Notes:

Birth:
A note on Udell Cunningham's birth: His birthdate was recorded incorrectly in court records. The person writing the date wrote it down on the April page instead of flipping to the May page. His accurate date of birth is 3 May 1925.

Udell married Doris LaNell THURMAN on 27 Oct 1950 in Clovis, Curry, New Mexico, USA. Doris (daughter of Elmer Theodore THURMAN and Lucille Inez WILLIS) was born on 5 Sep 1930 in Enville, Love, Oklahoma, USA; died on 08 Nov 2016 in Denver, Denver, Colorado, USA; was buried on 14 Nov 2016 in Fort Logan National Cemetery, Denver, Denver, Colorado, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Patti Jo CUNNINGHAM
2. Teddy Wayne CUNNINGHAM
3. Terri Udell CUNNINGHAM

Family/Spouse: Orlie Katharine QUISENBERRY. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Michael Lee MCELHANEY

Notes:

Herman Cunningham farmed and did some trucking. The family lived in several different communities in and around Swisher County TX. In 1978 they lived in Lockney TX. ["Herman Cunningham," Windmilling: 101 Years of Swisher County Texas History 1876-1977 (Dallas: Taylor Publishing Co., 1978), 235.] Herman and Annie Cunningham's children are Alvin, Udell, Flois, Nelda Gene, Carolyn. The Windmilling book gives their birth places. [Ethel Bell, "Veto Jennings," Windmilling: 101 Years of Swisher County Texas History 1876-1977 (Dallas: Taylor Publishing Co., 1978), 377.]
1930 Census, Armstrong County TX, Claude
hh207—H. Cunningham, head, age 35 born TX, rents house for $15 month, age at first marriage: 25, father born GA, mother born TX; occupation: truck hauling; veteran
Annie Cunningham, wife, age 30 born TX; age at first marriage: 20; father born AL, mother born TN
Alvin Cunningham, son, age 8 born TX
Udell Cunningham, son, age 4 born c1926 TX
Floris Cunningham, dau, age 8 mos. born TX
Social Security Death Index Record
Name: Herman Cunningham
SSN: 458-07-6225
Last Residence: 79241 Lockney, Floyd, Texas, United States of America
Born: 16 Mar 1895
Died: Jun 1980
State (Year) SSN issued: Texas (Before 1951

Died:
Age: 85

Herman married Annie Lola JENNINGS on 20 Jun 1920 in Tulia, Swisher, Texas, USA. Annie (daughter of Veto Curry JENNINGS and Mary ASilla STALLINGS) was born on 4 Oct 1899 in Tulia, Swisher, Texas, USA; died on 6 Apr 1982 in Lockney, Floyd, Texas, USA; was buried on 8 Apr 1982 in Lockney, Floyd County, Texas. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Married in the home of Annie's uncle, Richard Joshua "Dosh" Stallings in Tulia, Swisher County, Texas.
After finishing school Annie got her teaching certificate and taught school for a year at the Price School in the Whitfield TX community. Here she met Herman Cunningham who had returned from France after World War I. Annie taught school for another year after they married.["Herman Cunningham," Windmilling: 101 Years of Swisher County Texas History 1876-1977 (Dallas: Taylor Publishing Co., 1978), 235.]
1920 Census, Swisher County TX, Tulia
hh229—Richard D. Stallings, head, age 42 c1875 born TN, parents born TN; owns farm; grain farmer
Lizzie D. Stallings, wife, age 38 born TX, father born KY, mother born MS
Leora Stallings, dau, age 16 born TX; public school student
Mary A. Stallings, dau, age 13 born TX; public school student
Sallie G. Stallings, dau, age 11 born TX; public school student
Laura R. Stallings, dau, age 7 born TX; public school student
Edith F. Stallings, dau, age 1½ born TX
Annie Jennings, niece, age 20 born c1900 TX, father born AL, mother born TN; public school teacher;
single
Inez Jennings, niece, age 16 born TX, father born AL, mother born TN; public school student; single
Social Security Death Index Record
Name: Annie Cunningham
SSN: 449-17-6961
Last Residence: 79241 Lockney, Floyd, Texas, United States of America
Born: 4 Oct 1899
Died: Apr 1982
State (Year) SSN issued: Texas (1973)

