Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Founders

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Photo & Text Copyright 2008 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.

I hope you will indulge me for the long text today, but I thought it might interest you. I'm a big history buff and have spent a lot of time poking about in cemeteries. I'm usually researching my own family history, and sometimes I come across historic names familiar to me more from street signs or parks. This is the scene I came across yesterday in the snow. Members of the Denny and Boren families left Cherry Hill, Knox County, Illinois in April of 1851 to stake claims in Oregon Territory. They were convinced along the trail that going north to Puget Sound would offer better opportunities. They arrived in Portland in August where Arthur Denny and his wife Mary Boren stayed on to recover from illness and give birth to a daughter in September. Brother David Denny went north with John Low and Lee Terry, and they were guided by the founder of Tumwater, WA to locate at Alki Point in current day West Seattle. The Duwamish people living at Alki helped David start building a cabin, and he was joined by Arthur and Mary in November. Terry and Low had already staked claims for Alki, so the Denny's and others of their party sought other claims, eventually settling across Elliott Bay in what is now known as Pioneer Square in Seattle. Arthur and Mary Denny and some of their extended family rest in Lakeview Cemetery atop Capitol Hill, overlooking what became of their families' pioneer venture so long ago.

5 comments:

Chuck Pefley said...

Kim, nice treatment of what is often difficult and mundane. I like the composition very much. FYI, ping Igor to get him to fix the search link in CDPB so your One a Day blog appears in the city list.

Chuck

Anonymous said...

There is a wonderful guide to the Cemetery, published years ago by Thistle Press. Well worth the search out. Excerpts can be found in an article in the Seattle Times:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/news/local/seattle_history/articles/tour.html

"...If you do one thing to acquaint yourself with Seattle's history, stroll the winding roadways of Lake View. If you can't take the tour, a cemetery pocket guide is available at MOHAI and other outlets for $12.95.

The prostitutes, the "desperate characters" and the pious all mingle among the pages of the book "The Pioneers of Lake View" by Robert L. Ferguson, complete with a map and separate entries for the historic graves.

On your way out, don't miss the grave of "Lou Graham," as she was known in 1880s Seattle. She built and operated the brothel at the corner of Third Avenue South and South Washington Street.

Next to the madam, you will see the headstone of Ferguson, author of the cemetery guide.

His stone reads, "The tour stops here."

Geologychick said...

Great story and photo! Thanks!

Anonymous said...

That is also the same cemetery that houses Bruce Lee and his son. Not too far from the Denny plot.

Kim said...

Guide Greg, Thanks so much for this rich information. If you check my Flickr site, you'll see other monuments that piqued my interest.Please leave me an email or web address for yourself that I may include in my side bar for Seattle visitors who might like to book you for a tour!

Geologychick, thank YOU. :-)

Ande, Yes, it is. If you look back in the SDP archives you'll see a photo of Bruce's monument I took some time ago. That cemetery is fascinating. And if we pick up the guide Greg suggests, a wealth of info on a lot of other notables is available. I still haven't found "Princess Angelina" there after 4 lookabouts.
-Kim