Birth and Early Life

John Denison was born 20 Jun 1787. He was the fifth child (of seven), and the second son of Nathan Denison and Elizabeth Sill. According to information passed down from John himself, he was born in Forty Fort, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. His father, Col. Nathan Denison, with Col. Zebulon Butler, was in command of militia forces in what is now Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, and communicated with General George Washington that reinforcements were needed. (See Col. Nathan's FindAGrave bio for a full and accurate account of what transpired during and after the Battle of Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania, in what is today Luzerne County.)

John and his siblings grew up in the large home built by their father Nathan, who became Judge Denison after the war. This home is today a museum called the Nathan Denison House, and nearby to it is the Forty Fort Meeting House where the family and their neighbors attended worship services.

After the death of his father in 1809, John—as one of Nathan's three sons—inherited a one-third share of the farm through the Last Will and Testament of Nathan Denison, Esq., Luzerne County, Penn.,[1] with his mother also retaining a life estate.

Marriage and Family

John's marriage date to first wife Laura Fellows is unknown. His 3rd great granddaughter, C. Brooman, did extensive research as part of her successful application to Mayflower Society—even enlisting the help of the Luzerne County and Pennsylvania Historical Societies—but in the end could find only indirect evidence: Laura signed as "Laura Fellows" on a deed[2] for the distribution of her deceased father Jonathan's property, dated 31 Mar 1813. She was as yet unmarried. She signed as "Laura Denison," along with John Denison, on a deed[3] selling John's portion of Nathan Denison's farm to his brother George Denison on 13 May 1815. She was referred to in the deed as "Laura his wife."

Tax information (which has since apparently been stolen), provided to Brooman's mother in February 1985 by Luzerne County researcher Georgia S. Murray,[4] showed that in 1809 John was not listed as taxable. The year 1810 was missing. In 1811, he was taxed $100 for two horses and seven head of cattle. The year 1812 was missing. In 1813, John was again taxed only on animals—$109 for two horses and two head of cattle. However, in 1814, he was taxed $1,521 on "acreage, etc." with the "etc." seeming to indicate that there was now a house on the property. It seems that John was probably married. The same was true on his 1815 taxes. In 1816, John was not listed as taxable (by this time, he had removed to Ohio).

Laura's signatures on the deeds, coupled with the change to John's taxables from 1813 to 1814, seem to indicate that he had married sometime in early 1814.

As one final check, Brooman looked at a calendar for January 13 in a non LEAP year (2015) and backed up 40 weeks—the length of a full-term pregnancy—to April 8th of the previous year, indicating that baby Stanley was probably conceived around 8 Apr 1814. Laura could have conceived right away, or within 3 months (the average time for a woman in her early twenties with no birth control). Either way, this points to a first quarter 1814 marriage.

After the death of his mother, Elizabeth (Sill) Denison, on 27 Apr 1812, John and wife Laura sold their portion of the farm to his brother George Denison (the aforementioned deed), and in the spring of 1816 made their way by covered wagon down the National Trail to Hebron, Ohio. This, according to a short bio on the back of a headstone erected in Oak Grove Cemetery, Delaware County, Ohio, by his son Wesley. (Which, see later in this bio.)

After arrival in Hebron (today in Union Township, but at that early date in Harrison Township), Licking County, John purchased 369.64 acres of land in R19 T17 Section/Lot No. 4 in the Refugee Section of Licking County, at a price of $1,476.[5] He bought the land from New York City physician and land speculator Jonas Stanbery. Stanbery, who had recently relocated to Zanesville, Ohio, and who owned about 100,000 acres of Ohio lands before Ohio statehood(!), had purchased the land from its patentee, Canadian P.F. Cazeau. Unbeknownst to John at that time: his future great grandson would marry Jonas Stanbery's great granddaughter! Brooman wondered the same thing her mother had, whether Jonas Stanbery shook hands with John Denison and walked away thinking, "What a nice young man!"

John's seven children by Laura Fellows were the following, who were all born in Etna Twp., Licking County, Ohio, with exception of Stanley, who was born in Kingston, Luzerne County, Pa., and Elizabeth, who was likely born in Hebron, Harrison Twp., Licking Co., Oh.:

1. Stanley Denison, b. 13 Jan 1815; d. 26 Dec 1890 in Winston, Daviess Co., Missouri; married Jane Haughn on 6 Sep 1849 in Franklin Co., Ohio; 3 children.

