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WHO WAS - H. H. Jennings
in Plum Township
Venango County, Pennsylvania
By H. W. Strawbridge May 1, 1957

H. H. Jennings, a son of Daniel W. and Martha Holder Jennings, was born Oct. 13, 1835, at Boals Grove, near Cooperstown, Venango County. There were nine children. The father was descended from English ancestry, and the mother from Holland-Dutch. In 1839 the mother died and was buried in the old cemetery in Cooperstown. The father then married Betsy Rice and there were three children by this marriage.

H. H. Jennings was raised near Cooperstown and he attended school there. His full name was Henry Hampson Jennings, but he was always called "Hamp" by his friends.

In those days people used to have taffy parties. One time such a party was held in the Jennings home. Hamp, a young lad, drove over and picked up a boyhood friend, Andy Crawford, and took him to the party. Crawford enjoyed it very much. Years later Mr. Crawford became a storekeeper in Cooperstown.

Hamp and other members of the family attended many dances. Once when he and his father were to a dance there happened to be a group of wild, unruly fellows there who committed some destruction. They cut up the new harness which Hamp and his father had made. Both Hamp and his father were harness makers.

The Jennings family moved to Plum Township when Hamp was a young man. Their location was the present Meryl C. Rice place. Hamp, his father and two brothers, George and David, built a log house. Hamp and George were very good hewers. This log building still stands, though in a different form, on the Rice place. A photograph of the log house in its original shape is owned by Mrs. Katie Armstrong of Chapmanville.

Hamp had another brother, John, who died in the Civil War service. He was shot off his horse.

On July 3, 1865, Hamp was married to Rebecca Proper of Diamond. She was born in 1846, a daughter of William and Susan Ross Proper. Squire Jake Proper performed the wedding at his (the squire's) home in Diamond.

The couple bought the Robert Pettigrew farm of 50 acres in Chapmanville and lived there the remainder of their married life. This is the place now owned by Mrs. May Morse, 78, the only living child of Hamp and Rebecca Jennings.

The original house stood immediately behind the present one, and it was a three-section structure, each section being directly in back of the other. It was a double plank frame structure and was probably built by Benjamin Hoyt, an early settler in Chapmanville. It had a large fireplace with massive cobblestone chimney. Some of the fireplace stones are used today as steps for the present house.

Hamp tore this old house down and built the present one in 1876 or '77. It is a plank frame structure mainly built of hemlock lumber. Some of the pine flooring came from the original house.

The masonry work on the cellar walls was done by Joseph Ford and Lew Monnin. Hamp lacked a few stone of having the top layer finished. It is said that he had a dream one night where on his farm to find more stone of suitable size. The next day he went to this spot and there indeed were some stone, mostly underground with a small portion showing on top.

The old barn on the place was built by Benjamin Hoyt in 1840. Hoyt had treated the men who worked on it with a 10-gallon cask of whiskey. The barn was torn down by Harry K. Morse around 1950.

Hamp set out the orchard and three maple trees in the front yard. He planted the maples the second year he was on the place, and only one remains today. He also planted a large cherry tree near the house but it is now gone.

They had seven children: Mrs. Dorothy Miller, Mrs. Phoebe Lindsay, Grant Jennings, Mrs. Susan Camp, Mrs. Nora Patterson Carroll, Mrs. Dora Smith and Mrs. May Morse. The son, Grant, died at the age of 19 months from spotted fever.

An epidemic of smallpox struck Chapmanville in 1867. Those who took down with the disease were Mrs. Jennings and her oldest daughter, Dorothy, some of the Eli Holder family, and some of the Joseph Sharp family. All recovered except young John Holder who died at the age of 18.

Hamp was slightly heavy in size and not very tall. He was quite a jolly fellow and was a good singer. Farming was his main occupation. Besides farming and occasional harness making, he was also a shoemaker. He had his shoe cobbling bench in the house. He made shoes and boot either at night or during rainy days. He pounded out his own leather over a stone that is still kept by Mrs. Morse. He made the wedding boots for Alfred Williams, a son of Abel Williams who lived on the present Howard Proper place. It is said that Alfred kept these boots for many years.

Mrs. Jennings was quite a fleshy woman and was very neighborly and good-hearted. She was good at sewing or needlework. Prior to her marriage she worked in various homes taking care of the housework. AT the time of the 'big frost' on June 5, 1859, she was working for the "Deacon" Joe Proper family in Wallaceville. The fruit, corn and other garden produce were frozen. Mrs. Proper voiced fears that they might starve. However they replanted the corn and other foodstuffs and all matured in fine shape.

Hamp and Rebecca were charter members of the Chapmanville Methodist Church which organized in 1871. He helped to build the church edifice in 1878. The building was dedicated on Easter Sunday, April 13, 1879, on the day before their youngest daughter, May, was born. Hamp was one of the church trustees at the time of his death.

One fall day he was helping to thresh oats in the barn of his neighbor, William McClelland, which is the present Harold Loker place. Hamp's lungs filled up with the dust and he became seriously ill with what was then called 'typhoid pneumonia.' He coughed up dust and blood. After being sick about a week, he died on Oct. 11, 1880.

His body was taken into the newly built Methodist Church for the funeral service. Before his coffin was lowered into the grave, Mrs. Jennings had the brass plate removed from it. It has "FATHER" engraved on it and it is still preserved by Mrs. Morse.

In October, 1882, Mrs. Jennings married John Lindsay at Busti, N.Y. They lived in the old home until his death on Aug. 15, 1897. She again married on Sept. 3, 1903, to John Buckley at Franklin. He died at their Chapmanville home in September, 1905. Both Mr. Lindsay and Mr. Buckley died of typhoid fever.

Mrs. Buckley died at the home of a daughter, Mrs. Camp, at Meadville on Sept. 7, 1919. She had had severe stomach pains attack her off and on. During her last attack the doctor gave her a hypo from which she never rallied.

Transcribed by Penny Kulbacki Minnick
minnick862@verizon.net

Disclaimer:there may be errors due to transcription ofinformation from both early and late (current contributors) work.