William Slack Denison (1794 - 1880)

Born 13 Nov 1794 in Colrain, Massachusetts

Ancestors

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Biography

William S. Denison was born 13 Nov 1794 at Colrain, Massachusetts [[1]], the seventh child of William Denison and Anna Slack.

William S. Denison was educated at Ohio University, Athens. He became a very wealthy farmer, operating a substantially large farm of 1500 acres near Adamsville (Salem Township), Ohio. He was a longtime member of the Baptist church in Adamsville. In about 1854 William S. Denison endowed the Granville Literary and Theological Institution, at Granville, Ohio, precipitating its re-naming to be Denison University. He also gave $30 thousand for other educational purposes.

He married 31 May 1860 Mary O. Fisher. A letter which gives this account says "His three children are healthy and robust scions of the old stock", but gives no dates of birth:

1. Anna Evalina Denison
2. Joseph Denison, b. 1865; lived on father's farm; d. 1948
3. Charles Dunlap Denison

William S. Denison passed away 31 Dec 1880.

Sources

• Denison Genealogy: Ancestors and Descendants of Captain George Denison; E. Glenn Denison, Josephine M. Peck and Donald L. Jacobus; Gateway Press, Inc. Baltimore, MD 1993 [Originally published, Pequot Press 1963; Reprinted, Baltimore, MD 1978, 1982, 1993], no. 1596: https://archive.org/details/denisongenealogy00deni/page/55/mode/1up; https://archive.org/details/denisongenealogy00deni/page/107/mode/1up