The son of Dr. Robert E. and Mary Green Dennis, Edward Dennis was born in Lee County in 1872. He graduated from Bingham Military Academy in North Carolina and at Vanderbilt University, receiving a B.S. degree in 1895.
He taught school in Kingstree and then attended the University of Pennsylvania while working for the publisher of a legal encyclopedia. He was admitted to the Bar in 1898, but continued his employment until he opened his office in Darlington, South Carolina in 1901.
He married Blanche Corinne Moorer and they had a son, Edward, who became a lawyer, and a daughter, Blanche. He was a member of the Masonic Order, the Knights of Pythias, the Woodmen of the World and of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
A public servant throughout his life, he served as the Mayor of Darlington from 1911 until 1922, as a State Legislator for two years and as Circuit Judge of the Fourth Circuit for 22 years. Intelligent, learned in the law, always conscientious and hard working, his ambition was to do justice and follow the law.