| Notes |
- John is the son of Martha Lynn & Henry Dennis of Philadelphia.
. Note: John Dennis was a neighbor of John Willson & John Brown Lawrence. Dennis built a shipyard adjacent to the Kingsmill /Old Mill:
- P J Ahlberg.
. 1766 Dec 11 - These are to forewarn all persons not total an assignment of a bond from Henry Dennis, Shipwright, of Philadelphia, to Peter Jones of Cumberland Co., West Jersey, dated in February 1763 for £6, in consideration of a piece of cedar swamp sold to said Dennis, about £40 of which bond is paid: The said Peter Jones became bound me, the penalty of £200, in a bond of the same date, to make or secure to mea title for said Cedar Swamp & he has not performed, I did not intend to pay a farthing more, until said Jones makes me title, agreeable to his obligation. Henry Dennis.
Ref: Pennsylvania Gazette, Philadelphia.
. 1772 Nov 11 - To be sold by the executors of late deceased Samuel Shivers, & to be entered on the 2 April, next ensuing, One third part of a large tract of Pine Land, well timber & situated near Morris's River Bridge, on Menantico, also the one third part of a good sawmill thereon, & of all the appurtenances thereunto belonging, being formerly the property of Henry Dennis. For further particulars apply to Daniel Cozens*, in Gloucester Co., or Joseph Shinn, in Salem Co.
Ref: Pennsylvania Gazette, Philadelphia.
XRef: Daniel Cozens was a United Empire Loyalist who would also settle in York (Toronto), Upper Canada.
. 1778 June 25, Thrus. A proclamation by the Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Whereas the following named persons, late inhabitants of this state, Henry Dennis, Shipwright, John Dennis, Wheelwright, if they do render themselves by a certain day, for vesting their estates for ascertaining & satisfying the lawful debs & claims.
Ref: Pennsylvania Evening Post, Philadelphia.
. 1792 Oct 20, UCLPetition 3, D Bundle 1
Petition of John Dennison, Farmer & Mercht. Miller in County of Suffolk, England.
To Lieut. Gov. John Graves Simcoe, Petitioner served most of last War as a Lieut. in Col. Harvey's Battalion of Militia, having now a wife & 3 sons is desirous of removing with them & his Property to Upper Canada. Solicits a grant of 200 Acres in the neighborhood of Toronto. Signed, By request of the Petitioner, Niagara, 20 Oct, 1792, Peter Russell.
Granted (200 A. ! )
. 1797 Nov 19, UCLPetition 60, D Bundle 6, C1743, p650. To Peter Russell,
Petition of John Dennison, In August 1776* made application to your honor for 2 farms & a Lot to carry on his business in York Twp., for his wife & family. He has no right spot on the water. His house being 3 miles from the plan. His Excellency General Simcoe informing me I might have land where it suits me. Your petition in his disappointment, made application of a town [York] lot, not being granted to him. He prays for your assistance, Signed, 19 Nov 1797, John Dennis, Shipwright.
Note: 1776 is clearly written, but mistaken as Gov. Simcoe arrive in 1792 in Town of York, UC. OR * was perhaps 1796 intended? - PJA.
. To Peter Russell, In obedience to your command to report upon a location prayed for by Mr. Dennis, I have received is ideas respecting the spot suitable for shipbuilding business, to be Lot 41 on the Humber, as represented in the annex sketch, abut 100 acres. This & adjacent lots, was revered by the Lieut. Gov. for the future timber in the first instance the Kings saw mill being little above it & for future disposals, & 2nd the timber should be cut off. Mr. Dennis asserts there is no timber to speak of on this Lot.
Submitted to your Honors wisdom, D. Smith, Survey General's Office, York, 20 Nov 1797.
. Envelope: The Governor [Simcoe} wishes this land not be granted or leased but Mr. Dennis is wife not be restricted from building vessels anywhere he may find convenient P.R. 7 Feb. 1798.
. John Dennis received a grant of 400 A. on the Humber, car where Weston now is. He was given his choice of that or the land now bounded by Yonge, Bloor, Church & Queen streets. He chose the Humber location because the other was swampy.
. 1798 Feb 14 Feb, UCLPetition 20, Town of York Lot granted 23 Jun 1798.
. 1801 Mar 30, UCLPetition 57, C1743, p875. Petitioner having no ship building yard & having a verbal permission for building on the Humber [River] at a place where he had built several on government land. He therefore proceeded building sloop: He purchased it a few days after was informed it was expected that permission would be been asked. That as things now stood, it might be deathbed; he therefore prays written permission for building & launching the sloop with timber.
