Tombstone Tuesday: Thankful Williams

Tombstone Tuesday; Thankfull Williams, wife of Avery Denison

Thankfull , wife of Avery Denison, photo by Fred Burdick, used with permission

Tombstone Tuesday: Be Thankful

As you can see, Thankful's stone is brownstone (also called sandstone) and it is eroded and lichen have invaded it, making it hard to read. This kind of problem is common and you can only be sure what it reads by standing in front of it and transcribing it. I can faintly see the letters when I use a "zoom in" with my software program.  Fortunately, Fred Burdick, who photographed this, did so using a mirror and he hand transcribed it while standing in front of it. This is his transcription. The breaks in the lines of carving on the stone (indicated by the forward slash are mine.)

"In Memory of Mrs. / Thankfull wife of Mr. Avery Denison/ who died May [unreadable or missing] /1767/ in the 49th year/ of her age." 

Thankful was a daughter of Col. John Williams and Desire Denison, making her second cousin to her husband. Her parents are buried in Whitehall Burying Ground in Mystic. Her date of death is listed as May 3rd in the Denison genealogy.

The Hale Cemetery index doesn't list her at all probably because they could not read the stone. Be cautious when using this index without other sources. Avery's will is printed in the earlier Denison genealogy but not in the new one. I am going to transcribe it because grandchildren are also listed.

Thankful and Avery had 11 children and were my 5th great grandparents. Their daughter, Prudence is my ancestor. She was the mother of Rebecca, wife of Edward Stewart whose handwritten marriage record I found in my family Bible.

N. Stanton Gates, Jr.

N. Stanton Gates, Jr., a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

If little Nathan Stanton Gates had lived to adulthood, I am sure his mother would have wanted him to inherit the Denison Homestead but since he was not of strong constitution and died of appendicitis at age seven, his mother, Ann Borodell Dension Gates gave the Homestead and land to preserve it for all of us descendants so it would not "leave the family".

New England families are like that. They feel the tradition and obligation of ancient family. This spread across the nation and so everyone feels it too.

Ann Borodell Denison Gates

Gravestone photo by Midge Frazel, 15 Aug 2009

Ann Borodell Denison Gates, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

"Aunt Annie"

Buried in Elm Grove Cemetery in Mystic, Connecticut near the shore of the cemetery, "Aunt Annie" may have left no descendants but she did leave an amazing legacy to all of the hundreds of thousands of us Denison descendants. (That is not an exaggeration of descendants, either.)

Google Maps (2013), view of the cemetery.
 Notice the roads laid  out in an Elm Tree  Shape

She gave us the Denison Homestead and a lot of land. Think what that would mean today.

This week, I honor "Aunt Annie" and her husband and son. Their markers may be simple but their existence is very special.

Ann Borodell Denison (Edgar, Oliver, Oliver, George, George, William, Capt. George) #5199, p. 233 of the current Denison Genealogy, was the daughter of a seafaring father.
She was born on 31 Jan 1866 and lived a long life until 9 Feb 1941. Raised in the Homestead by her aunts, Ann was named for Capt. George Denison's second wife Ann BORODELL. It is a big honor to be named for Lady Ann and many other women through the years were also named for the lady that Capt. George Denison fell in love with while recovering from wounds sustained in wartime. He married her and brought her to America. 

I am a double-Denison as I am descended from both Capt. George's wives.  This is my cousin chart from "Aunt Annie". Notice all the local family names like Gallup, Prentice, Stanton, and Lord. Nothing is simple when it comes to Denison descendants!

Cousin Chart created with RootsMagic 6 software, April, 2013

Tomorrow we will see a photo of "Aunt Annie" and the Homestead she loved.

Tombstone Tuesday: Gates Monument

Gates Monument, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

 Gates Monument

On a hot and sunny day, I took photos in Mystic, CT at the lush and lovely Elm Grove Cemetery. This is a special monument because it is for the family of Ann Boradell Denison, wife of Nathan Stanton Gates. 

