My
Jennings family first arrived from England in 1650 when Joshua Jennings settled in what is now
Fairfield County, Connecticut.
On July 11, 1779 during the American Revolutionary war, Norwalk, Connecticut was burned by the British Tories (i.e. loyalists) under Governor Tryon. To compensate for this destruction, on May 30, 1800 the new United States Government ceded land titles in what is now northern Ohio to these "fire sufferers" in what became known as the “Firelands”, which was 500,000 acres of the Western Reserve of Connecticut in the Northwest Territory. Settlement of the region did not occur until after the War of 1812. Jennings were part of a migration of several hundred people from Fairfield County to this area.
The 1860 census shows the father of Great3 Nathan Tileston Jennings (Jan 1822-1903) was born in Connecticut, and his mother was born in Canada. Nathan was born in the Firelands on January 7, 1822 in newly created Norwalk, Huron County, Ohio, named after Norwalk, Connecticut.
Nathan is probably the son (or maybe a nephew) of Milton Jennings (1795-1880), but there is no direct evidence because the 1840 Census does not list family members. Milton and his wife Almira are the correct age, married in Norwalk, Ohio on Oct 19, 1820, two years before Nathan was born there, and later lived in the same Wisconsin county where Nathan married Deborah Wilson in 1849. Their daughter Elizabeth also married a Wilson from New York. Finally, Milton had a brother named Nelson, and Nathan named a son Nelson, who then named a son Milton. All these details can be seen in this tree along with ancestors back into the 14th century. Our Nathan is not listed there among Milton's four children, but Nathan's obituary said he had five brothers and sisters.
Milton Jennings does not show up in the 1820 Census, but his older brother Nathan Tileston Jennings (1786-1855) is shown living in Huron County, Ohio. He has the exact same name as our Nathan, Tileston being his mother's maiden name. That is so odd that they must be related, but our Nathan never listed "Junior" or II anywhere, and the older Nathan shows up in no other census. But his son Nathan T. Jennings Jr. does appear as born in 1826 in New York, but he lived in New Jersey and died in Delaware.
Finally, Milton's older brother Jonathan died in Huron County, Ohio six years after our Nathan was born, and brothers Royal and Nelson show up later in Wisconsin. All this is strong evidence that our Nathan is related to this Jennings family from Windham, Connecticut who moved to Huron County as part of the Firelands compensation, and later moved to southern Wisconsin, but no hard link has been found.
Nathan moved from Ohio to Wisconsin where he married Deborah C. Wilson on July 23, 1849. She was from New York where her father was also born; her mother was born in Canada. This information came from a U.S. Census and is all we know about the Wilson family. Nathan and Deborah owned and farmed land near the town of Seven Mile Creek, Juneau County, in southern Wisconsin where they lived for over 30 years and raised six children: Lorane, Nelson, Charlotte, Florence “Flora”, Ella, and Catherine “Katie”. Nelson was my Great2 Grandfather.At age 42, Nathan enlisted in the Union Army during the Civil War, serving with the Wisconsin 23rd Infantry Regiment from 1864-1865. Nathan joined late in the war when the Union Army had already won and was mopping up in the South. He was not in a bloody battle but was probably in the last major engagement of the war; the Battle of Fort Blakely, (pictured) where 16,000 Union troops overran 4000 Confederates in Alabama just hours after General Robert E. Lee surrendered in Virginia.
In
May 1881, ageing Nathan and Deborah moved near Avon, Bon Homme County, South
Dakota where their 28-year old son and my Great2 Grandfather Nelson
E. Jennings, was a preacher in the Wesleyan Church. By 1889 they had moved to
California where two daughters lived.
They first lived in Alameda near their daughter
Ella (1860-1946) and her husband Francis Jacob
Fluno's home in Oakland. Nathan later moved to the
new resort town of Santa Cruz a couple hours to the south where a sister and
daughter L.A. Cornish lived. This explains the odd family oral history that our
Jennings ancestors came from Santa Cruz, California. This wonderful obituary
about Nathan sheds light on his life.
Santa Cruz County History - People
Old Soldiers:
Santa Cruz County Civil War Veterans
by Robert
L. Nelson
JENNINGS, NATHAN T (1822-1903)
Santa Cruz Sentinel (March 11, 1903)
DIED; JENNINGS in Santa Cruz March 10th Nathan Jennings a native of Norwalk Oh. Aged 81 years, 2 Mo, 3 days.
Nathan T. Jennings was in Flannery's store Tuesday morning and was suddenly stricken with paralysis. Later he was moved to his home at Vue de l'Eau (pictured below ~1900) where he died about 7 o'clock in the evening. The deceased was a veteran of the Civil War and leaves a widow.
Santa Cruz Sentinel (March 14, 1903)
The Late Nathan T. Jennings
Nathan T. Jennings, deceased, was followed Thursday morning to his last earthly resting-place by many bereaved relatives and friends. He was a native of Ohio, and had attained the ripe age of 81 years. And although he had been a resident of Santa Cruz but five years, his active social nature had secured for himself a large circle of friends and acquaintances, many of whom had become strong personal friends.
The
funeral service was held at his late residence on Alta Av. Surfside, and was
conducted by Rev. J.R. Knodell, pastor of the Congregational Church, which
church he loved to attend. He was buried in the Odd Fellows Cemetery. He was the
first to die of a family of five brothers and sisters. And the suddenness of his
departure was a great shock to his friends.
He arose the morning of the 10th as usual and after breakfast went down town to do some shopping and to pay some bills, and seemed well and cheerful. While paying a bill he accidentally dropped a piece of money, and was in the act of stooping to pick it up when the stroke of paralysis caused him to fall unconscious to the floor.
Physicians were hastily summoned and he was taken to a house near by, where his sister was stopping. The physicians gave no hope of recovery and said it was only a matter of a few hours that he could possibly live, but he seemed to rally a little in the afternoon and was taken home on a bed quite comfortable. But the end was near at hand, and he passed quietly away at 7 P.M. and just about five minutes before the arrival of his daughter from Oakland, Mrs. F.J. Fluno, who had been telephoned for in time to catch the afternoon train. One daughter, Mrs. L.A. Cornish, is well known in Santa Cruz. There is also another daughter and a son, who lives at a distance and was unable to be here. It was a severe blow for the bereaved wife, but she bore up bravely through it, and has the loving sympathy of many kind friends who will comfort her in her great sorrow and loss. Mr. Jennings came to California in 1889, and previous to his coming to Santa Cruz, resided in Oakland. The career of Mr. Jennings was a checkered one, his having been a scholar, a soldier, a teacher and a farmer. He was thoroughly interested in the growth and prosperity of our country, and the advance of the nations of the world, and was a great reader of the best current periodicals; and was always ready to give information upon almost any general topic of interest. He will be missed by a large circle of friends and neighbors.
________________________
Note that at age 81, Nathan was the first to die of his five brothers and sisters way back in 1903! The Santa Cruz library website shows him buried without a headstone in plot C09 at Santa Cruz Memorial cemetery, and that link notes that he had remarried to "Mary A". Their son, my Great2 Grandfather Nelson E. Jennings and his wife Rebecca remained in South Dakota and raised a family.