Genealogical and Family History
of the
STATE OF MAINE

Volume III

Compiled under the editorial supervision of George Thomas Little, A. M., Litt. D.

LEWIS HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY
New York
1909.

[Please see Index page for full citation.]

[Transcribed by Sandra Boudrou]

[Many families included in these genealogical records had their beginnings in Massachusetts.]

DENNEN This name is not a common one in this country, and it seems to be confined, in the earlier generations at least to the neighborhood of Gloucester, Massachusetts, where we find it spelled Denen, Denin, Dinnin, Denning and Dinning. Nicholas Dening seems to be the first American ancestor of whom we have any record, and he was at Gloucester in the early part of the eighteenth century. His son, Nicholas (2), received a grant of land there in 1724 and in 1725 this son, with his wife Elizabeth and daughters Margaret and Hannah, were baptized in that town. Nicholas (2) Denning was married to a second wife, Mrs. Ann Fuller, on January 14, 1732, and a son, Nicholas (3), was born October 12, 1732. The only Samuel Denning recorded was born in 1707, the son of William and Hannah (Paine) Denning, and probably the grandson of Nicholas (1). He could hardly have been the Samuel Denning of the following line, because he would have been too old for a revolutionary soldier. There is little doubt, however, that the Maine branch is derived from the Massachusetts stock; but the imperfection of the records renders it impossible to give the exact relationship. (I) Samuel Dennen was a revolutionary soldier, and died at Minot, Maine. The Massachusetts Rolls say that Samuel Dennen, a seaman, was in the list of prisoners sent from Halifax to Boston in the cartel "Swift," September 30, 1778, according to the return made by Thomas Baildon, commissary of prisoners. (II) Simeon, son of Samuel Dennen, was born in Salem, Massachusetts, August 10, 1771, and died at Shirley, Maine, in 1848 or 1849. Sinmeon Dennen, with his elder brother George, moved to Pigeon Hill, in Poland, Maine, in 1792. He lived in various places in the town till 1830, when he and a part of his family moved to what is now the town Shirley, near Moosehead Lake, where some of their descendants are now living. He served in the war of 1812 as a volunteer, as did also his sons Simeon Jr. and Peter. About 1793 Simeon Dennen married Rebecca Chickering, of Hebron, who was born March 18, 1774. There were twelve children: 1. Simeon (2), whose sketch follows. 2. Peter, born April 7, 1796. 3. Frederic, November 16, 1798. 4. John, September 19, 1800. 5. Levi, March 16, 1803. 6. Liford, February 16, 1805. 7. Elena, October 19, 1807. 8. Rebecca, December 20, 1809. 9. Lydia, March 29, 1811. 10. Joseph, March 17, 1813. 11. Lois, November 16, 1817. 12. Otis, May 19, 1820. (III) Simeon (2), eldest child of Simeon (1) and Rebecca (Chickering) Dennen, was born at Poland, Maine, October 4, 1794, and died at Oxford, April 12, 1869. During his early life he was a farmer, but later moved to Oxford, where he became a millman lumber merchant and manufacturer. On September 14, 1823, Simeon (2) Dennen and Sally Ryerson, of Paris, were published; Dennen was living at Hebron, Maine, at the time. They had four children: 1. Nelson, who died in infancy. 2. John W., born April 11, 1827, served in the Fifth Maine Battery. 3. Keziah, April 9, 1830. 4. William W., whose sketch follows. (IV) William W., third son of Simeon (2) and Sally (Ryerson) Dennen, was born at Oxford, Maine, June 5, 1837, and was educated in the common schools of his native town. At the age of eighteen he learned the carpenter's trade, at which he worked for six years. When the civil war broke out he enlisted in Company K, First Maine Volunteers. August 22, 1861, he enlisted in Company K, Seventh Maine Volunteers, was promoted to rank of corporal, and discharged for disability, July 25, 1862. He returned to Oxford and engaged in farming, which he followed for eight years. About 1870 he became interested in the manufacture of paper, and for several years was engaged in the building and equipment of mills. In 1883 he came to East Poland and built the mill of which he has been superintendent ever since. The establishment employs about forty men. Mr. Dennen is a Republican in politics, and served as representative in 1890-91, and as selectman in 1896-97. He is a member of the Grand Lodge of Odd Fellows, has filled all chairs in the Knights of Pythias, is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and also of the Grange. On Harris Hill, William W. Dennen married Marie B., daughter of Ebin and Mary (Stevens) Maxwell, of Excelsior No. 5, Dead River. Children: 1. Addie O., born September 8, 1867, was drowned near her home at Kent's Hill, September 27, 1903; she was married to Professor J. O. Newton, of Maine Wesleyan Seminary; children: Max, Rownald and Robert. 2. Charles E., July 11, 1869. 3. William W., June 18, 1875. 4. Ansel C., July 18, 1880, graduated from Bowdoin College in 1905; is now in charge of a large leather board mill in Herkimer, New York; married Elizabeth H. Cuskley, June 24, 1908.