Her story is for all of us because it is the story of a woman who gave her legacy of a home and land to her descendants. 

I didn't know where this monument (and the headstones in front of it) was located so I asked my cousin and fellow gravestone photographer, Fred Burdick. As the town historian and a life long community member, Fred is now on the board of the Elm Grove Cemetery. He directed me to this location near the water.

This simple, heavy, granite monument is classic for its time. There are so many of this kind in this cemetery that you get the feeling of permanence that only granite gravestones can bring. 

Visual Look at Third Great Grandparents

Isacc_Levina Collage, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

Third Great Grandparents:
What Can Be Known?

I created this collage to demonstrate what can be shown visually about third great grandparents. The photos in the lower part of the collage were found in a copy of the oldest Denison genealogy authored by Baldwin and Clift which can be found at Google Books. Apparently, Isaac and Levina were pleased to have their photos taken and were big supporters of genealogy research.

The house is their last home together on Willow St. in Mystic. The photo with the Denison crest is  their names and dates which is on the large monument in Elm Grove Cemetery because the headstones do not always provide the right vital information. Isaac's headstone simply says I.D. but his wife Levina has information about her on the reverse side (plus her initials on the top). It took me a while to get his headstone to read clearly I.D.

Genealogists that follow us may be inspired when they look at a collage like this one instead of the "boring" pedigree chart and family group sheet. I'd be interested in your opinion.

Home of Our Ancestors page 99

Home of Our Ancestors page 99, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

Mention of Home of
Isaac Denison, Jr. and wife Levina Fish

Teaching other genealogists where to look for information about their ancestors can be a monumental undertaking! The first thing is telling them that if they want to know about ancestors who lived in the four generations before them, they will likely have to PAY for the information. That does not sit well with those who can't afford it or think everything should be free. 

I can't fix this attitude, I can only go on teaching and learning. 

When I found out that a book existed called The Homes of Our Ancestors in Mystic, CT, authored in 1903 by Grace Denison Wheeler (a genealogist, teacher and town historian in my family), I knew I had to have it. As it turns out, I bought the wrong edition. The bookseller chose not to have the last huge section of the book bound into it. That section had the cemetery records. I won't buy another book from this company. I borrowed a copy from a relative and photocopied all of the rest of the pages. I am now careful where I buy books.

Miss Wheeler, reported on this page (99), that Isaac and Levina lived in the home built by his ancestor (and mine), John Denison, first born son of Capt. George Denison. I was excited about this because I thought it might be the last time I would find out about them. It wasn't. 

Miss Wheeler tells us that the old house, where I was assuming the Thanksgiving dinners were held, was torn down in 1883. Levina did not die until 1890. That means the house on Willow St. is where those dinners were held. This is significant because it confirms a newspaper clipping (Nov 1874) I found in a family journal.

Now, what I know is that, according to records (see below) about the house on Willow St. created for a house tour (kindly provided by Dorothy Hanna of the Mystic River Historical Society) is that this house was built for them adjacent to the original house in 1839.

Mystic River Historical Society records

My second great grandmother, Eliza was most likely born in the ancient farm house because she was born in 1833. The information in Wheeler's book doesn't clarify the dates Isaac and Levina lived there and in fact is misleading to make readers think they lived here their whole married lives.

Thanks to my research buddies, Brian and Dorothy, Thanksgiving's location means so much more now. 

House Plaque

Photo by Brian Zoldak, used with permission, 2013

Sign, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

House at 6 Willow St. in Mystic, CT

No matter how long I do genealogy research, I am always amazed at what can be found out about my parents, grandparents, and great grandparents beyond what I knew in the early 1990s when the Internet began to explode with genealogical information. But, what I am NEVER expecting is to find out is information about my 2nd and 3rd great grandparents and yet, that is exactly what I have been learning on both sides of my family. 

I heard at RootsTech, there was a statement made that you will be forgotten when four generations have passed after your death. Of course, this means that people will not have actually known you but I feel that I can speak for genealogists everywhere that we are unlikely to not leave behind traces of remembrance of ourselves and four generations before us.

