History of the people of Beaverton, Oregon – The Denneys

Thomas Hicklin Denney was running a sawmill and grist mill near Concord, Indiana around 1848, when he met his cousin, Berrilla F. King. Encouraged by relatives who had made the trip out West, the cousins decided to travel together and make their way to Oregon. Before long, their relationship grew. Thomas Denney and Berrilla King were married on January 4, 1849. When they began their trip in early March, Berrilla was pregnant. Although the last half of the journey was fraught with frequent bad weather and scarce water, the trip across the Cascades was uneventful. Their first stop in Oregon Territory was Mills (Milwaukie). There they met Augustus Fanno, who told them about a fine section of land that adjoined his in the lush Tualatin Valley. Thomas thought it was a good piece of land, and by 1850, the Denney’s had moved into a three-room log house on their claim, near what is now Scholls Ferry Road and Hall Blvd.