B. A. Denney, farmer, was born in Smith County, Tenn., July 8, 1824, and is one of a family of four children, all living, born to George and Mary (Winfrey) Denney. The father was born in North Carolina, October, 1800, and came to Tennessee with his parents when but six years of age. They located in Smith County, where he lived until about thirty-five years of age, and then moved to Alabama. He acted as overseer here and died in 1865. The mother was born in Virginia about the same year as her husband. She died in 1833.
Our subject received a rather limited education in the Alabama schools, and in October, 1866, married Martha J. Utley, a native of Carroll County, Tenn., born January 16, 1835, and the daughter of Green and Elizabeth Utley. Four children were the result of our subject’s marriage: James T., Robert C., Maggie M. and John D. April, 1856, Mr. Denney located where he now lives, and owns, in all, about 1,600 acres of land. He has nearly 500 acres in the home place, all well improved, and about seven miles nearly east of Milan. In 1882 he was elected magistrate, a position he continues to hold. He is a life long Democrat in politics, and he and wife are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.
Source: History of Tennessee from the Earliest Time to the Present: Together with an Historical and a Biographical Sketch of Carroll, Henry and Benton Counties, Besides a Valuable Fund of Notes, Original Observations, Reminiscences, Etc., Etc. Easley, S.C.: Southern Historical Press, 1978.