William Denison

William Denison, b. in England about 1586, came to America in 1631, and settled in Roxbury, Mass., having with him his wife Margaret, his three sons, Daniel, Edward and George, and John Eliot, who seems to have been a tutor in his family. Mr. Eliot became pastor of the church in Roxbury, and did missionary work among the Indians. Mr. Denison was a deacon of the Roxbury church. He had been liberally educated, and his sons were carefully educated. He died in Roxbury, Jan. 25, 1653; his wife died there, Feb. 23, 1645.

DENISON GENEALOGY, ANCESTORS AND DESCENDANTS OF CAPTAIN GEORGE DENISON, Of Stonington Connecticut, by John Denison Baldwin and William Clift, Worcester, MA, 1881, p 5

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Find a Grave # 9327690

William Denison

• Birth:  Feb. 3, 1571, England;
• Death:  Jan. 25, 1652; Roxbury, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, USA
• Here lyes interred ye body of William Denison, Master of Arts & representative for ye town of Roxbury about 20 years, who departed this life March 22nd 1717-18 aetatis 54.
• Integer atque Probus Deus Patria que fidelus, Uixit nunc placide dormet in hoc tumulo.
• Baptized Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, 3 February 1571,
• son of John and Agnes (Willie) Denison.
• Maltster from Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire who came to Massachusetts Bay in 1631 & settled in Roxbury.
• Died in Roxbury 25 January 1653/4.
• Married Margaret (Chandler) Monk. in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, 7 November 1603,
  • "Old Mother Dennison" died Roxbury 3 February 1645/6.
  • Son Daniel Denison left a remarkable record addressed to his grandchildren, which details the immigrant's family. "That you being left fatherless children might not be altogether ignorant of your ancestors, nor strangers to your near relations, I thought meet to acquaint you with your predecessors, and your descent from them.... Your great grandfather my dear father whose name was William, had by my dear Mother whose name was Chandler six sons, and one daughter, two of which (viz) one son and the daughter died in their childhood ..., your grandfather [sic - recte great-grandfather] my father though very well seated in Stratford [sic], hearing of the then famous transplantation in New England, unsettled himself and recalling me from Cambridge removed himself and family in the year 1631 in New England, and brought over with him myself being about 19 years of age, and my two younger brothers, Edward, and George, leaving my eldest brother John behind him in England.... My father brought with him into New England a very good estate and settled himself at Roksbury and there lived (though somewhat weakening his estate) till the year 1653 in January when he died, having buried my mother about eight years before."

Family links: 

• Parents: John Denison (1530 - 1582);  
• Spouse:  Margaret Chandler Denison (1577 - 1645) 
• Children:
  • Daniel Denison (1612 - 1682)*;
  • Edward Denison (1616 - ____)*; 
  • George Denison (1620 - 1694)*
• Burial: Eliot Burying Ground, Roxbury, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, USA

*************************** William with wife Margaret and sons Daniel, Edward and George prob came in Lion with Eliot in 1631 as his name stands third in the record of the First Church. Constable and dep to Gen Ct in 1634, one of the founder of the “Free School.” With son Edward and other Roxbury men he was disarmed in 1537 for “Subscribing the seditious libel” ie being a follower of Anne Hutchinson, a woman who had her own ideas of religion and drew liberal and intelligent thinking toward her.116

NEHGR 46: 352; and 127-133.

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1631- Emigrated to America in the ship "Lion" with his wife and 3 youngest sons.

Siblings: Luce bapt. 3 August 1567, Edward bapt. 6 April 1575, Mary bapt. 28 August 1577, Elizabeth bapt. 23 August 1579, and George bapt. 1 March 1582.

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Earliest Immigrant.

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Christening Feb., 3rd, 1570/71 Bishops Stortford, hertfordshire, England.

Burial January 25th, 1653 in the Old Eliot St. Cementary, Roxbury,Suffolk, Massachusetts at age 82 years.

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William Denison of Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, England, left that country for the New World in April of 1635, with his wife Margaret Chandler, and three teenage sons: Daniel, Edward, and George. John, the oldest son, stayed behind in England where he was a minister, and another son, William, had disappeared years before to fight in Holland. George was the youngest, only thirteen when he left England. The older sons had been educated at Cambridge; this was not possible for George, so his father hired John Eliot to be his tutor.

