When in Cornwall in 2003, I trekked around the various churchyards between Penzance and Lands End, looking for signs that the Dennis family had ever been present. Apart from the memorials at St Levan church, I found only one Dennis headstone, for Richard Dennis and his wife Caroline Eddy in the graveyard at Pendeen. At the time it was disappointing that I could not prove a connection between Richard and the family I was researching.
But the trail has freshened up, due to recent contact from Marilyn Shumack. Richard was a brother of the Elizabeth Dennis who came to South Australia in 1865 with her husband William Olds and family. Another of Richard's sisters, Grace, also came to Australia. Grace and her husband William Johns Lavars and their family arrived in Victoria ahead of the gold rush, in March 1849 on the Osprey.
Richard, Elizabeth and Grace Dennis were among the children of Richard Dennis of Mylor, near Falmouth, and Grace Thomas of Morvah, who married in 1814 at Madron near Penzance. Richard (Snr) was a miner and agricultural labourer and his son Richard was a tin miner and copper miner.
I'm hoping someone out there has checked the parish records for Mylor and district and can tell me whether the Dennis family of Mylor does connect to the Dennis family of West Penwith.
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