Arthur A. Denny
| Arthur A. Denny | |
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Arthur Denny circa 1890
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| Born |
June 20, 1822 near Salem, Washington County, Indiana |
| Died | January 9, 1899 (aged 76) Seattle, Washington |
| Resting place | Denny Family plot, Lake View Memorial Park, Seattle. |
| Occupation | Pioneer, store owner, politician, author |
| Language | English |
| Nationality | US |
| Notable works | Pioneer Days on Puget Sound |
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Arthur Armstrong Denny (June 20, 1822 – January 9, 1899) was one of the founders of Seattle, Washington, the acknowledged leader of the pioneer Denny Party, and later the city's wealthiest citizen and a 9-term member of the territorial legislature. Seattle's former Denny Hill was named after him; it was flattened in a series of regrading projects and its former site is now known as the Denny Regrade. The city's Denny Way, however, is named not after Arthur Denny, but after his younger brother David Denny.
Denny was born near Salem, Washington County, Indiana; by the time he was attending school his family had settled in Knox County, Illinois. Both his parents were of Irish descent. His father John Denny (1793–1875), fought in the western battles of the War of 1812 and later served in the Illinois state legislature, elected as a Whig. (He eventually traveled west with the Denny Party, but stayed on in Oregon's Willamette River Valley when Arthur and several others moved north to Puget Sound.) 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 1843. In 1843, he married Mary Ann Boren; together they had six children: Louisa Catherine Frye, Margaret Leona Denny, Rolland Herschell Denny, Orion Orvil Denny, Arthur Wilson Denny, and Charles Latimer Denny.
In 1851, he led the Denny Party west. Leaving Illinois in April, they arrived in Portland, Oregon on August 23. In November, he sailed on to Puget Sound, arriving at Alki Point on Elliott Bay on November 13, 1851. It soon became clear that Alki was not the best spot for a settlement. The Denny Party relocated to the east shore of Elliott Bay, near what is now Pioneer Square, the original heart of what became the city of Seattle.
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Wikipedia