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
Photographs of Denny Party members and their families as well as the Alki Point monument that commemorates the landing.
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Processed by Stefanie Terasaki, 2013.
Photographs were transferred from the Portrait files, 2013.
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.
Printed on front: The Founders of Seattle who landed at Alki Point Nov. 13, 1851. Copyright 1914 by Benj. W. Petit.
Printed on front: Children of the Founders of Seattle who landed at Alki Point Nov. 13, 1851. Copyright 1914 by Benj. W. Petit.
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.
Same photo as item 8. Lucy Gamble has been cropped out.
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.
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.
Ira Woodin was the founder of Woodinville, WA and Walter Graham was an early resident of Brighton Beach in Rainier Valley in South Seattle.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Alonzo opened the first store at La Conner or Swinomish in 1867.
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.
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.
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.
The granite Alki Point monument was dedicated November 13, 1905 at the site where the Denny Party landed in 1851.
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.
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.
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.