Reconnect with Your Mystic Roots
Denison Reunion Weekend, July 31 -August 2, 2009
Plan on a week or just a few days but reserve early, now, since Mystic is the number 1 tourist destination in
Connecticut!
We need you to pre register so we can plan events!Many of these activities you can do by yourselves or if we have
enough people we can reserve one.
Friday , July 31
3:00-4:00
Tea with Aunt Annie in DenisonHomestead
4:00-7:30
Homestead open with Role Players
5:30 – 7:30 PM Wine and Cheese Reception on Homestead Lawn for Friends and Family.
Saturday, August 1
at Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center Building
9:00—10:00 AM
Pancake Breakfast– Cooked by Carolyn and Bill Denison
Sign in, coffee, Mide Frazzesl’s delicous coffee cake
10:00-12:00 Annual Meeting
12:30-1:30
Pot Luck Luncheon Please bring a dish to share or make a donation ( Bill Denison in charge)
1:30- 2:45 Program- premiere of the documentary “Frederick Douglass, Pathway to Freedom,” filmed partly at
the Homestead in May
3:00-4:00 Guided Walk of the Trails on our land
4:00- 5:00 Guided tour of Elm Grove Cemetery and Denison Graves
5:30- 700 PM Sabino evening cruise down the Mystic River, $14.00 adults, ages 6-17 $12.00 , under 5 freereservations required
Celebrating her 101th anniversary this year, the steamboat Sabino was built in Maine in 1908 for passenger service
on the Damariscotta River. Sabino was formally designated a National Historic Landmark. Reservations are
required for downriver cruises. Museum admission is not required; however, you may not enter the Museum
grounds until 20 minutes before departure.
7:00 PM Dinner at Seaman’s Inne, Mystic Seaport – Reservations required.
Sunday, August 3,
10 AM- Road Church Service,
12-3 PM– Denison Farm Market in ourmeadow.
activities in the area- see list
Brunch at a restaurant to be announced
6:00 PM Losbster /Clam Dinner- Costellos, Noank, CT
NO. 136
Spring 2009
DENISON SOCIETY
NEWSLETTER
120 Pequotsepos Road • P.O. Box 42 • Mystic, CT 06355
(860) 536-9248 • membership@denisonsociety.org
www.denisonsociety.org
Thanks to our
Newspaper Patrons
Carol Bonta
Mary Cooper Nelson
E1len Rose Lombardo
John Fucik
Gerald P. Starr
Keep in touch with us.
Send us any information by email if
possible or by snail mail.
Write to us at
membership@denisonsociety.org
Call us
(860)-536-9248
www.denisonsociety.org
THE DENISON SOCIETY, INC.
120 Pequotsepos Road
P.O. Box 42
Mystic, CT 06355
Denison Day Plans
Included
We appreciate any donations you are able to make in this economic
environment!
Please send to
The Denison Society, Inc.
PO Box 42
Mystic, CT 06355
———————————————-
Send us your email address for our Member Records:
membership@denisonsociety.org
Non-Profit
Organization
U.S. Postage
PAID
Permit No. 4
Mystic, CT
06355
In Memoriam
Our lawyer has continued to work on obtaining ownership on the Mistuxet/Cove Road property.
This issue has not been resolved yet.
Joseph Greene of Mystic is a new trustee. He is a Respiratory Therapist. He enjoys nature, the
outdoors (hiking, canoeing, birding, plant identification) and American History. Last month his
twin sons were pictured as they cut brush from our stone walls.
Joanne Langdon and Sarah Sully are aware that not everyone owns our published
genealogies. They are attempting to bring our CD record up to date. Nothing has been
updated until recently when Fred Burdick, former genealogist, entered newly approved
applicants. We’d also like to thank and mention Nancy Hauser who entered most of the 1963
book and the Supplement.
There aren’t records of all the people who joined the Society since mid-1970!! The plan for
now is to get that job done. At the moment it is speculative as to whether the CD can be prepared
for sale. It depends upon whether we need or want proofs cited to make the records a creditable
source.
A Local History Expo was held in Groton on March 14. Treasurer Archie Chester spent the
day manning the Society Booth and spreading the word about joining our Society as a Friend or
encouraging people to visit the Homestead.
What Does Genealogy Mean to the Denison Society? Joanne Langdon, Society Geneologist
Did you know Genealogy is one of the top three hobbies in the USA? Many people are absolutely driven to
belong to lineage societies.How lucky we are to be part of the Denison family where our genealogy can be
traced so easily with the help of our genealogists.
It has been our life-blood. connects us to one another across the country as well as connecting us to a piece of
American history. Some wonderful stories have come to us as part of our communal heritage—some have been
very interesting and some have been very funny.There are accounts in our archives of members who have
produced books and pamphlets on their families. One lady correlated favorite recipes with the women in her
book. You may want to share your stories or some of your search"stone walls"these pages. We welcome them
all.
