USA > Indiana > Henry County > Hazzard's history of Henry county, Indiana, 1822-1906, Volume II > Part 72
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After leaving college, he taught in the common schools of Ohio for a time with such success that he was tendered and accepted the position of instructor of the junior class in the high school, Auburn, Indiana, where he taught for a year with continued success. But he was by nature designed for a business career and at the end of his first year as a teacher in the Auburn school, he entered the grocery trade in that place in partnership with T. C. Elson, his brother-in-law, maintaining with him a successful business for two years. By that time his father and his brother, Levi A. Jennings, had located in New Castle with their families and were preparing to go into business and wished him to join them. He, thereupon, sold his interest in the grocery and came to New Castle.
In the same year, 1867, he purchased the lot, with an old frame store-room upon it, of the late William C. Murphey, upon which he erected in 1875 his two-story brick business building, one hundred and thirty two feet deep, extending south from Broad Street to Race. At the time of its purchase, however, the old frame store-room was occu- pied by a merchant with a stock of merchandise, and it was sometime before the latter could give possession of the room to its new owner.
Early in 1868 a new firm, consisting of the subject of this sketch, his senior brother, Levi A. Jennings, and a man from Ashland, Ohio, by the name of Andrews, was organized in New Castle and opened up, in the frame store-room of Simon P. Jen- nings, in the general hardware and stove trade. In about two years, Levi A. Jennings bought Mr. Andrews' interest and soon after that Obediah Jennings purchased the entire interest of his son, Levi A. Jennings, in the business. The firm thus formed of Obediah Jennings and his son, Simon P. Jennings, lasted for some years until Simon P. secured his father's part of the business and continued alone with most satisfactory success. He sold out to his chief clerks, Daniel Monroe and Jason W. Holloway, in 1890. During this period, the only change in the location of the store occurred in 1875, while the new brick building in place of the little old frame which the business had outgrown, was under construction.
In that same year, 1875, Mr. Jennings had entered the lumber and building- material trade, occupying the lot immediately south of the store room, across Race Street, now occupied by the brick and frame buildings, since put up by Henry Adams, for the poultry trade. Upon this lot Mr. Jennings constructed his sheds and stored his lumber, sash, blinds, doors and other material. This lumber business was not included in the sale to Monroe and Holloway but was transferred to the factory building and large lumber sheds on out-lot number seven, on the east side of Fifteenth Street. Mr. Jennings had purchased this lot of the widow and heirs of the late Charles C. Powell on May 15, 1885, and built the main two-story brick factory building upon it in 1886, and some years later, the lumber sheds attached thereto.
It was in this main wing of the factory building that he established his extensive saw and planing mills and sash, door and blind machinery and from 1886 forward car- ried on a large business in lumber and building materials of all kinds for about three years, when he built the south wing of the factory and otherwise increased its capacity
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HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
to make room for another branch of the wood manufacturing business, that of sledge, hammer, pick, axe and other short handles, except "D" handles. This required the installment of a large amount of new machinery designed expressly for that line of manufacture and the investment of much additional capital. The business proved to be a profitable one and was pushed with energy until the timber, suitable to the purpose, in the surrounding country was so far exhausted as to greatly curtail the output of the factory. Mr. Jennings then established a branch of their handle business at Charles- ton, West Virginia, under the management of his second son, Charles W. Jennings, but also continued the business in the home factory. Ample supplies of timber were ob- tainable at Charleston and the business went on very successfully until 1900, when the factory burned down and the machinery was ruined by the fire.
In the meanwhile the trade in lumber and building material had increased so rapidly at the New Castle factory and lumber yard that Mr. Jennings determined to turn his energies and capital largely in that direction and consequently discontinued the Charleston business. His son, Charles W. Jennings, returned to New Castle and took an interest with his father in the business there. The trade has so rapidly increased that it gives employment to several hands and occupies the time of both Mr. Jennings and his son in its management, though Mr. Jennings now enjoys more leisure than for- merly and occasionally takes a well earned rest at some favorite spot in Florida or some other part of picturesque America. As an indication of the magnitude of Mr. Jennings' trade, it may be mentioned that it has for some years amounted to one hun- dred and fifty carloads of merchandise per year and continues at that figure, if not somewhat more. Mr. Jennings was President of the town council during the years 1896 and 1897, during which many street and other improvements, were made, to all of which he gave his close personal attention and care.