William settled in Roxbury, MA where he was a merchant, and later became deacon of the First Church of Roxbury. He died January 25, 1653, at the age of eighty two or eighty three. Margaret died eight years earlier, at age sixty seven, February 3, 1645. They were buried in Old Eliot St Cemetery in Roxbury.

otes for DEACON WILLIAM DENISON:

    He was very well seated in Stortford or Stratford, bur hearing of the then famous transplantation to New England, unsettled himself and recalling his son Daniel from Cambridge, removed himself and family in the year 1631 to New England, and brought over with him his son Daniel, then aged about 19 years, and two younger brothers, Edward and George, leaving oldest son, John, who had also been bred at Cambridge and was then a minister, married, with a good portion, and who lived about Pelham or in Harford shier, not far from Stratford, where they were all born. He was Vicar of Standon, County Herts, 1660 to 1670. William Denison brought with him into New England a very good estate and settled himself at Roxbury, Massachusetts and there lived till Jan. 25, 1653, when de died, having buried his wife about 8 years before, viz., 1645.

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Was very well seated in Stortford or Stratford, but hearing of then famous transplantation to New Eng, unsettled himself & recalling his son Daniel from Cambridge, removed himself & family in yr 1631 to New Eng, & brought over w/him son Daniel, then age abt 19 yrs, & 2 younger brothers, Edward & George, leaving oldest son, John, who had also been bred at Cambridge & was then a minister, married, with good portion, & who lived about Pelham or in Harfordshire, not far from Stratford, where they were all born. He was Vicar of Standon, County Herts, 1660-1670. William Denison brought w/him into New Eng a very good estate & settled himself at Roxbury, MA & there lived til Jan 25 1653, when he died, having buried his wife abt 8 yrs before, viz., 1645.

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1. Occupation: "maltster" or brewer of ale and malt beverages very popular in his time
2. Immigration: 1631 in the "Lyon"
3. Reference Number: 4453
4. Note:

   1. William was very well seated in Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire, Engl and, but hearing of the then famous transplantation to New England, unsett led himself and recalling his son Daniel from Cambridge, immigrated with h is family, including Edward and George but not John, to America in 16 31 in the "Lion." Reverend John Eliot, who was tutor of the family also c ame with William's family who helped him escape the religious persecti on in England.

2. In 1632 William became a freeman of Massachusetts. He was a memb er of the Massachusetts General Court from 1635 to 1637.
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Notes for WILLIAM DENISON:

Denison Genealogy, by Denison, Peck & Jacobus, page xxi.

    William came to America on the Lion with his wife and 3 youngest sons; settled in Roxbury, MA 1631. John Eliot, Pastor of the First Church of Roxbury and Apostle to the Indians was a tutor of George, his youngest son. Eliot had arrived on the same ship. William was a merchant and must have been a man of means and good education. He was deacon in the First Church of Roxbury, and had a large influence in the Colony. One record states his wife did not unite with the church until some years later. William built a house in Roxbury MA which was still standing in 1882.

WILLIAM DENISON, born in England about 1586, came to America in 1631, and settled in Roxbury, Mass., having with him his wife Margaret, his three sons, Daniel, Edward and George, and John Elliott, who seems to have been a tutor in his family. Mr. Elliott became pastor of the church in Roxbury, and did missionary work among the Indians. Mr. Denison was a deacon of the Roxbury church. He had been liberally educated, and his sons were carefully educated. He died in Roxbury, Jan.25, 1653; his wife died there. Feb.23, 1645.

Notes for WILLIAM DENISON:

Denison Genealogy, by Denison, Peck & Jacobus, page xxi.

    William came to America on the Lion with his wife and 3 youngest sons; settled in Roxbury, MA 1631. John Eliot, Pastor of the First Church of Roxbury and Apostle to the Indians was a tutor of George, his youngest son. Eliot had arrived on the same ship. William was a merchant and must have been a man of means and good education. He was deacon in the First Church of Roxbury, and had a large influence in the Colony. One record states his wife did not unite with the church until some years later. William built a house in Roxbury MA which was still standing in 1882. 

Immigrated to America on the "Lyon" with his 3 youngest sons and their tutor in 1631, his wife, Agnes, and their two older sons remaining in England, wife Agnes immigrated in 1632. They settled in Roxbury, MA in 1631 where he was a merchant. He was deacon in the First Church of Roxbury. He built a house in Roxbury, MA that was still standing in 1882. He and his wife are buried in Old Eliot St. Cemetery at Roxbury, MA.

