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ZEDDOCK C. JENNINGS, who is now living near Walnut Hill, is a representative of one of the honored pioneer families of Marion County. Among the first settlers who came to Illinois were Israel Jennings and his family. He was the grandfather of our subject, and was a native of Kentucky. In that state he grew to mature years and was married, and thence came with his wife and children to Marion County. The members of his family were:
Israel, who died in this county, leaving a family; The father of this family served in the War of 1812. Charles Jennings was born in Kentucky, and there attaining to mature years accompanied the family to Illinois. Here he met and married Maria Davidson, and to them were born eight children:
Joseph us, who died in Marion County, leaving a family; The father located on a farm near Walnut Hill, where he reared his family. He was a man of excellent business ability, and by his good management and industry he became quite wealthy, accumulating nine hundred acres of valuable land. He held membership with the Methodist Episcopal Church, took an active part in politics and was an uncompromising Democrat. The best interests of the community ever found in him a friend, and he was recognized as a progressive and valued citizen. The gentleman whose name heads this record was born in Marion County in 1838, was reared upon the old homestead farm and acquired his education in the common schools and in an academy. When twenty-two years of age he chose as a companion and helpmate on life's journey Miss Mary J., daughter of James C. Baldridge, of Jefferson County. The young couple began their domestic life upon the farm which has since been their home. It then comprised only forty acres and was a part of the tract which the grandfather, Israel Jennings, had entered from the Government. His landed possessions have been increased, however, from time to time until he now owns a valuable tract of four hundred and twelve acres all in one body. It is under a high state of cultivation and is one of the best stock farms in the county, the owner raising a high grade of fine horses and cattle. All the improvements upon the place were made by him and stand as monuments to his thrift and enterprise. To Mr. and Mrs. Jennings were born six children.
Dwight, who was born in 1860, and was graduated from the St. Louis Medical College, has been successfully engaged in practice in that city for several years. He was married in Carlyle to Cora Locy. The parents and their children are all members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the family is one of prominence in the community. Our subject is a Democrat in politics and has held the office of Town Supervisor for four years, but has never been an aspirant for public office, preferring to give his entire attention to his business interests. In 1889 he established a box factory in Walnut Hill for the manufacture of fruit boxes and still carries on this euterprise, having a ready sale for these commodities. He carries forward to a successful completion whatever he undertakes and his prosperity is well deserved.
Source: "Portrait and Biographical Record Clinton, Washington, Marion and Jefferson Counties, Illinois" ISRAEL JENNINGS, Sr. - 1776-1860 The Israel Jennings of this sketch, called hereafter "Israel Jennings, Sr." to distinguish him from his son Israel who also lived in Marion County, Ill., was born probably in Newhgton, Conn., records showing that his father was listed in the census of that year as being the head of a family there. He was about sixteen years of age when his father moved the family to Kentucky, but when the rest of the family moved on to Brown county, Ohio, he remained in the old locality, where he had come of age, taken up land for himself, secured horses, and become a taxpayer. In support of these statements we quote from old records taken from the tax books of the time of Nelson CO., Ky., which are not in the Historical Society Library at Frankfurt. Israel Jennings - 1 white above 21 - 2 horses. (Jr.) Israel Jennings - 1 above 21; 1 bet. 16-21; 8 horses. (Sr.) He married about this time - 1799 or 1800 - selecting as his bride, Mary, the daughter of Josephus and Margaret (Lansdale) Waters. The Waterses were from an old Anne Arundel County, Md., family of prominence, and the Lansdales of a prominent family of Prince George Co., Md., as shown by sketches of the family found elsewhere in this book. He moved, in 1818, to Illinois, the very year that state was admitted into the Union., and settled in the Wawlnut Hill section (now Marion Co.), about six miles southeast of the present city of Centralia. The Walnut Hill community doubtlessly received its name from the name of the Kentucky home of its early settlers.
Source: Jennings, Davison and Allied Families: a genealogical list and history of the descendants of the immgrants, John Jennings, Southhampton, New York, and John Davison, Augusta County, Virginia |