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Desire (Smith) Denison (1737 - 1815)

Desire "Deziah, Keziah" Denison formerly Smith
Born in Groton, New London County, Connecticut Colonymap
Ancestors ancestors
Sister of [half], [half], [half], [half], [half], [half], [half] and [half]
Wife of — married 30 Dec 1756 in Stonington, New London, Connecticut Colonymap
Descendants descendants
Died at age 77 in Guilford, Windham County, Vermont, USAmap
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Profile last modified | Created 17 Nov 2017
This page has been accessed 364 times.

Biography

Desire Smith, daughter of Jabez and Desire (Denison) Smith [1] was born 31 July 1737 in Groton, Connecticut.[2]

She married David Denison, son of George and Lucy (Gallup) Denison, of Stonington, on 30 December 1756, as recorded in Stonington, where her name was spelled "Deziah".[3]

Somewhere along the way, some genealogists turned Desire/Deziah into Keziah, so that name is retained in this profile as a nickname. There should be no doubt that Desire Smith was the wife of David Denison, though -- aside from her being referred to in Groton records as Deziah, not Kesiah, she and David named one of their daughters Desire, as did two of their sons (David Jr. and Edward). The name Desire was given to at least 60 descendants -- and probably quite a few more not yet documented -- of Desire (Howland) Gorham within 5 generations, of which Desire (Smith) Denison was one.

Children of David and Desire (Smith) Denison:[4][5]

  1. Samuel Denison, b. 25 August 1757, d. 16 June 1761
  2. Jabez Denison, b. 7 May 1759, m. Mary (Polly) Briggs
  3. David Denison (Jr.), b. 16 March 1761, m. Mary Babcock
  4. Samuel Denison, b. 17 March 1763, m. Eunice Houghton
  5. Edward Denison, b. 4 October 1765, m. Ruhannah (Ruey) Babcock
  6. Wealthy Denison, b. 27 November 1767, supp. d. young
  7. Desire Denison, prob. b. abt. 1768, m. Augustus Belding
  8. George W. Denison, b. abt. 1768-1778,[6] m. (1) Lucy Babcock, (2) Phebe Briggs
  9. Eunice Denison, b. abt. 1770, m. William Fox [7]
  10. Amy Denison, b. abt. 1771, m. Nathaniel Avery [8]
  11. John Denison, b. abt 1775-1786,[9] m. Mary Avery[10]

It should be noted that several errors were made in the Baldwin and Clift work, as pertains to the later children. See footnotes here and their profiles. The conflicting information pertaining to the ages of the later children have created a no-confidence situation, such that their ages as presented here are strictly based on contemporaneous records and suppositions therefrom. A Jesse Denison lived next door to three of their children's families in Fabius, New York, and his parents have not been identified -- he may be another child of theirs.

The family removed from Stonington, first to New London, then Rindge, New Hampshire, and finally to Guilford, Vermont,[5] with some children drifting over the border into modern day Franklin County, Massachusetts (then part of Hampshire). We may excuse the absence of a birth records for children born after 1767 by presuming that they were born in New London, since the town, with its vital records of the period, was burned by Benedict Arnold in 1781.

Desire (Smith) Denison, a.k.a. Keziah, died 28 Jun 1815 and is interred at Beaver Meadow Cemetery in Leyden, Massachusetts.[11] When Desire's son Jabez died in 1809, he made provisions in his will for the sustenance of his mother and sister Amy in his homestead in Guilford.[12] There is no record that she died in Massachusetts, despite the assertion in her Find A Grave profile.

Sources

  1. 'Groton Vital Records 1704-1853, p. 203, citing Groton 1:178, showing Jabez Smith m. Desire Denison on 11 November 1736.
  2. Ibid., p. 201, citing Groton 1:178.
  3. Stonington Vital Records 1658-1854, p. 121, citing Stonington 3:219.
  4. Births of their children through Wealthy are found in Stonington Vital Records 1658-1854, pp. 118-130, citing Stonington 3:219.
  5. 5.0 5.1 Baldwin and Clift, pp. 281-2.
  6. George's birth is assumed to be after his last recorded sibling in 1767, and he's estimated to be no younger than either of his wives.
  7. Baldwin and Clift mistook several aspects of Eunice's biography -- her name, birthdate and number of children. See her profile.
  8. Baldwin and Clift claim Amy Denison was born in 1777, but this contradicts her death record and grave stone.
  9. John's birth date is documented as no earlier than 1775, per his 1820 census, and is estimated to be no later than that of his wife Amy. 1786 would be pushing his mother's childbearing age, so he is probably on the older/earlier side of of this range.
  10. Baldwin and Clift assert John Denison was born in 1771, but this contradicts his 1820 census, in which he is no older than 45. "United States Census, 1820," database with images, FamilySearch (accessed 27 June 2018), John Denison, Colrain, Franklin, Massachusetts, United States; citing p. 59, NARA microfilm publication M33, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 50; FHL microfilm 193,738.
  11. Find A Grave, database and images (accessed 20 June 2018), memorial page for Keziah Smith Denison (1737–28 Jun 1815), Find A Grave Memorial no. 28643860, citing Beaver Meadow Cemetery, Leyden, Franklin County, Massachusetts, USA ; Maintained by Mary Cook (contributor 46612950) .
  12. Denison, Jabez, last will and testament, 1809. Vermont. Probate Court (Marlboro District). "Probate records, 1781-1918; with general index," images, FamilySearch (21 Jun 2018), Windham; Probate records v. 3-4 1804-1810, images 515-6, citing Windham Book 4:375-8.
  • Baldwin, John D. and Clift, W. A Record of the Descendants of Capt. George Denison, of Stonington, Conn... Worcester, Mass.: Tyler & Seagrave, 1881.
  • "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (20 May 2014), Franklin > Leyden; town clerk offices, Massachusetts.
    • Births, marriages, deaths, town records 1776-1834 vol 25.
    • Town records, not including vital records, 1748-1878. Despite the name of this film, it contains many marriages.
  • White, Lorraine Cook, ed. The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records. Vol. 1-55. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1994-2002; Ancestry.com. Connecticut, Town Marriage Records, pre-1870 (Barbour Collection). Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.




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DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Desire by comparing test results with other carriers of her mitochondrial DNA. However, there are no known mtDNA test-takers in her direct maternal line. It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with Desire:

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