Signed, John Dennis, Shipwright.
Envelope: Mar 30, 1802. The petitioner may finish away the sloop, but he must never build another vessel at the Humber again without the expressed leave of the Governor.
. UC Land Petitions Leases, 1802 Jan 19, York, Wants to lease reserve Lot 6, 2nd Con, on the Humber, he being the Proprietor of Lots 4 & 5 adjoining. John Dennison, Esq.
. 1802 Mar 14, UCLPetition 11, D Bundle Bundle Leases,1799-1819, C1885, p921. To John Small, Esq. He still wants to lease those 2 Lots 39 & 40, Con 3. Jno. Dennis, Humber.
. 1802 Mar 26, UCLP 55, D Bundle 5, C1743, p865.
To Lieut. Gov. Peter Hunter, Petition of John Denison. On the faith he would moved his family into this province, & to have certain grant for a ship Yard Lot, the applied for a yard on another distant lot; 25 times attending Council, he humbly requests to take his case into consideration, signed, John Dennis.
Envelope: Received 30 March 1802. His petition having failed, the Board has no concern.
. Father: 1809 July 22, Saturday, Town of York. Seneca Ketchum, Path Master on Yonge Street appeared to prosecute the following Persons, for refusing & neglecting to perform their Statute Labour. Thomas & Wm. Hill, Walter Moody, William Marsh Sen'. was fined by the Court $1 & all expenses.
George Denison, appeared & gave no reasonable excuse, to the Court for refusing to perform his Statute labour & he is fined by the Court $8 & all Expenses.
. 1830 May 5, UCLPetition 22, D Bundle 16, York, p158 [Slightly extracted version]
To Lt. Gov. John Colborne, John Dennis is the son late Henry Dennis, Master Shipbuilder, City of Philadelphia to a great & portable extent.
He was very young when his father jointed the British Standard. Although a Quaker he served in Army & essential series to Sir Wm Howe. The British Fleet transported him & his father to NY City after the evacuation of Philadelphia, forfeiting their property in town & vicinity valued at many thousand pounds.
In NY his father commenced ship building, repairing & refitting ships. But he tried with his father peaceable employment & volunteered under General Grant to the West Indies & was at the taking & defense of St. Lucia, Grenada & other islands.
. 1780 your Petitioner returned to NY finding his father growing old & never afterwards left him.
At the peace of 1783 he removed to New Brunswick where his house & belongings burned to the ground. After this calamity General Simcoe came to Canada but the General could give no compensation. When the Commissioners came to the Colonies for the Loyalist Losses, head not the necessary documents & when he had them, the commissioners returned to England.
Now is his 72th year, he would no longer trouble his Majesty Government, but he has children & grandchildren likely to suffer from the evils of property, but for the estates his father lost. He cherished the hope that something will yet be allowed., Signed, John Dennis.
Envelope: 1830 May 14, In Council, The UC government does not have the ability to address his losses. He must applied the his Majesties Government (England.) Signed, W Robinson, Chairman.
. To Lt Gov John Colborn, Further information to his Petition, I have endeavored through loss to his Majesty, lost his patinmokny for 52 years [1778].
UC Sundries, C6869, Document 55283, p727 [Abbreviated for repetition, as above]
. He has reduced his family to great stress & deprivation through loyalty, he has reduced his family:
son & son-in-law had good vessel of 40 to 50 tons. Colonel Drummond took possession to it, destroyed at £2,000 worth, but valued at £400, son was master at 6 shillings a day, at Quebec & came to Kinston where they paid him £259 for the vessel; son went to York until she was taken. His brother-in-law as slain. Vessels was sold to highest bidder to Hugh C Thompson, & my son lives at Point Frederick [Kingston, ON].
Considering his & his father's losses, he was promised a shipyard, but was given 2 acres not sufficient for making a yard. His son is now building on sufferance on the open beach.
I am most restfully & humbly your servant, John Dennis, York 15 Feb, 1830.
. Petition of John Dennis, he was born in Philadelphia in 1758.
He & his father were driven from home, with his Majesties Forces in Philadelphia in 1778. His father fell in a fit of apoplexy as he was walking in apparently full health. He never informed or found his father's deeds & bonds of debts due him. He is upwards of 71 years & begs your Excellency to grant him some renumeration. He has a weak constitution but a good moral character of myself & son.
