Arthur denny biography

Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikidata item. American politician. Indiana, Illinois, and the way West [ edit ]. Career [ edit ]. Personality and politics [ edit ]. Women's suffrage [ edit ]. Argument over land [ edit ].

Works [ edit ]. Notes [ edit ]. His father, John Denny —fought in the western battles of the War of and later served in the Illinois state legislature, elected as a Whig. Denny did not have an easy childhood. He cared for his invalid mother while attending half-days in a log schoolhouse. He learned carpentry, taught school, studied surveying, and became a civil engineer and Knox County surveyor starting in Inhe led the Denny Party west.

It soon became clear that Alki was not the best spot for a settlement. On February 15,Denny and others filed their claims. Denny soon established himself selling cargo on commission for ship arthurs denny biography. In when he began a general merchandise partnership with Dexter Horton and David Phillips. By the bank had built a stone building at the location of the old general store.

It had six employees, including Denny and his sons Rolland and Charles. During the bank's existence to the end of the century, it seemed to be involved, via real-estate loans, with most every piece of land in Seattle and environs. Inthe firm incorporated as a state bank. About then Denny and Horton sold 85 percent of their interest in it and reduced their responsibilities, although Arthur remained vice president.

To have the Northern Pacific Railroad locate its transcontinental terminus in Seattle -- giving the town access to eastern markets -- was the fervent desire of Arthur Denny and, it seemed, every other Seattleite. Between andPuget Sound towns vied with each other to offer the Northern Pacific the best deal. Denny offered outright half of all his land!

As the railroad played one town against the other, Seattle convened a second meeting, offering even more. The Northern Pacific chose Tacoma. Seattle was incensed. The town also badly needed a better way to haul coal from coal mines east of Lake Washington to Elliott Bay. Two days after the Northern Pacific snub, an aroused and infuriated Seattle held a meeting, attended by most of the population, with the purpose of building its own railroad.

Eight trustees were elected, including Yesler and Denny. From there things moved fast. The Seattle City Council passed an ordinance granting the proposed railroad all tideflats south of King Street; the Territorial Legislature approved the grant. Fundraising began. The survey began. On May 1,the town emptied as its citizens went three miles south to start constructing a right-of-way for the railroad.

Male citizens began wielding picks and shovels. The small enterprise flagged despite the exertions of Arthur Denny and others. Denny even went to Washington D. Finally a skilled mechanical engineer and lumber entrepreneur, James M. Colmantook over the railroad and helped to make it run. One of the first engines was named the A. The railroad never did reach Walla Walla, but it did haul coal to Elliott Bay to ship to a coal-hungry San Francisco, and in other ways stimulated the economy.

In Septemberthe Denny family, ever-optimistic, traveled to western Montana to attend the golden spike ceremony celebrating the completion of the Northern Pacific's transcontinental line to Puget Sound. But it wasn't until the late s that Seattle finally got the terminus. Mary Ann supported her husband in all he did.

Arthur denny biography

Toward the end of his life he wrote, "She has been kind and indulgent to all my faults, and in cases of doubt and difficulty in the long voyage we have made together she has always been, without the least disposition to dictate, a safe and prudent advisor" Prosser, 3. After they became affluent, she gave to many charities. Like her husband, who opined that Indians were no better or worse than white people, but who, late in life, continued to call them "savages," Mary Ann harbored both condescension for and interest in the Indigenous people whose land they had usurped.

At age 88, she told a reporter: "The Indian women were absolutely useless as servants, as they did not know the first thing about civilized ways of doing things They could not wash or iron" The Seattle Spirit, 1 6. But she also reminisced on how Natives paddled to Olympia to retrieve their mail which they called "talk paper" : "I would always know when they were coming by their singing as they paddled up the bay.

It was delightful to listen to those plaintive Indian melodies" The Seattle Spirit She died at age 88 of chronic kidney disease on December 30, She arthur denny biography her properties worth a million dollars to her six children. Louisa Catherine "Kate" Denny She was born in Illinois and as a child came across the plains with the Denny Party.

Inat age 16, she married year-old George Frederick Frye They had six children, two sons and four daughters. After her husband's death, she managed his businesses. Margaret Lenora "Nora" Denny She was born in Illinois and came across the plains with the Denny Party. She was one of the original students at the Territorial University. On May Dayat the university, she was crowned Queen of May.

She inherited wealth and was active in philanthropy involving schools, churches, and in preserving the history of Seattle and its pioneers. She was a trustee for the Pulmonary Hospital of Riverton, a vice president of the Young Women's Christian Association, and active in the state historical society. She headed the M. Denny Land Company and owned extensive tracts in and about Seattle.

She died in a car accident on March 30,on the way home to Seattle from a meeting of the Washington Historical Society in Tacoma. The car plunged into the Duwamish River and she and three other prominent Washingtonians lost their lives. Rolland Herschel Denny — On November 13, he arrived at Alki as a two-and-a half-month-old infant.

He married Alice M. Kellog d. He was a banker in the Dexter Horton Bank, a real-estate speculator, and helped to develop irrigation in the Yakima Valley. Orion Orville Denny — Orion Denny was the first non-Native boy born in Seattle. He worked as chief engineer aboard the steamer Eliza Anderson, and after his father died, became president of the Denny Clay Company.

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