TOLD by the PIONEERS - Washington Secretary of State

Told by the Pioneers
MRS. VIRETl'A DENNY
Reminiscences of the TVidow of Charles A. Denny of the Pioneer
Fam.ily Which Came to Alki in 1851
King County
~ry grandfather, Thomas M. Chambers, was born in Ireland. My
father, Andrew Jackson Chambers, I always thought, was born at the
Hermitage, the home of Andrew Jackson, in Tennessee. Some of the
family now say that he was born in Kentucky. All of my family were
strong democrats until I married a Denny. Grandfather Chambers
lived at the Hermitage and was employed there.
:My father came to the Northwest in 1845. He was a stock raiser,
and settled on the prairie instead of on the water, as the Dennys did.
If he had chosen the waterfront we would have been much ·wealthier.
He owned three thousand acres on Chambers Prairie (named for
him) and the prairie beyond. He went to California in the gold rush
and later said he would have made more money if he had stayed there,
but he did not like the atmosphere, particularly the social turmoil, and
the criminal tendencies of some of the gold seekers.
,Ve lived seven miles from Olympia. There were ten Chambers
girls. Two of the girls died and were buried on the place at first, and
were later moved to the Odd Fellows cemetery. We had a big frame
house. The school, I think, was on our place. We eight girls had
eight saddle horses and went around the country, horseback riding.
,Ve also had buggies and buggy horses. The mud was terrible.
It sometimes took two hours to drive to Olympia. Now we go in
fifteen minutes. Members of my family still live on part of the old
farm.
I met my husband, Charles Denny, through relatives who had married
into the Denny family, and who, upon coming West, sought to
find the Dennys. We had dancing, although my mother was a strict
Presbyterian. My father, however, was not interested in religion.
Visiting was the great amusement. We had huge dinner parties all
the time at the ranch twenty-five at dinner was a common occur-
•
rence. My mother felt rebellious at this custom. People were really
"eaten out of house and home" by their friends and relatives.
I was married in June, and we had an altar built out of doors.
There were lots of flowers and, of course, with all relatives, we had a
large crowd. We took, as our wedding journey, a trip to the East,
since neither Charley nor I had ever been there.
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