Recently, I got a big surprise when my photographer friend, Brain Zoldak, went out with his camera and photographed scenes of where my ancestors walked in Mystic, CT. This plaque is on a house at 6 Willow St. in downtown Mystic (not on Denison Ave. but nearby) where my 3rd great grandparents lived their last years together as husband and wife. 

Levina Fish Denison, whose name is frequently misspelled as Levinia (which oddly was the name of one of her granddaughters) was born in 1790 and died, probably at the home of her son, the Rev. Frederic Denison, in Providence, RI in 1890. That was 123 years ago. She was my third great grandmother. I have copies of not one but two photographs of her.

It was news to me that she lived in this house. For the next two days, I will blog about my adventure with finding out about this house.

Tombstone Tuesday: 8th great grandmother (1712)

Ann Borodell Denison (1712), a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

Classic Death Head Gravestone

My 8th great grandmother and one of the oldest gravestones in my collection. Ann Borodell, 2nd wife of Capt. George Denison. Her gravestone is an original. It was moved from another graveyard to Elm Grove Cemetery. The Denison Society has a brass casting of this gravestone so it will always be clearly read.

Dixon Hotel and Edward Denison

Dixon Hotel_Westerly Witnesses, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

Edward Denison's Tavern 

 

Edward Denison, drowned 9 Dec 1726 (Denison Genealogy #51, p. 6) is mentioned in this article about the Dixon House.

The grandson of Capt. George Denison and son of George Dension, he built a house on this location, is listed as a tavern keeper.

Mystery of Cap't George Denison's Gravestone

George Dension, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

Mystery of the Gravestone of Cap't George Denison 

Fellow Genea-blogger, Barbara Poole, [Life from the Roots] alerted me to this book about Hartford's Ancient Burying Ground shown here in this collage.This is her excellent photograph of the gravestone in her blog post.


I decided that this was a book I wanted to read and much to my delight, my library system has a copy for loan. I can't wait to read it.


Cap't George Dension was a colorful figure and his influence on his community is quite well recorded. I am descended from both his wives. Born in England about 1620, George came as a young teen to America settling in Roxbury, MA. He died 23 Oct 1694 in Hartford, CT.


When I visited the Denison Homestead , I took this photo of a well worn sandstone gravestone. I was told by my cousin, Fred Burdick, who is the historian for Stonington, CT. that when the cemetery wanted to replace this gravestone, they asked the Denison Society if they wanted it for display in the Homestead.


I love it because it is the perfect example of how TALL one of these gravestones really is. Most of it is below ground. You can see the dark area where it was above ground.


When I took this photo, another cousin told me that she owned a postcard from her mother's collection that showed the gravestone. To my surprise, it is NOT the gravestone postcard that the Society sells. That postcard is of the new stone. However, the "new stone" looks old.


I was wondering how I could ever explain this to people just learning about gravestones?


Robin, another cousin, and I have worked together on a mutual line and she admired the original gravestone of Cap't George's second wife, Ann Borodell. Her gravestone is presently located in the Elm Grove Cemetery in Mystic near a memorial gravestone for Cap't George and Lady Ann. So, we made an agreement that she could have a copy of my photo and I could have her copy of Capt. George's.


I didn't know when the gravestone was reproduced and exchanged until Barbara Poole found a reference to this in this book shown here in the collage.


By the way, Lady Ann's gravestone has been copper casted and was moved to Elm Grove from the Denison cemetery on the Cove probably by my ancestor, Levina Fish Denison, wife of Isaac Denison, Jr.


I keep thinking about how Cap't George and Lady Ann are NOT buried together. She outlived him. He is buried in Hartford because that is where he died while on official Connecticut business.


His first wife is probably buried in the Roxbury, MA burying Ground [Eliot Burying Ground] but there is no stone there that I know of. The cemetery there is locked and only available by appointment.


Who says gravestones are easy to photograph because they don't move?