Died:
Age: 82

Notes:

1930 Census, Armstrong County, Texas
Justice Precinct no. 4
Enumeration District 6-5
Sheet Number 7A
Enumeration Date April 21, 1930
Line number 48, Dwelling no. 149, Family no. 157, Cunningham, AB, Head, rented house, male, white, 59 years old, 23 at first marriage, able to read and write, born in Georgia, father born in Georgia, mother born in Georgia, Code State or M.T. 78, Occupation: Farmer, Industry: General, Class of Worker: 0, actually at work: yes, not a veteran, No. of farm schedule: 129
Line number 49, Cunningham, Stella, Wife-H, female, white, 63 years old, 26 at first marriage, able to read and write, born in Tennessee, father born in Tennessee, mother born in Tennessee, Code State or M.T. 81, Occupation: None
Line number 50, Cunningham, Aubrey, son, female, white, 23 years old, single, able to read and write, born in Texas, father born in Georgia, mother born in Tennessee, Code State or M.T. 87, Occupation: Farmer, Industry: General, Class of Worker: M, actually at work: yes, not a veteran

Died:
Age: 91

Amos married Stella Ophelia BOWLING on 30 May 1894 in Allen, Collin, Texas, USA. Stella (daughter of William Jones BOWLING and Mary Elizabeth KENNEDY) was born on 13 Apr 1867 in Tennessee; died on 11 Aug 1938 in Claude, Armstrong, Texas, USA; was buried in Aug 1938 in Claude, Armstrong County, Texas. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Rosebud, New Mexico
Nov. 11th 1935
Dear Alvin:---
It is with pleasure I answer your most welcome letter. I am glad you are interested in school and hope you enjoy your school days as much as I did mine. Really I think our school days are our happiest days with all their troubles and trials -- yes I had my share of "trouble & trial" in school even tho I never got a whipping.
When I went to school the schools were not "Graded" as they are now. We had classes -- sometimes 2 or 3 of a kind, I mean of the second reader we'll say as some pupils would have McGuffey's Readers while others would have another kind. I used the McGuffey's Readers. The "Old Blue-Backed Spelling Book" (Webster Spelling Book) and Alvin I don't believe I'd be afraid to "spell" with my Grandchildren to-day.
I was eight years old April 13, 1875 and started to school some time that year, at Lewisville, Denton Co., Texas. However my Mother had taught me at home, so I was in the second reader and could spell "way over in the book" and knew how to make the figures and count.
That first school house was up on a "rise" N.W. from town about 1/2 Mi. It was a large "two story" house; the upper room was used by the Mason Lodge the lower for school church and Sunday School.
Sometimes there were 75 or so pupils so had to have two teachers, but both taught in that one big room.
We sat on long benches and a class would go up to the teacher to recite and sit on a long bench, only the spelling classes would stand in a row and "turn down", when one missed a word. The pupil who was head of class to day would "go foot" tomorrow.
The house was heated by a stove and they burned wood. When it was real cold the teacher would let us go sit awhile by the stove to warm our feet. They wouldn't let us draw pictures in time of books.
When I started to school my Grandma gave me a large square framed slate and that's what I wrote on, and "figured" & (played when the teacher wasn't looking.)
In 1879 we moved way out to Wise Co. I was 12 by then, you see so had other books to study such as Geography -- Monteith's Third Part. Rag's Third Part Arithmetic and Grammar -- Smith's, I believe, was the first one I used; then later Reed & Kellogg's. So we had to parse and diagram. Yes that was hard.
That school house was a real country school about 3 or 4 Mi. S.W. of Bridgeport (the old town) Texas, in Pleasant Valley. It was built of logs (I believe) and had long home-made benches. No black-boards, so we used slates.
There was a plank "desk" on each side to write on, the boys used one, the girls used the other. Yes, we had a time to write some, had bought copy books, others used "fools cap" paper and the teacher would set a "copy". It too had a stove and burned wood. The house was in the woods so we had lots of shade to play in.
The boys played on one side of the house, the girls on the other. The boys at both these schools played ball and other similar things. The girls would play games such as base "Learner Lou" etc -- we had nothing to play with but always had fun.
Girls all wore sun bonnets -- never went bare headed but in warm weather would go bare-footed, same as the boys -- oh! the big girls didn't, of course.
Sometimes school would be only for three months, and a five month school was a long time -- I mean in the country. Then sometimes there would be a subscription school in Summer.
Sometimes the teacher would "stay a round" with the people -- not have to pay board.
My first school I had to walk alone and go about three Mi. but at this last one we lived just little over 1/2 Mi. from the school house.
While we lived there tho there were two years I did not go to that school, because the teacher did not keep good order. I went to a lady who taught in her house 2 Mi. away. There we sat by a fireplace and used her chairs. She was such a fine teacher too -- could explain things so we could understand even arithmetic. Also she had some different readers I used but I forget the names. Of course, they were the higher books 5th & 6th.
My letter is getting too long to tell about when I "went off" to school. So will close for this time and if you want the other part I'll write again.
Lovingly your Grandmother,
Stella Cunningham

