Isaac and Levina: Dynamic Duo

Denison Stone Close up
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

Isaac DENISON and Levina FISH

The marriage on 18 Feb 1817 of Isaac DENISON, Jr. and Levina FISH brought together two prominent families in the Stonington-Groton, Connecticut area. This couple was such a “dynamic duo” of their time that they had their portraits published in the earliest Denison genealogy by Baldwin & Clift (1881) which is now in the public domain at Google Books. (see page 156) They were staunch Baptists; members of the Baptist Church in Mystic.

One of their sons, the Rev. Frederick Denison, A.M., was a prolific writer, Baptist minister, and chaplain in the Civil War. His book, Westerly & Its Witnesses, is also in the
public domain at Google Books is filled with pages of interesting stories about Westerly, Rhode Island. [Rev. Denison is listed as a descendant of Roger Williams but I have not been able to prove that connection to myself.]

Rev. Denison visited and catalogued cemeteries in the town of Westerly and I have needed those records to find the original resting places of many people in my family as many of the graves and their stones have been disinterred and moved to River Bend Cemetery. I so wish he had recorded the maiden name of Maria, wife of John Taugee (Tourgee) as I am unable to find out anything much about her.

This large Denison monument at Elm Grove Cemetery in Mystic, places Isaac and Levina’s names and dates directly under the Denison crest. I have photographed all of the stones in this large extended plot. Most all of the names on the large stone have corresponding headstones to indicate where they are actually buried. I missed the one for Isaac since it is not inscribed on the back as is Levina’s. Levina’s gives her parent’s name in addition to her husband’s which was the clue to my finding out more about my Fish ancestors.
But, I don’t know why Isaac’s headstone just bears his initials.
Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Denison, Jr. were my third great grandparents.

A Record of the Descendants of Capt. George Denison, of Stonington, Conn: With Notices of His Father and Brothers, and Some Account of Other Denisons who Settled in America in the Colony Times By John Denison Baldwin, William Clift Compiled by John Denison Baldwin, William Clift Published by Printed by Tyler & Seagrave, 1881