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Colonel William Denton was born on July 27, 1828, in Harrowby, England, to parents William Smith Denton and Sarah Nixon, and was one of their seventeen children.
Denton moved to the United States during the Gold Rush and worked as a civil engineer, surveying land for the United States. Notably, he led a survye in Death Valley and the Amargosa Desert region.
From 1858 to 1860, he surveyed the Sea of Cortes and the coastal region of Sonora with Federico Fitch. During this time, he likely met his future wife, Elena Cano de los Rios, when their ship stopped in her hometown of Mulege, Mexico. They married in 1860 on the English battleship “The Cleo” in La Paz, Mexico.
Elena was born on May 8, 1845, in Mulege, Mexico. William and Elena had eight children: Eleana, William Smith, Oscar Allan, Sarah Brent, Paul Isham, Alexander Marion, Maria Soldad, and Morgan Gascoigne. In 1874, the family moved to San Diego, and William worked as a land surveyor in Baja California for the International Colonization Company until 1886. He became a Mexican citizen in 1894 and owned significant property and mines in Northern Baja California.
The San Diego History Center holds the Denton Family Papers, which include family history, estate documents, and William and Alexander's business records, including land surveys and maps of Baja California. The collection holds William's Mexican naturalization papers, land deeds, and documents from the International Colonization Company.