. 1815 Dec 9 - To Lieut. Gov. Francis Gore:
He left home with his father Henry Dennis who died in a xxz fit, leaving him to settle his affairs in Sept 1783. He went to New Brunswick in Sept 1783 & went in 1785 to Pennsylvania where is father's land was confiscated & his was too late to lay any claims before the Commissioners [for US War Losses]. He prays his dormant claim may be taken into consideration. John Dennis.
Ref: Upper Canada Sundries, C4545, document 11206, p1356.
. To Lieut. Gov. Francis Gore: Report on the Petition of John Dennis:
Granted a Town Lot in York 14 Feb, 1798;
. 1798 Jun 27 - President Russell permitted Mr. Dennis to locate Lot 11, Front St., Town of York;
Order in Council to enquire how far the notice of 4 Sept 1800 had been complied with, report made 1 May 1801. Whereupon 27 May 1801 a letter was addressed to Survey General that the Lot appropriated by John Dennis was thrown open along with others. Surveying fees have been repaid to Mr. Dennis on the aforementioned Grant & Lot 11 was loaded in May 1801 by Mrs. Penelope Beike by permission of Lt. Gov. Hunter.
Mr. Dennis now applies for Water Lot 5, Front Street, appropriated to Comte Joseph De Pusisayne, by an order from Pres. Russell on 19 Nov. 1798.
Signed, York, 23 Jan, 1816, Thos. Ridout, Survey General.
. Petition of John Dennis, He had a grant which was in short time given to Mr. John Barker. He next applied for a lot a Kingston which was refused. He prays for a Lot which lays in from to that where Mr. Isaac Brook/Brock? was building, which was given to Mrs. Bekin. Signed, John Dennis, 9 Dec, 1815.
Ref: Upper Canada Sundries, C4546, document 11653, p415.
. 1799 Nov 2 - Home District, Personally appeared before me, William Willcocks, Esq. Justice of Peace, John Dennis, farmer & made oath that on about Tuesday, 8 Oct last, he overtook Reuben Riggs of York Garrison, carpenter, near the mouth of the River Humber, on draft on which craft were several articles of lumber the property of the deponent, which were feloniously stolen from his shipyard in said river. Said John Dennis further swears that he has lost out of said shipyard several spikes, nails & other articles or iron besides many oak & pine plants of different dimensions & verily believes they were feloniously stolen by the said Reuben Riggs; & therefore prays he may be dealt with as the law directs & further sayedth not.
Signed, John Dennis, Sworn before me the day & year first above written, Signed, Wm Willocks.
. 1800 Feb 1, York. The published Felicitates: The Gazette had unwittingly published an article of a libelous character signed, by one John Dennis &has he statements were untrue he publishes the retraction: Whereas Mr Reuben Riggs of York, carpenter, has been indicted in respect of a certain trespass & having been tired on such indictment & honorably acquitted.
Now I do hereby certify & declare until all whom it may confront., that I never did intend directly that the said Mr. Riggs should be charged with or arrested or accused with anything, crime or misdemeanor, other than trespass of which I complained. Reuben Riggs was innocent as to any the least intention of felonious intent, I do believe him to be an honest, sober & industrious man. John Dennis.
. 1799 Sep 14, A handsome Vessel, the Toronto yacht, Baker will, in the course of a few days be ready to make her first trip. she is one of the handsomest vessels of there size that ever swam upon the Ontario &to edge from her appearance she bis fair to become one of the swiftest sailing vessels. She is admirably well calculated for the reception of passengers & can with propriety, boast of the most experience officers & Men. Her mast builder was a Mr. Dennis, an American, on whoosh reflects much honor.
The vessel, which was built at the Humber River, was, when under the command of Capt. Fish, wrecked at the sandbar near the lighthouse, Toronto [year?]
. 1808 Apr 13 Thurs., Thus. - General Quarter Session of Peace held at Town of York.
Ordered that the Clerk of the Peace do write to Mr. John Denison requiring his attendance on Saturday next, before the Sessions, at 10 O'Clock in the forenoon.
. 1808 Apr 16, Saturday. Mr. John Denison appeared, & said he would not serve office or pay any fine from this inquiry to service as assessor for the Town & Township of York & Etobicoke. He had served under Hon. Peter Russell, Esq. STILLWELL WILLSON, the other assessor declared upon oath that John Denison has refused to act or do his duty of assessor which he had been nominated by the Town Meeting. Court are not aware Mr. Denison's objections are legal, & therefore this fine to be levied. John Cameron of York, Gent. to be appointed in his stead. p.282
Ref: Upper Canada Gazette & the Oracle Newspaper, York.
