Stackpole (p. 348) "Two brothers, John and Alexander Dennet (sic) came from England to Portsmouth between 1660 and 1670. John Dennet died 5 May 1709, aged 63, and was buried at the Point of Graves. He was a carpenter. Wife's name was Amy."
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Ingmire - Seacoast Chronicles: "John married Amy Sherburne and had four children who appear in the records as John, Amy, Joseph and Ephraim. John and Amy invested in property and built a house with a behive chimney on the highest part of Christian Shore. It became the family seat and remains at the end of Prospect Street. The Dennett home has not received a great deal of attention in these years of gentrification, probably because it abuts 'gasoline alley'.
"John Dennett built private houses and performed 'civic' construction. He built a school house and made repairs to the parsonage chimney of Joshua Moodey. Elias Stileman, town clerk, carried the bill forward. In 1693-94. John Dennett was given land adjacent to Richard Martyn's Boiling Rock land in exchange for his services for Portsmouth. Dennett's new land on the road to Bloody Point was called Gravelly Ridge.
"Following the Glorious Revolution of 1689, with the beginning of King William's War, Portsmouth underwent growth. There was a building boom, as settlers came to Portsmouth to escape Indian attacks and build garrisons. The Dennett sons joined their father and lumbered the Gravelly Ridge forests to the northwest of Portsmouth. Part of the site became Frank Jones' estate in the last century. Today's malls are located in the region of the forest the Dennetts cut. The lumber was milled at the North Mill of the Cutt family.
"With land and lumber to sell, John Dennett became wealthy and used his income to provide each child land as he came of age and married. Nineteen-year-old John Dennett was given a farm in Kittery. The other sons, Ephraim and Joseph Dennett, farmed Gravelly Ridge after it was cleared. Today, Gravely Ridge extends from teh Schoolhouse Restaurant to the Omne Mall.
"Just before John Dennett died on May 5, 1709, he confirmed a grant to Portsmouth for a road past the Jackson House to the Piscataqua. This is Northwest Street. John Dennett's will was dated March 17, 1708/09 and gives insight into the thinking of the Englishmen who settled in New England.
"English landowners left their landholdings to the eldest son. Women, wives or daughters did not receive land generally. The Englishmen like John Dennett who came to New England and became landowners changed this thinking. Dennett employed an Egalitarian point of view, divided his wealth among his children and confirmed the gifts of land in his will. He left his wife a share of the land, which reverted to their youngest son upon her death. This was an important transformation from the english traditions and represents principles that became American. Private land was most commonly divided among heirs. This became and important element in the free American society."
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