2. Elizabeth Fellows Denison, b. 12 Jun 1816; d. 24 Mar 1864 in Nauvoo, Hancock Co., Illinois; married William A. Griffey on 27 May 1841 in Burlington, Des Moines Co., Iowa; 7 children.

3. Amanda Denison, b. 16 Aug 1817; d. 3 May 1881 in Hamilton, Caldwell Co., Missouri; married Rev. Isaac Swisher on 1 Aug 1839 in Licking Co., Ohio; 9 children.

4. Wesley Denison, b. 6 Dec 1818; d. 3 Sep 1904 in Delaware, Delaware Co., Ohio; married Ann Maria Lonnis on 25 Aug 1842 in Lima Twp., Licking County, Ohio; 7 children.

5. Samanthe Denison, b. 26 Sep 1820; d. unmarried (no issue) on 6 Dec 1839 in the Iowa Territory. Note: The name Samanthe is not a misspelling of Samantha. Brooman finds that many people are "correcting" the spelling. But Laura Fellows had a sister named Samanthe Fellows, with same spelling.

6. Orville Denison, b. 4 Aug 1822; d. 1864, after enlisting on 1 Mar 1862 in Company F of the 5th SM Cavalry, Union Army, at St. Joseph, Missouri, with rank of Quarter Master Sergeant (exact date of death unknown); married Marinda A. Holtzman ca. 1847 in Indiana; Marinda d. July 1859, at age 28, in Palmyra, Douglas Co., Kansas; 4 children.

7. Howton Denison, b. 22 Jan 1824; died before age five in Etna Twp., Licking Co., Ohio, where he was buried in the family cemetery on the farm.

The above information about John's children comes from years of research by C. Brooman, who found that the information about them in Denison Genealogy is terribly inaccurate.

Laura died on 20 Feb 1824, just one month after Howton's birth, which may indicate that she died a slow death following some in-that-day incurable or irreparable birth complication. She was likely too sick to nurse Howton, as he was a sickly child who died before the age of five.

John waited a respectable three months and twenty days with his seven screaming children ("Beans again? Aw, dad, I'm tired of beans!") before quickly marrying a woman named Mary Watkins on 9 June 1824 in Etna Twp., Licking County, Ohio.[6] She was reportedly a Welsh immigrant. After many years of searching, Brooman could find nothing about Mary Watkins's parentage, or what became of her. Denison Genealogy describes her as being from New Jersey (born in New Jersey, perhaps?), but it's likely that she was from one of the close-knit Welsh communities in Ohio.

John's four children with Mary Watkins were:

1. Emily Denison, b. 1 Feb 1826; d. 23 Oct 1908; married John Tharp probably in first quarter 1846 (marriage record destroyed in Licking Co. Courthouse fires); 6 children

2. Henry Denison, b. 2 Jan 1828; never married (no issue); d. 6 Apr 1853 in Henry Co., Iowa, shot by rebels.

3. Asa Denison, b. 11 Oct 1829; never married (no issue); d. 15 Aug 1854 in Yoncalla, Umpqua Co., Oregon.

4. Laura Denison, b. 1 Jan 1833; married Jonas Pollard Niman, M.D., on 12 Nov 1849 in Henry Co., Iowa; 3 children; d. 21 Feb 1858 in LaGrange Co., Indiana.

The information about John's children with Mary, like the information about his children with Laura, comes from years of research by C. Brooman, due to the large number of inaccuracies found in Denison Genealogy.

Records in Licking County are exceedingly sparse, due to not one, but two fires in the Licking County Courthouse (3 April 1875 and 29 Mar 1879), which was reportedly stuffed to the gills with paper records in the attic—an oil lamp fire just waiting for a spark from a pipe smoker! But through some miracle, a single record for John survived the fire, and was published in a bound volume, titled Licking County Ohio Probate Records 1828-1904. [7]

In a probate hearing on June 27, 1833, John Denison, who was still living, was "appointed guardian of own children"—but only the children he fathered with Laura Fellows. Listed were the six then-living children (Howton was deceased): Stanley, Elizabeth, Amanda, Wesley, Samanthe and Orville. John's children with Mary Watkins—Emily, Henry, Asa and Laura—were not included in the guardianship hearing. This was very odd.