Died:
Age: 71

Notes:

"Veto Jennings was only six years old in 1875 when his father was killed in a political argument back in Alabama. His mother, Lucinda Fannie Jennings, wanted to be close to her brother in Texas so she brought her sons Veto, Otto, and Worth and came to Fannin County Texas. Little is known about the trip except that it was the summer of 1880. In Fannin County, Veto met and married Mary ASilla Stallings whose family had come from Tennessee to Fannin County. In 1891 Veto brought his wife and little daughter Lennice to Swisher County Texas. They were accompanied by J.T. and Sarah Stallings and family. The trip by covered wagon took eighteen days." [Ethel Bell, "Veto Jennings," Windmilling: 101 Years of Swisher County Texas History 1876-1977 (Dallas: Taylor Publishing Co., 1978), 377.]
Veto's grandson states that Veto came to Swisher County from Fannin County in 1889 and homesteaded land seven miles west of Tulia; in 1892 he brought his family to the homestead." "Melvin Jennings," Windmilling: 101 Years of Swisher County Texas History 1876-1977 (Dallas: Taylor Publishing Co., 1978), 375.]
"The Veto Jennings family settled on land eight miles west of Tulia in the Lakeview community. Since it was hard times, Veto worked on a ranch as a cowboy for Mr. Word for several years, and at the same time farmed his own land. (Several of their neighbors at this time were the Henry Settles, Fred Scotts, Charley Jordans and George Tomlinsons.) The family lived in a half-dug out until around 1908 when Veto built a two-story house. Several of their children were born in the dug-out. They were living in the dug-out when the prairie fire of 1900 came through destroying everything. A passing cowboy helped the mother [Mary ASilla] carry the children and some belongings to a dirt mound between two earth tanks, then helped here trying to save the dug-out." [Ethel Bell, "Veto Jennings," Windmilling: 101 Years of Swisher County Texas History 1876-1977 (Dallas: Taylor Publishing Co., 1978), 377.]
Veto Jennings household in 1900 included his wife and 4 children, his widowed mother, and his brother Otto. According to his biography, they would still be living in the half-dugout, as the two-story frame house was not built until 1908:
1900 Census, Swisher County TX, Precinct 4
#128, #139—Veto Jennings, head, age 30 born Sep 1869 AL, parents born AL, married 11 years
Mary Jennings, wife, age 25 born March 1875 TN, parents born TN, married 11 years
Lenice Jennings, dau, age 9 born Oct 1890 TX, father born AL, mother born TN
Lee O. Jennings, son, age 5 born Feb 1895 TX, father born AL, mother born TN
Frank G. Jennings, son, age 3 born Apr 1897 TX, father born AL, mother born TN
Annie L. Jennings, dau, age 1 born Oct 1899 TX, father born AL, mother born TN
Lucinda F. Jennings, mother, widow, age 56 born Nov 1843 AL, parents born SC, gave birth to 5
children, 3 children living
Otto R. Jennings, brother, single, age 28 born Oct 1871 AL, parents born AL, farm laborer
1904 Judgement Record, Swisher County TX, February Court, #140, Vol. 1, page 24: V.C. Jennings, defendant; C.A. Whitescarver amount of judgement: $20; amount of costs: $2.70; rate of interest: 6%; amount due: $22.70 W.J. Redfearn, J.P. Precinct 1; filed for record: 7 April 1904
"After the death of Mary ASilla in 1910, Veto continued to rear his children the best way he could, sometimes playing a fiddle for some extra money. The children's aunt, Mrs. R.J. (Dosh) Stallings, who lived in Tulia, helped out by making them some clothes. The children attended schools at Lakeview." [Ethel Bell, "Veto Jennings," Windmilling: 101 Years of Swisher County Texas History 1876-1977 (Dallas: Taylor Publishing Co., 1978), 377.]
1910 Census, Swisher County TX, Precinct 5--almost unreadable
Veto C. Jennings, head, age 40 born c1870 AL, parents born AL, farmer
Mary A. Jennings, wife,
Lennice V. Jennings, dau,
Lee O. [may be another initial after O.] Jennings, son,
Frank G. Jennings, son,
Annie L. Jennings, dau,
Mary E. Jennings, dau,
Daisie E. Jennings, dau,