We have depended on our connections with past generationsa base to claim a membership in the Denison
Society.We rely on family connections today and it is amazing how we are spread all over the country.Many of
us are eager to reach out to those who belong to us,thoughdo not yet know them. In fact, there may be enough
Denisons in your area for a regional reunion. Connecticut to California is a long way.
The first step for potential members is to fill out the application provided on-line, giving us all the data
required by the application OR give us what you know and let us see what we can do to help you.We would
want you to supply copies of as many proofs as possible, such as birth, death and marriage certificates, bible
records, census records, and even letters or first hand accounts from your family. Pictures would be wonderful.
We have recently had an applicant who gave us his name, his father’s name and his grandfather’s name.all the
searching, no connection could be found.Thanks to email and phones, it was easy to contact this person. The
upshot was that his father was a member but apparently among those who became members between
1970-something and today. (Our database of applications is not completely updated yet and we are working on
it.)turned out that we found his Uncle’s membership application and can proceed appropriately.
Another example of what we can do is shown by the following:A woman who wants to apply for membership
has just found her recently deceased mother’s papers on their genealogy.She initially wondered if we might
find a certain George A. Denison as a descendant of the Captain George line.Her George A. was from the New
Haven area.There is another Denison line from that area which has no connection to Captain George that we
can find.Long story short, we found her George in the 1963 Genealogy but he was plain “GEORGE”—no
initial A. There are dozens of Georges in the index, so that wasn’t a short piece of work.
We do have a few resources on hand that help us know whether or not some one fits our Denison line.Lots of
Dennisons do fit.Many names have been changed by town and county clerks, unerringly.Denison lines have
been found throughout the United States and Canada and we have not been able to verify their origins. who
arrived from Ireland in the 1800’s may be descendants of the grandfather of our three Denison brothers.
What I want to leave with you for now is that we are a resource willing to be of service.We are not professional
genealogists so we won’t promise miracles, but we do promise to help within our limits.Try us out! ( This is
from a new page on our web site, www.denisonsociety.org)
Office Clerk Job Sharing
Paige Leuthy, at right, is sharing the Office Clerk position with her mom Ann
Symanski. Paige, 19, is a business major in college. She is holding our two
Geneologies.
Denison Day Speaker and Author
Making Freedom: The Extraordinary Life of Venture Smith
by authors Chandler B. Saint and George A. Krimsky
This year’s Denison Day speaker will be author Chandler B. Saint. His new book tells the
inspiring story of an 18th-century New England slave who emancipated himself. "Making
Freedom" is the first in-depth exploration of the life of Venture Smith (1728-1805), a New
England slave who was sold into bondage as a boy in Africa and labored for nearly a
quarter-century before purchasing his own freedom and transforming himself into a highly
respected American citizen. The Denison story is very closely tied to the Venture story as
Oliver Smiths’s mother and wife are Denisons. Many of the events in this remarkable life all
took place within 50 miles of the Homestead and the Mystic area. They cast a rare light on what
it was like to be an African American in the north during the Colonial era.
Denison Homestead/Society
Recent Happenings and Events
A Special Holiday Denison Farm Market, was held Nov. 23 in our meadow. Colonial
re-enactors cooked over an open fire.Our web site manager, Sarah Melcher, cooked a turkey on
an open spit. Vendors soldfresh local produce - jams, jellies, pies, baked goods, organic fruits
and veggies, meat and seafood. They also had special holiday treats, stocking stuffers and echo
friendly gifts. It was a great end to another successful Denison Farm Market year.
The Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center is again sponsoring their annual Earth Day
celebration. Jean Evans, Anne Collier, Joe Greene and Paige, Caroline plan to help out dressed
in colonial garb. We are also hoping that Paiges Siblings will help and Joe’s twin sons. We will
sell Denison honey made in hives that are placed on our lower meadow, make a bee craft with
children and encourage people to “Bee A Friend of the Society/Homestead.”
A large article appeared in the Mystic Times in February about the Homestead. It told about
financial needs of the Society and the hope was it would encourage the public into helping. It
became controversial but a number of good ideas and public support were received.
.
Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center
Teaching 'Green' since 1946
By Maggie Jones, excerpts from DPNC Spring Chickadee
This is my 17th as Executive Director of DPNC. This year also celebrates 63 years of environmental science
education and stewardship. There is no particular significance to the numbers, other than the fact that the
Center was around for nearly half a century before my time here.
When I started here in 1992, we had 3 full-time employees and a couple of part-time staff. The Center was in
the midst of a stalled capital campaign and operations were in the red. It was definitely a low point in our
organizational cycle…….