Burial: Old Eliot Street Cemetery, Roxbury, Essex Co., Massachusetts

Christening: February 03, 1570/71, Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, England

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Grave inscription:

Here lyes interred ye body of William Denison, Master of Arts & representative for ye town of Roxbury about 20 years, who departed this life March 22nd 1717-18 aetatis 54.

Integer atque Probus Deus Patria que fidelus, Uixit nunc placide dormet in hoc tumulo.

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"William Denison was well situated in Bishop's Stortford, but became interested in the emigration to New England, whereupon he decided to go there himself . . . He brought a very good estate to New England, andsoon became a leader in civic and religious affairs. His name is third on the list of founders of the First Church of the town, which was organized about 1632 with John Eliot as pastor. Eliot was a missionary to the Indians, traveling to America on the ship "Lyon" with William Denison, and appears to have been a tutor in his family. William Denison was a founder of the free school in Roxbury.

A list of early freeholders shows that he possessed two hundred and sixty-seven acres of land. In 1637, he and his son, Edward, were among several other Roxbury men who were disarmed for 'seditious libel,' because they were followers of Anne Hutchinson, the religious leader, who drew many of the more intelligent to her way of thinking." (Americana, 488).

In 1632 William became a freeman of Massachusetts. He was a member of the Massachusetts General Court from 1635 to 1637

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Not the same as William Denison, II who had no known children

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GEDCOM Note

Disputed Origins

He is not listed in Douglas Richardson's Magna Carta Ancestry. That said, his mother continues to be shown as descended from Magna CartaSurety Barons. Her line needs work. Please help.

Biography ==*Ancestor of noted writer David Sedaris<ref name="roots">"Ancient Roots." <i>Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.</i> PBS. 18 Nov 2014.</ref>

• Alt dod 25 Jan 1653 in Roxbury<ref name="roots"/>: Note: "William Denison was well situated in Bishop's Stortford, butbecame interested in the emigration to New England, whereupon he decided to go there himself . . . He brought a very good estate to New England, and soon became a leader in civic and religious affairs. His name is third on the list of founders of the First Church of the town, which was organized about 1632 with John Eliot as pastor. Eliot was a missionary to the Indians, traveling to America on the ship "Lyon" with William Denison, and appears to have been a tutor in his family. William Denison was a founder of the free school in Roxbury . . . A listof early freeholders shows that he possessed two hundred and sixty-seven acres of land. In 1637, he and his son, Edward, were among several other Roxbury men who were disarmed for 'seditious libel,' because they were followers of Anne Hutchinson, the religious leader, who drew many of the more intelligent to her way of thinking." (Americana, 488). :: :: He was a maltster (or brewer of ale and malt beverages very popularin his time) [NEHGR 132:20]. <ref name="GM"/> :: :: On 3 July 1632 William became a freeman of Massachusetts. <ref name="GM"/> He was a deputy from Roxbury to the Massachusetts General Court from 4 March, 1634/5. <ref name="GM"/>

Baptism ===: Baptism: 3 Feb 1570/71, Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, England, <ref name="DenGen"/> son of John and Agnes (Willie) Denison [NYGBR 67:50-51]. <ref name="GM"/>

Children

: John, William, Daniel, Sarah, Edward and George : Event: prominent merchant and a man of means and good education <ref name="GM"/> : Freeman: 3 Jul 1632 <ref name="GM">William Denison in Great Migration</ref>

Emigration ===: Emigration: on the ship "Lyon or Lion" with wife and three youngestsons <ref name="GM"/>

:: Date: 1631 <ref name="GM"/> :: Place: from England to Roxbury, Massachusetts <ref name="DenGen"/>

Religion ===: Religion: First Church of Roxbury, Massachusetts, founder and earlydeacon <ref name="GM"/>:: Date: 1632, Roxbury, Massachusetts <ref name="DenGen">Source: #S-2024265429 Denison Genealogy: Ancestors and Descendants of Captain George Denison, Page: xxi</ref>

Death

: Death: Roxbury 25 January 1653/4 <ref name="GM"/>

Burial ===: Burial: 1652/1653, (there is no known gravestone), Old Eliot Street Cemetery, Roxbury, Suffolk, Massachusetts

