The Denison Family: Two Sons, Two Lines to Robert

A genuine case of pedigree collapse: William Denison of Bishop's Stortford is Robert's direct ancestor through two of his sons independently — Daniel (via the Dudley line) and George (via the Mayflower/Angell correction). Not an error; a real, documented feature of small, intermarried colonial New England communities.

The immigrant generation

🟢 William Denison (Feb 3, 1571 – Jan 25, 1653, Roxbury, MA) m. Margaret Chandler (Oct 13, 1577 – Feb 1645/6, Roxbury) — his second wife; her first husband was Henry Monk (d. 1602, Bishop's Stortford). Emigrated 1631 from Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire. Freeman of Massachusetts Bay (1632); constable and deputy, Roxbury; one of five Roxbury men disarmed in 1637 for supporting the Antinomians (Anne Hutchinson/Rev. John Wheelwright).

Primary source for the emigration itself: Daniel Denison's own 1672 autobiographical letter, written for his grandchildren, quoted directly:

"My father though very well seated in Stratford, hearing about the then famous transplantation to New England, resettled himself and calling me from Cambridge, removed himself and family in the year 1631 to New England and brought over myself being about 19 years of age and my two younger brothers Edward and George, leaving my eldest brother behind him in England."

Four sons: John (eldest, stayed in England as a minister), Daniel (b. 1612), Edward, George (bp. Dec 10, 1620).

Branch 1: Daniel Denison — Dudley line

🟢 Major General Daniel Denison (Oct 18, 1612 – Sep 20, 1682, Ipswich, MA) — top military commander of the Massachusetts Bay Colony militia. m. Patience Dudley, daughter of Governor Thomas Dudley. Line continues: John Denison (1640–1670) m. Martha Symonds → John Denison (1665–1725) m. Ruth Ayer → Hannah Denison (1689–1772, Andover, CT) → ... → Robert.

Also listed under Confirmed Findings.

Branch 2: George Denison — Mayflower / Angell line

🟢 Captain George Denison (bp. Dec 10, 1620, Bishop's Stortford – Oct 23, 1694, Hartford, CT, buried Old Center Church Cemetery) — a genuinely major military and civic figure in his own right:

• m. (1) Bridget Thompson, March 1640/1 — daughter of John Thompson & Alice Freeman of Preston Capes, Northamptonshire; she died Aug 1643, leaving two daughters under age 3
• Returned to England after her death and fought for Cromwell's side in the English Civil War
• Returned to New England; m. (2) Ann Borodell
• Settled Stonington, CT; described as, after Major John Mason, "the most distinguished soldier of Connecticut in her early settlement"
• Commanded forces and led forays against the Narragansett during King Philip's War (1675–76); appointed Provost Marshall of New London County, Feb 12, 1676
• Wrote his will Jan 24, 1693/4
• Nine children reaching adulthood: sons John, George Jr., William; daughters Sarah, Hannah, Ann, Borodell, Margaret, Mary

🟢 Daughter Sarah Denison married Thomas Stanton Jr. — connecting directly to the Stanton family, one of the four founders of Stonington already documented on the Norwich & Stonington page (alongside Thomas Minor and Walter Palmer).

🟢 Daughter Margaret Denison (1657–1741) m. Lt. James Brown (1655–1718), 1678, Swansea — this is the marriage that produces Mary Brown, who married James Angell, the corrected parents of William Angell. See The Mayflower Line for the full line onward to Robert.

Why this matters

Denison, Minor, Palmer, Stanton, Dudley, Brown, Howland, and Angell all interlock through two or three generations of 1650s–1700s Connecticut and Rhode Island marriages. The Denison brothers (Daniel and George) are the clearest, best-sourced example of that interlocking found anywhere in this tree.

Sources

• Denison, E. Glenn, Josephine M. Peck, and Donald L. Jacobus, Denison Genealogy: Ancestors and Descendants of Captain George Denison (Pequot Press, 1963)
• Miller, Dr. Spencer, Willie, Denison and Abbot Families of Bishop Stortford, Co. Herts, England, NEHGS Register, Vol. 67 (1936)
• Anderson, Robert Charles, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620–1633 (NEHGS, 1995) — William Denison entry
• Daniel Denison's 1672 autobiographical letter (primary source, quoted above)
• George Denison's will, Jan 24, 1693/4