The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]
Dennison, Thomas
Dennison, Thomas , Farmer, Hilderthorpe. Mr. Dennison was born on the 31st of August, 1846, in the County of Durham, England. Till he was twenty-one years of age he found employment in the local iron works, but in the year 1868 he came out to Port Chalmers by the ship “Ameer,” and settled in the Oamaru district, where he became a ploughman. In 1868 he leased seventy-eight acres of land at Hilderthorpe, and bought the place two years later. He served for some time as a member of the Pukeuri school committee. Mr. Dennison was married, in 1873, to a daughter of the late Mr. John Robson, of Black Hill, county Durham, England, and has five sons and four daughters.