Melvin Jennings, in his biography for Windmilling, relates two stories about his grandfather Veto Jennings. "When the family needed meat, Veto and his son Frank would ride on horseback until they would spot a herd of antelope--which was not difficult at all, since there were many herds then, in the early 1900s. The grass then was about 30 inches tall. Veto would take a 44-40 pistol and they would sit down. They would then take a stick, tie a bandana, or some other type of cloth on it, stand it up so it would be higher than the grass, to act as a flag to attract the antelope. Veto would then pull his knees up, brace the big pistol on his knees at arm's length, holding it as securely as possible--and wait. The antelope, being very curious about the flag, would come over for a closer look. Veto would wait until the antelope came within a few feet, then he pulled the trigger." The family lived in a half-dug out until around 1908 when Veto built a two-story house. Several of their children were born in the dug-out. They were living in the dug-out when the prairie fire of 1900 came through destroying everything. A passing cowboy helped the mother [Mary ASilla] carry the children and some belongings to a dirt mound between two earth tanks, then helped here trying to save the dug-out." ["Melvin Jennings," Windmilling: 101 Years of Swisher County Texas History 1876-1977 (Dallas: Taylor Publishing Co., 1978), 375.]
The second story by Veto's grandson--Veto's homestead land (seven miles west of Tulia) "joined the 'Running Water Road.' The freight wagons from the railroad at Canyon on their way to the Plainview area, would camp at Veto Jennings' campground where the grass was kept short and there was no danger of starting a prairie fire. The distance from Veto's place was considered a big day's drive by wagon. Here at the freighter campground Veto provided feed and water for the teams that pulled the wagons. He had an interesting way of charging for the feed. He stacked the feed quite a little distance from the campground. In selling the feed, he charged fifty cents for all the feed a man could carry to his team, but, if he got more than he could carry all the way and had to put some of it down and come back for it, it would cost another fifty cents. Pretty soon regular customers learned what they could carry." "Melvin Jennings," Windmilling: 101 Years of Swisher County Texas History 1876-1977 (Dallas: Taylor Publishing Co., 1978), 375.]
1910 Census, Swisher County TX, Justice Precinct 4, hh 128:
Veto Jennings, head, age 30 born Sep 1869, married 11 years
Mary A. Jennings, wife, age 25 born March 1875, married 11 years
Lenice Jenning, dau, age 9 born Oct 1890 TX
Lee O. Jenning, son, age 5 born 1895 TX
Frank G. Jenning, son, age 3 born April 1897 TX
Annie L. Jenning, dau, age 1 born Oct 1899 TX
Lucinda F. Jenning, mother, age 56, widow, born Nov 1843 AL
Otto R. Jenning, brother, age 28 born Oct 1871 AL, single
William Kinslow, laborer, age 23 born 1872, single
1910 Deed Record, Swisher County TX, File #474, Book 67, page 583:
V.C. Jennings' wife, Mary Asilla Jennings, died intestate [without leaving a will] on 18 June 1910
children: Lannice [22 years old]; Lee; Frank; Annie; Ethel; Eysel.
None of said children are married. V.C. Jennings was not married prior to deceased wife, nor has he
married since her death.
witness: V.C. Jennings, R.O. Jennings
sworn on 23 Nov 1912
filed on 8 July 1936
recorded on 11 July 1936
1912 Judgement Record, Swisher County TX, January term #355, Vol. 2, page 16:
date of judgement: 22 January 1912
amount of judgement: $161.74
amount of costs: $3.30
rate of interest: 10%
total amount: $165.04
In favor of J.P. Moody, 22 January 1912, J.P. Huckabee, J.P.
executed & recorded in Vol. 53, page 273 of Deed Records on 22 June 1926
1912 Deed Index, Swisher County TX, Book 25, page 270:
grantor: V.C. Jennings
instrument: SWD
property: Pt. section 24, M-6
instrument date: 28 Oct 1912
filing date: 23 Nov 1912
1912 Deed Index, Swisher County TX, Book 29, page 15: grantor: Frank, Annie, Ethel, Eysel, Lannice, Lee Jennings grantee: A.W. Sternenberg Cert Copy Judgement: part section 24, M-6 instrument date: 8 Nov 1912 filing date: 8 Nov 1912
In 1920, Veto, age 50, lived in the household of his brother Otto and his family. [1920 Census, Swisher Co TX, 13B, #0637, Tulia]

