Carson Dobbins Boren was an early founder of Seattle, Washington. His sister Mary Ann was married to Arthur Denny, and his sister Louisa to David Denny. Boren was the first King County Sheriff. Seattle's Boren Avenue is named in his honor. Although he was an important figure in the early years of Seattle, historian Junius Rochester writes that "The pioneering contributions of Carson Dobbins Boren to the founding of Alki and Seattle began and ended within a short period of six years."
Biography
Carson Boren was born in Nashville, Tennessee. He married Mary Ann Kays on February 18, 1849 at Abingdon, Knox County, Illinois. Their first daughter Sarah E. was born December 17, 1849 but died 17 days later and is buried in the Cherry Grove Cemetery in Knox County. A second daughter, Gertrude Livonia, was carried as an infant on the cross-country trek in 1851 with the Denny Party. , Carson D. Boren, and Walter Graham in 1905 In 1852, Boren gave Henry Yesler the southern portion of his claim so as to construct Yesler's mill. After erecting the first home in what would become downtown Seattle, the couple participated in the early life of Seattle and had two more children, William Richard and Mary Louise. In 1855 they sold this property, along with a claim extending uphill from the waterfront between what are now James and Marion Streets, to Edward Lander and Charles Terry. The couple argued over Carson's constant hunting trips and giveaways, and by 1860 they separated. They were divorced by territoriallegislative act December 17, 1861. Their children were raised by the Dennys. Mary Ann went south to The Dalles, Oregon, and established a dressmaking business. There she had another daughter, Lydia Dell Blakeney with John William Blakeney, a divorced man; they married in November 1872, but separated about 1880 and divorced in 1884. Mary Ann and Lydia moved back to Seattle. Mary Ann Boren apparently kept in touch with her children by Carson Boren and lived with her youngest daughter and son-in-law in what is now the International District of Seattle. When she died in 1905, she was buried in an unmarked grave in Lake View Cemetery, down the hill from where Carson Boren and their unmarried daughter are buried in style with the Denny Clan.
