Background
Ada was descended from a long established Buffalo family, the Ketchums of Buffalo New New York
Ada was descended from a long established Buffalo family, the Ketchums of Buffalo New New York
Denis was raised at the family home, Straw Hall, until he attended boarding school in England.
Denis Gage Deane-Tanner was the fourth of five children born to Jane O"Brien and British Army Major Thomas Kearns Deane-Tanner in what is now Carlow, Ireland. Denis and Ada Charlton Brennan wed September 14, 1907 in New York City. The couple would have three children, daughters Muriel Denise (born August 1908), Kearns (born August 1909) who died within hours of his birth.
Lastly, daughter Alice Eleanor (born December 1910).
Ada who had contracted tuberculosis (presumably from Denis, as he and many of his close and distant relatives had the disease) was periodically treated for the illness throughout her life. Denis was in fact treated for the illness at the Acoaxcet Sanitorium in Westport, Massachusetts and the Ogden Farms Sanitorium in New York during their courtship.
Eventually Ada established contact with Denis" brother, esteemed Hollywood director William Desmond Taylor. The rumor that the blacksmith in Taylor"s 1914 film Captain Alvarez was Denis Deane-Tanner was mentioned in the papers and attributed to an anonymous New Yorker who stated he recognized him.
While the rumors vary from the wild and salacious to mere conjecture, the reality is that through the investigations of both the police and reporters of the time, Denis was not the murderer, nor was he a part of the murder.
Reporters at the time floated the idea that Denis was masquerading as Edward Sands, his brother"s felonious butler. Handwriting analysis of both men and known photo comparisons quickly disqualified the misinformation. Denis never contacted his family in the United States, nor his family in England and Ireland.
lieutenant was believed within the family that Denis eventually succumbed to tuberculosis while living in anonymity in either the United States or Europe.