CHAPTER
III.
DAVID THOMAS DENNY. David Thomas Denny was the first of the name to set foot upon
the shores of Puget Sound. Born in Putnam County, Indiana, March
17th, 1832, he was nineteen years of age when he crossed the
plains with his father's company in 1851. He is a descendant
of an ancient family, English and Scotch, who moved to Ireland
and thence to America, settling in Berk's County, Pa. His father
was John Denny, a notable man in his time, a soldier of 1812,
and a volunteer under William Henry Harrison. The long, rough and toilsome journey across the plains was a
schooling for the subsequent trials of pioneer life. Young as
he was, he stood in the very forefront, the outmost skirmish
line of his advancing detachment of the great army moving West.
The anxious watch, the roughest toil, the reconnaissance fell
to his lot. He drove a four-horse team, stood guard at night,
alternately sleeping on the ground, under the wagon, hunted for
game to aid in their sustenance, and, briefly, served his company
in many ways with the energy and faithfulness which characterized
his subsequent career.
With his party he reached Portland in August, 1851; from thence,
with J. N. Low, he made his way to Olympia on Puget Sound, where
he arrived footsore and weary, they having traveled on foot the
Hudson Bay Company's trail from the Columbia River. From Olympia,
with Low, Lee Terry, Captain Fay and others, he journeyed in
an open boat to Duwampsh Head, which has suffered many changes
of name, where they camped, sleeping under the boughs of a great
cedar tree the first night, September 25th, 1851. [203]
The next day Denny, Terry and Low made use of the skill and
knowledge of the native inhabitants by hiring two young Indians
to take them up the Duwampsh River in their canoe. He was left
to spend the following night with the two Indians, as his companions
had wandered so far away that they could not return, but remained
at an Indian camp farther up the river. On the 28th they were
reunited and returned to their first camp, from which they removed
the same day to Alki Point. A cabin was commenced and after a time, Low and Terry returned
to Portland, leaving David Thomas Denny, nineteen years of age,
the only white person on Elliott Bay. There were then swarms
of Indians on the Sound.
For three weeks he held this outpost of civilization, a part
of the time being far from well. So impressed was he with the
defenselessness of the situation that he expressed himself as "sorry" when
his friends landed from the schooner "Exact" at Alki
Point on the 13th of November, 1851. No doubt realizing that
an irretrievable step had been taken, he tried to reassure them
by explaining that "the cabin was unfinished and that they
would not be comfortable." Many incidents of his early experience
are recorded in this volume elsewhere. [204]
He was married on the 23rd of January, 1853, to Miss Louisa
Boren, one of the most intelligent, courageous and devoted of
pioneer women. They were the first white couple married in Seattle.
He was an explorer of the eastern side of Elliott Bay, but was
detained at home in the cabin by lameness occasioned by a cut
on his foot, when A. A. Denny, W. N. Bell and C. D. Boren took
their claims, so had fourth choice. For this reason his claim
awaited the growth of the town of Seattle many years, but finally
became very valuable. It was early discovered by the settlers that was
a conscientious man; so well established was this fact that he
was known by the sobriquet "Honest Dave."
Like all the other pioneers, he turned his hand to any useful
thing that was available, cutting and hewing timber for export,
clearing a farm, hauling wood, tending cattle, anything honorable;
being an advocate of total abstinence prohibition, he never kept
a saloon. He has done all in his power to discountenance the
sale and use of intoxicants, the baleful effects of which were
manifest among both whites and Indians. [205]
Every movement in the early days seems to have been fraught
with danger. D. T. Denny traveled in a canoe with two Indians
from the Seattle settlement in July, 1852, to Bush's Prairie,
back of Olympia, to purchase cattle for A. A. Denny, carrying
two hundred dollars in gold for that purpose. He risked his life
in so doing, as he afterward learned that the Indians thought
of killing him and taking the money, but for some unknown reason
decided not to do the deed. He was a volunteer during the Indian war of 1855-6, in Company
C, and with his company was not far distant when Lieut. Slaughter
was killed, with several others. Those who survived the attack
were rescued by this company.
On the morning of the battle of Seattle, he was standing guard near Port Decatur;
the most thrilling moment of the day to him was probably that in which he helped
his wife and child into the fort as they fled from the Indians.
