Rev. Richard Denton, III and Helen Windebank

Denton was a crucial element in the early development of religious pluralism in colonial America and in American Presbyterianism, specifically. I thought some of you might benefit from his story.

Richard Denton was born in Warley, West Yorkshire, England to a father of the same name and an unknown mother. He was baptized April 10, 1603 at the parish church in nearby Halifax.

Denton matriculated from St. Catherine’s College, Cambridge. He was ordained a Deacon in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire on March 9, 1623 and a Priest on June 8, 1623. He first became pastor in Turton, Lancashire and later Curate of Coley Chapel in Halifax, West Yorkshire.

It is not known exactly when or why Denton split from the Church of England to profess and preach Reformed theology, but it was at a time of much religious upheaval. It may have had something to do with the “Book of Sports” controversy. The “Great Migration” of the Puritans to New England had been underway for several years when Richard Denton and his young sons led a large group of Presbyterians to Massachusetts circa 1635, possibly on the ship “James.”

He first preached at Watertown, Mass., later removing to Weathersfield, Connecticut and even later to Stamford in 1641, probably due to friction with local Puritans. This friction may have been political, rather than religious, in nature.

As early as 1644, Denton relocated his congregation to Hempstead, Long Island, situating themselves under Dutch rule and law. All inhabitants were allowed to vote in New Netherland, and the Denton congregation made it a requirement to do so; they were likely barred from voting in Puritan territory. However, this was not the end of Denton’s interactions with his own people, for he is said to have preached to English soldiers at the military fort in New Amsterdam during the Indian wars.

Denton was well received in New Netherland, as evidenced by two letters sent to Holland by Johannes Megapolensis and Samuel Drisius, the former being the leader of the Dutch Reformed Church in New Netherland and the latter being a pastor who could minister in French as well as Dutch.

These letters also inform us that the Puritan Independents in Hempstead attended Denton’s services, but left his church when he baptized children of parents who were not members. Nonetheless, he was respected by prominent Congregationalists – notably, Cotton Mather – for his theological treatise “Soliloquia Sacra.”

From an unnamed history of the Denton family: The general opinion among members of the Denton family is that all fo the Dentons in the United States are descendants of Rev. Richard Denton. Our research seems to substantiate this, for we have found only two instances where other Dentons lived in America and neithers of these left heirs named Denton. From New England Genealogical Register 11/241: Reverend Richard Denton came to America from the Parish of Owram, North England on the ship “James”. (Note: Some say his ship was the “Arabella”)

In 1630 the first Presbyterian minister reaches America: the Rev. Richard Denton settles in Wethersfield, Conn.More than You probably want to know about the Presbyterian Church in the USA

The Cambridge University listing for Richard Denton says: “Sizar of St. Catherine’s Easter, 1621, b. 1603 in Yorks, B.A. 1622-3, priest 8 June 1623. Deacon at Peterborough 9 March 1622-3. Curate of Coleys Chapel, Halifax, for some years.” (“Sizar” is defined as an undergraduate student.)

The plantation of Wethersfield, of which Mr. Denton was the leader, as well as the minister of the Church, was prosperous, and its numbers greatly increased. But, in 1641, another conflict for democratic rule caused some twenty-five families, led by Mr. Denton, to make another move. This brought them to Stamford, within the boundaries of the Colony of New Haven. Of the twenty-five families who came with Denton to Stamford, the names of eighteen are found later in the Hempstead list of 1647.

Again at Stamford, Mr. Denton’s uncompromising democracy, or Presbyterianism, came in conflict with the New Haven rules that none but church members should vote in town meetings.’ In 1643, representatives were sent out to investigate the land and the conditions across the Sound, on Nassau Island, as it was then known, within the jurisdiction of the more liberal Dutch government. This resulted in their obtaining in the following year, from Governor Kieft, the patent for the town of Hempstead.

The settlers promptly formed a central community, which was called the “Town Spot,” and which developed into what is now the village of Hempstead. There they constructed a “Fort,” and the meeting house was built within it. As was the custom in New England, this meeting house was built upon the town’s “common land,” at the public expense, and as authorized by vote in the town meeting. It was used not merely as a place of worship on Sundays, but was also the place for holding town meetings, and for conducting the business of the magistrates. The minister was chosen by the town vote, and his salary was fixed and raised by a rate assessed upon all the inhabitants. It was, doubtless, in this little first meeting house that the first legislative Assembly of the Province of New York was held in 1665, called together by Col. Nickol, after Charles II had granted this territory to his brother, the Duke of York. This Assembly was composed of delegates from New York, from Westchester and the towns of Long Island. The celebrated code, known as the “Duke’s Laws,” was enacted here.

