Archives West Finding Aid
Table of Contents
Photographs of the Denny party, approximately 1860-1926
Overview of the Collection
- Title
- Photographs of the Denny party
- Dates
- approximately 1860-1926 (inclusive)18601926
- Quantity
- 29 photographic prints (1 box, 1 folder) ; sizes vary
- Collection Number
- PH1197
- Summary
- Photographs of Denny Party pioneers and family members who landed at Alki Point in 1851. Also includes photos of monuments and structures related to the Denny Party.
- Repository
-
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections
University of Washington Libraries
Box 352900
Seattle, WA
98195-2900
Telephone: 2065431929
Fax: 2065431931
speccoll@uw.edu - Access Restrictions
-
Entire collection can be viewed on the Libraries' Digital Collections website. Permission of Visual Materials Curator is required to view originals. Contact Special Collections for more information.
- Languages
- English
Historical BackgroundReturn to Top
On September 25, 1851 David Thomas Denny, Lee Terry and John Low arrived at the mouth of the Duwamish River. They were sent as scouts to Puget Sound by Arthur Armstrong Denny who had traveled on the Oregon Trail from Indiana to Portland, Oregon. The small scout party chose Alki Beach as their first building location and while David Thomas Denny and John Low began working on a cabin, Lee Terry returned to Portland to invite Arthur Armstrong Denny and eight other adults and 12 children to set sail with him for their claims on Alki Beach. They arrived on November 13, 1851 on the schooner Exact. In the spring of 1852 most of the original Denny Party group had re-located to the Eastern Shore of Elliot Bay and marked land from present-day Pioneer Square to Belltown. This they called Duwamps until later in the year when the village was renamed after Chief Seattle.
Content DescriptionReturn to Top
Photographs of Denny Party members and their families as well as the Alki Point monument that commemorates the landing.
Use of the CollectionReturn to Top
Alternative Forms Available
View the digital version of the collection
Restrictions on Use
Restrictions may exist on reproduction, quotation, or publication. Contact Special Collections, University of Washington Libraries for details.
Administrative InformationReturn to Top
Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top
Denny Party ArrivalReturn to Top
| Container(s) | Description | Dates | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Box/Folder | item | ||
| 1/1 | 1 | undated | |
| 1/1 | 2 |
Original Denny Party cabin at Alki
Point with partial roof
Written on verso: Wreck of Alki Point cabin where Denny Party
landed Nov 13, 1851. Grandpa Denny stayed in the cabin without a roof he was
there for 3 weeks all alone.
The first cabin on Alki Point was owned by John Low, however the
entire Denny Party used the cabin that was started by David Denny and Lee Terry
until more cabins were built.
Cropped enlargement of La Roche photograph PH Coll 283.178.
|
circa 1895 |
Denny Party Members and FamilyReturn to Top
| Container(s) | Description | Dates | |
|---|---|---|---|
Founders of Seattle Composite Photographs |
|||
| Box/Folder | item | ||
| 1/2 | 3 | undated | |
| 1/2 | 4 | undated | |
| 1/2 | 5 |
Founders of Seattle composite
photograph with William N. Bell, David T. Denny, Carson D. Boren, Arthur A.
Denny, Louisa Boren Denny, Charles Terry, Mary Ann Boren Denny, John Low and
Lydia Low
Printed on front: The Founders of Seattle who landed at Alki
Point Nov. 13, 1851. Copyright 1914 by Benj. W. Petit.
|
circa 1914 |
| 1/2 | 6 |
Children of the founders of Seattle
composite photograph with Lenora Denny, Rolland H. Denny, Louisa Denny Frye,
Virginia Bell Hall, Olive Bell Sterns, Laura Bell Coffman, L. Gertrude Boren,
Alonzo Low, John N.V. Low, Minerva Low and Mary Low Sinclair
Printed on front: Children of the Founders of Seattle who
landed at Alki Point Nov. 13, 1851. Copyright 1914 by Benj. W. Petit.
