Elizabeth Denison

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 23 Nov 1749, Charlestown, Washington, Rhode Island

Elizabeth married Christopher Champlin on 5 Dec 1705 in Westerly, Washington, Rhode Island. Christopher (son of Christopher Champlin) was born on 26 Sep 1684 in Westerly, Washington, Rhode Island; died on 23 Oct 1734 in Westerly, Washington, Rhode Island. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Col. Joseph Champlin was born on 4 Aug 1709 in Westerly, Washington, Rhode Island; died on 20 Dec 1792 in Stonington, New London, Connecticut; was buried in Wequetequock Burial Ground, Stonington, New London, Connecticut.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 16 Jul 1653, New London, New London, Connecticut

George married Mercy Gorham about 1677 in Barnstable, Barnstable, Massachusetts. Mercy (daughter of Capt. John Gorham and Desire Howland) was born on 20 Jan 1658 in Barnstable, Barnstable, Massachusetts; died on 24 Sep 1725 in Stonington, New London, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Emigrated in 1631 with his parents and brothers. Settled at Roxbury, Massachusetts. Married Bridget Thompson, 1641. She died two years later, whereupon he returned to England to take up arms for Parliament. Was injured and (possibly) captured and escaped, a sequence of events that somehow resulted in him returning to Massachusetts in 1645 with a second wife, Ann Borodell. Removed to New London, 1651; served on the New London war committees in 1653 and 1654, when the Dutch threatened war. Removed to Stonington, 1654. Two decades later, we find him as captain of the New London County forces in King Philip's War, where he fought in and survived the Great Swamp Fight in Rhode Island, 19 Dec 1675. In 1676 he is "Provo-Marshall" of New London, pursuing remnants of the Narragansett and Wampanaug. He captured Chief Canonchet and worked with Pequot chiefs to "control the remnant of their tribe."

"We would premise, that William Denison, came to Roxbury, Mass., in company with Rev. John Eliot, in 1631, bringing with him his wife and three sons, Daniel, Edward and George. The last named married in 1640, Bridget Thompson, supposed to have been a sister of Rev. William Thompson, of Braintree. His wife died in 1643. Mr. Denison visited his native country the same year, 'and engaged in the civil conflict with which the kingdom was convulsed.' On his return to this country, about two years afterwards, he brought with him his second wife, Ann, daughter of John Borrowdale, or Borrodel, of Cork, Ireland. Mr. D. emigrated to Connecticut as early as 1651, and in 1654 settled in what is now Stonington, to which the name of Southerton was given in 1658, when the territory was annexed to the County of Suffolk, Mass. He filled acceptably many offices of public trust, and was particularly distinguished as a leader in King Philip's war. He died at Hartford, Oct. 23d, 1694, during the session of the General Court, and was there buried. His age, according to the inscription on his grave stone, was 76." [Introduction to "Will of George Denison,--1693", New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Volume 13, 1859, p. 73.]

"My Brother George buried his first Wife in the year 1643, went to England, was a soldier there about a year, was at the Battle of York or Marston Moor where he did good service, was afterward taken prisoner, but got free, and having married a second Wife, he returned to New England the year before our Mother died, and not long afterward removed himself to New London, near whereunto at Stonington he now liveth." ["Autobiography of Major-General Daniel Denison." The New England Historical and Genealogical Register 46:127, April 1892.]

Along with TNH ancestors William Chesebrough, Walter Palmer, and Thomas Stanton, he was one of the founders of Stonington, Connecticut.

George married Ann Borodell about 1645 in England. Ann (daughter of John Borodell) was born about 1615; died on 26 Sep 1712 in Stonington, New London, Connecticut; was buried in Elm Grove Cemetery, Mystic, New London, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Or Borodale, Borrowdale, etc.; sources vary. Same for her father. She is mentioned in the 2 Sep 1667 will of her brother "John Borrodale of London, gentleman," as "Anne Denison," one of his "loving sisters." (NEHGR 49:503)

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Bef 5 Feb 1675, Swansea, Bristol, Massachusetts
• Buried: 5 Feb 1675, Swansea, Bristol, Massachusetts

Notes:

Grantee in Plymouth 18 Dec 1638. Captain of a company in King Philip’s War, 1675.