During the sixty years which constituted the first period of the history of Hempstead’s Church, there were three ministers duly chosen and resident in the town. The first of these, the Rev. Richard Denton, who brought the people here, and exercised a large influence in the formative years of the settlement, remained with them until 1658, when he resigned. The last mention of Mr. Denton’s name upon the Town books is on March 4, 1658, when a rate was made for the payment of his salary, at the rate of f174os. per quarter. Shortly afterwards he returned to England where he died in the year 1662. History of Christ’s First Presbyterian Church of Hempstead, Long Island, New York

An account from Richard Denton, Oroville, CA:

I have read that all the Dentons in the USA (c. 32,000) are descendants of Rev. Richard Denton of Hempstead, Long Island, New York. He came to this country in 1635, disagreed with those in power in Boston & migrated to Conneacticut, then to Long Island (which was then Dutch) in the early 1640s. He had 11 or so children, all who remained in this country & had many sons. He & his wife went back to England during the Civil War and died there. His wife was Helen Windlbank. Her sister, Mildred, was the great-great-grandmother of George Washington; her father was bearer of the signet ring for Queen Elizabeth I. Her mother’s last name was Dymoke & was a direct descent of Henry Hot-Spur Percy, Earl (famous in Shakespeare’s plays) & his wife, Isabella, who was a great-granddaughter of King Edward III of England. Nothing remarkable as half of England is descended from him. My line of Dentons stem from Abraham the Younger (his great-grandfather) who, after conflict with the authorities in New York, moved with some of his Denton cousins to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia in the second quarter of the 1700s, then the frontier. From there, his descendants & descendants of his cousins who migrated with him to the frontier spread out through the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee & Kentucky, and all points west. Although I have no proof I would assume more Dentons spread into the West through the Hudson-Mohawk Valley and into the Old Northwest Territories (Ohio, Indiana, etc.). I am a great-grandson of a great-grandson of Joseph (one of Abraham’s sons), and most of them lived in Kentucky. Joseph served for a short time in the Continental Army, but left (deserted?) so he could protect his family against Indian raids — they were in the Carolina frontier. But they not only fought the Indians, they also bred with them. A number of Dentons (I have no idea how many) inter-bred with the great Native American tribes in the South — the Cherokee, Creek, Chickasaw, Choctaw, so if you come from these regions with ancestors going back that far, there’s a good chance you have Native American blood. Rev. Richard Denton is one of the key Colonial colonists (I’ve heard there are only 40)who are responsible for being an ancestor of most of the Old Stock White Americans (those who came to this country before the Revolution), and probably a great percentage of African Americans. One other point, the Rev. Richard Denton was a prolific writer (although I don’t think much survives) and is credited as being the founder of Presbyterianism in this country. And one more thing. Listen to the old people in your family. They might know more than you think they do. When my father was alive he told me his grandfather fought for the union in the Civil war, but I thought sure, you were in Kentucky, all your people considered themselves Southern. Later I found out he was correct. He said his great-greatgrandfather was a preacher who lived to be 105. This is true – Rev. Isaac (1765-1870) and that his first ancestor was a preacher who settled in New England, but I was sure it was Virginia, All he said was true. He knew all this from his forefathers. Neither of his parents knew how to read or write, nor (I think) his grandparents, and he only had a 3rd grade education. A lot of family lore is truer than you would believe.

Despite flourishing in Hempstead, Rev. Denton became dissatisfied with his salary and departed Long Island for Virginia in 1657 “seeking remedy.” Gov. Stuyvesant himself had appealed to Denton to stay in New Netherland, to no avail. Apparently no remedy was found in Virginia, for in 1658 he was again contracted to minister at Hempstead, the same place he had left one year earlier. This return to normalcy, however, would be short lived for Richard and his wife returned to England in 1659 to settle a deceased friend’s estate and collect a legacy of 400 Pounds Sterling.

Richard Denton died in Essex, England in 1663. The church he founded and pastored in Long Island – Christ’s First Presbyterian – still exists at 353 Fulton Ave.

His tombstone bears the following inscription in Latin: “Here lies the dust of Richard Denton. O’er his low peaceful grave bends the perennial cypress, fit emblem of his unfading fame. On earth his bright example, religious light, shown forth o’er multitudes. In heaven his pure rob’d spirit shines like an effulgent star.” [4]

The history of Hempstead, Long Island makes many references to the Dentons and their marriages and big families. The men were active in the local militias fighting the Indians and they developed excellent military experience that prepared them for officer commissions when they moved on to the Virginia frontier.

Church of Christ, Hempstead, NY

http://longislandgenealogy.com/firstPresHempstead/July1922.htm

Children

1.  Sarah DENTON b:      1623 in Bolton, Yorkshire, England
2.                                                                                                                                    Daniel DENTON b:      1626 in Halifax, Yorkshire Co., England c: 10 JUL 1632 in Halifax,      Yorkshire Co., England
3.             Timothy DENTON b:      23 JUL 1627 in Halifax, Yorkshire Co., England c: in Parrish Church of      Bolton, Lancashire Co., England
4.  Samuel DENTON b:      29 MAY 1631 in Halifax, Yorkshire Co., England c: AFT 1631 in Coley      Chapel, Halifax Co., England
5.             Nathaniel      DENTON b:      9 MAY 1628 in Bolton, Lancashire, England c: 9 MAR 1628 in Parrish Church      of Bolton, England
6.             Phebe      DENTON b: 29 SEP 1634 in England
7.             John DENTON b:      1636
8.             Richard DENTON b:      1620 in Bolton, Yorks, England