BIO: Major Ebenezer DENNY, Cumberland County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Joe Patterson OCRed by Judy Banja Copyright 2004. All rights reserved. http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/copyright.htm http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/pa/cumberland/ _____________________________________________________________ >From Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Chicago: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905, pages 75-78 _____________________________________________________________ NOTE: Use this web address to access other bios: http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/pa/cumberland/zeamer/ MAJOR EBENEZER DENNY is one of the most notable early contributions of Carlisle to the present prominent families of Pittsburg, Pa. His ancestors came to Chester county, Pa., from Ireland, but at what time is not precisely known. In 1745 William Denny and his wife 76 CUMBERLAND COUNTY. Agnes came to Cumberland county, from Chester county, with three children. He settled on a large tract of land in South Middleton township, about two miles south of Carlisle, of which the farm of Jacob Ritner is a part, where he died in 1751. His eldest child (1) Martha, married John McClure, named in his will, on record in Cumberland county, as his son-in-law and one of his executors, probably a son of John McClure and Janet McKnight, who lived near Letort Spring. He removed to Pittsburg, and the family is a prominent one in western Pennsylvania. (2) Walter, the eldest son, by the will of his father, according to the custom of the day, inherited the "place," one half at the decease of his father, the other half at the decease of his mother. He commanded a company, and was killed at the battle of Crooked Billet, in Bucks county, in May, 1778, and his eldest son, Walter, was captured at the same time, and kept for three months on a Jersey prison-ship. His wife, Mary, received a pension from the State of Pennsylvania, through the commissioners of Cumberland county. His sons Daniel and John lived and died at the old homestead, south of Carlisle. William married a Miss Crain, and settled in Crawford county, Pa.; David was graduated at Dickinson College in 1788, and also studied divinity under its distinguished "principal," Dr. Nisbet. He was licensed by the Carlisle Presbytery in I792, and remained a member of it for thirty-eight years. He married Margaret, eldest daughter of William Lyon, a very prominent citizen of Carlisle, Pa., and died in 1845, aged seventy-eight years. They had seven sons and three daughters who lived to adult age, of whom Daniel, a lawyer, and graduate of Dickinson College, removed to Natchez, Miss.; John F. practiced law at Chambersburg; Ann married Hon. Nathaniel Ewing, of Uniontown, Pa.; Alice and Margaretta lived unmarried at the old home in Chambersburg. Mary Denny, daughter of Walter, son of William, married Searight Ramsey and lived and died in Carlisle, without issue. (3) William Denny, father of the subject of this sketch, born in Chester county, was brought to Cumberland county in 1745. As younger son he was left, by his father's will, £20, a horse, and the cost of his schooling and learning a trade, to be paid out of the estate. He became quite a skilled cabinet-maker and carpenter, and was the contractor for the court house built in 1765, which served until destroyed by fire in 1845. He married Agnes Parker, born in 1741, eldest daughter of John Parker, son of Richard and Janet Parker, immigrants from Ulster, Ireland, in 1725. He appears as a citizen of Carlisle in the tax-list of 1762, and on Armstrong's plot of Carlisle, of 1763, as the owner of Lot No. 29, on West Main street, on which he resided in a substantial log cabin, which only gave way to a more modern building in 1894, and was at that time one of the best authenticated old landmarks of Carlisle. It was presented, together with the lot, to Dickinson College, by Miss Matilda Denny, granddaughter of Ebenezer Denny, and the proceeds from sale of it were used in the erection of Denny Memorial Hall. In the days of pack mules it was a prominent public house, and depot of supplies in the trade with Pittsburg. In it were born his nine children, the eldest being Ebenezer, the subject of this sketch. William Denny was coroner of Cumberland county, which then included a great part of the western portion of the State, by commission from John Penn, 1769, and as such re-examined the important case of James Smith, pronounced at an inquest in Bedford guilty CUMBERLAND COUNTY. 