Removal to Iowa Territory and Return to Ohio

Several years after this, according to son Wesley's 1904 obituary in the Delaware [, Ohio] Semi-Weekly Gazette, [8] John sold his property and moved his family to the Iowa Territory. The deed for the sale of the property is one that likely burned in the Licking County Courthouse fires, and the obituary doesn't state the year. However, it does say that Wesley was induced to quit his studies at Denison University (where he'd already been for some time, it seems), so Brooman has estimated about 1837 to early 1838.

The obituary then gives Wesley's recollection that, shortly after removing to the Iowa Territory, John had become terminally ill, and wished to return to Ohio—probably to the Methodist Church and the comfort of old friends. He may also have wanted to be laid to rest next to his first wife, Laura (Fellows) Denison. Therefore, with Wesley in tow, he returned to Licking County, and bought back at least half of his former property. For this purchase, as luck would have it, there is a still-extant deed.[9]

John purchased, from Henry L. Mannon, Giles H. Tomlinson, and Jared Sperry of Licking County, his 369.64-acre property in R19 T17 Lot No. 4 of the Refugee Section of Licking County, in consideration of $7,100 for the now-cleared—and therefore much more valuable—land for which he had earlier paid just $1,476! But being back home must have been a comfort to him. Years later, a quitclaim deed from eldest son Stanley to his other siblings for a property of 61 and 1/3 acres led Brooman to believe that there must have been a will left by John (later burned in the Licking County Courthouse fires) dividing his property amongst the three living sons, and that three times 61.33 acres equaled 184 acres, not 369.64. Therefore, he must have bought half of the original property.

Death, Burial and Reinterment

John Denison died on July 27, 1840, and was interred in the same family graveyard in Etna Township, Licking County, Ohio, where his first wife Laura, and son Howton were also buried.

In the late 1870s, son Wesley removed John and Laura's remains, and reinterred them in Oak Grove Cemetery, Delaware (Delaware Co.), Ohio. Brooman made adjustments to a digital image of the bio on the back of John's Oak Grove Cemetery marker to aid in reading its inscription, and was able to read the following text:

"John Denison, son of Col. Nathan and Eliz. Denison of Kingston, Pa., married Laura Fellows. They emigrated to Hebron, Ohio, in 1816, where they were buried. Their bodies now rest here." [The rest illegible.]

In 2016, after being told by the current management of Oak Grove Cemetery (which has fallen to the City of Delaware) that, "There is no record of a reinterment of John and Laura's remains in Oak Grove Cemetery. It's probably just a memory stone," Brooman had a telephone conversation with Richard Browning, one of the longest-serving volunteers at the cemetery. Browning told Brooman that the cemetery's Book One had been stored in the basement of the Caretaker's House, along with other important cemetery records dating back to its inception in 1850-1, when said basement flooded, and a large portion of those records was destroyed. Therefore, a reinterment cannot be ruled out, he said.

Also, Browning said that Wesley and son Leonard Lonnis Denison, under the company name "Denison & Son"—later to become The Delaware Clay Company, a maker of drain tiles and bricks—made a deal with the cash-poor Oak Grove Cemetery to do drain tile work to drain a large pond in the middle of the cemetery in exchange for the Oak Ridge section. John and Laura Denison were interred in Oak Ridge, Lot 1, the new section's first interment.

There are many questions surrounding what became of Mary Watkins. Did she accompany the family to the Iowa Territory? Stanley was on the 1840 census of the Iowa Territory, presumably on the farm that John purchased (is there a still-extant deed??), but he was alone. Supposedly, the other siblings stayed in the Iowa Territory to finish clearing the land. But where were they? And where was Mary?

On the other hand, the guardianship hearing of 1833 was a harbinger of something going on. The book Denison Genealogy says that Mary died on November 22, 1850, but that could not be confirmed, and that source has been wrong about nearly everything else pertaining to John Denison in Licking County. After years of searching, nothing has been found...

...which is why Brooman, noting that no more children were born after Laura (b. 1 Jan 1833), has come to the conclusion that Mary Watkins died in childbirth with Laura, and that was the reason for the guardianship hearing. (And besides... if Mary were alive, would she really have opted to name her child Laura, after John's first wife?!) Perhaps one of Mary's relatives wanted custody of her children, and John wanted to make sure that Laura's children were noted as having a different mother.

Mayflower Descendant

John Denison was a descendant of six Mayflower Passengers. Through his father, Nathan, he was descended from John Howland and wife Elizabeth Tilley, and also from the parents of Elizabeth Tilley: John Tilley and Joan Hurst. Through his mother's side, John was descended from Elder William Brewster and wife Mary Love Wentworth.