It is evident from the foregoing that Simon P. Jennings' contributions to the growth and prosperity of New Castle fully entitle him to an honored place in the ranks of her leading manufacturers. It would be interesting and profitable, were the statistics at hand, to note his annual outlays in wages and to give the numbers of workmen who have received employment at his hands, and their various occupations. His disbursements in this way have been of the kind which promote the happiness and comfort of the people and the prosperity of the city, and have been of such magnitude that New Castle may well regard him as one of its most active promoters and bene- factors and long hold him in cherished remembrance.
Simon P. Jennings married Angeline, born December 2, 1846, daughter of Jacob J. and Mary Pickering, of Henry Township, Henry County, Indiana, March 23, 1870. Miss Pickering was of a good family, which was one of the best known among the pioneers of Eastern Indiana. Her father was a prominent farmer, who took a deep interest in public as well as private affairs. Her mother died while she was yet a child and much of the care of her father's household fell upon her youthful shoulders, a responsibility to which she proved fully equal. Her education was obtained at the neighborhood school and the Spiceland Academy. She was of an observant and thoughtful nature and pos- sessed of more than ordinary intelligence. Her pure and beautiful character and her devotion to her husband, her children and her home, with her patient, painstaking industry made her an ideal companion for a man of Mr. Jennings' active business life and energy, as well as an ideal mother of his children. They were the parents of one daughter, Mary Ada Thornburgh, afterward Mrs. Richard J. Roberts, and three sons, Harry Edmond Jennings, Charles Wesley Jennings and Walter Pickering Jennings. The sons are all living and active in business, but the daughter, Mary Ada, died No- vember 9, 1901.
Mr. and Mrs. Simon P. Jennings' married life covered a period of almost thirty five happy years. The next year after their marriage, 1871, Mr. Jennings purchased the lot at the southeast corner of Broad and Twenty First streets, where the Jennings' home- stead now stands, and built a dwelling upon it, which with enlargements and improve- ments developed into a pretty, commodious home. There their children were born and there, though never pretentious entertainers, they delighted to receive their friends with a modest but sincere hospitality. This place, surrounded by its beautiful grounds, has been the scene of much real happiness.
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HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
Mrs. Jennings had been in failing health before the death of her daughter whom she greatly loved. That sad event came as a great shock to both herself and Mr. Jen- nings; she rallied from it, however, better than her friends anticipated, but during the latter part of 1903, she grew rapidly worse until death came to her with its untold peace, December 31, 1903.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Jennings were brought up under good influences, moral, reli- gious and social. Mr. Jennings' parents were faithful adherents of the religious body, known as United Brethren in Christ, and was reared under its auspices and worshiped with its members in a church near his father's home during his boyhood days, but never connected himself with the denomination, his first church membership having been taken in the Methodist Episcopal Church at New Castle, Indiana, soon after locat- ing there, in 1869. Of that church and congregation he has ever since been an active member.
Mrs. Jennings was reared under Quaker influences, but soon after her marriage to Mr. Jennings she united with the Methodist Episcopal Church which is much the same, in matters of belief regarded as essential, as the Friends, and remained a con- sistent member of and an active worker in that church and died full of faith in the mercy and goodness of God.
Mr. Jennings is not a man of many words. He attends to his business and greets his friends quietly, but keeps things moving. His business success is more largely due to the persistence of his character and to his tireless industry than to any other causes. He has been and is a successful business man and the lesson of his career is the one so often repeated that success comes not so often to those who make haste as to the. sure- footed and steady-going.
MARY ADA (JENNINGS ) ROBERTS.
(Daughter).
Mary Ada Jennings was born in New Castle, Indiana, February 1, 1872, and was reared by her parents, Simon P. and Angeline (Pickering) Jennings, with loving care. She was during her lite a source of great consolation and happiness to them. She was edu- cated in the public schools of New Castle and graduated from the High School with the class of 1891. She then entered De Pauw University, Greencastle, Indiana, taking the literary and musical courses. From early childhood, she took pleasure in singing and playing for her many friends and was a favorite with young and old. She sang with the choir of the Methodist Episcopal Church, whenever she found it possible to do so, and often appeared in solos, greatly to the pleasure and profit of all who heard her.
