John DENISON

Male 1605 - Abt 1682  (~ 76 years)


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  • Name John DENISON  [1, 2
    • John, 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 where we were born. [1]
    Christening 7 Apr 1605  [1
    Gender Male 
    Death Abt 1682  [3
    Notes 
    • It has been brought to my attention from an e-mail dtd 6-5-09 from Sarah Sully, there seems to be 2 different Denisons lines. I previously had John Denison as the son of William Denison and Margaret Chandler. I have removed him and started a new Denison line. Here is what she had to say:

      Because of errors in a couple of Denison Genealogy books which were then repeated in the books about other families, two distinct and unrelated Denison families have been shuffled together like a deck of cards. Ruth Denison's ancestry is correct in this article from the NEHGR, (see below) but it didn't get as much exposure as the compiled genealogy books did. So it's the bad info that went viral on the 'Net while the correct info is being ignored.

      As far as anyone can prove, these Denisons and the ones from Bishops Stortford are not related. General Daniel Denison wrote an autobiography (finished in 1672) that was published in NEHGR, 1892; Vol. 46, in which he talks about all sorts of cousins, living and dead, but he never mentioned the Denison family that lived in Ipswich at the same time. Apparently, they weren't related.

      Elizabeth Saltonstall did marry a John Denison, about 1688, and he died 14 September 1689 in Cambridge, Mass. She then married Rev. Roland Cotton, and was having children with him in Sandwich from 15 July 1693 (when John and Ruth were still having children in Ipswich) until 1721. All Cotton births are in the Sandwich VR. Rev. Cotton died 22 March 1721/22, and Elizabeth Saltonstall died in Boston, 8 July 1726. Elizabeth Saltonstall's obituary is below.

      Interestingly enough, Elizabeth, widow of John Denison, the weaver, died only a year earlier, in Ipswich Sept. 15, 1725. She was the mother of sons George and Daniel. (See the Vital Records attached below.)

      If you can correct your Denison line, you'll be part of the solution! And maybe you can keep some other poor researcher from spending nine years (like I did) trying to untangle these two Denison families!

      Thanks,
      Sarah

      Transcription of New England Historical Genealogy Record, Vol. 56, p. 207.

      1902 Notes and Queries 207

      Denison. --- As a different ancestry has been given in the Denison Genealogy (1881), page 330, for Ruth and Hannah Denison, the wives of Joseph and Nathaniel Kingsbury, I give the following abstracts of wills and deeds from the Essex Co. Registries of Wills and Deeds, showing their correct line of descent.

      I. John1 Denison, of Ipswich, was a weaver by trade, a subscriber to the Major Denison fund, 1648, commoner, 1664, voter in town affairs, 1679; he had six acres of marsh next Goodman How, granted Feb. 7, 1647. He died in 1683, leaving a widow, Priscilla, who died Feb. 15, 1692, a son John2, and daughters, Ruth, Sarah, wife of Tobijah Perkins, Priscilla, wife of Thomas Persons, and a grandchild, Sary Pritchett, daughter of John Pritchett.

      II. John2 Denison, of Ipswich, married Ruth, daughter of Cornet Peter and Hannah (Allen) Ayer, of Haverhill; he received the covenant of the church, January 25, 1673-4. His wife, Ruth, died February 2, 1694-5, and he married a second wife, Elizabeth. His will, dated July 24, 1725, proved January 22, 1726-7, mentions wife Elizabeth, son John, son George, son Daniel, daughters Ruth Kingsbury and Hannah Kingsbury, and aged sister Smith, to be supported with a comfortable subsistence during her natural life, and a "Decent buriall at her Death, out of my estate." Essex County Probate Records. His children were: 1. Ruth,3 born Aug. 9, 1684; died Aug. 15, 1685. 2. Ruth, born June 7, 1685; married Joseph Kingsbury. 3. John, died July 30, 1688. 4. Hannah, born 1689; married Nathaniel Kingsbury. 5. George, of Ipswich. 6. Daniel, removed to Windham, Conn. 7. John, born, April 28, 1692. 8. Priscilla, born January 14, 1694-5; died January 30, 1694-5.

      III. John3 Denison, of Ipswich, weaver, mentions in his will, niece Rebeckah Manning, "who lives with me," also her sisters, Elizabeth, Mary, and Anna; "my sister, Ruth Kingsbury," of Norwich; "all my land at Harwich that arrived to me by my Grand Father Ayer to my two cousins, Daniel Kingsbury and Denison Kingsbury in equal halfs": all the residue of the estate "to my two sisters, Ruth Kingsbury and Hannah Kingsbury, and my cousin, Daniel Dennison"; Cousin John Perkins, of Topsfield; cousin Eliza Fitts; Joseph Kingsbury, of Norwich, and Nathll Kingsbury, of Coventry, Executors; dated January 18, 1754; proved June 1, 1761. Adminsitration granted to Ephriam Kingsbury, of Norwich, and Nathl Kingsbury, of Tollon, in Conn. Essex Probate Records.

      John Denison, of Ipswich, Junr, weaver, and Joseph Kingsbury and Ruth Kingsbury, and Nathaniel Kingsbury and Hannah Kingsbury, of Norwich, in Connecticut, convey to Samuel Ayer, of Haverhill, land in Haverhill, known by the name of World's End land, which was formerly Peter Ayer's land; Oct. 30, 1714. Essex County Deeds.
    Person ID I18557  Main Tree
    Last Modified 23 Oct 2019 

    Father William DENISON,   b. Abt 1570, Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 25 Jan 1653, Roxbury, Suffolk, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 83 years) 
    Relationship Birth 
    Mother Margaret CHANDLER,   b. England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 23 Feb 1645, Roxbury, Suffolk, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Relationship Birth 
    Marriage 07 Nov 1603  Bishop's Stortford, Hertsfordshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [2, 4
    Family ID F04539  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Priscilla ?   d. 15 Feb 1692 
    Marriage Bef 1648  Ipswich, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location  [3
    Children 
     1. Priscilla DENISON  [Birth]
     2. John DENISON,   b. 22 Dec 1665   d. 12 Aug 1725, Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 59 years)  [Birth]
    +3. Sarah DENISON  [Natural]
     4. Ruth DENISON  [Birth]
    Family ID F08957  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 6 Feb 2022 

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsMarriage - Bef 1648 - Ipswich, Massachusetts Link to Google Earth
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  • Sources 
    1. [S03453] Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, (Name: Name: NEHGS: 1995;;).

    2. [S00012] E. Glenn Denison, "Denison Genealogy" Ancestors and Descendants of Captain George Denison, (Name: Name: Gateway Press, Inc. Baltimore 1993;;), 63-13712.

    3. [S9347] New England Marriages Prior to 1700.

    4. [S02875] Old Saybrook Historical Society.