HISTORY OF MAINE - George Thomas LITTLE:
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Among Mark's papers is found a record of some events in his early life, written by him.
He says: "In early boyhood I hated school, until about nine years old, when my fancy changed and I liked the school and began to stand at the head of my class. Our school privileges were very limited. I attended to nothing at school but reading, spelling and writing until I was thirteen years old; but I progressed in the old arithmetic at home under the instruction of my father and brother, to the rule of three. At thirteen years I commenced the arithmetic at school, and during the winter term I mastered about one-half Merrill's Arithmetic. In the spring of 1800, at a short term of six weeks of Grammar School, I progressed in English Grammar so that I could parse simple sentences. In September a term of Grammar School commenced, and I attended to the study of Latin, and during the winter I advanced into Virgil and Cicero. In the spring my father said that I must help him on the farm. In the winter of 1801-2, there was no Grammar School, and I mastered the last half of the arithmetic. In the winter of 1802-3 I studied Latin at home and recited my lessons once a week with Reverend William Briggs.
On October 25, 1803, my father died, and the care of the farm devolved on me, and I was thus deprived of school privileges. During the winter of 1803-4 I devoted every spare hour by day and very long evenings to the study of Greek, and in December, 1804, I received a certificate of qualification for teaching in the Grammar School from three ministers who were college graduates. Jan. 1, 1805, at the age of eighteen, I commenced teaching the Grammar School in Kittery, and excepting two or three years (when otherwise employed) I continued to do so several months each year until I was sixty years old, when my hearing failed and I declined the service.
In 1807, my mind being religiously impressed, I was baptized and joined the Christian church, of which act I never repented."
Mr. Dennett was much interested in local history, and was an honored leader in the town of Kittery. He was selectman seventeen years; deputy to the general court of Massachusetts from 1814 to 1819 inclusive, and a member of the first legislature of Maine. He was state senator several times, justice of the peace, and captain and major of the militia.
Published in the Piscataquis (ME) Observer 15 Jul 1880 p3: "Hon. Mark Dennett of Kittery, now in his ninety-fourth year, and the oldest surviving member of the Legislature of Massachusetts and of this State, is still in excellent health and retaining his mental and physical powers in a remarkable degree. Major Dennett represented his town in the Massachusetts Legislature from 1814 to 1819, and in the Maine Senate in the years---1822, 1823, 1827 and 1828."