DENNISON

DENNISON, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

It is fun to look for your own family surname in a cemetery that is not even remotely near where your ancestos lived. My Denison ancestors would be very surprised to see this gravestone with the double N .

Taken in St. Patrick's Cemetery in Watertown, Massachusetts

Hydrangeas in Bloom

Hydrangeas in Bloom
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

As I am "easily distracted by headstones", I took a few minutes to appreciate the lovely plantings in the Elm Grove cemetery this month.

Heavy with flowers, this bush provides shade for some of my most ancient of ancestors in the Denison plot. You can see the sandstone grave in the right corner.

Daughter

Daughter
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

This is the back of the gravestone of:

Esther C. Holmes (1816-1891) wife of Benjamin Latham
daughter of Jeremiah HOLMES and Ann Borodell DENISON

This allowed me to place her with the right parents so I am glad they did not leave the back blank.

Denison-Gallup Family Reunion

Denison-Gallup Family Reunion 21 Aug 2010
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

Combining family reunions often draws a larger turnout as was the case on 21 Aug 2010. This tent was in the field near the Denison Homestead.

The luncheon was delicious and the two families got along very nicely. There was laughter and much conversation. I met the genealogist for the Gallup Family and talked to her for a while. I shared some photos of Joan Gallop and Thomas Joy's memorial gravestones which are in the Old Ship Meetinghouse churchyard in Hingham, MA. She was delighted.

It was to celebrate the first union of the Gallup family and the Denison family. Many marriages took place after this first wedding and made both families stronger neighbors and defined their posterity as wealthy landowners in Mystic, CT.

I am a life member of both societies.

300th Anniversary Wedding Vows

"William Denison" and "Mercy Gallup" exchange vows
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

The is a photo of the reenactment of the wedding of Mercy Gallup and William Denison's wedding in 1710 at last Saturday's (21 Aug 2010) combined Denison and Gallup reunion in Mystic, CT hosted by the Denison Society at Pequotsepos Road.

The magistrate was Archibald Gallup and the groom (William) was Jonathan McCue and the bride (Mercy" was Amy Marie Scott.

The guest speaker was historian Gail White.She told us that it was the custom for the groom to run away after the banns were published and the men who were family and friends of the bride had to go look for him and bring him back for the wedding!

Presenting the bride and groom

"William" looks to the crowd for support

Wedding Banns

Posting the Banns
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

In the 1700s, (and probably before that) it was customary to post the intentions, called banns, of a marriage some days or weeks before the actual wedding.

I see this mentioned sometimes in the wedding date records of my ancestors instead of a recorded date of marriage. Although Mercy and William's banns did not survive as a record nor do we know who married them, this is most likely what they said.

The tent in the background was where the ceremony and luncheon was held. It was probably "fancier" than what this bride and groom had for a reception.

It was a lovely day, breezy and not too hot. The bride and groom changed quickly as the costumes were very hot.

Making the Table

Cherry Sewing Table 2
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

 Blog Post #1 "Wrote in their Drawers"
Blog Post #2 "Wedding Gift"'
Blog Post #3 "Table and its Drawers"

"For Eliza Fish Denison, given by her to her son Charles E. Stewart"

 "Made by Daniel Edgecomb, Mystic, 1823"

If these notes had not be written in "their drawers", I would not have known the history of this table. It is confirming evidence that the writing in the family bible was done by Eliza Fish Dension Stewart. She lived with her son after her husband died, and lived a good long time with them. My grandfather was a teenager when she died and must have listened to her stories of the family history. Charles, my great grandfather, kept a scrapbook of newspaper clippings. Most of them were about the North Stonington area, so I donated it to the North Stonington Historical Society after photocopying several pages of articles and obituaries.

Because this lower inscription says "for", it confirms that this piece of furniture was given to her from the Fish household, passed to my great-grandfather, my grandfather, my mother and now to me.

But, what is most mysterious is the original notation about Daniel Edgecomb. Daniel Denison Edgecomb (1802-1887) was the grandson of Rachel Denison (1734-1815), wife of Joseph Copp. She was the great grandaughter of John Borodell Denison and his wife Phebe Lay who are in my direct line.

