Fred Edwin Dennis was born June 20, 1894, in Monroe County, Ohio. He was the son of Benjamin Frank and Nettie (Kirkbride) Dennis. He attended school in Marietta (Normal School) and Ohio University in Athens.
On June 19, 1915, he married Miss Bessie Emily Caskin. To this union, two sons and five girls were born. The boys were William Frank and Joseph Edwin, who died at the age of 14 months. The girls were Helen Louise (now Mrs. J. Bernard Mason), Ruth Emma (now Mrs. Coleman Knight), Betty June (now Mrs. Clifton Knight), Esther Louise (now Mrs. Ralph Hickerson), and Virginia Nell (now Mrs. Benton Cochran).
Dennis began preaching in 1917 at Warner, Ohio &village near Marietta. Ohio). He was not what is often referred to as a full time preacher doing local work. He was an evangelist that travelled far and near wherever he was needed, regardless of the pay.
He always lived in his own home in Marietta, Ohio, and did travelling evangelistic work in the greater Parkersburg-Vienna, West Virginia, area where he held more meetings and baptized more people than in any other area. This was within 15 miles of his home and thus enabled him to be at his home at night and to have his wife accompany him to the meetings.
States in which he conducted meetings were Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama. Most of his meetings were held within 100 miles of his home in Ohio or West Virginia.
He held meetings in mission areas and helped begin several congregations. He kept a file of the names and dates of those baptized or restored during these meetings and the number was over 3,000.
He encouraged young men to become gospel preachers. For 11 years, he taught in rural schools of Washington County. In 1909 he was baptized by Ollie Willison, an elder in the Marietta church where he was a member for the rest of his life.
In 1917 he preached his first sermon and in a very few more years, he left the school room to become a travelling evangelist devoting most of his time to Ohio and West Virginia.
He was a gifted writer also. He served on the staff of the old Christian Leader published in Cincinnati, Ohio, by F. L. Rowe. Later, he was on the staff of the Gospel Advocate and also the Bible Herald. He is the author of five published books and he had prepared manuscripts some years ago for a fourth book of fifty sermons, which has not been published.
He also wrote an autobiography dealing with his meeting work and travels which was published in the pages of the Bible Herald. On March 31, 1983, at his home in Marietta, Ohio, Dennis left this earth for a better home with his Lord.
