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May Dewey Phillips, my great-grandmother, was the daughter of Henry Enoch
Dewey and Sarah Jane Tenney. According to handwritten accounts that have
been passed down through the family, Henry Enoch Dewey was born 12 May 1833
in Fovant, Wiltshire, England. His ancestry was not known for certain until
Nancy Feroe, Historian of Benton County, Arkansas, discovered that the full
maiden name of Henry’s sister was Martha Tryphena Dewey. Appearing in the
1841 census for Fovant, Wiltshire, England are three families named Dewey,
listed consecutively, including this one:
75 James Dewey 1786 Labourer
75 Judith Dewey 1801
75 Tryphena Dewey 1826
75 Enoch Dewey 1833
75 Fanny Dewey 1839
http://www.fovanthistory.org/census1841.html
According to the marriage records for Fovant, Wiltshire, England, James Dewey,
a widower, married Judith Carpenter on 20 November 1825. Martha Tryphena Dewey,
born in 1826, was therefore a full sister of Henry Enoch Dewey. A previous
marriage on 14 October 1812, between James Dewey and Fanny Lever, was almost
certainly the same man, because (1) James named his youngest daughter Fanny;
and (2) the other James Dewey listed in the 1841 Fovant census (with a wife
named Sarah) was born in 1801, and would not have been married in 1812.
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~engwopcp/fovant/mar1800.htm
According to the baptismal records for Fovant, Wiltshire, England, James and
Fanny Dewey had a daughter named Mary Ann (baptized 22 August 1813), a daughter
Elizabeth (baptized 21 May 1815), and a son named George (baptized 18 May
1817). Baptismal dates are listed for two children of James and Judith Dewey:
Tryphena (11 June 1826), and Enoch (16 June 1833).
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~engwopcp/fovant/bap1820.htm
According to handwritten family records, Henry Enoch Dewey came to America
when he was 15 years of age and settled in Wheeling, West Virginia. However,
he appears as "Enoch Dewey" (age 17) on the passenger list for the "Princeton,"
which sailed from Liverpool and arrived in New York on 14 August 1850. His
intended residence is given as "Clinton Co." (nine states have counties by this
name). In 1855 he appears in Vermilion County, Illinois with Dr. James E.
Spencer, who had married his sister, Martha Tryphena Dewey, who is named in
family records as “Aunt Martha, Daddy’s (Henry’s) only relative in the U.S.”
On 24 December 1857 Dr. Spencer purchased 400 acres just east of Maysville in
Benton County, Arkansas (Book D, Page 315). He named the land Harmony Springs,
and settled on the property a group of vegetarian Christians, including Henry
Enoch Dewey. In 1859 they established the Harmonial Healing Institute on the
premises. It was here that Henry Enoch Dewey and Sarah Jane Tenney fell in
love and were married on 3 May 1860. The service was conducted by Rev. James
E. Spencer, and was announced in the 6 June 1860 issue of the Monroe
Sentinel, Green County, Wisconsin, where the Tenneys had formerly resided.
Sarah Jane Tenney was born 7 October 1836 in Hanover, Grafton, New Hampshire.
She was the daughter of Dr. Abijah D. Tenney (born 22 October 1809) and his
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