Denison-Rodgers Family Papers (Coll. 356)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Overview of the Collection

Biography of the Denison family

Scope and Contents of the Papers

Restrictions

Index Terms

Administrative Information

Detailed Description of the Collection

Biography of the Denison family

Gideon Denison (1753-1799) was born in Saybrook, Connecticut. He married Jerusha Butler, daughter of Dr. Benjamin Butler, at Norwich, Connecticut, on May 28, 1780. They had four children: Henry (1782-1847), Minerva (1784-1877), Louisa (b. 1786) and Elizabeth (1788-1840). Gideon began his career as a merchant/shopkeeper in Norwich. In 1784 he built the brig COMMERCE and immediately sent her to the West Indies with a cargo of horses.

Denison left Connecticut in August 1784 and settled near Portsmouth, Virginia, leaving angry creditors along the way. During the following year he traveled continually between Portsmouth and Washington, North Carolina, trying to develop business. A series of misfortunes and lack of capital left him further in debt, and he was forced to sell his vessel in 1785. At a friend&s suggestion he traveled to Ireland in the hope of establishing business contacts there and in England. Arriving in Dublin in August 1785, Denison spent a year traveling to various cities, including London and Liverpool, meeting people and enjoying the culture. However, he returned to America in 1786, still unsuccessful and unable to pay the captain for his passage. After obtaining a five-year extension agreement from his major creditors in New York, he returned to the Portsmouth region, flat broke but with an opportunity for a new beginning.

In 1787 Denison opened a store in Newport Bridge, Georgia, which he later relocated to Savannah. It was there that he finally began to find success. During the next several years he established himself as a influential merchant. He purchased a plantation and began shipping large cargoes of rice, lumber, tobacco and cotton aboard his vessels to American and foreign ports.

In January 1793 Denison became involved in land speculation. With partner John Hall, he began to acquire large tracts of land in various states, with the intention of selling off parcels to smaller investors and individuals at a generous profit. Denison would eventually own hundreds of thousand of acres of land in Georgia, North Carolina, Kentucky and Tennessee, but like most of those involved he would lose nearly everything he had.

In 1795 Denison relocated once again, this time to Philadelphia, at the same time purchasing property near Havre de Grace, Maryland, known as Sion Hill, where he settled down with his family. In 1798 he opened a store in Knoxville, Tennessee, putting his brother Ezra in charge. The following year he sent Ezra to Natchez with instructions to prepare another store there.

By this time, however, speculators like Gideon Denison were in serious financial trouble, due in part to a poor economy and conflicting government regulations. In April 1799 he was unable to settle a debt for $8,500.00, and was ordered to prison. Evidence suggests he never went to prison, but lived out his few remaining days at Sion Hill, where he died on September 24, 1799. His wife, Jerusha Butler Denison, continued to live there, and her son Henry maintained the property until he died in 1822. Eventually it was occupied by Robert S. Rodgers, the son of Gideon's daughter Minerva, who had married Commodore John Rodgers.

Henry Denison (1782-1822), the only son of Gideon and Jerusha Denison, was for most of his adult life a purser in the U.S. Navy. He was aboard the U.S. Brig ARGUS when it was captured by the British during the War of 1812. He was sent to England and paroled to the town of Ashburton, where he acted as an agent for other American prisoners of war confined to Dartmoor and Mill prisons, and on British prison ships. Upon his return to the United States, Henry Denison continued his career as purser until his death in 1822.

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Biography of the Rodgers family

John Rodgers was born July 11, 1772, in Maryland. He entered the Navy in 1798 as a second lieutenant and in 1799 he was promoted to captain. As a result of his brilliant record in the Tripolitan War while in command of JOHN ADAMS, he was appointed Commodore of the Mediterranean Squadron in 1805. He later took command of the North Atlantic Squadron, a post he continued throughout the War of 1812. His many successes as commander of the frigate PRESIDENT included the capture of twenty-three prizes and the rendering of vital aid to the defense of Ft. McHenry. Rodgers was appointed to the Board of Navy Commissioners in 1815, but returned to active service in the 1820s, again taking command of the Mediterranean Squadron. He resumed his work with the Board of Navy Commissioners around 1827, and remained in that position until 1837. Rodgers died in Philadelphia on August 1, 1838.

John Rodgers married Minerva Denison in 1806, and together they had eleven children. Details about several of these children follow.

Robert Smith Rodgers (1810-1889) worked as a civil engineer and served as a colonel in the U.S. Army during the Civil War. His wife was Sarah Perry, the daughter of Matthew Calbraith Perry.