Baptized Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, 3 February 1571, son of John and Agnes (Willie) Denison. Maltster from Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire who came to Massachusetts Bay in 1631 & settled in Roxbury. Died in Roxbury 25 January 1653/4. Married in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, 7 November 1603, Margaret (Chandler) Monk. "Old Mother Dennison" died Roxbury 3 February 1645/6. Son Daniel Denison left a remarkable record addressed to his grandchildren, which details the immigrant's family. "That you being left fatherless children might not be altogether ignorant of your ancestors, norstrangers to your near relations, I thought meet to acquaint you withyour predecessors, and your descent from them.... Your great grandfather my dear father whose name was William, had by my dear Mother whosename was Chandler six sons, and one daughter, two of which (viz) one son and the daughter died in their childhood ..., your grandfather [sic - recte great-grandfather] my father though very well seated in Stratford [sic], hearing of the then famous transplantation in New England, unsettled himself and recalling me from Cambridge removed himself and family in the year 1631 in New England, and brought over with him myself being about 19 years of age, and my two younger brothers, Edward,and George, leaving my eldest brother John behind him in England.... My father brought with him into New England a very good estate and settled himself at Roksbury and there lived (though somewhat weakening his estate) till the year 1653 in January when he died, having buried mymother about eight years before."

Sources

<references/>

: See also:*Caulkins: Caulkins, Frances Manwaring. History of New London, Connecticut Fromthe First Survey of the Coast in 1612, The Author, New London, 1852. On Archive.org*Baldwin: Baldwin, John Denison & Clift, William. A record of the descendants of Capt. George Denison, of Stonington, Conn., Tyler & Seagrave, Worcester, MA, 1881. On Hathitrust.org*Benton: Benton, Charles Edward, Ezra Reed and Esther Edgerton: Their Life and Ancestry, A.V. Haight Company, 1912 On Archive.org

• William Denison, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2010), (Originally Published as: New England Historic Genealogical Society. Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III, 3 vols., 1995).
• Source S-2024265429 Denison Genealogy: Ancestors and Descendants of Captain George Denison, Author: E. Glenn Denison, Josephine M. Peck and Donald L. Jacobus, Publication: Gateway Press, Inc. Baltimore, MD 1993, Note: Originally published, Pequot Press 1963. Reprinted, Baltimore, MD 1978, 1982, 1993

"The Great Migration Begins": EDUCATION: Signed as witness to will of DANIEL BREWER. Signed the inventory of Joseph Weld in 1646 [SPR Case #43]. Two of his sons (John andDaniel) were educated at Cambridge [Venn 2:31]. OFFICES: Roxbury constable, 4 March 1633/4 [MBCR 1:112]. Deputy to General Court from Roxbury, 4 March 1634/5 [MBCR 1:135]. Committee to inspect ships, 4 March 1634/5 [MBCR 1:142]. On 27 October 1647, William Denison was commissioned to "press any sufficient workman or workmen torepair defects of a certain bridge in Roxbury" [MBCR 2:198]. ESTATE: Gave 40s. for the construction of the seafort, 1 April 1634 [MBCR 1:113]. William Denison had two goats and three kids at Roxbury in 1640 [RTR 4]. The list of estates at Roxbury, undated but about 1642, showed William Denison with personal estate of £24 7s. and real estate of seven acres valued at £6 8s. [RTR 5]. This showed that he was one of the five wealthiest men in Roxbury. Daniel Denison wrote in 1672 "My two brothers Edward and George had all the estate my father left between them, being both married long before my father's death" [NEHGR 46:127]. MARRIAGE: Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, 7 November 1603, Margaret(Chandler) Monk [NYGBR 67:48]. Margaret Chandler married (1) Albury, Hertfordshire, 2 April 1600 Henry Monk, who was buried at Bishop's Stortford 10 December 1602 [NEHGR 132:19]. She was admitted to Roxbury church as member #33: "Margret Dennison, the wife of Willia[m] Dennison,It pleased God to work upon her heart & change it in her ancient years, after she came to this land; & joined to the church in the year 1632" [RChR 75]; "Old Mother Dennison" died Roxbury 3 February 1645/6 [RChR 172]. CHILDREN (all baptized Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire [NYGBR 67:48]): i JOHN, bp. 7 April 1605; vicar at Standon, Hertfordshire; at the time of the family's remove to New England he was "married with a good portion, ... a minister ... and lived about Pelham ... not far from Stratford [i.e., (Bishop's) Stortford] where we were born" [NEHGR46:128]. ii WILLIAM, bp. 5 October 1606; "would needs go a soldier into Holland in the year 1624 at the famous Seige of Breda when it was taken by Spinola and Count Mansfield had an army out of England, to have raised the seige, but the army miscarried and my brother William was never heard of since" [NEHGR 46:127].