Died:
Age: 62

Veto married Mary ASilla STALLINGS on 2 Dec 1888 in Fannin County, Texas. Mary (daughter of John Thomas STALLINGS and Sarah Long THOMAS) was born on 31 Mar 1872 in Bedford, Tennessee, USA; died on 18 Jun 1910 in Swisher, Texas, USA; was buried in 1910 in Rose Hill Cemetery, Tulia, Swisher County, Texas. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Mary's second name is spelled variously--Asilla, ASilla, A Silla, but her daughter, Annie Jennings Cunningham, notes that "my mother's name in our old family Bible was spelled with a S instead of a C; it was Mary A. Silla. [letter to Jan Jennings in Tulsa, OK from Mrs. H. (Annie) Cunningham in Lockney TX (c1976)]
The family of John Thomas Stallings (1843- ) and Sarah Thomas Stallings, moved from Bedford County TN after the Civil War to Fannin County TX. The family farmed near Honey Grove for about eight years. Their oldest son, Daniel Orzo, came to Swisher County TX in 1890 with Joe Cantrell, Otto Jennings, and brother-in-law Veto Jennings. "Pleased with this area, Daniel Orzo Stallings filed on land and invited the others to come to this new land of opportunity. By the time the rest of the family arrived by wagon, taking 18 days to make the trip, a severe drougth had struck. Instead of breaking sod, they rented land from Judge Settle. By 1893 good crops put the family on their feet financially. They were among the first to raise Kaffir corn, maize and wheat." [Gladys Stallings Ballenger, "John Stallings," Windmilling: 101 Years of Swisher County Texas History, 1876-1977 (Dallas: Taylor Publishing Co., 1978), 547.] Windmilling: 101 Years of Swisher County Texas History, 1876-1977 (Dallas: Taylor Publishing Co., 1978), 547.]
Ten children were born to Mary A. Silla and Veto, but four died at birth. [Ethel Bell, "Veto Jennings," Windmilling: 101 Years of Swisher County Texas History 1876-1977 (Dallas: Taylor Publishing Co., 1978), 377.]
Mary Asila Jennings - 38 years 2 months 18 days, born in Tennessee, died 18 Jun 1910, buried in Tulia. Relatives mentioned are John T. Stallings and Sallie Thomas. Book Number 1, Page Number 15, Certificate Nubmer 141. [Book Number 1, Page Number 18, Certificate Number 179. [Earliest Death Records From Book 1, County Clerk's Office, Swisher County Courthouse, Tulia, TX]

Died:
Age at Death: 38

Notes:

