EARLY LIFE
Henry Dennis was christened in East Peckham on Dec 16 1610. He was the third child of William Dennis and Margaret Vigiance.
MARRIAGE
Henry married Margaret King ten miles to the west in Shipbourne on 27 SEP 1632. They christened at least five children in East Malling:
POSSIBLE CONNECTION TO LONDON AND JACOB HALES
Henry's daughter Mary may be the mother of Jacob Hales. If so, she was around 30 when she married John Hales in Cripplegate, London, Middlesex, 1 May 1665.
According to My cousin Gary Higgens, they returned to Yalding, Kent from London to avoid the plague. His source was a " ... communication between the Curate of Yalding and his bishop, in which the Curate wrote about the new people coming temporarily into the parish" and, elsewhere, he is not sure if the Yalding" he scribbled in his notes was the parish or where he intended to look. He thinks it may have been Lenham.
East Malling was a maratime parish.
There is no Dennis family listed in the 1664 hearth tax, but five miles away in Yalding there are homes listed for all three males mentioned in the christening record (Henry Dennis Sr, Henry Dennis Jr and William Dennis). In addition, a Henry Dennis is listed as the owner of house with one hearth in St Giles Cripplegate, Middlesex's 1666 hearth tax. (Status unpaid)
Thus we find Henry Dennis' name in all three parishes connected to Jacob Hales' story: East Malling, St Giles Cripplegate and Yalding.
YALDING
Assuming the identifications are correct, the 1664 hearth tax of Yalding identifies the homes of Henry Dennis Sr (abt 54), Henry Dennis Jr (abt 26) and William Dennis (abt 31). All three owned houses with two chimneys. William's was most likely the least expensive and not charged the tax.
Notes on William Dennis