The photographs and sketches that remain of Josephine Denny (1893–1992) are a window into the life and times of a remarkable woman. Josephine started her newsworthy career as a “bride” in a Tom Thumb wedding, grew up to be an educator and passionate supporter of the arts and the history of Greene County, then ended her days as a proper Victorian lady in her family home in Waynesburg, surrounded by the memories and mementos of a lifetime of world travel and the good works done for her neighbors and her community.
Her father E.L. Denny gets his share of mentions in G. Wayne Smith’s History of Greene County. His fortune was made in 1897 when a well he invested in paid off royally. What he and his family did with that money helped Greene County build and educate its way into the 20th century and beyond.
Smith also supplies the details of a popular form of entertainment in 1898 – a Tom Thumb wedding at the original Opera House, put on by the Ladies of the Presbyterian Church. With 29 kids ages three to eight playing their roles, four-year-old Josephine was the bride and James Pauley Jr. the groom. When Miss Denny, who never did marry, smiled as she showed me the photo in 1989, I was so charmed by their serious little faces I turned it into a pen and ink sketch for the cover of the 1990 Greene Country Calendar.
When E.L. Denny died in 1910, it was up to mother Louise Ingraham Denny to raise her daughters to be part of her world of community improvement projects being done by the Greene County Federation of Women’s Clubs. Collectively, these groups helped fund college scholarships through the hospital auxiliary, build playgrounds and libraries for children and support tuberculosis treatments and research. They passed resolutions of support for the issues of the day – employment of prisoners, libraries in prisons; child labor and equal divorce laws. Over teas they did their genteel best to encourage their husbands and political influencers to support the advancement of a civilized culture.
Josephine and sisters Mary and Helen went to Waynesburg College and supported it throughout their lives – great grandfather J. T. Hook was a founding trustee when the Presbyterians built the school in 1847 and Denny Hall was named in their honor. Mary and Helen married and Helen went on to a career in opera. Josephine, the middle child, earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1915, and then set off to explore the world. She lived with a Parisian family while studying art history at the University of Besancon and attended lectures in Rome and Florence, Italy. After teaching in private schools in Chicago and Long Island, she returned home to continue her volunteer work and taught science at Waynesburg High School from 1936 to 1942.
The Hospital Auxiliary that sponsors scholarships for students going into the medical field opened the Cherry Door, a nonprofit clothing exchange to help fund the scholarships and bring needed goods to the community. The Social Service League Denny helped launch still has a mission to make sure Central Greene students have hats, gloves and other necessities during the school year.
As the approaching 1776-1976 Bicentennial set America on a mission to revisit its past, Miss Denny, as she was now known, really hit her stride.
As a member, and later president, of the Greene County Historical Society she lead the charge to buy the county poor farm in 1973 and did her part to turn the 52 room mansion into one of the finest collections of Colonial and mid-Victorian artifacts in the nation.
Those who still remember Miss Denny will recognize that smile. It’s 1978 and she’s just turned 87 and ready to tell the world about historic Greene County as she still remembers it. There’s hardly a piece of Victorian furniture, appliance, garment or photograph that she hasn’t seen, used or recognized. The article makes due note of all the “pitchers, tools, machinery, Indian artifacts and guns” but allows Miss Denny to point out it’s a museum, not a mausoleum – it’s alive and growing, with programs throughout the year.
I have a hunch Miss Denny would give her genteel Victorian smile of approval to what the Greene County Historical Society is doing now.
The author of this piece is a Green County Treasure in her own right.