David Denny

David Thomas Denny (March 17, 1832 – November 25, 1903 ) was a member of the Denny Party, who are generally collectively credited as the founders of Seattle, Washington, United States. Though he ultimately underwent bankruptcy, he was a significant contributor to the shape of the city.

Early life and journey to the Oregon Country Denny was born in Putnam County, Illinois.

Marriage to Louisa Boren

On January 23, 1853, Denny married his sister-in-law Louisa Boren, also a member of the Denny Party, in a civil ceremony performed by "Doc" Maynard, the city's first non-Indian wedding; they were to have eight children, including Emily Inez Denny. He proved to be adept at languages, and (unlike some of the settlers) maintained generally good relations with the natives of the area. ) east to South Lake Union; its south boundary was present-day Denny Way. In 1882, the Lake Union and Lumber Company established a sawmill (the city's largest Denny operated the Western Mill until 1895; his employees and their families were among the first settlers of the South Lake Union area.

Public offices Active in public life, Denny served as probate judge, King County Commissioner, a member of the Seattle City Council, a director of the Seattle School District, and regent of the Territorial University of Washington, predecessor to the University of Washington. and opposed the Anti-Chinese movement in the mid-1880s.

Bankruptcy Denny's one-time real estate office, repeatedly moved and much restored, now sits at the north entrance to West Hylebos Wetlands Park, Federal Way, Washington. But his fall was as dramatic as his rise: in the years from 1888 to 1895, two of David and Louisa Denny's children died, and they suffered such a major financial reversal in the Panic of 1893 that they lost everything, including their nearly new mansion. Adding insult to injury, among the creditors who forced him into bankruptcy was Dexter Horton and Company, the bank where his brother Arthur was senior vice president. Their only salvation was that in their years of wealth, they had given their daughter Emily a tract of land in Licton Springs (in what is now northern Seattle), to which they now retreated.

Last years In 1899, at the age of 67, Denny took a job overseeing improvements on the Snoqualmie Pass road (the route now taken by Interstate 90), during which he sustained an injury when an inattentive worker cut his head with a careless backswing of his ax. He bandaged his own wound and returned to work. The next year he was in the same area at Keechelus Lake helping a mining company look for gold. But he lived only a few years longer, and died at Licton Springs in 1903. His wife, Louisa Boren Denny, lived until 1916. They are both buried at what is now the Evergreen Washelli cemetery near Licton Springs, land that they once owned and lost in the bankruptcy.

Legacy The named legacy of David Denny and Louisa Boren includes two schools in the Seattle Public Schools school district: Denny International Middle School and K-5 STEM @ Boren (formerly Louisa Boren Middle School), both located in the West Seattle district.