According to 1850 Census, living in home of Barbary (Barbara) Williams, along with his (later) wife Mary A. Anthony and Mahuldy (Mahuldah) Anthony.
A number of his wife's relatives named him executor of their wills.
Will of Barbara Williams
This is the will of Barbara Williams, dated 5 Nov. 1850. Johnson
Franklin Cunningham and Mary Ann P. Anthony, both listed in the
will, later married 9 Oct. 1851, Madison County, GA.
Record of Wills November Term 1851 Georgia
Oglethorpe County
I Barbara Williams of said County being of sound and disposing mind
and memory do publish and declare this to be my last will and
testament, hereby Revoking all other wills by me made.
1st I give and bequeath unto to Mary Ann P. Anthony daughter of
Matthew J. W. Anthony, one negro woman by the name of Louiza and
her four children to wit: Charlotte, Elizabeth, Robert, and
Henrietta and the future increase of the said female slaves to the
said Mary Ann and her heirs forever.
2nd I give and bequeath unto Mahuldah Anthony daughter of Thomas B.
Anthony one negro woman by the name of Teresa and her four children
to wit: Evaline, Lucy, Nathan, and Henry and the future increase of
said female slaves to her and her heirs forever.
3rd I give and bequeath unto Rebecca Williams Huff, daughter of
Barbara Huff, two choice cows and calves, Bed and bedsteads and bed
clothing also to Mary Ann P. Anthony and Mahuldah each a bed
bedstead and clothing for the same.
4th I give and bequeath and devise unto my friend Johnson F.
Cunningham all the rest and residue of my estate of whatever kind
or nature Real, personal, and mixed ready money and choser [?] in
action. I give and bequeath the whole balance of my property to my
said friend Johnson F. Cunningham to him and his heirs forever in
fee simple and this I do as well out of Regard & friendship for
him, as for actual services and kindness he has heretofore rendered
to me and which I know he will continue to render in the future.
Another consideration for this bequest is that I have four old
negroes that I have owned for many years. They have been faithful
servants and they will have to be supported by the said Johnson F.
Cunningham and I most earnestly request him to take care of them.
Their names are Dave, Charles, Robbin, and Lucy. Also I desire my
said friend Johnson F. Cunningham to treat With great and marked
kindness a negro girl by the name of Josephene, and the said
Johnson F. Cunningham is to pay annually or to ? ill the best
manner, for the comfort and support of___? Barbara Huff my Niece,
annually the sum of seventy dollars (70) during the natural
lifetime of this said Barbara Huff free from all control contracts
or interference of any kind of her present or any future husband.
5th I further order and direct that the negroes bequeathed unto
Mary Ann P. Anthony and Mahuldah Anthony be kept and controlled
(sic) by my said friend Johnson F. Cunningham until my said nieces
marry or become of age when either event happens then and not till
then the said Johnson F. Cunningham is to deliver the negroes
bequeathed to the said Mary Ann P. Anthony and Mahulda. The yearly
value in the meantime to be applied to the education, support, and
maintenance of the said Mary Ann P. and Mahuldah Anthony.
6th I appoint the said Johnson F. Cunningham Executor of this my
last will and testament.
signed sealed published
and declared in our presence
in the presence of each other &
in the presents (sic) of the testator.
this 5th day of November 1850.
her x Mark Barbara Williams
Benj. F. Hardeman
Rolly H. Mathews
Abel Eberhart
David Graham
Recorded 11 Nov 1851

Johnson married Mary Ann Penelope ANTHONY on 9 Oct 1851 in Madison County, Georgia. Mary (daughter of Matthew Jouett Williams ANTHONY and Ann Blakey ROBERTS) was born on 16 Dec 1835 in Madison County, Georgia; died on 13 Dec 1917 in Lewisville, Denton County, Texas; was buried in Dec 1917 in Flower Mound Cemetery, Lewisville, Denton County, Texas. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Inscription on tombstone: "Wife of J.F. Cunningham; "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God."
1850 Census of Oglethorpe County, Georgia lists Mary Anthony as a resident in the home of Barbary (Barbara) Williams, along with Mahuldah (Mahuldy) Anthony and Johnson Cunningham. These three inherited her goods according to her will. It is unknown why Mary Anthony was living with Barbara Williams, as both of her parents were alive in 1850 and living in Madison County, where Johnson F. Cunningham and Mary Anthony later married. It is interesting to note that Johnson F. Cunningham and Mary Anthony named their first two children William Matthew after their fathers and Sarah Barbara after Johnson's mother Sarah and, presumably, Barbara Willliams.

