David Thomas Denny

One of the first White settlers of Seattle and very first owner of the Washelli-side of our cemetery. Born in Indiana, David Thomas Denny moved with his family at age three to Illinois. On April 10, 1851, the 18-year-old and his family headed west on the Oregon Trail. The group of about 50, which included his 58-year-old father John Denny, step-mother Sarah L. (Boren), and their 6-week old daughter Loretta, was led by Arthur Denny, David's older brother. Arthur brought his own family, including his pregnant wife Mary Ann - Sarah's daughter - whose extended family also came along. David drove a four-horse team across the open trail and by the time the pioneers reached Portland on August 17, he and Mary Ann's 24-year-old sister Louisa "Liza" Boren were also sweethearts. After resting for a few weeks, David agreed to help John N. Low ferry cattle across the Columbia at Fort Vancouver and herd them to the Cowlitz Valley. From there they hiked to Olympia, arriving on September 22. They met with Leander "Lee" Terry, who invited them to join him on Captain R.C. Fay's sailboat to the Duwamish (now Duwamish) River. On September 25, they made landfall at the mouth of the river and were welcomed by four other settlers and Chief Sealth (aka Chief Seattle) himself. The next day, the three men hired two young Indians to take them up the river by canoe. They landed at today's Alki Point and on September 28, David Denny and Lee Terry began constructing a log cabin there, using nothing but an ax and a hammer, while John Low returned to Portland with a note from David stating, "Come as soon as you can, we have found a valley that will accommodate one thousand families. Mr. Low will describe it to you." By the time Arthur arrived on November 13, with nine other adults and their children, David was alone in the unfinished cabin, sick with fever. Terry had left three weeks earlier to get tools in Olympia. The reunited group stayed at Alki that winter, but relocated across Elliott Bay in early 1852, after David showed Arthur that vast amounts of timber stood on the hills near the eastern shores of the deep bay for easy shipment. The men quickly organized the very first survey of the area and on February 15, chose their claims. That event later became known as the official founding date of Seattle. By that time, however, David was injured and could not attend the survey, so the one who found the land was also the last to choose his claim. Although the others offered to share a portion of each of their claims with him, the younger Denny decided that because he was unmarried he would take the less desirable northern area. That act of selflessness would later prove a wise decision; the land no one else wanted became quite valuable and included today's Seattle Center and Queen Anne areas. When 20-year-old David, like Arthur, married his own step-sister Liza, age 25, on January 23, 1853, theirs was the first marriage of a White couple in Seattle. They erected a cabin where today's Denny Way meets the bay. David, who established a saw mill on Lake Union and quickly got involved in civic affairs, helped Arthur plat the newly forming city of Seattle. In 1861, he and Liza donated five acres of their best land on the north slope of Denny Hill (now Denny Regrade) to the city for its first cemetery. It became Seattle Cemetery and when one of their twin sons died at birth on May 6, 1867, the Dennys buried him there. In 1884, the cemetery closed and became Seattle's first park (now Denny Park). The Dennys moved baby Jonathan's remains (W.M.0393.1) to their land "out in the country," which they plotted as Oaklake Cemetery. It later became Washelli, which would eventually combine with Evergreen Cemetery just across the street. This land was part of 160 acres David had purchased from the government in 1870 for $1.25 per acre. The purchase also included Licton Springs, which was thought to have health benefits. David had the water tested and it did turn out to contain some healthy minerals, but the health resort he had envisioned there never came to fruition. Around 1890, the Dennys built a mansion at 512 Temperance Ave. (now Queen Anne Ave. N.), as well as a "country retreat" on today's Densmore Ave. N. In 1891, David established a streetcar service from downtown to the University District, but the national economic Panic of 1893 and ensuing five-year depression bankrupted the streetcar line as well as his saw mill, for many years the largest in Seattle. Once worth over three million dollars, David had his assets seized, even by those who had benefited from his generosity. Because bankruptcy laws of the time allowed creditors to keep the full amount of the debtor's seized assets, regardless of the amount owed, the middle-aged pioneer was left impoverished. Having been one of Seattle's wealthiest citizens, David Denny became one of its poorest, but his place in Seattle history was assured.