~*~*~*~*~

Footnotes

 [1] Luzerne County Will Book. Volume A. Luzerne County Probate Court. Luzerne County, Pa. Pages 103-5: Last Will and Testament of Nathan Denison, Esq. Written 5 Dec 1807. Probated 5 Jun 1809.

[2] Luzerne County Deed Book 23. Pages 331-2. Jonathan Fellows to his heirs. 31 Mar 1813. Signed by Laura Fellows as eldest child and eldest daughter of the heirs. Deed is available by mail through Luzerne County Historical Society or Luzerne County Probate Court.

[3] Luzerne County Deed Book 16. Pages 229-232. John and Laura Denison to George Denison. Deed is available by mail through Luzerne County Historical Society or Luzerne County Probate Court.

[4] John Denison's Luzerne County Tax Records, mentioned in a letter from Luzerne County researcher Georgia S. Murray to C. Brooman's mother, dated 16 Feb 1985. (The rest of these tax records have since been stolen, as were the 1810 and 1812 records earlier. None of the modern day research by Luzerne County Historical Society or Pennsylvania Historical Society mentioned them. What a shame! Hopefully, the Luzerne County Historical Society has since changed its policy of allowing entry to people carrying book bags, etc.—where materials belonging to the Society could easily be concealed.)

 [5] Licking County[, Ohio] Deed Book F. Pages 225-6. Jones [sic] Stanbery to John Dennison [Jonas Stanbery to John Denison]; "In consideration of the sum of fourteen hundred and seventy six Dollars lawful money of the United States," Lot Number 4 in Range 19 Township 17, in the Refugee Tract of Licking County "pattentd to P.T. Cazau" [sic; patented to P.F. Cazeau]; "estimated to contain" 369.63 acres. Signed and sealed on 11 Oct 1816. Location of John Denison's property, under the patentee name P. F. Cazeau, can be found on a full-size wall map of the Refugee Section in Licking County, located in the State of Ohio Library.

[6]Marriage Record for John Denison and Mary Watkins. FamilySearch. Married 9 June 1824 in Licking County, Ohio. They were joined together by John Parkinson, Justice of the Peace. The license was applied for on the 7th of June; the marriage was recorded on the 23rd of June.

[7] Licking County, Ohio, Probate Records 1828-1904. Licking County Genealogical Society (Licking County, OH, 1999). Pages 79, 82. John Denison declared guardian of his own children in a hearing of June 27, 1833.

[8] The Delaware [, Ohio] Semi-Weekly Gazette, Tuesday, September 13, 1904; City of Delaware, Delaware County, Ohio; p. 4. Obituary for John's son Wesley Denison mentions the events surrounding the removal to the Iowa Territory and return to Ohio before John's death. Available in the Genealogy Room at the Delaware County[, Ohio] District Library.

[9] Licking County[, Ohio] Deed Book GG. page 523; Henry L. Mannon, Giles H. Tomlinson, and Jared Sperry to John Dennison [sic, Denison]; "In consideration of the sum of seven thousand one hundred dollars," Half Section Number 4 in Range 19 Township 17, in the Refugee Tract of Licking County; "estimated to contain" 369.63 acres. Signed and sealed on 10 June 1839.

Other Sources

* Harvey, Oscar Jewell. A History of Wilkes-Barré, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. Volume Two. Page 788. Published in Wilkes-Barré, Pensylvania.

* Denison, E. Glenn; Peck, Josephine M.; and Jacobus, Donald L. Denison Genealogy: Ancestors and Descendants of Captain George Denison. Pages 48 and 92. Gateway Press, Inc. Baltimore, MD 1993 [Originally published, Pequot Press 1963; Reprinted, Baltimore, MD 1978, 1982, 1993].

* Research by C. Brooman, a third great granddaughter, into the children of John with wives Laura Fellows and Mary Watkins, which included years of searching and tracking them down through FindAGrave. Please note that there are numerous errors in the information in Denison Genealogy. For instance, Emily and Laura Denison were not twins! Not even close! They were born just short of seven years apart. Also, please note that only one of John Denison's children was found to have a middle name (Elizabeth Fellows Denison). There was no evidence that any of the others ever actually used a middle name. (Many of our earliest U.S. presidents did not have middle names. These didn't become popular until later in the 19th century.)