Charles was reared on a farm and educated in the common schools of McHenry, Illinois and taught school two years after he was 20 in the McHenry county public schools. After moving to Southern Illinois Charles was selling a patented lamp oil, lived on a farm at Bainbridge, Illinois and taught school for ten years at Chamnesstown School. It is here that he met a fellow teacher and his wife Mary Elizabeth Bundy and on March 21, 1869 they were married. Mary Elizabeth had begun her schooling at Gum Springs church in the eastern part of the county in Stonefort Township and was the daughter of Dr. Samuel H. and Mary A. (Smith) Bundy and sister to William H. Bundy. She was born in DeKalb County, Tennessee, in 1848. They settled on the farm at Bainbridge and alternated farming and dealing in livestock with school teaching until 1873. The 1870 federal census taken on July 8th reflects Charles 32 and Mary 22 with their first child Leon E., one month old, and a 16 year old farmhand named Samuel Binkey living in Bainbridge with real estate valued at $1500 and a personal estate of $600. This was better than most for the time.
When Mary was 10 her family was living in Charleston, Illinois. She got to listen to the Lincoln-Douglas Debates and shake hands with the candidates. Charles happened to be in Freeport, Illinois at that time and also attended the Lincoln-Douglas Debates there. It became a topic of discussion for them throughout their lives.
His first experience in politics was in 1870 and on the following New Year’s Day (1871) moved his family to Marion, where he was beaten for sheriff by Alonzo Owen with 40 votes. At the fall election of 1872 he was elected circuit clerk of Williamson County on the Democratic ticket with the Joseph W. Hartwell as his antagonist. In 1874 Charles entered into partnership with William T. Davis, the Hon. James M. Washburn, then Assistant Sec. of the Senate, and his son William S. Washburn to found the Egyptian Press newspaper, which later became the Marion Post. At the expiration of his official term as circuit clerk in 1876 he entered into partnership with W. H. Bundy , his brother in law, in the drug business, but two years later sold out his interest to W. S. Washburn and confined his business to handling real estate and livestock.
In 1879 Charles and Mary acquired a home at 915 W. Main St. on the corner of S. Vicksburg and W. Main. The home was no more than a few years old and had been built for Robert M. Hundley.
By the taking of the 1880 census Charles still considered himself a farmer and was listed as such. Charles 42 and his wife Mary 32 now had four children, Leon 10, Edward Everett 6, Lora 3, and Samuel 1.
When a railway was built from Marion to Brookport by way of Creal Springs difficulties were met in obtaining right of way. Charles offered a strip one mile long through a farm he owned. A station was planned for that section and was named New Denison for him, only because the name Denison was already in use.
He went into banking in 1890 with Mr. Searing, opening a private bank under the firm name of Searing and Dennison with $30,000 capital. A little later Mr. J. H. Burnett came into the firm and afterwards bought out Mr. Searing’s Interest. In July 24, 1902 the present Marion State and Savings Bank was incorporated with a capital of $160,000 in which Mr. Denison, President, was the largest and Mr. Burnett the second largest stockholder.
In 1903 C.H. Denison was elected mayor of Marion and then re-elected in 1905 serving two consecutive terms. The 1907 directory lists him as a notary at 100 Public Square the location of the Marion State and Savings Bank (old City Hall).
When the year of 1908 began, Charles’s health had started to fail and over the next several months he limited his availability at work. On June 19th he made his last trip into the bank for only a few minutes and after that restricted himself to home. On June 26th at 6 A.M., as was his habit, he went out to feed his chickens and attend his water fowl outside his home. When he returned to the house he conversed with his son attorney Edward E. and then turned to read a magazine. After a few moments, the magazine fell from his grasp and at 7 P.M. Charles died of heart failure, passing away without uttering a sound. He was buried the following Saturday at Rose Hill Cemetery, allowing time for his children to gather from out of town.
Mr. Denison once told a friend there were two questions to ask when the impulse came to spend a dollar. First, is it necessary? Second, will it come back with interest? If neither question could be answered affirmatively, that dollar should be returned to its owner’s pocket.
Mr. Denison, a member of the Elks Lodge and member of the Williamson County Agricultural Society, was a careful conservative financier, not given to wildcat schemes of speculation and was very fortunate and successful all his life. Intimate friends ascribed his good fortune to an open ear to the advice of his talented better half, their properties having accumulated to over $200,000. They owned four fine farms in the county valued at $50,000, other realty of equal amount including their elegant home on West Main street, the splendid store building of the Allen Phyfer Chemical building of St. Louis, the largest drug house in the city, the fine Dennison building in Marion, $12,000 stock in the bank of which he was president and $5,000 stock in the Allen Phyfer Co.
Their children in the order of their births are Leon E. Denison in the Wholesale Dry Goods business at Cairo, Edward Everett Denison, attorney at law in Marion; Mrs. Lora B., the wife of Charles E. Lane, vice president and general manager of the Allen Phyfer Chemical Co., and Samuel B. Denison, farmer at Marlon.
Mary Elizabeth died at 98 in 1946. Their son Leon B. died in 1948. Son Edward Everett, an attorney, served as Congressman from 1914 till 1931 and died in 1953. Daughter Lora Lane died Feb. 12, 1969. The last son Samuel B. Denison died in 1911. All are buried at Rose Hill cemetery in Marion as a family.
(Photos and some data from 1905 Souvenir book, WCHS; Federal census records, city directories; Pioneer Folks and Places, Barbara Barr Hubbs; compiled and edited by Sam Lattuca on 01/02/2013)