She attained to great proficiency on the piano and in the management of the voice, having been endowed by nature with great love for music, a fine voice, and a quick ear for the detection of delicate tones and combinations and the modulations of time in the various movements, to which she added a rare enthusiasm of study. All of these things combined to render her attractive as a singer and efficient as a teacher. She taught music and voice culture, first, at a young ladies' seminary in Orleans, Nebraska, and afterward, at a similar school in Huntsville, Alabama, succeeding finely in both places. She possessed a literary taste and culture which added much to her efficiency as a teacher and especially qualified her for the duties and pleasures of club life in which she was active. In New Castle she was one of the organizers of The College Club and was one or more times its president.
She was married to Professor Richard J. Roberts, of the High School of Shelby- vine, Illinois, August 9, 1899, in the Methodist Episcopal Church in New Castle, the ceremony being performed by the Reverend Doctor John P. John, President of De Pauw University. They had become acquainted while students at De Pauw and an attachment sprang up between them which resulted in their union. Their short but happy wedded life was spent in a pleasant home at Shelbyville, Illinois. She died at the home of her parents, regretted by all who knew her, November 9, 1901. The funeral occurred at New Castle amid many evidences of affectionate sorrow and many floral offerings from friends, far and near, and her mortal remains repose in South Mound Cemetery.
73
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HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
HARRY EDMOND JENNINGS.
( Son).
Harry Edmond Jennings, eldest son of Simon P. and Angeline (Pickering) Jennings, was born March 1, 1874, at the homestead on the corner of Broad and Twenty First streets, New Castle, Indiana, where he was reared and educated in the public schools and graduated from the High School with honor. He was brought up from early child- hood to take part in his father's business and was connected with it until in May, 1893, when he established a factory for the manufacture of barrel hoops in New Castle, which he has since carried on upon a large scale, finding sale for the output of the factory in all parts of the country, and doing a profitable business.
He was married on January 1, 1896, to Edna, (born July 1, 1874), only child of David W. and Sophia J. (Shirk) Kinsey, of New Castle, Indiana. In the Fall of 1900 and Spring of 1901, he erected the fine dwelling house on east Broad Street, New Castle, recently sold to Thomas B. Millikan; which has been his home ever since and where he and Mrs. Jennings have lived most happily, dispensing a generous and refined hospitality.
His manufacturing plant was once swept away by fire; but scarcely waiting for the ashes to cool, he began replacing it with a new one, receiving the reward of his energy and pluck in an increased business. In February, 1904, he began the manufacture of staves at Milton, Wayne County, Indiana, in conjunction with his brother, Walter P., who is the local manager of the business, and in this he is again scoring a good suc- cess. Harry E. and Edna (Kinsey) Jennings are the parents of one child, a very prom- ising little boy, born June 22, 1897, named David Harry, after his grandfather, David W. Kinsey, and his father. Mr. Jennings attends the Methodist Episcopal Church and contributes liberally to its support but has never taken membership in any church.
He is at present engaged with his wife's father, David W. Kinsey, in erecting a large, up-to-date residence for the two families on the east side of south Main Street, New Castle. Though not yet thirty two years of age, Mr. Jennings is regarded as one of New Castle's solid and prosperous business men and as one having still brighter prospects before him.
CHARLES WESLEY JENNINGS. (Son).
Charles Wesley Jennings, second son of Simon P. and Angeline (Pickering) Jennings, was born at his parents' home in New Castle, February 4, 1876, and, like his elder brother, grew up to his father's business, and, like Harry E., possessed a fondness for machinery and a remarkable readiness in its adjustment and management, which made him a valuable assistant in his father's large manufacturing enterprises. Before taking a permanent place in the business, he passed successfully through the New Castle public schools and graduated from the High School.
His aptitude for the business was such that at the age of twenty two years, he was placed in charge of a branch of the handle husiness which his father and himself had established at Charleston, West Virginia, in 1898, and he conducted the business with much success until the plant was burned down in 1900, the heat of the fire ruining the machinery. His father's lumher and building material business at New Castle hav- ing in the meantime grown rapidly with the growth of the town, he returned to that place and took an interest in the factory on Fifteenth Street, and the several branches of the business connected with it, in which he still continues with decided financial success.
