Frank Dennie was born in 1869 in Perth, Ontario and served in the Boer War in 1898. Frank married Emerance Menard in 1912, two years after the death of his first wife, Cecilia Brisebois.

Mr. Dennie owned and operated the Hanmer Hotel and in 1914, sold the business to work for the Department of Lands and Forests as a land cruiser. Dennie was a lumberman, a political organizer, a mining promoter, a builder, and an adventurer.

Frank Dennie is credited with being the founder of the Town of Capreol, having built the first log house in the town and arranging for the CNR to establish Capreol as a permanent divisional point for the railroad.

The Dennies had eight children: Lloyd; Randolph; Frank Jr.; Maurice; Glenn; Clyde; Cecil Baker; and Epiphany "Ding". Many of the streets in Capreol bear the names of Dennie and his children.