History has a lot of twists and turns, connections that are unforeseen until we follow them down the road to see where they lead. In Hickory, I discovered a man of incredible talent who, even after trying figure out who he was, his full story eludes me. What I do know is this. H.C. Denny was an Africa-American man, who in the 1880s owned a barber shop down on Union Square.
The newspapers of the era carried advertisements for his business and occasionally items were placed in the paper like the following. “H.C. Denny has added to his already complete shop, one of the latest improved barber chairs. It is the most comfortable chair we ever occupied, and in it you can get the best shave to be had in the State, especially in the city.”
It seems that the establishment of the city endorsed Mr. Denny. His shop was in the lower floor of the town’s first bank. In that era, barbering was, for a man of color, one of the best ways to establish himself in town and H.C. Denny was very successful, as the endorsement of his technique as a “tonsorial artist” was attested in the paper’s mention.
But Mr. Denny was much more. While running the Parlor Barber Shop, which welcomed a white clientele, he was busy. One of the premier lawyers in town, Clinton A. Cilley invited Denny to study law under him. After his tutelage (this was the standard way most future lawyers learned their profession), Denny passed the bar with the best score of any in his class. He was introduced to the legal profession by another of the town’s barristers, E.B. Cline. Thus, H.C. Denny ran ads for not only his barbering skills but also his legal work.
In addition, H.C. Denny believed in the uplift of his town. In 1895, he posted this notice under the heading “Help the Library!” He wrote, “I propose as follows: Whenever a gentleman belonging to the Library Association, has his hair cut at my place and pays twenty-five cents, I will give him a ticket showing that I will pay the Association five cents, which he can hand to the Treasurer. At the end of the month the Treasurer can get the tickets cashed by me. This offer to be good for three months. H.C. Denny, Barber.”
Before the end of the year however, notice came that Mr. Denny planned to leave Hickory. His destination was Washington, D.C. to “take a post graduate course in the Washington University.” The paper wished him much success. The only other mention came when the editor noted that Denny had obtained “a clerkship in the post office department.” After that, no other information about what heights he went on to attain was ever reported. Similarly, we do not know if H.C. Denny was born in Hickory or came here after the Civil War. No other source even gives a clue to what “H.C.” stood for, though I suspect it might be Henry Clay, named for the Kentuckian who became Speaker of the House upon his entry into Congress and three-time presidential candidate.
The only other information found of H.C. Denny was that he had a brother named Tom and his mother worked as a housekeeper for a prominent businessman in Knoxville, Tennessee. We can travel that road next week.
Photos: Hickory paper ads for the expertise of H.C. Denny
