Some of my ancestors also came over on the ship Elizabeth Denison. I have some information for all of you about her.
Built:1839
Place: Essex, Conn., USA
Builder: Robert P. Williams
Type: Three masted bark rigged ship
Length: 142"
Beam:
Displacement: 644 tons
Pictures: 1848, H.G., Mariner's Museum, New Port News, VA, USA.
1868, Frederic Roux, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA, USA.
Use: Packet trader. Took high value packages and cargo to and from Europe and the US as well as passengers. She was partially owned by Capt. Post and his family.
Notable deeds. Supply transport for the Mexican American War in 1848. Made numerous transatlantic crossings and brought the ancestors of many families to the US including author John Steinbeck's, yours and mine. She is noted in his book "East of Eden" for this. In 1861 the Post family sold her to an English outfit at the dawn of the American Civil War apparently to keep her from being requisitioned by the north and south. She remained on the Lloyd's registry until about 1870 when she disappears from the record with out a trace. I have not been able to learn her fate and would appreciate any news. Apparently she was used as a packet to move passengers and cargo from the main european ports to the smaller ones that could not accommodate a large steam vessel. Ports in Norway, Sweden, Belgium, France, and England are mentioned.