Moresville Ball
This invitation, housed in the Stamford Village Library history room, is from George A. Dent for a Ball in Moresville in 1861. I believe Dent only ran his Public or Boarding Houses from about 1860-1864. Moresville was named after the founders of the area, the John More family, and changed to Grand Gorge in 1875, much to the chagrin of the townspeople. Sadly, I did not find very much information on Dent.
George Dent was born about 1828 probably in Roxbury to Thomas Hollingsworth (1799-1881) of Lincolnshire England and Betsey, of CT, (Sturges 1794-1858) Dent. George started out as a merchant in Roxbury/Grand Gorge then, I believe, purchased Humphrey Crary’s home/boarding house in 1860. Both gentleman received an excise (liquor) license in 1860. George married Helen Wicks about 1851 and they had at least six children. One daughter, Ella, died of diphtheria August, 1861 age six years and ten months and is buried in Fair View Cemetery, Grand Gorge. The last item I could find, in the local newspapers, about George was a Cotillion Party that he held in 1863. If I read the legal notice dated February 2, 1864, correctly George Dent borrowed $1,300 in 1858 from the More family and defaulted on the loan, which is perhaps why he and his family are in the 1870 Topeka, KS census.
I only found one newspaper article that mentioned the Merwin Band, consisting of three violins, one bass viol and a clarinet, playing at an event in Prattsville in 1858.