Despite persistent assertions to the contrary, there is no evidence that he was the son of Ralph Gorham of Benefield, Northamptonshire, baptized there 28 Jan 1621. There was a Ralph Gorham in Benefield, who had a son John baptized on that date; and there was a Ralph Gorham in Plymouth between 2 Oct 1637 and 5 Apr 1642. But there is no evidence that the Ralph seen briefly in Plymouth was the Ralph of Benefield, or that Capt. John Gorham who married Desire Howland was connected to either the Benefield man or to Ralph of Plymouth.

In 1737, Capt. John Gorham’s great-grandson Col. John Gorham (Shubael³, John², Capt. John¹), in command of a brigantine bound for London, made several notes in his journal of things to do while in that city. The journal survives. One of the notes was “to Look out for y^e Gorhams Coat of Armes. Came from Huntingtunshear”. A later entry in the same notebook lists expenditures made in London, including 7s 6d to “Herralds office”. A further 1s 6d “paid a man for Looking out the Gorhams in the citty.” Several years later, during the 1745 siege of Louisbourg (present-day Cape Breton Island), Col. Gorham wrote further notes on his family history in a separate journal, which also survives:

My Great Great Grand father & Family Came out of Some part of England and Lived att Marshfield and Had one Son Nam’d aftr him John Gorum, alias Gorham—which Son aftr Having Marryed With an Howland and Had Sevrall Children Went home to England and Returnd Soone again to his family—

His Father Lived & Dyed att Marshfield and Whats Remarkable He Was a Joyner and Made his Coffin himself for sevrall Year before he Dyed and Used to Keep apples In It as a Chest Untill he dyed & used t

the Soon John that maryd Desire Howland and Went to England Moved from Marshfieeld to Barnstable and Settled there in ordr to begin a township aftrwards Called Barnstable. Built Mills—tan fatts &c

[All of the above is abstracted and/or quoted from George Ernest Bowman, “Col. John Gorham’s ‘Wast Book’ and His ‘Dayly Journal’,” Mayflower Descendant 5:172, 1903.]

Capt. John Gorham (d. 1675) = Desire Howland (1624-1683)
Desire Gorham (b. 1644) = Capt. John Hawes (1635-1701)
Elizabeth Hawes (1662-1732) = Capt. Thomas Daggett (1658-1726)
Jemima Daggett (1694-1732) = Malachi Butler (1689-1770)
Zephaniah Butler (1727-1800) = Abigail Cilley
Capt. John Butler (1782-1819) = Charlotte Ellison
Gen. Benjamin Franklin Butler (1818-1893)

Capt. John Gorham (d. 1675) = Desire Howland (1624-1683)
Shubael Gorham (1667-1750) = Puella Hussey (b. 1677)
Lydia Gorham (1701-1793) = Joseph Worth (1698-1790)
Anna Worth (1721-1795) = Abraham Macy (1715-1746)
Abraham Macy (1739-1820) = Priscilla Bunker (1746-1819)
Eunice May (1773-1851) = Thaddeus Coleman (1771-1847)
Judith Coleman (1804-1839) = Elijah Pound (1802-1891)
Thaddeus Coleman Pound (1833-1914) = Susan Angevine Loomis (d. 1923)
Homer Loomis Pound (1858-1942) = Isabel Weston (1860-1948)
Ezra Pound [Ezra Weston Loomis Pound] (1885-1972)

John married Desire Howland before 1644 in Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts. Desire (daughter of John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley) was born about 1624 in Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts; died on 13 Oct 1683 in Barnstable, Barnstable, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 1623, Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts
• Alternate birth: Abt 1625, Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts
• Alternate birth: Abt 1626, Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 25 Jan 1653, Roxbury, Suffolk, Massachusetts

Notes:

He was a maltster and a merchant. Emigrated 1631 on the Lyon, along with the Rev. John Eliot, later "apostle to the Indians," said to have been William Denison's children's tutor. With his son Edward, William Denison was among the supporters of Mrs. Hutchinson who were disarmed along with the Rev. John Wheelwright.