Charles W. Jennings was married on June 25, 1901, to Mabel S. (born March 11, 1882), daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Eastwood, of Charleston, West Virginia, in the State Street Methodist Episcopal Church there by the Reverend Compton. The East. wood family is an old and prominent one in Charleston. During the Civil War, Mrs. Jennings' grandfather was a staunch Unionist and incurred the enmity of the Confeder- ates who placed him and his family upon a boat and sent them down the Kanawha and
Harry & Jewrung.
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HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
Ohio rivers, exiles from their home. But when the Union forces took command of the town, they returned and now occupy the old Eastwood mansion in Charleston.
After coming to New Castle, Mr. and Mrs. Jennings occupied a home in the eastern part of the town until the death of his mother, when they moved in with his father in the old home and are making the old place as comfortable and life as happy as possible for Simon P. Jennings as well as for themselves. They are very popular, especially with the young people, in social circles, and Mrs. Jennings has found a warm welcome to "The City of Roses." They are the parents of one child, a bright hoy (born April 20, 1905), named Charles Henry. Young, prosperous and happy, their lot in life seems to be a fortunate one.
WALTER PICKERING JENNINGS.
(Son).
Walter Pickering Jennings, third son of Simon P. and Angeline (Pickering) Jen- nings, was born at the Jennings' homestead in New Castle, Indiana. April 16, 1878, and like his older brothers was brought up to his father's business and like them is a graduate of the New Castle High School, where he showed great proficiency in his studies. Un- like them, however, he is inclined to the office work rather than the mechanical features of the business. Soon after graduation from school, he took charge of the books in his father's office and continued in charge of them to the benefit of the business, until about one year ago, when he formed a partnership with his brother, Harry E., and the new firm established themselves at Milton, Indiana, in the manufacture of barrel staves, Walter locating at that place and taking charge of the business, which has been very profitable up to the present time and promises well for the future, or so long as timber for the making of staves shall be procurable at that point.
Walter P. Jennings is a young, unmarried man, twenty seven years of age, popular with his young associates and with the general public. Like his brothers, he is of high moral character and correct habits and devoted to business, but he is not unmindful of the social amenities and enjoys society and cherishes his friends, who all have high hopes for his continued prosperity and happiness.
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HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF DAVID WAGNER KINSEY.
SCHOOL TEACHER, COUNTY OFFICIAL AND BANKER.
The citizens of Henry County have shown commendable enterprise in many chan- nels of business and trade, and not the least deserving are those who have established and maintained banking facilities in the growing communities within the limits of the county. Its banking interest, originally small, has been steadily developed under the able and conservative management of the foremost financiers of the community until it now possesses a stability of resources that commands the confidence and support of the people. Among the well known citizens who have worked effectively to this end is David Wagner Kinsey, cashier of the Citizens' State Bank of New Castle.
Henry Kinsey, the paternal great-grandfather, and Abraham Kinsey, the paternal grandfather of David Wagner Kinsey, were both natives of Virginia. The latter left Virginia in 1797, at the age of seventeen years, and became one of the early settlers of Montgomery County, Ohio, and while a citizen of that State served as a soldier in the last year of the War of 1812-15. He married Mary Magdalene Wagner, who was born and reared at Frankstown, Blair County, Pennsylvania. Together they lived for many years on a farm which now forms part of the Soldiers' Home property at Dayton, Ohio.
In 1835 he sold this farm and moved to Wayne County, Indiana, locating on Noland's Fork, west of Richmond, where he and his family lived for about six years. He then bought one hundred and sixty acres of land upon which has since been built that part of Hagerstown, Indiana, lying north of Main Street in that town, where he resided until he retired from farming and went to live with one of his sons at Pendle- ton, Indiana. He died there at the patriarchal age of eighty six years and his remains lie beside those of his wife in the German Baptist Cemetery, near Hagerstown.