. 1812 Sep 11 - Ely Playter:
. 1813 Dec 13, Ely Playter: The men were attached to Captain Denison's Company & myself to Captain Hamilton's. I took breakfast with the officers.s sent to procure quarters for the men by tomorrow & to get a return of the Humber Company of Captain Denison.
. 1813 Dec 8-9th - I went to town early. The boats had gone to the Humber. The wind was fare today.
. 1813 Nov 7 - Got some more summons signed for the Yonge Street and Humber me
Ref: Ely Playter's Journal.
. 1823 Aug 7, Thursday. Claim 179, John Dennison, Sworn
Says he lost his horses supplies as stated. The Enemy [Americans] took his Niticals ? & swords. At other property claimed for few the house, he being taken prisoner & not one saw in the house. xxone lost when the Troops retreated from York.Though taken time after the time by the Troops. Worked from farm on shares, with Nxx? Russel. Considered all his own time. Allowed £.
Ref: UC War of 1812 Claims for Losses, Archives of Canada, C2223, p85 - . -
Son Joseph Dennis:
. 1850 Feb 28, UCLPetition 119
To Earl of Elgin & Kincardine, Governor General of British North America.
Petition of Joseph DENNIS of York Twp., York Co., Shipbuilder
That your Petitioner was Master & owner of a Schooner called the Lady Gore on Lake Ontario at the time the War broke out between England & the United States in the year 1812. He was engaged by the late General BROCK during the first season of the War to convey troops & stores between York & Niagara, & made several trips in the said Service.
That during the time he called once upon the General for money who in reply stated that he had then no funds at his disposal, that he was bowed down to the ground with such demands, but recommended to the petitioner & that I would eventually be paid. That the Battle of Queenston occurred shortly afterwards in which the General was Killed & that your Petitioner never received any equivalent for the said services. That your petitioner with his vessel as a transport in the Provincial Marine were engaged the following season of 1813 by Colonel Drummond who was then Quarter Master General, to transport troops & stores between Kingston & the upper end of the Lake.
That your petitioner & his vessel were, with 5 other vessels while in the said service, taken by the Enemy on the 6th of October of that year, & after being 10 Months in Captivity was exchanged by way of Halifax & left to work his way home as best he could in consequence of which he did not arrive in Upper Canada till the following August.
Col. Drummond had in the mean time been killed at Fort Erie but not however before an understanding had been obtained with him that your petitioner should receive £500 for the loss of his vessel but of which sum he your petitioner never received but £200 & further, receiving no pay for the time he was imprisoned. He never applied to the Government for remuneration until about the year 1835, when he petitioned setting forth the foregoing facts.
His claim was deferred to the Adjutant General of Militia the late Col. Coffin, who having a recollection of the vessel & the service she, with your petitioner had performed was pleased to direct, in your petitioners presence, the clerk in the Surveyor Generals Office to enter your petitioners name upon the books for 500 acres of land saying at the same time, that in consequence of the capacity in which Mr Dennis had served & of the services performed as aforesaid, he had placed him on the footing with a Subaltern officer. That your petitioner supposing that this had been done engaged one Israel Bonerman, whom he had been led to believe an accredited agent of the Government, to choose for him the said 500 Acres, & doing the necessary duties to make a Return thereof to the Land Department in order that the Deeds might be obtained, & that in furtherance of this engagement a list of the lands so chosen & returned, or represented so to have been, was given by the said Bonerman, to your petitioner.
The Rebellion occurring shortly afterwards & the assertions of the said Bonerman, from time to time that the grant had been perfected[?] & the Deeds would soon be out, delayed any farther action in the matter by your petitioner for 5 or 6 years, where on forcing the said Matter to an issue he found to his dismay that he had been deceived by the said Bonerman, & that he had not been entered for the 500 acres as had been understood with & directed by the late Adjutant General at the time referred to. That your petitioner now for the second, & he trusts the last, time prefers the Claim, with the firm conviction that both as a favour & at the same time as an act of justice, & while he would be grateful for it as the first he would most humbly & respectfully submit to your Excellency that it would be only consistent with the latter, the Government can have no object in, or desire towards, withholding from a faithful & confiding servant a consideration which may serve as a fair remuneration for personal services & suffering as well as a just due for losses actually sustained by him in its defense Your petitioner therefore humbly begs that Your Excellency may be pleased to direct that he be allowed scrip for 500 acres.