Although obliged to fight the Indians in self-defense in their warlike moods,
yet he was ever their true friend and esteemed by them as such. He learned
to speak the native tongue fluently, in such manner as to be able to converse
with all the neighboring tribes, and unnumbered times, through years of disappointment,
sorrow and trouble, they sought his advice and sympathy.[206]
For a quarter of a century the hand-to-hand struggle went on
by the pioneer and his family, to conquer the wilds, win a subsistence
and obtain education. By thrift and enterprise they attained independence, and as
they went along helped to lay the foundations of many institutions
and enterprises of which the commonwealth is now justly proud. David Thomas Denny possessed the gifts and abilities of a typical
pioneer; a good shot his trusty rifle provided welcome articles
of food; he could make, mend and invent useful and necessary
things for pioneer work; it was a day, in fact, when "Adam
delved" and "Eve" did likewise, and no man was
too fine a “gentleman” to do any sort of work that
was required. Having the confidence of the community, he was called upon to
fill many positions of trust; he was a member of the first Board
of Trustees of Seattle, Treasurer of King County, Regent of the
Territorial University, Probate Judge, School Director, etc.,
etc. Although a Republican and an abolitionist, he did not consider
every Democrat a traitor, and thereby incurred the enmity of
some. Party feeling ran high. At that time (during the Rebellion) there stood on Pioneer Place
in Seattle a very tall flagstaff. Upon the death of a prominent
Democrat it was proposed to half-mast the flag on this staff,
but during the night the halyards were cut, it was supposed by
a woman, at the instigation of her husband and others, but the
friends of the deceased hired "Billie" Fife, a well-known
cartoonist and painter, to climb to the top and rig a new rope,
a fine sailor feat, for which he received twenty dollars. The first organizer of Good Templar Lodges was entertained at
Mr. Denny's house, and he, with several of the family, became
charter members of the first organization on October 4th, 1866.
He was the first chaplain of the first lodge of I. O. G. T. organized
in Seattle. In after years the subject of this sketch became prominent in
the Prohibition movement; it was suggested to him at one time
that he permit his name to be used as Prohibition candidate for
Governor of the State of Washington, but the suggestion was never
carried out. He would have considered it an honor to be defeated
in a good cause. He also became a warm advocate of equal suffrage, and at both
New York and Omaha M. E. general conferences he heartily favored
the admission of women lay delegates, and much regretted the
adverse decision by those in authority.
The old pioneers were and are generally broad, liberal and progressive in their
ideas and principles; they found room and opportunity to think and act with
more freedom than in the older centers of civilization, consequently along
every line they are in the forefront of modern thought.[208]
For its commercial development, Seattle owes much to David Thomas
Denny, and others like him, in perhaps a lesser degree. In the
days of small beginnings, he recognized the possibilities of
development in the little town so fortunately located. His hard-earned
wealth, energy and talents have been freely given to make the
city of the present as well as that which it will be: D. T. Denny made a valuable gift to the city of Seattle in a
plot of land in the heart of the best residence portion of the
city. Many years ago it was used as a cemetery, but was afterward
vacated and is now a park. He landed on the site of Seattle with
twenty-five cents in his pocket. His acquirement of wealth after
years of honest work was estimated at three million. Not only his property, money, thought and energy have gone into
the building up of Seattle, but hundreds of people, newly arrived,
have occupied his time in asking information and advice in regard
to their settling in the West.
He was president
of the first street railway company of Seattle, and afterward
spent thousands of dollars on a large portion of
the system cable and electric roads of which the citizens of
Seattle are wont to boast, unknowing, careless or forgetting
that what is their daily convenience impoverished those who built,
equipped and operated them. He and his company owned and operated
for a time the Consolidated Electric road to North Seattle, Cedar
Street and Green Lake; the cable road to Queen Anne Hill, and
built and equipped the ''Third Street and Suburban" electric
road to the University and Ravenna Park.[209]
|
Author Emily Inez Denny ca. 1880
(from Blazing the Way) 
Emily Denny 1911
(courtesy UW Special Collections)
Emily Denny 1917
(courtesy
MOHAI) |
|
