Dennis and His Wives

Rollercoasters

My genealogy rollercoaster this past summer.

Genealogy is an exciting, frustrating, quirky, emotional, time-consuming, slow, but sometimes fast-moving rollercoaster. I love to ride this rollercoaster, but sometimes I need to get off. I'd gone through a good amount of slavery records and wills this year. Meaning I went back and forth analyzing records while feeling upset, angry, sad, and back to angry. There were times I realized I couldn't really take in anymore and just stared at the screen. My husband says I talk about my people and the records in a very analytical way. I have an almost cold, very "matter of fact" way of telling him things. And he's right, but only because I've experienced this emotional rollercoaster before I say anything. This past summer though, I believe God provided a release for me. I cannot remember what led to the decision, however, I made a simple search on one site that became a welcome break.

The File

There is a lot of money to be made from people who research their ancestry. We pay to access records and old newspapers of different sites. We also pay different government institutions for copies of records only they have. Or, we pay for trips to local courthouses so we can find these records ourselves. Either way, we generally pay, so I don't always think of government websites that have free digitized records available. But many do have free records available. I went to the National Archives and typed in Sycamore just to see what might come up. The very first page of results showed an "Approved Pension Application File for the Dependents of Dennis Sycamore."

I tell you, I was stunned. The next thing I know, I'm looking at a file that is 230 pages long! Right from the beginning, I find there is a dispute between 2 women who both claim to be the widow of Dennis. I have to admit, all I could do is laugh. I had seen records for the woman named Betty Sycamore, and somehow decided she had married the son Dennis. I never thought Dennis the senior married  Betty, much less while he was married to Mahala. This file had medical records, witness affidavits, Naval records, and marriage certificates. In other words, I hit the motherload.

Bureau of Pension letter, 1901.

Source: National Archives

It took a while, but I finally made it through the file. I am beyond amazed. Dennis Sycamore was born free to John and Sally Sycamore about 1830 in Norfolk County Virginia. He had at least 4 siblings named Betsey, Lilly Ann, and William. Dennis enlisted into the Navy around February of 1854, where he served on a ship called Pennsylvania. He would go on to serve on 5 other Naval vessels up through the Civil War. During this time, Dennis married a free woman named Jane Cotton from the same general area of Virginia. While Dennis served, Jand had to navigate much of their marriage years without him. She was free, but certainly not safe as she cared for at least 3 children. Her son James, my great grandfather, said "she lost her mind so my father could not do anything with her." Jane was placed in jail, where she later died. There are a few references to this. And no one knows exactly when or how she died. I'm starting to think Dennis Jr died around this time too because James said "I had been placed" with another family. I understand if she went a bit crazy. They just survived the Civil War within a Confederate state, without Dennis Sr. Then she lost her daughter Sarah Ann, and may have lost a son. It took a while for me to move on from this information. I still have questions about this.

Wives 2, 3, and 4?

In August of 1873, Dennis married a widow named Mahala Cuffee. She said he talked a lot about the Navy and suffered from rheumatism that developed while he served. Apparently, they didn't get along very well. They lived together about a year and a half but argued a lot. Then Dennis "hurt her feelings" and she had him arrested, so he went to live with his father John. This happened at least twice before Dennis didn't come back. James never knew they were married, just thought they lived together. How? He was young when this was happening but still, how? He only knew of Betty as a wife of Dennis.

In 1885, Dennis met Betty Ann Gillis while working on the farm of a man named Tom Owens. When they married 3 years later, she told him to give the name of William Moore "because I didn't like the name Dennis Sycamore." And... he did. Dennis never got a divorce from Mahala. Why? Did she know he was still married? Why agree to use a different name? No one who knew them from the farm knew of the name William Moore. It's real iffy to me.

Now at some point, Dennis lived in the home of Emma Jordan. Some people thought they had married. The people investigating Mahala's and Betty's pension cases never found a marriage record. But it looks as if the house he had is the same home he shared with Emma. Did he marry her under a different name? Were they even "together" or did they just live in the same house? Regardless, my mind is fried trying to figure out who did what with whom and when. The number of little side stories within this file has floored me. I can't imagine what else happened. Dennis has moved up on my list of ancestors I would love to talk to.