John Rodgers (1812-1882) entered the U.S. Navy as a midshipman in 1828. As a lieutenant commander aboard the U.S. Schooner WAVE, he acted as purser. In the 1850s he was in command of the North Pacific Exploring and Surveying Expedition. His distinguished service during the Civil War saw him rise to the rank of captain in 1862, and later to commodore. Rodgers was promoted to the rank of rear admiral in 1869.

William Pinkney Rodgers (1821-1885) was a lawyer and adventurer. He travelled extensively in the American Southwest and in California during the Gold Rush, where he established a business transporting provisions to miners.

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Scope and Contents of the Papers

The Denison-Rodgers Family Papers, comprising 40 Hollinger document boxes of manuscript material and 27 volumes, are organized into three major sections: (I) Gideon Denison Papers, (II) Henry Denison Papers and (III) Rodgers Family Papers.

Section I (22 boxes) contains the business and personal records of Gideon Denison, a merchant, businessman and land speculator, born at Saybrook, Connecticut, in 1753. He operated stores in Connecticut, Georgia and Tennessee, and did business in cities from New Orleans to Boston. He also traded at foreign ports in England, Europe and the West Indies. An important reserach thread in these papers are the records of his speculation in America's Western lands, an activity that caused him to lose nearly everything and perhaps hastened his death in 1799. This Section is further divided into two Series: (1) Business & family correxpondence and (2) Business & family accounts + related papers.

Section II (13 boxes) includes the papers of Henry Denison, the oldest child and only son of Gideon and Jerusha Butler Denison. Born in 1792, Henry Denison was a Purser in the U.S. Navy, who became a prisoner of war after his ship was captured by the British during the War of 1812. A majority of the records in the Section detail his naval career and especially his time in England as a POW. He remained in the Navy following his release, but died a few years later in 1822. The Section is organized into three Series: (1) Naval correspondence, (2) Naval papers and (3) Personal letters & papers.

Several members of the Rodgers family are represented in Section III (5 boxes), most notably Commodore John Rodgers (1772-1838) and his wife, Minerva Denison Rodgers, the oldest daughter of Gideon and Jerusha Denison. In addition, one will find papers relative to their sons Robert S. Rodgers (1810-1899), John Rodgers (1812-1882), William P. Rodgers (1821-1885) and Henry Rodgers (d. 1854). Other notables include Commodore Matthew C. Perry (father-in-law of Robert Rodgers), Brigadier General Montgomery Meigs (son-in-law of Commodore Rodgers) and Commodore David Porter. The records include letters to and from Commodore Rodgers, in addition to information about the careers of his sons. Family correspondence and related material, much of it written to or collected by Robert S. Rodgers, also appear in this Section. A letter written to his mother Minerva from Washington, D.C. following the assassination of President Lincoln is one of the many interesting pieces in these papers. The Section is divided into two Series: (1) Personal correspondence & papers and (2) Naval & military papers.

The 27 bound volumes in this collection relate to various members of the Denison and Rodgers families, and cover a broad span of years between 1784 and 1900. They are organized chronologically and can be found at the end of the 40 numbered manuscript boxes described above.

Volumes 1-9 provide details into the business of Gideon Denison. They include ledgers, daybooks, journals, invoice records, blotters, etc., all related to his various stores and merchandising activity. There are no references to his involvement with land speculation. Of special interest is the journal/diary (Vol. 3) describing his attempts to reestablish his business fortunes from the time he left New London to his arrival at Newport Bridge, Georgia (1784-1787).

Volumes 20-23 contain family records (1818-1821), possibly kept by Henry Denison, many of them regarding expenses of the Sion Hill property. A journal (Vol. 24) seems to detail Robert Rodgers' management of the Sion Hill estate for the year 1845, while a similar volume (Vol. 25) was kept by C. P. Rodgers in 1864. A thick, coverless scrapbook of clippings and genealogical information, ca. 1900, includes Rodgers family memorabilia, including obituaries, wedding and funeral announcements and clippings acknowledging members of the family and their naval or military careers (Vol. 27).

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Restrictions

Restrictions on Access

Available for use in the Manuscripts Division.

Restrictions on Use

Various copying restriction apply. Guidelines are available from the Manuscripts Division.

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Index Terms

This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the G. W. Blunt White Library. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalogusing these headings.

Persons:

Corporate Bodies (Including Vessels):

Places:

Subjects:

Document Types:

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Coll. 356, Manuscripts Collection, G. W. Blunt White Library, Mystic Seaport Museum, Inc.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.

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