being the oldest of the boys. The responsibility and chief labor of improv-
iuii the farm and supporting the family devolved upon him and his mother,
and, with the assistance of the younger children, they struggled on to the
accomplishment of both. Meantime he attended the Lebanon Academy
and obtained an education sufficient to qualify him for teaching a common
country school. He taught six months and then attended Willamette Uni-
versity, at Salem, for two years. He then began reading law with Hon. A.
Holbrook, at Oregon City. That gentleman being called East, on business
connected Avith the National Sanitary Commission, of which he was chief
agent for Oregon, he prescribed a course for his student, furnished him with
text books and sent him to Salem, where he joined a class, consisting of the
late C. G. Curl, Thomas Caton, H. A. Gehr and William Waldo. The class
recited to Hon. L. F. Grover, at picsent United Senator, for one year,
when they each entered law firms. Mr. Denny went in the firm of Hons.
J. G. Wilson & B. F. Harding, and after being admitted to the bar in
1862 he went to The Dalles, in Wasco county, and began practice alone. In
September of the same year he was appointed, by Governor A. C. Gibbs,
County Judge of that county, which position he held one year. He then
went to Idaho Territory to make collections for merchants at The Dalles,
resigning his office to do so. The business detaining him, he opened an
office at Centreville and practiced law for a short time, with marked suc-
cess. He then returned to The Dalles, and at the following election was nom-
inated for the office of County Judge on the Republican ticket, and elected
by a large majority. At the expiration of his term he was renominated and,
although the county went largely Democratic, he was only beaten eight
votes. Mr. Denny gained great credit for his administration of county
affairs while he held the office of Judge, the bonds of the county advancing
from fifty cents on the dollar to par value during his term. He was
married to Mrs. Gertrude J. White, an accomplished widow with one child, a
daughter, in 1868. He then removed to California and located in San Jose,
where he practiced law one year, when he returned to Oregon and, locating
in Portland, he again began the practice of his profession. In 1871 he was
elected Police Judge for the city of Portland, and was re-elected in 1873 on
the Repubhcan ticket. During his last term he was tendered the Consul-
ship, at Amoy, China, by President Grant, which office he declined, not
having been an applicant. In 1875 he was appointed Collector of Internal
Revenue for Oregon and Alaska by President Grant, when he resigned the
office of Police Jiidge and entered upon the duties of his new position. In
May, 1877, he was appointed Consul at Tientsin, China, by President Hayes,
and in 1879 he was promoted to Consul General, with residence at Shanghai.
He entered upon the duties of that responsible position April 1st, 1880, and
still continues in the office, although at this date he is visiting friends and
attending to official duties in Oregon. Mr. Denny was appointed to the
office which he now holds, at the request of Hon. William M. Evarts, then
Secretary of State of the United States, without his having made applica-
tion for the same and without his knowledge. He holds high relations with
other foreign Ministers and Consuls to the Chinese Empire and is held