Lewis Kinsey, son of Abraham and father of David Wagner Kinsey, was born on the Ohio farm, near Dayton, April 6, 1818. He came to Indiana with his parents and lived with them on the farms at Noland's Fork and Hagerstown until his marriage. He was united in marriage with Catharine, daughter of Martin and Christena Shultz, natives of Pennsylvania, December 31, 1837. She was born April 11, 1821. After their marriage they lived for four years on his father's farm in a house some forty or fifty rods north of where Lewis Teeter now lives in Hagerstown. He then bought a farm of eighty acres located a half mile north of the present village of Millville, Liberty Township, Henry County. In 1847 he sold this farm and bought what was known as the John Dixon farm, consisting of one hundred and sixty acres located on Flatrock, five miles east of New Castle, where he lived until 1871, when he moved to a farm three miles northwest of Hagerstown, Wayne County, where he spent the remainder of his days.
Lewis Kinsey had two full brothers, Abraham and Philip, and four full sisters: Mary married Henry Harris; Margaret married Mathew Luse; Susan married Jacob Heiny; and Anna married Benjamin Conley. He also had two half brothers, David and Jacob. All of these are dead, excepting Anna Conley, who lives with her daughter, Mrs. Jesse Mendenhall, in Muncie, Indiana.
Lewis and Catharine (Shultz) Kinsey were the parents of five children, two sons and three daughters, namely: Martin, born June 12, 1839, who is a farmer living two and a half miles southeast of New Castle, on the Dublin pike; Anna, born September 27, 1842, was married at her parents' home in Liberty Township, January 3, 1861, to Benjamin F. Shaffer, a native of Henry County; they moved to Altoona, Iowa, after their marriage, where he died May 27, 1879, and she died December 29, 1894; both are buried in the Altoona Cemetery; seven children survive them. David Wagner, born February 1, 1846, is the subject of this sketch; Sarah J., born November 6, 1850, was married August 7, 1869, to Eli M. Wisehart (born April 14, 1846), at the home of her parents in Liberty Township, Henry County, the ceremony being performed by the Reverend Daniel Bowman; they were the parents of eleven children, seven of whom survive. The last child of Lewis and Catharine (Shultz) Kinsey was Catharine, born August 7, 1857, who died September 14, 1863, and is buried in the German Baptist Cemetery, near
David IT Semisup
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HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
Hagerstown. Lewis Kinsey died March 3, 1904; his kind and devoted wife preceded him in death, having died May 21, 1899. Both are buried in the German Baptist Ceme- tery, near Hagerstown.
Mr. and Mrs. Kinsey joined the German Baptist, sometims called the Dunkard Church, in the year 1859, and about one year later he was called to the ministry and later was ordained. He had not the advantage of an advanced education, but his natural abilities enabled him to attain a high degree of efficiency in his ministerial work. He traveled and preached much among the different congregations of his church and with Elder George W. Studebaker made the first missionary tour through the southern dis- trict of Indiana and through parts of the Southern States, soon after the close of the Civil War.
His hospitality was unstinted and he was very liberal in answering the demands of charity. He and his faithful wife and helper were very devoted to the church of their choice and gave liberally to its support. He was a good man and a good citizen and was held in the highest esteem by his church, his friends and his neighbors. Two sons, one daughter, nineteen grandchildren, one great-grandchild and one sister survive him.
DAVID WAGNER KINSEY.
David Wagner Kinsey was born February 1, 1846, on his father's farm, near Mill- ville, Henry County, Indiana. His boyhood was spent in the performance of the routine duties of the farm which fell to the lot of the youths of that period. He assisted on the farm in season and attended the public schools of his neighborhood in Winter. In the Winter and Spring of 1861-2 and again in the same seasons of 1862-3, he was a student in the New Castle public schools under Professor E. J. Rice, and in the Winter and Spring of 1863-4 he taught school at the Maple Hill schoolhouse, Blue River Township. The Civil War was then at its height and special efforts were making to strengthen the Union forces at the front. Mr. Kinsey felt it to be his duty to offer his services to the cause and accordingly enlisted as a private in Company B, 139th Indiana Infantry. He was mustered into the service of the United States, June 5, 1864, and was mustered out as a Corporal, September 29. 1864. His military record is set out in full elsewhere in this History in connection with the roster of his company and regiment.
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