77 of willful murder, and after three days the jury found it impossible for him to have committed the crime. [Loudon's Narratives (Indian Wars), Vol. I, p. 256.] He appears as called out with the militia in 1778, and in 1780 was assistant commissary of supplies. He died about 1800, and is buried in the old cemetery in Carlisle. Major Ebenezer Denny, the son, was born in Carlisle March 11, 1761. Although a lad of only fifteen at the opening of the Revolution he was employed as bearer of important dispatches to Fort Pitt, crossing the Alleghenies alone, lying out at night, chased by Indians. He is described at the time as a "slender, fair, blue-eyed, red-haired boy." He also assisted his father in the store in Carlisle. Later he shipped as a volunteer, on a vessel of marque and reprisal which made a daring cruise in the West Indies, in which the intrepidity and trustworthiness of the youth led to his promotion to the command of the quarter-deck. After a short stay at his home in Carlisle, although discouraged by his family, he shipped again, this time as supercargo. Having invested the proceeds of this venture in flour and whiskey for the Philadelphia market, just after crossing the Susquehanna he was offered a commission as ensign, which he promptly accepted, disposed of his goods, and was attached to the command of Lieut. Col. William Butler, rendezvoused at Carlisle, and transferred to York in May, 1781, in the 7th Pennsylvania Regiment, incorporated with the 4th. His journal, begun at this time, and continued with varied intermissions through the Revolutionary and subsequent Indian wars, until 1795, is not only highly interesting, but filled with valuable information. It has been published by the Pennsylvania Historical Society. After the forced marches and sharp fighting under Gen. Wayne, in Virginia, he took part in the siege and capture of Yorktown, and was in the advanced attack on the British redoubts, and was designated by Col. Richard Butler to plant the colors on the rampart, after the surrender, but Baron Steuben dismounted, took them from his hand, and planted them himself, a procedure that only the efforts of Washington and LaFayette prevented from leading to a hostile meeting between Col. Butler and the Baron. After Yorktown he served under St. Clair in the Carolinas, and in the subsequent Indian wars was adjutant to Gen. Harmar, and aide-de-camp to Gen. St. Clair. He was present at the disastrous defeat of the latter, Nov. 4, 1791, and delivered the news, in person, by express to President Washington, in Philadelphia, who was very much affected by it, and is said to have broken out into a violent passion. Shortly after, Major Denny resigned his commission, and July 1, 1793, married Nancy Wilkins, who was born in Carlisle, youngest daughter of John Wilkins, Sr., a noted business man of Carlisle, who removed to Pittsburg, in 1783, to engage in business, Col. E. Blaine being his partner. He had been a captain in the Continental service, participating in the battles of Brandywine and Germantown, was a member of the convention of 1776, and afterward one of the associate judges of Allegheny county, chief burgess of Pittsburg, treasurer of as many as nine counties at one time, member of the Supreme Executive Council, etc. He had twenty children, and many of his descendants are of national prominence as well as in the western part of his State, among them his son John, in the Surgeon's Department; his grandson, William Wilkins, judge of 78 CUMBERLAND COUNTY. United States District Court, United States Senator, Minister to Russia, Secretary of War, etc. In 1794 Major Denny was appointed chief in command of the expedition to Le Beuf, and in the war of 1812 was commissary of purchases. He was a commissioner of Allegheny county, and its first treasurer, and also first mayor of Pittsburg. He was equally prominent in many business enterprises, one of the pioneers in the manufacture of glass, director in a branch of the Bank of Pennsylvania, and of the Bank of the United States. He was a large holder of real estate in the vicinity of Pittsburg, which acquired great value subsequently as part of the city. The death of his wife, May 1, 1806, affected him greatly. He died at Pittsburg, after a brief illness, July 21, 1822. His descendants are prominent and influential in Pittsburg, Pa. Of his children, (1) Harmar, born May 13, 1794, named after his intimate and dear friend, Gen. Harmar, was graduated at Dickinson College in 1813, was a prominent lawyer and politician, a member of the Legislature, member of Congress, 1829-1837, member of the Constitutional Convention, 1838. He married Elizabeth O'Hara, daughter of Gen. O'Hara, of Pittsburg. They had eleven children. (2) William H. became a physician. (3) St. Clair became a major in the United States Army. (4) Agnes (Nancy) married Edward Harding of the United States Army.