William married Margaret Chandler on 7 Nov 1603 in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, England. Margaret (daughter of Tobias Chandler and Joan Momford) was born on 13 Oct 1577 in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, England; was christened on 13 Oct 1577 in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, England; died on 3 Feb 1646 in Roxbury, Suffolk, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called Borodale.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1599, Fenstanton, St. Ives, Huntingdonshire, England

Notes:

Emigrated on the Mayflower, 1620.

"It has been traditionally reported that John Howland was born about 1592, based on his reported age at death in the Plymouth church records. However, ages at death were often overstated, and that is clearly the case here. John Howland came as a servant for John Carver, which means he was under 25 years old at the time (i.e. he was born after 1595). William Bradford, in the falling-overboard incident, refers to Howland as a 'lusty young man,' a term that would not likely have applied to a 28-year old given that Bradford himself was only 30. Bradford did call 21-year old John Alden a 'young man' though. Howland's wife Elizabeth was born in 1607: a 32-year old marrying a 17-year old is a relatively unlikely circumstance. Howland's last child was born in 1649: a 57-year old Howland would be an unlikely father. All these taken together demonstrate that Howland's age was likely overstated by at least 5 years. Since he signed the Mayflower Compact, we can assume he was probably at least 18 to 21 years old in 1620." [Caleb Johnson]

It's worth noting that the entries for John Howland in Anderson's The Great Migration Begins (1995) and The Pilgrim Migration (2004) give John Howland's birth as about 1592, but in 2020's The Mayflower Migration Anderson shifts it to "by 1599".

Some of the notable descendants of John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley listed in The Mayflower 500 by Gary Boyd Roberts (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2020):

Louis Auchincloss
Humphrey Bogart
William Jennings Bryan
The Bush presidents
Chevy Chase
Glenn Close
William Sloane Coffin
Cecil B. DeMille
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Sam Ervin
Timothy Geithner
John Lithgow
Christopher Lloyd
The Henry Cabot Lodges
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Alice Roosevelt Longworth
Seth Low
William H. Macy
Harriet Monroe
Sarah Palin
George Plimpton
Ezra Pound
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
James S. Sherman
Joseph Smith
Benjamin Spock
James Taylor
Lowell Weicker
Bill Weld

Not listed, but a descendant through daughter Desire Howland's marriage to Capt. John Gorham: Benjamin Butler, Union general (1818-1893).

John Howland (~1599-1673) = Elizabeth Tilley (1607-1687)
John Howland (1627-1699) = Mary Lee (1630-1693)
Hannah Howland (1661-1710) = Jonathan Crocker (1662-~1746)
Hannah Crocker (1688-1751) = Shubael Fuller (1684-1748)
Lydia Fuller (1709-1778) = Daniel Gates (1706-1776)
Lydia Gates (1732-1817) = Solomon Mack (1732-1820)
Lucy Mack (1775-1856) = Joseph Smith (1771-1840)
Joseph Smith, Jr. (1805-1844)

John married Elizabeth Tilley before 1624 in Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts. Elizabeth (daughter of John Tilley and Joan Hurst) was born before 30 Aug 1607; was christened on 30 Aug 1607 in Henlow, Bedfordshire, England; died on 21 Dec 1687 in Swansea, Bristol, Massachusetts; was buried in Little Neck Cemetery, East Riverside, East Providence, Providence, Rhode Island. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 21 Dec 1687, Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts
• Alternate death: 22 Dec 1687, Swansea, Bristol, Massachusetts
• Alternate death: 21 Feb 1688, Swansea, Bristol, Massachusetts

Notes:

Emigrated on the Mayflower, 1620.