Martha
J. (Knight) Jennings
(1840-1898)
Martha
J. (Knight) Jennings was born
in Somerset County, PA in 1841, daughter of James and Susanna (Imel) Knight
Jr.
In 1860, at age 19, she married John R. Jennings Sr., who was born on Sept. 5, 1841. He was the son of Thomas and Christina (Ream) Jennings.
Martha and John were the parents of Alvin Howard Jennings, Mary Todd Shipley, Emma C. Jennings, Martha Jennings, John R. Jennings Jr., Robert E. Lee Jennings, Jenny Griffiths and Lulu Fannie Jennings.
Two years after marriage, John enlisted to serve in the Civil War with Company E of the 133rd PA Volunteer Infantry. In August 1862, at Fairfax Seminary, VA, while at work in the hot sun building a breastwork, his eyes became inflamed, impairing his vision. The next month, while marching at Snickers Gap, near Bluemont, VA, he was struck on the left side with the butt of a musket, fracturing his ribs and bruising his heart muscle.
Above, picturesque
Snickers Gap, through which both armies passed
during the war, and where John was injured
John was "put on an ambulance and hauled about from place to place," including the Mt. Pleasant Hospital and Columbian College Hospital in Washington, DC. A tent-mate observed that "he looked bad and had to walke with a cain." Another said he "never was on duty with the company after that." He was discharged on May 26, 1863 at Harrisburg, PA, and returned home.
From 1863 to 1872, the Jennings family lived in Somerset County and then moved to Ohiopyle, Fayette County. A friend later recalled that John "farmed awhile then dug coal and then went back onto the farm."
Seen
here is Ohiopyle's Bridge Street and
Youghiogheny River Bridge.
In 1878, John sued David and James Morrison to obtain an interest in their 142-acre farm when they could not repay a debt.
Sadly, John and Martha separated in 1886 and divorced three years later, giving up their 169-acre farm and "hewed log dwelling houses and outbuildings" as part of the settlement.
Tragedy struck the already-troubled family in the midst of the divorce proceedings, when unmarried teenage daughter Martha died mysteriously in 1888, shortly after giving birth. Her death was blamed on "blood poisoning originating with the decomposition of the placenta..." There was much gossip about the cause of death, and the coroner was called in to investigate. The baby's fate is unknown.
Single again after a 29-year marriage, Martha bought a town lot in Ohiopyle.
Martha lived in Ohiopyle until her death on Oct. 25, 1898. The Connellsville Daily Courier said that she "had been very ill for about two weeks" and that her death, "though not unexpected, was a shock to her relatives."
From 1892 on, John moved often, to these towns: Somerset County, PA (1892-1899); Fayette County (1899), Westmoreland County, PA (1900-1902); Allegheny County, PA (1902); Fayette County (1903-1904), and with his son Robert at Newell, Fayette County (1905-1912). He may be the same man whose finger was "cut off while at work at Sipe's mill last week," according to an April 27, 1900 story in the Connellsville Daily Courier.
John died at Newell, PA, on Dec. 8, 1912 and is buried at Sugar Grove Cemetery, Ohiopyle.
Copyright © 2000, 2004-2005 Mark A. Miner