” he said. “That movement is responsible for the settlement of North Texas.”

The Indian raids were successful in the first few campaigns. But Denton faced his destiny as they pursued a retreating band of fighters through a creek bed.

Cochran said after raiding the Keechi village and burning two of their lodges, Col. Tarrant ordered the militia split in two after finding resistance at the third. Denton headed one branch of the militia and chased the Keechi into a densely overgrown patch at the bottom of Village Creek.

“Denton headed straight into an ambush,” Cochran said. “He was instantly killed.”

One account in Allen’s biography said Denton was instantly killed by a bullet that hit his chest as he raised his rifle to fire.

A granite marker near Green Oaks Blvd. and Loop 820 in Arlington marks the infamous battle of Village Creek. A short walk down the pathway will lead a visitor to one of the final resting places of Denton. Yes, John Denton had several resting places!

The first burial of John Denton was in a simple, unmarked grave on the east bank of Oliver Creek which adjoins Denton Creek, near Justin. It was abandoned as Col. Tarrant’s militia rode back for home.

“My own opinion is that he was buried on an unnamed creek to hide his body from the pursuing Indians,” Cochran said. “It is unlikely he was ever found.”

In 1846, five years after the Village Creek battle, and the new State of Texas divided the territory that had been part of the Republic’s Fannin County into smaller counties. Tarrant and Denton were memorialized in the naming of these new counties.

“Denton was a product of his time,” Cochran said. “It was the custom to elevate anyone killed in Indian battles to hero status.”

John S. Chisum, who accompanied Denton and Tarrant on the raid, returned 20 years later to exhume the remains of Denton’s body and give him a hero’s burial. He carefully placed the remains in a wooden box and transported it to his home on Clear Creek near Bolivar (west of Sanger). Chisum diligently buried the remains in a corner of his backyard.

In 1901, the Pioneer Association of Denton County researched the remains, which were again dug up and brought to the light. After thorough research, they determined the body was Denton’s.

The association hosted an immense ceremony to bury the remains in the Denton County Courthouse yard, with full military honors.

Cochran discovered the lost will of Denton in 1989. The will clarified many of the spurious details of Denton’s life, including his property holdings, the names of his children, his signature and even his middle name.

“My barber, Gene Hartman over on Fry Street, had found a manuscript about Denton in an old house here in Denton and he gave it to me,” said Cochran. “It mentioned that Denton’s probate records were still there in the courthouse in Clarksville.”

Cochran traveled to the Red River County Courthouse and obtained a dusty box with numerous legal records inside. He found one brittle, crumbling document. It was the Last Will and Testament of John B. Denton.

“From it, I discovered that most of the history books were wrong about his middle name,” Cochran said. “It is John Bunard Denton, not Bunyon as most have thought.”

Cochran said he plans to compile his research into a book to share with the public.

“It is a long story, but that is what makes the study of John B. Denton interesting-- Unraveling the mystery and trying to put together a logical narrative that is supported by evidence,” he said.

While there is no John Denton Day to mark the passing of the fallen preacher, lawyer and soldier, there was a Denton Sesquicentennial Celebration in 1996. Descendants of John B. Denton’s family and members of various Native American tribes cut a giant birthday cake together, hand in hand.

“It was sort of a reconciliation ceremony, and it was very heart warming,” said Cochran.

More information on the study of the life of John B. Denton can be viewed online at http://www.iglobal.n et/mayhouse.dentonhistorypage.html