|
circa 1914 |
Bell Family
William Nathaniel Bell and his wife Sarah Ann Peter Bell along
with their children Laura Keziah, Olive Julia, Mary Virginia and Alvina Lavina
arrived at Alki Point with the Denny Party. They had originally come from
Illinois via Portland, Oregon. William Bell along with two other men was
appointed road inspector for the first wagon road between Seattle and
Steilacoom. After the Battle of Seattle on January 26, 1856 Bell and his ailing
wife left Seattle for California. Sarah Bell died June 1856 and William Bell
married her younger sister, Lucy Gamble. Bell returned to Seattle in 1870 and
found that his remaining land had become very valuable and today is known as
Belltown.
|
|||
| Box/Folder | item | ||
| 1/3 | 7 |
Engraving of William Nathaniel Bell
(March 6, 1817-September 1, 1887)
E.G. Williams and Bro.,New
York (Engraver)
|
undated |
| 1/3 | 8 | circa 1870 | |
| 1/3 | 9 |
William Nathaniel Bell
Same photo as item 8. Lucy Gamble has been cropped out.
|
circa 1870 |
| 1/3 | 10 | undated | |
| 1/3 | 11 |
Virginia Bell Hall
(1847-1931)
Vaughan and Keith,San
Francisco (Photographer)
Virginia Bell married George W. Hall, the founder of the
Paulson Furniture Company. The furniture business burned down in the 1889
Seattle fire and George Hall went into real estate. He was elected president of
the town council in 1890 and in 1891 was appointed mayor.
|
circa 1875 |
Boren Family
The Boren family including Carson D. Boren, his wife Mary Boren
and their daughter Gertrude Boren, traveled with Arthur Denny to Alki Point and
later to Seattle. Carson Dobbins was the brother of Mary Ann Denny, married to
Arthur Denny and Louisa Boren Denny married to David Denny. Carson Boren built
the first cabin in the newly formed town and was elected its first sheriff.
|
|||
| Box/Folder | item | ||
| 1/4 | 12 | undated | |
| 1/4 | 13 | undated | |
| 1/4 | 14 |
Ira Woodin, Carson Boren and Walter
Graham standing in front of trees
Ira Woodin was the founder of Woodinville, WA and Walter
Graham was an early resident of Brighton Beach in Rainier Valley in South
Seattle.
|
November 3, 1905 |
| 1/4 | 15 |
Livonia Gertrude Boren (December 12,
1850-1912)
Livonia Gertrude was born in Abington, Illinois and was the
only one Carson Boren's three children to have been a part of the original
Denny Party.
|
|
Denny Family
Arthur Armstrong Denny was born near Salem, Indiana June 20,
1822 and married Mary Ann Boren November 3, 1843. Both the Boren and Denny
families started their trip to Willamette Valley on April 10, 1851. Upon
arrival in the Willamette Valley Arthur Denny sent John Low and his brother
David Denny to scope out the Puget Sound Area. Arthur Denny and his family
including children Louisa Catherine, Margaret Lenora and Rolland H. arrived at
Alki Point on November 13, 1851.
|
|||
| Box/Folder | item | ||
| 1/5 | 16 | September 4, 1926 | |
Low Family
John N. Low along with David Denny left the Willamette Valley to
scout the Puget Sound. Their travels would take them north to the village of
Olympia where they met Lee Terry and Captain Fry, owner of a sailboat that
would take them around the area. The group scouted the Duwamish River and on
September 28, 1851 selected Donation Claims on Alki Point. John Low returned to
the Willamette Valley area to bring other pioneers, led by Arthur Denny, to the
claim arriving November 13, 1851 with his wife Lydia Colburn of Somerset
County, Pennsylvania, and their children Mary L. (Sinclair), Alonzo, John V.,
and Minerva. In 1853 Low sold his land to Charles Terry and relocated near
Olympia and later to Snohomish County.
|
|||
| Box/Folder | item | ||
| 1/6 | 17 | circa 1860 | |
| 1/6 | 18 | circa 1860 | |
| 1/6 | 19 |
Mary Low Sinclair (December 11,
1842-1922)
Mary was born December 11, 1842 and went on to become a
teacher in Kitsap County where she met her husband Woodbury Sinclair a district
clerk and lumberman. They moved to Cadyville along the Snohomish River where
they opened a general goods store.