To be continued...

Wedding Gift

Cherry Sewing Table 1
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

 Blog Post #1 "Wrote in their Drawers" [continued]

"This table originally came from the house of Simeon FISH in Mystic [Connecticut] and was given to Eliza Denison Stewart in 1856 at the time of her marriage"

Obviously, this writing was put inside the drawer a long time ago. I don't know whose handwriting this is but it might belong to Levina FISH, who was Eliza Fish DENISON's mother. It matches nothing else in the family bible or in other pieces of furniture I own.

Levina FISH (one of my third great grandmothers) was a driving force in this family. She was a strong willed woman who assumed the matriarchal role quite easily. She was the wife of Isaac DENISON, Jr. and blended right into the DENISON family before they knew what hit them.They married in 1856 just as it states in the drawer.

Simeon FISH (1797-1863) was the brother of Levina. He was the son of Deacon Sands FISH (1762-1838) and his wife Bridget GALLUP (1768-1842). Simeon is buried in the Old Fish Burying Ground in Mystic on the Groton line with his wife Eliza Roe RANDALL.

This cemetery is on private land and I was given permission to photograph all of the graves there and the family shared a plot map and dates. I purchased, last year, the Fish genealogy compiled by Lester Warren Fish, A.B. M.D. in 1948 which is more interesting than the usual genealogical works because it is not only well researched, it is full of information about the people whose graves I have been photographing.

Simeon8 #1987 page 307 [and his sister Levina] (Sands7, Nathan6, Nathan5, Samuel4, John3, Alice2, John1) Simeon was a" farm boy, became a shoemaker, merchant, ship owner and farmer. He accumulated a large property, spoke plainly and abhorred dishonestly."

To be continued....

William DENISON

William Dension
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

William DENISON, (William2, George1), the grandson of Capt. George Denison was born 24 March 1686/7 in Stonington, New London, CT and died at Stonington at age 38 24 Feb 1724/5. He was the husband of Mercy GALLUP. They were married, probably on Denison land near where the Denison Homestead land is now.

On the eve of his brother George DENISON's marriage to Lucy GALLUP (sister to William's wife Mercy), the "mansion hous" where Capt. George DENISON and his wife Lady Ann BORODELL built and lived, burned. This was 5 Jun 1717. The wedding took place and George and Lucy rebuilt the house.  It stands today.

As William and his brother George married GALLUP sisters Lucy and Mercy, this was probably a close-knit young generation. William and Mercy, who died within a few weeks of each other, probably of smallpox, they probably left their children who were not already married in the care of William's brother, George.

William and Mercy's oldest child, named Mercy married Hubbard BURROWS in 1730
The second child, Sarah married James MASON in 1738
The third child, Esther (my ancestor), married Jonathan WHEELER in 1731/2
The fourth child William, married Prudence DENISON in 1737
The fifth child Hannah died as a young child
The sixth child Benadam married (first) Anna SWAN in 1742
The seventh child Jonathan (may have been called Nathan) Martha Williams married in the 1740s and had no children.

This is a continuing story of research since I just learned that there is more information about Denison family members that would fit in the present Denison genealogy.

William is buried next to his wife at the Dension Burying Ground #19 in Mystic, New London, CT.

"Here lies ye body of William Denison, who died Feb. ye 24, 1724-5  ages 38 years."

Summer Wedding

Coming home
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

On 21 August 2010, there will be a celebration of the wedding of Mercy Gallup to William Denison. This wedding took place three hundred years ago.


The wedding invitation tells us this wedding will be held at the Denison Homestead (pictured here) at noon. I hope to be in attendance.

Mercy Gallup was a daughter of Benadam GALLUP and his wife Esther PRENTICE. [see the preceding blog posts]

I am directly descended from this young couple! It is not often you get to an ancestor's wedding!

Of course, this was not the house that stood here as Mercy and William were married seven years before this house was built.