William Denison

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William Denison (bp. 1571–1654)

Margaret Chandler (d. 1646)

English Ancestry of William Denison [3]

Generation 1: John Wylley of Thorley, Hertfordshire was born say 1360. He died after 16 August 1409. He married first (possibly) Joan Babelake, the daughter of John and Joan Babelake of Thorley by 1386.

Generation 2: John Wylley of Thorley was born say 1390. He died after 31 December 1462. He married Agnes Unknown.

Generation 3: John Wylley of Little Hallingbury, Essex was born say 1430. He died after 16 July 1497.

Generation 4: Edward Wylley of Thorley was born say 1460. He died by September 1523. He married Agnes Clere by 16 July 1497.

Generation 5: John Wylley of Bishop’s Stortford was born say 1490. He died between 15 June 1556 and 12 December 1558.

Generation 6: John Wylley of Thorley was born say 1515. He was buried on 4 February 1575/6 in Thorley. He married Joan Marshall on 7 October 1540 in Thorley. His daughter Bridget Wylley married George Abbott and they were the grandparents of George Abbott of Andover.

Generation 7: Agnes Wylley was probably born in 1545. She married first John Denison on 11 May 1561 in Thorley. She married second John Gace of Bishop’s Stortford. She married third John Wall of Bishop’s Stortford.

Generation 8: William Denison, the migrant

William Denison, the son of John and Agnes (Wylley) Denison, was baptized on 3 February 1571 in Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire. He died on 25 January 1653/4 in Roxbury. He married Margaret Chandler as her second husband on 7 November 1603 in Bishop’s Stortford. [1]

Margaret Chandler—“Old Mother Denison”—died on 3 February 1645/6. She married first Henry Monk on 2 April 1600 in Albany, Hertfordshire. He was buried on 10 December 1602 in Bishop’s Stortford. She married second William Denison. [1]

The Roxbury church records say, “It pleased God to work upon her heart & change it in her ancient years, after she came to this land; & joined to the church in the year 1632.”

William’s son Daniel wrote a family history for his fatherless grandchildren. About his father he wrote, “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.” [2]

Mr. William Denison was a freeman on 3 July 1632. He was a constable in Roxbury on 4 March 1633/4 and deputy from Roxbury on 4 March 1634/5. He was one of five Roxbury men to be disarmed for supporting Mr. Wheelright and Mrs. Hutchinson on 20 November 1637. [1]

English Ancestry of Margaret Chandler

Generation 1: Thomas Chandler of Bishop’s Stortford was born about 1475. He was living on 19 Mar 1547/8, but died in or before 11–31 Jan 1550/1. He married an unknown wife who was buried in 1514. He was charged for 'waste of torchis' at the burying of his wife. Thomas was a chaundler, or candle maker. He was a churchwarden there in 1521, 1522 and 1536. [4]

Generation 2: Thomas Chandler of Bishop’s Stortford was born about 1500. He died as early as 1554, when he made his will. He married Agnes Unknown. He was a churchwarden in 1546, 1548 and 1553. In his will, he mentions his wife Agnes, his sons John and Thomas, and his daughter, wife of Richard Bedwell. [4]

John Page was born say 1500. He died in 1556 in Braughing & Standon, Hertfordshire. He married Katherine Unknown. [5]

Generation 3: Thomas Chandler of Bishop’s Stortford was born about 1528. He died in 1611 in Bishop's Stortford. He married Joan Page. Joan was born say 1530 and died in 1606/7. [5]

Generation 4: Tobias Chandler of Bishop’s Stortford was born about 1551. He was buried on 24 Oct 1629 at Bishops-Stortford. He married Johane Mumford on 21 Sep 1574. She was buried on 29 Jun 1618 at Bishops-Stortford. Tobias Chandler was a tanner. He was a churchwarden in 1598. In his will, dated 20 Aug 1627, he refers to daughters Margaret, Joan and Grace and sons John and Robert.

Generation 5: Margaret Chandler, the migrant

Children of William Denison and Margaret Chandler: Baptisms, recorded in Bishop's Stortford, in [1]

i. John Denison was baptized on 7 April 1605.

According to his brother Daniel, his brother John stayed behind in England. [2] He was vicar at Standon, Hertfordshire. [1]

ii. William Denison was baptized on 5 October 1606.

According to his brother Daniel, when William was 18 he was a soldier at the Siege of Breda and was never heard from again. [2]

iii. George Denison was baptized on 15 October 1609. He was buried on 18 June 1614. [1]

iv. Major General Daniel Denison was baptized on 18 October 1612. He married Patience, the daughter of Thomas Dudley, on 18 October 1632. [2]

Daniel said that he and his brother John were, “bred scholars at Cambridge,” where he continued until he received his first degree. He went with his father to New England and lived in Cambridge for about two years and in about 1632 he went to Ipswich. In 1645 he was chosen major of the regiment of Essex. In 1653 he was chosen Assistant or Magistrate and about a year later he was made major general. [2]

v. Sarah Denison was baptized on 8 October 1615. She was buried on 15 October 1615. [1]

vi. Edward Denison was baptized on 3 November 1616. He married Elizabeth, the daughter of Joseph Weld, on 30 March 1641 in Roxbury. [1]

Edward lived in the same house in Roxbury that his father had lived in. [2]

vii. Captain George Denison was baptized on 10 December 1620. He died on 23 October 1694 in Hartford. He married first Bridget Thompson. He married second Ann Borodell.

Endnotes:

1. "The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620–1633, Volumes I-III," digitized book, AmericanAncestors.org, originally published as: Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, 3 volumes (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995), 522–4.

2. Daniel Denison Slade, "Autobiography of Major-General Daniel Denison," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 46 (1892): 127–33.

3. William Wyman Fiske, “The Wylley and Cramphorne Families of Hertfordshire and Their Contribution to the Great Migration,” New York Genealogical and Biographical Register 171 (2017), 133–53.

4. G. Andrews Moriarty, "Ancestry of William Chandler of Roxbury, Mass.,"New England Historical and Genealogical Register 85 (1931), 133–45.

5. Douglas Richardson, "New Light on the English Ancestry of William Chandler and of His Cousin Margaret Chandler, Wife of William Dension, Both of Roxbury, Massachusetts," The American Genealogist 73 (1998): 50–57.

Revised November 13, 2023