|
circa 1905 |
| 1/6 | 20 |
Mary Low Sinclair (December 11,
1842-1922)
La Roche and Co.,Seattle (photographer)
|
circa 1905 |
| 1/7 | 21 |
Alonzo Low (1844-April 7,
1921)
Alonzo opened the first store at La Conner or Swinomish in
1867.
|
circa 1865 |
| 1/7 | 22 |
Photograph of John N.V. Low with
masking (1847-1902)
Written on verso: Died at Steilacoom in Feb. 1902. Copied from
old portrait with 3 ct revenue stamp cancelled Oct. 1865. Evidently taken by
Sammis, first photographer in Seattle.
|
October 1865 |
Terry Family
Leander (Lee) Terry was one of the scout party members that
explored the Puget Sound area and selected Donation Claims on Alki Point. Along
with David Denny he started construction of a cabin on their claim while John
Low returned to the Willamette Valley to bring other pioneers. In April 1852 a
majority of the original Denny Party had relocated to the current location of
Seattle while Lee and his brother Charles remained at Alki Point. Lee Terry
would eventually return to the East Coast.
|
|||
| Box/Folder | item | ||
| 1/8 | 23 |
Photograph of a painting of Charles
Carroll Terry (1828-1867)
Charles C. Terry was the brother of Lee Terry who arrived in
the area in 1851. He opened the first store in the future King County on Alki
Point. Charles Terry had traveled west from New York state and named his new
home on Alki Point, New York. In July 1856, Charles Terry married Mary Jane
Russell. Charles brought his first load of merchandise with him from Portland,
Oregon and from then on continued to obtain his store goods from Portland and
from trading schooners. Terry donated land to help establish the UW's first
campus in what is now downtown Seattle. A local newspaper reported, on Febuary
18, 1867, that Terry had died, probably of consumption, at age 37.
|
undated |
| 1/8 | 24 | circa 1850 | |
| 1/8 | 25 | Portrait of Charles Terry next to a
portrait of another man (1828-1867)
Ellsworth and Cardwell
(photographer)
|
circa 1850 |
| 1/8 | 26 | undated | |
Denny Party MonumentsReturn to Top
| Container(s) | Description | Dates | |
|---|---|---|---|
Alki Point Monument
The granite Alki Point monument was dedicated November 13, 1905
at the site where the Denny Party landed in 1851.
|
|||
| box-folder:oversize | item | ||
| OS6 | 27 |
Monument at Alki Point on rock
base
Monument reads: At this place on 13 November 1851 there landed
from the Schooner Exact Captain Folger, the little colony which developed into
the City of Seattle. Birthplace of Seattle. Adults, Arthur A. Denny and wife,
John N. Low and wife, Carson D. Boren and wife, William N. Bell and wife,
Louisa Boren, David T. Denny, Charles C. Terry, Lee Terry. New York-Alki.
|
circa 1905 |
| Box/Folder | |||
| 1/9 | 28 |
Monument at Alki Point showing side
of pylon with Plymouth Rock plaque on concrete base
Monument reads: At this place on 13 November 1851 there landed
form the Schooner Exact Captain Folger, the little colony which developed into
the City of Seattle. Birthplace of Seattle.
|
undated |
| 1/9 | 29 |
Plymouth Rock plaque on Alki Point
Monument
Plaque reads: From Plymouth Rock to Alki Point. Honoring
pioneers on the American shores of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The above
stone was brought from Plymouth Rock by the first transcontinental motorized
caravan managed by James H. Brown and endorsed by the American Automobile
Association. This tablet was furnished by the Automobile Club of Washington.
The unveiling ceremonies on September 4, 1926 were participated in by officers
and citizens of the city of Seattle, the county of King and the state of
Washington.
|
undated |
Names and SubjectsReturn to Top
Subject Terms
- Visual Materials Collections (University of Washington)
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