author
Emily Inez Denny
1853–1918
A Seattle pioneer’s daughter who turned memory into art, she painted early scenes of the city and wrote a firsthand account of her family’s journey west. Her work preserves both the look and the spirit of the Pacific Northwest in its earliest years.
1 Audiobook
Blazing the Way; Or, True Stories, Songs and Sketches of Puget Sound
by Emily Inez Denny
About the author
Born in Seattle on December 23, 1853, she was part of one of the city’s founding families and is often noted as one of the earliest white children born there. She grew up surrounded by the stories and daily realities of frontier life, which later shaped both her painting and her writing.
She became known for paintings of early Seattle and landscapes of the Puget Sound region. Museums and historical organizations also describe her as a writer, and her 1909 book Blazing the Way retold her family’s journey over the Oregon Trail and the founding years of Seattle.
Her work remains valuable not just as art, but as a personal record of a young city taking shape. She died on August 23, 1918, leaving behind images and memories that continue to help readers and viewers picture Seattle’s earliest days.