Signed, Joseph Dennis, Toronto, 28 Feby, 1850.
Ref: Upper Canada Land Petitions "M" Bundle 5, 1849.
. Obituary:
We observe with much regret the death of Joseph Dennis, Esq., of Weston, & with it the severance of another link connecting us with the early history of this country. Mr. Dennis was born in New Brunswick in 1789, his father, the late John Dennis, having settled there after being driven out of the United States as a U. E. Loyalist. The family removed to Canada some 3 years later, Mr. John Dennis receiving a grant of land for his services & losses as a Loyalist. This land was selected on the Humber river, & on it he then settled & lived, till having been appointed Superintendent of the dockyard, he removed to Kingston. Our recently deceased friend, Mr. Joseph Dennis, was brought up in the dockyard to a thorough knowledge of shipbuilding, which occupation, however, he soon exchanged for a more congenial one that of sailing. Owning a vessel on the lake at the outbreak of the American war of 1812, he placed himself & his vessel at the disposal of the Government, & was attached to the Provincial Marine. In one of the actions on Lake Ontario he lost his vessel, was captured & retained a prisoner in the hands of the enemy for some fifteen months. He subsequently commanded, we believe, the first steamer on the waters of Lake Ontario, the Princess Charlotte, which plied, as regularly as could be expected from a steamer of 50 years back, between the Bay of Quinte, Kingston, & Prescott. For the last 6 & 30 years Mr. Dennis had retired from active pursuits retaining till within the last year remarkable vigor, which, however, he taxed by little excepting to indulge his taste in fishing, of which he was an enthusiastic disciple. A man of genial & happy temperament, of unbending integrity, of simple tastes & methodical habits, he was a type of man fast passing out of this country.
Ref: The Daily Globe Newspaper, Toronto.
. 1803 Daughter Hannah Dennis Johnson:
UCLP 12, To Lieut. Gov. Peter Hunter, His Excellency Peter Hunter. In Council.
Petition Hannah JOHNSON wife of Thos. Johnson, York, York Co., Yeoman, Daughter of John Dennis, U.E.
Prays for 200 Acres, Signed, Hannah Johnson.
. Personally appeared before me John Willson, Esq., one of His Majestys Justices of the Peace for the Home District. The above named Hannah Johnson, who being duly sworn upon the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God, deponeth that She is Married to the above named Thos. Johnson & that she has never received any Lands or order of Lands from the Crown. Signed, Hannah Johnston.
. I certify that the Petitioner written name signed, this Petitioner in my presence, that she is the Person She describes herself to be, & to the best of my knowledge & belief she never has rec'd. any Lands or order of Lands from the Crown. Signed, John Willson, JP.
Envelope: 10 May 1803. Received from Thomas Johnson. Recommended for 200 Acres of Land, as the Daughter of a U.E. Loyalist. Signed. H. Allcock, Chairman.
Ref: UCLP 12, I-J Bundle 6, C2109, p 257.
In Memory of
John Denison, Esquire,
Son of George Denison, Esq.,
Of Rotherham, Yorkshire England
By his wife Mary Parkinson
Born at Headon, Yorkshire 20 Nov. 1755
Died at Toronto, 28 Oct. 1824
And also of his wife,
Sophia Taylor,
Daughter of Arthur Taylor, Esq.
Of Harwich, Essex, England
By his wife Hannah Harwood,
Born at Dovercourt, Harwich,
Essex, 13 Dec. 1765,
Married 19 Dec. 1782
And died at Quebec, 26 Nov. 1852.
Having determined to leave England & go to our Canada upon the solicitation of friends Then going to our new colony, they sailed From Hull on 11 July, 1792 with their sons, George Taylor, Thomas John, & Charles, Settled at Kingston in Oct, of that year & resided there until Oct. 1796.
When they moved to York, Being then just surveyed from the wilderness to be capital of Upper Canada John Denison set apart this burial ground about the year 1800, & fully established it. As a cemetery on the Humber with right of burial to all those only of his blood with their wives & husbands respectively. This tablet was erected in their memory by their grandchildren. Subsequently replaced in June 1992 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of John Denison's arrival in Canada.
All transcriptions by P J Ahlberg 2015. Thank you. - - - [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
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1755 - 1824 (68 years)