Jesse Dancey was born on a farm in Fairbury, Illinois in 1876. His father was a farmer who had emigrated in 1847 from County Cavan, Ireland, and received the family farm through a land grant from President Pierce. Dancey attended a college preparatory school in Bloomington, Illinois, and studied for the ministry beginning in 1894 at the Lodemia Methodist Church. McDowell Circuit certified him and in 1898 he was ordained as Deacon by Bishop William Nende. He graduated from Illinois Wesleyan (1899) and Boston Theological School (1902). He received an M.A. (1910) in sociology from the University of Chicago (his Master's thesis was entitled "The Church and Society: A Working Program"), and a D.D. (1916) from Illinois Wesleyan. During World War I, he served as a Red Cross Chaplain with the Northwestern University Medical Unit in France and England.
From the description of Papers, 1870-1936. (Iowa State University). WorldCat record id: 17848037