iii GEORGE, bp. 15 October 1609; bur. 18 June 1614. iv DANIEL, bp. 18 October 1612; m. Cambridge 18 October 1632 PatienceDudley, daughter of THOMAS DUDLEY . "I was the eldest of the three brothers that were brought to New England ... on the 18th day of October[1632] ... I married your grandmother, who was the second daughter ofMr. Tho[ma]s Dudley" [NEHGR 46:128]. (See also Morison 375 and NEHGR 23:312-35.)

v SARAH, bp. 8 October 1615; bur. 15 October 1615. vi EDWARD, bp. 3 November 1616; m. Roxbury 30 March 1641 Elizabeth Weld, daughter of Joseph Weld. "[Edward] also was married about the sametime with your uncle George about the beginning of the year 1641 and lived the rest of his days at Roxbury ..." [NEHGR 46:128]. vii GEORGE, bp. 10 December 1620; m. (1) Roxbury March 1640 Bridget Thompson, daughter of John and Alice (Freeman) Thompson of Preston, Northamptonshire [Lechford 381; TAG 13:1-8]; m. (2) in England say 1645 Ann Borodell (her identity derives from an agreement drawn up on 3 May 1662 in which George Denison names her and her brother; the text of this agreement is found in the history of Stonington with the citation to "First Book of Connecticut State Records in Hartford, Conn., page 274" [Richard Anson Wheeler, History of the Town of Stonington ... (Stonington 1900; rpt. Mystic, Connecticut, 1966), p. 337-38], but what exactly was meant by "First Book" has not been determined). "Brother George buried his first wife in the year 1643, went into England was a soldier there above a year, was at the Battle of York or Marston Moor, where he did good service, was afterward taken prisoner, but got free and having married a second wife he returned to New England, the year before our mother died, and not long after removed himself to New London..." [NEHGR 46:128]. (E. Glenn Denison, Denison Genealogy: Ancestors and Descendants of Captain George Denison [Stonington, Connecticut, 1963], concentrates on this branch of the family.) ASSOCIATIONS: Information on the ancestry of William Denison was published in 1892 by J.L. Glascock [NEHGR 46:352-54], and then in 1936 Spencer Miller put into print more records of the family in England, alongwith records of other families in the ancestry of the immigrant [NYGBR 67:46-55]. This article outlines distant connections of the Denisonswith George Abbott who came to Andover in 1643. Margaret (Chandler) (Monck) Denison, wife of WILLIAM DENISON , was first cousin of William Chandler, immigrant to Roxbury in 1637 [TAG 73:50-57 (see also NEHGR 85:133-45, 132:19-20)]. COMMENTS: Son Daniel Denison left a remarkable record addressed to hisgrandchildren, which details the immigrant's family. "That you being left fatherless children might not be altogether ignorant of your ancestors, nor strangers to your near relations, I thought meet to acquaint you with your predecessors, and your descent from them.... Your great grandfather my dear father whose name was William, had by my dear Mother whose name was Chandler six sons, and one daughter, two of which (viz) one son and the daughter died in their childhood ..., your grandfather [sic - great-grandfather] my father though very well seated in Stratford [sic], hearing of the then famous transplantation in New England, unsettled himself and recalling me from Cambridge removed himself and family in the year 1631 in New England, and brought over with him myself being about 19 years of age, and my two younger brothers, Edward, and George, leaving my eldest brother John behind him in England.... My father brought with him into New England a very good estate andsettled himself at Roksbury and there lived (though somewhat weakening his estate) till the year 1653 in January when he died, having buried my mother about eight years before" [NEHGR 46:127-28]. "Willi: Denison" was one of five Roxbury men to be disarmed for supporting Mr. Wheelwright and Mrs. Hutchinson, 20 November 1637 [MBCR 1:212].

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