Notes from the White County Historical Society as they appear in "The Carmi Times."

Copyright ©2001 by "The Carmi Times" Permission to reprint granted to Cindy Birk Conley and the ILGenWeb by Tammy Knox, editor, "The Carmi Times."

In going through some brittle, yellowed newspapers at the library, Pat
Davis found this item in a 1916 Carmi Tribune:

"Mrs. Louisa Boren Denny, Former Resident of White County, Passes Away
at Age of 89.

"We are in receipt of a copy of a paper published at Seattle,
Washington, which published the portrait and sketch of Mrs. Louisa Boren
Denny, a former resident of this county, who died in Seattle August 31,
1916, at the age of 89 years. She was the last of the 12 adult members
of the party of 24 pioneers who left Illinois April 10, 1851, with four
'prairie schooners' that landed at Alki Point, Washington, November 31,
1851.

"She was born in White county, Illinois, June 1, 1827, and went west
with a party of immigrants at the age of 23. She was with the party who
hewed out of the wilderness the beginnings of the city of Seattle. Her
marriage to David T. Denny January 23, 1853, made her the first bride of
Seattle and the first white woman to be married on Puget Sound. To
obtain a marriage license, David Denny had to make a trip in a canoe to
Olympia and back and at the time of her marriage, there were only three
cabins on the site of the present city of Seattle.

"Mr. and Mrs. Denny obtained a donation claim on the shore of what later
came to be known as Lake Union. Denny Way marks one of the boundaries of
that old farm."

Makes our lives seem a bit tame, doesn't it?

++++

From William Hubbard's General History of New England, written about
1680, we find an example of what the Puritans believed was God's
punishment for working on Sunday. It is also an example of 17th century
water pollution!

"In November, 1641, a certain Archibald Thompson, of Marblehead,
carrying dung on the Lord's day to his land, in a canoe, it sunk down
under him, in the harbour, the weather being fair, and he was never
heard of again."

.........

The Genealogy Library is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through
Saturday.

........
Address letters to Genealogy, White County Historical Society, PO Box
121, Carmi, IL 62821.
 

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The Coordinator for the White County, Illinois ILGenWeb page is Cindy Birk Conley

Copyright © 2001 by Cindy Birk Conley, all rights reserved. For personal use only. Commercial use of the information contained in these pages is strictly prohibited without prior permission. If copied, this copyright notice must appear with the information.