Throughout DPNC history, we have had the community
support, leadership and good fortune to build and sustain a
resilient organization. Many individuals, businesses, civic
organizations and foundations have contributed to our
long-term success, allowing us to cope through challenging
times. Our good fortune was, and is, in the unique relationship
we have with the Denison Society, through a lease
agreement that still retains its original meaning 63 years
later.
In 1946, as a tribute to Annie Borodell Denison Gates (the
last Denison family member to live at the Homestead) the
Denison Society agreed to create a nature sanctuary on the
property to protect the family’s unique and ecologically
diverse lands. The place and the timing were perfect for a
Nature Center to be born. It was deemed one of the most
interesting and important projects of its kind in southern
New England, and quickly gained recognition as a worthy
community organization devoted to the promotion of conservation education. The $1 a year lease
agreement facilitated
the growth and development of DPNC as a separate
non-profit charitable organization for the benefit of the
community while also protecting and maintaining much of
the original Denison family land. As our organization has
grown, we have continued our focus on the environment
and our commitment to education while honoring the terms
of our lease.
During the 1980’s, three parcels adjacent to the Denison
property were given to the Avalonia Land Conservancy.
DPNC expanded its stewardship role to help create and maintain
additional trails (on ALC property) that connected to the
sanctuary’s existing trail system.
In 1992 the Denison Society launched a campaign to purchase the Morgan Farm (originally part of the
Denison land grant). The Nature Center, challenged with maintaining its own staff and programs through a
capital campaign, supported the plan and agreed to expand and maintain a trail system and coordinate habitat
management of the property, including the large fields south of the Homestead.
Thanks to the Denison Society, and our shared friends, relations and neighbors in the community who
worked hard
Denison Society President Jean Evans and DPNC Director,
Maggie Jones at DPNC Earth Day 08 Booth
to protect these interconnected open spaces, much of the land around us and the Homestead is
undeveloped.
This preserves the rural setting and historical context of the Homestead, and protects the biological
integrity of our outdoor classroom.
Imagine how different it would be if we were surrounded by
subdivisions. We would surely lose many of the ground nesting
birds, sensitive plants, amphibians and a diversity of species
that require large tracts of unbroken habitat. This area and many other protected open spaces throughout the
region, provide the living outdoor classroom environments so essential to our mission.
What is most exciting for us as we head into 2009 is the realization that, after 63 years, we are witnessing an
attitude shift
throughout our community and beyond; an increased awareness
in the environment and in sustainability. More and more
people understand- and care- that assaulting and wasting natural resources for personal, industrial and
technological
advance is at the expense of our planet’s life systems, our
health, and our future. The proliferation of ‘green’ fairs, alternative energy solutions, eco-friendly stores and
farmer’s markets are just a few of the indicators that attitudes are changing.
By working to inspire children to wonder and learn about the
natural world, to recognize and care about different plants and
animals, and to understand and appreciate the interconnectedness of all life, DPNC has helped shape a
knowledgeable generation of planet protectors that have an emotional connection
to the real world. Having this connection to the earth gives
meaning to our lives in a way that technology cannot.
DPNC is proud to do our part to help raise eco-consciousness and foster a sense of moral responsibility
towards nature. Come to our 2009 Earth Day Celebration to learn more about the individuals and organizations
in our region that are helping us
make this important shift to a more sustainable community.
The Denison Society will again have a booth, and encourage people to “BEE a Friend” of the
Homestead/Society.”
Young Denisons Celebrate Birthday in our Meadow
The Homestead was the site for outdoor midwinter birthday games. Twin Denison Members
Adam and Matthew Greene celebrated their eighth birthday with 11 classmates on the market
field January 17th under sunny skies and near windless conditions. Capture the Flag started
the fun with two enthusiastic teams running near ceaselessly through the snow, tagging
opponents and developing strategies. When energy needed a boost all retired into an Inipee, or
Indian Sweat Lodge, constructed at the edge of the field. Heated rocks from a fire next to the
tent like structure were carried inside and sprinkled with sage water providing warmth, aroma
and respite. Rejuvenated, a quick abridged game of football (kill the carrier) followed. After the
fire was put out the winter Denison games ended with a trek to the Nature Center. Hot cocoa
brought such contented quietude one could hear oneself think! Pizza and cake naturally
followed recharging all for the subsequent indoor games. Checkered/blue reversible wool caps
used for team identification in the game of Capture the Flag were seen on school bus and
playground heads for weeks thereafter
RUN OR WALK FOR THE PENGUINS
This year, The Denison Society supported and helped contribute to the Mystic Aquarium & Institute for
Exploration’s second annual “Run or Walk for the Penguins”. The event was a success and The Aquarium
received positive feedback about the event overall, the participants enjoyed running a route through the
Monsanto fields and along nature trails. The event raised over $17,00 for penguin research and
conservation– more than double of what was raised last year! The great success of this event in only its
second year is inspiring and we wish them luck in years to come.