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Family tree▼ Facts and Events
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Abt 26 Feb 1722 |
"We find quite widely distributed among the descendants, a courtship letter in verse, [a proposal of marriage in the form of a love poem] addressed by our ancestor to Miss Bridget Thompson, who seems to have been his first flame. We make room for it, not only as an interesting relic of the olden time, and a sample of the methods of courtship in 1640, but to correct a little romance invented by one of his descendants, which alleges that he was betrothed to Ann Borodell before he came to this country, and hastened back to her immediately upon the death of his first wife. There is no evidence of this, but much to the contrary. He was but thirteen when he emigrated, and probably never heard of Ann Borodell until he was carried a wounded soldier to her father's house, John Borodell of Cork, Ireland, (who was then living in England) where Ann became his nurse, and afterward his wife. Whatever we may think of the literary merit of these verses, they seem to have prevailed with Miss Bridget:
It is an ordinance, my dear, divine,
Which God unto the sons of men makes shine,
Even marriage, to that whereof I speak,
And unto you therein my mind I break.
In Paradise, oft Adam God did tell,
To be alone for man would not be well--
He in His wisdom, therefore, thought it right
To bring a woman into Adam's sight;
A helper that for him might be most meet,
To comfort him by her doing discreet.
I of that stock am sprung--I mean from him--
And also of that tree I am a limb.
A branch, tho' young, yet I do think it good
That God's great vow by man be not withstood;
Alone I am, a helper I would find,
That might give satisfaction to my mind.
The party that doth satisfy the same
Is Miss Bridget Thompson by her name;
God having drawn my affections unto thee,
My heart's desire is--that thine may be to me.
This with my blottings, tho' they trouble you,
Yet pass them by, because I know not how--
Though they at this time should much better be,
For love it is, that first has been to thee.
And I would wish that they much better were,
Therefore, I pray, accept them as they are,
So hoping my desire I shall obtain,
Your own true lover, I, George Denison by name.
From my father's house in Roxbury
To Miss Bridget Thompson, 1640."[3]
References
- ↑ Roxbury, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States. Vital Records of Roxbury, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849. (Salem, Massachusetts: Essex Institute, 1925-1926)
2:113.
"Denison, … George, and Bridget Tomson, [married] Mar. __, 1640."
- Torrey, Clarence Almon. New England Marriages Prior to 1700 (CD-ROM)
9353.
"George Denison: George (1620-1694) & 1/wf Bridget THOMSON (1622-1643); Mar 1640; Roxbury {Dewey-French 5; Dixon-Williams 5; Snow-Estes 1:454; Granberry 207, 333; NYGBR 67:52; Stevens-Miller 423; Frame-Dana 314, 331; Warner-Harrington 666; TAG 13:2, 14:145; Reg. 23:312, 335, 40:273, 46:353, 49:455; McCormick-Hamilton 234, 372, 926; Wethersfield 2:526; Stonington Hist. 336, 620; Denison; Crary-Hill 57; Crary-Dunham 12, 20, 40; Winthrop-Babcock 160; Fulton Anc. 468; Brown (,1) 90, 118; Chesbrough 303, 304, 555; Bordwell Anc. 24; Williams (,16) 82, 162; New London Hist. 332; Brainerd 1:32; McIntire Anc. 309, 319; McCormick-Hamilton 372}"
- ↑ Appendix. Capt. George Denison, in Baldwin, John Denison, and William Clift. A Record of the Descendants of Capt. George Denison, of Stonington, Conn: With Notices of His Father and Brothers, and Some Account of Other Denisons Who Settled in America in the Colony Times. (Worcester, Mass.: Tyler & Seagrave, 1881)
297-98.
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