James C. Denny

James Cook Denny (August 8, 1829 – December 1887) was an American lawyer, judge, and politician who served as the ninth Indiana Attorney General from November 3, 1872, to November 6, 1874.

Biography Early life and education Denny was born in Knox County, Indiana. His mother, Catherine (née Cook) Denny was from Central Tennessee. His father, William Denny (from Kentucky) served as clerk of Knox County from 1852 to 1862 and also served in the Union Army as a captain of Company E of the 51st Indiana Infantry Regiment, though he died the same month he joined the army. His younger brother, William N. Denny, who served both in the 14th Indiana Infantry Regiment and then in the 51st Regiment, attained the rank of colonel during the war and was held as a prisoner of war in Libby Prison.

James Denny grew up on the family farm. He attended various schools in Knox County before entering Vincennes University. At age twenty-one, he became a store clerk in Vincennes, a job he held for four years. Two years after becoming a store clerk, he began to read law in his free time. Denny left his job at the store after four years to become deputy Knox County Clerk. He read law for two more years while holding this office before being admitted to the bar. Denny practiced law for six years in partnership with Judge Samuel Judah until 1860. Other members of Denny and Judah's firm included William E. Niblack (future U.S. Representative from Indiana and Indiana Supreme Court Justice) and Nathaniel Usher (future U.S. Judge for the Territory of New Mexico). Denny also practiced law in partnership with George G. Reily, who later became a captain in the Union Army.

In 1861, during the Civil War, Denny joined a company of home guards organized in Vincennes. Denny was made a captain of the company.

During the 1876 presidential election, Denny was one of many Republican attorneys tasked by the Republican National Committee to go to Louisiana. The results of the extremely close 1876 election were disputed and led to a vicious legal battle between the two leading candidates, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel Tilden. Hayes barely won Louisiana by a margin of around 3%.

Personal life and death Denny sold a plot of land in Vincennes on which a Baptist church was built.

Denny married Caroline Davis, daughter of John Wesley Davis, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. Their son, Frank Lee Denny, became a colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps, serving in the Egyptian Expedition of 1882 in Alexandria, the U.S. intervention in Panama in 1885, and in the Spanish-American War.

Denny died in 1887.