| Notes |
- The origin of this family name is English. The name denotes one who came from Dent (hills) in the West Riding of Yorkshire.
Armes: Or, on a blend, sable three lozenges erminois. (See Dent gravestone in St. Andrews Episcopal cemetery, St. Mary’s County.)
The proving of English parentage of American settlers is most difficult and through the unscrupulousness of early as well as later genealogists many flagrant errors have been made. Most of what has been written seems to bear some credence. There is a market town on the bends of the river Dee in West Riding, Yorkshire named Dent. It is generally believed that the family derived its name from the town.
About 1318 Willielmus filius Roberti de Dent deeded land in the village of Wertherny (Wertherby?) for the use of the knights Templar. It later reverted to the Dent family and according to the Historical and Archeological Journal of Yorkshire it was still held by descendants in 1889. A list of freemen of Yorkshire in 1365 records the name of Willielmus de Dent, pacemaker. In 1365 Earle de Dent was granted the armes of the family at Yorkshire.
In addition it can be stated that the following has been proved with absolute certainty:
Peter Dent, naturalist and professor of Cambridge University recorded in 1684 the background of his family in Cambridgeshire Pedigrees in the Heralds Collage of London, England.
William Fenwick (a contemporary of King Henry VII) married Joane Musgrave who was co-heiress with her brother Thomas, Lord of Ryall and Heaton. They had at least one son, Sir John Fenwyke.
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1438 - 1490 (52 years)
