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His preparatory education was acquired in the public school in the vicinity of his home, and was supplemented by a course in Flushing Institute. He was reared on a farm, and assisted in the work thereof during his early years, thus gaining a thorough knowledge of that necessary branch of work, and he continued along the same line in his native town until January 9, 1888, when he left the farm and removed to Centerport, Huntington Township, Suffolk, New York, locating on a farm there which he conducted for two years, and then entered the employ of James Cockroff, having charge of selling the publication entitled Encyclopedia of Forms, for the Edward Denison Law Publishing Company. Later, for one year, he was in the employ of the Northport Steamboat Company, discharging his duties in an acceptable manner. During his residence in Northport, to which town he went in 1896, he reorganized, equipped and uniformed its Fire Department of sixty men, of which he was the chief for four years, after which, in 1900, he returned to Centerport, following farming there until 1901. He gained his first experience in the Fire Department at Newtown, Long Island, which he joined in 1875 and of which he became foreman, and served for two years. He was one of the prime factors in the organization of the Centerport Fire Department, which he served as chief for a number of years. While chief of the Northport Fire Department, it took the prize at the county fair, and later, when he became chief of the Centerport Fire Department, it took the first prize over the Northport Fire Department. Probably few men in the United States have taken so active and prominent a part in fire department matters, his term of active service extending over thirty years. When Mr. Denton retired from the position of chief of the Centerport Fire Department, his company presented him with a solid gold badge in token of their appreciation of his efforts in their behalf.
For a period of more than four years, Mr. Denton represented his district on the Republican county committee, took an active part in planning campaigns and in advancing the work of the Republicn party, the principles of which he believes to be for the best form of government. He gave up farming in 1901 to enter the Highway Department at Centerport, town of Huntington, as commissioner of highways and served three terms of two years each. he had two hundred and seventy-three miles of road to supervise, and during his term of office he built thirty miles of stone road. At the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of huntington, at which time President Roosevelt was a guest, and Mr. Denton was grand marshal of the parade. he was also grand marshal and a committee of one at the opening of the Cross Island Trolley. He took a keen interest in the Indian History of New York State, and sought and collected many relics of that once great race.
In 1910, Mr. Denton disposed of his property at Centerport, Long Island, and removed to his present home on Park Street, West Springfield, MA. Immediately upon coming here, he began to take an active part in political affairs. It soon became known that he had lived in the shadow of Sagamore Hill, the home of ex-President Roosevelt, who at that time was beginning the formation of the Progressive party, and at the first meeting of that party in Hampden county, Mr. Denton was elected as the president of the organization, and during the entire campaign he took a very active part in all things connected with the activities of that party. During the great parade which took place in Springfield, in 1912, Mr. Denton acted as grand marshal and his first aide was the well-known Indian Scout, Jack Crawford, and among the guests of honor was Governor Johnson, of California, well-known as one of the leading Progressives of the United States.
Mr. Denton also assisted in the organization of the Board of Commerce in West Springfield. Among his other activities, which have been of great importance to West Springfield, are his services in connection with the location of the West Springfield end of the new bridge across the Connecticut River. On December 15, 1914, a commission was appointed, consisting of Frank L. Worthy (since deceased), John C. Brickett, L.F. Ivers, and Henry H. Denton, the latter being the president. After three years of strenuous work, the object for which this commission was formed was accomplished, and when the new bridge is completed its termination in West Springfield will be the present site of the old bridge which was built more than one hundred years ago. He is a member of the Auto Club, which he joined in 1910, and in whose affairs he has since taken an active part. Upon the declaration of war by President Wilson, in 1917, the Home Defense League was formed and Mr. Denton was elected captain of the flying squadron, and he is also a member of the Committee of Public Safety, which acts in conjunction with the Police Department and carries with it the power of constable. On October 24, 1917, he was appointed one of the fuel commissioners, MA branch of the United States Fuel Commission, and served as secretary of this committee. He is also chairman of the Soldiers’ Information Committee of West Springfield, the object of this committee being to obtain information relating to the men at the front, for the benefit of their relatives. For six years he was a member of the National Guard, having enlisted in the Seventeenth Separate Company, in 1882, and each year received a bar for qualifying as a sharpshooter. Mr. Denton is a student of mineralogy, and has spent considerable time in getting together a rare collection of minerals from all over the world. (Source: Encyclopedia of Massachusetts, Biographical - Genealogical, pp. 38-40).
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1857 - 1935 (77 years)
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