Other Events:

• Occupation: Minister

Notes:

The Bowling family moved west to Texas in December, 1875. They came by train to Dallas, Texas, then continued their journey in a covered wagon. William Jones Bowling was a Baptist minister, an occupation he was called to while a Confederate prisoner of war in a Union prison during the Civil War.
Grave marker inscribed Rev. W.J. Bowling, "Papa, Rest in Peace." Buried in Rowe Cemetery, Donley County, Texas.
Family Bible written in the hand of Stella Ophelia Bowling Cunningham lists names and birthdates for family members listed for William Jones Bowling and Mary Elizabeth Kennedy. Copy is in possession of Mary Elder Davis.

Died:
Age: 76

William married Mary Elizabeth KENNEDY on 22 Dec 1863 in Tippah County, Mississippi. Mary (daughter of William Wesley KENNEDY and Cynthia Walker PALMER) was born on 9 Jul 1847 in Tippah County, Mississippi, USA; died on 3 Jun 1907 in Hedley, Donley, Texas, USA; was buried between 1900 and 1910 in Rowe Cemetery, Hedley, Donley County, Texas. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Occupation: Blacksmith

Notes:

Member of the Masonic Order, Russellville, Franklin County, Alabama.
From the Memorandum page in the John B. Jennings & Lucinda Fannie Curry Jennings' family Bible: "The earliest record of the Jennings started with them in Virginia and Georgia. The John B. Jennings family lived at Russellville, Alabama. John was murdered over an election argument. Mrs. J.B. Jennings and children moved to Honey Grove, Texas in 1880. The family came to Swisher County, Texas December 1890."
From the Births page in the John B. Jennings & Lucinda Fannie Curry Jennings' family Bible: "J.B. Jennings brothers were: Dick Jennings, Jim Jennings, George Jennings" Next to the 3 names, it is noted that Jim and George were half- brothers.
TIME LINE
1850 Census, Franklin County AL--there is a Joseph Jennings as head of household, born VA; he has a son John, age 14, born VA, making John's birth year 1835 1859 Land Patents, Franklin County AL--John B. Jennings makes two purchases: #29665 Township 07-S, Range 13-W, Section 26 SWNE and #29665 Township 07-S, Range 13-W, Section 26 NWSE [Bureau of Land Management]
John B. Jennings: total acres: 80.25; Dec 1, 1859; land office: Huntsville; acres: 80.25; act or treaty: April 24, 1820; sale-cash entries; 1SWNE Huntsville No 7S 13 W 26; 2 NWSE Huntsville No 7S 13W26.
1860 Census, Frankfort, Franklin County AL, Western Division, dwelling 26
John B. Jennings, 23 years old, born VA 1836, occupation: "gent of service".
Living two dwellings from John (#28) was the family of R.J. Jennings, 33 born 1828 VA, minister of the Gospel, $1000 real estate, $200 personal estate; M.J. 26 born 1833 AL; Theadoria, 4 born 1855 AL [Roll M653-10, page 671].
1862, June 13--John B. Jennings enlisted at Tupelo, Mississippi for Alabama Confederate service, Co. E, 16th Regiment, infantry for 3 years, private [Military Records from the National Archives. NOTE: This is may or not be our John B. Jennings; the 16th Regiment companies were raised in Franklin and Lawrence Counties. The record gives little information, does not mention where the company fought, and, evidently, he was not wounded.] John's granddaughter "heard that he was in the Civil War." [Letter to Jan Jennings in Tulsa OK from Mrs. H. (Annie) Cunningham in Lockney TX (c1976)] In the possession of Bobby Joe Jennings, Lorenzo TX, is a small framed photograph; on the back is written--
John Jennings, Florence AL, United Confederate Veteran, 19th Reunion, Albert Sidney Johnston. [information from Worth Alston Jennings III]
1865, May 7--married Fannie Lucinda Curry in Frankfort, Franklin County AL by Rev. Joseph White, Molton, AL
1866, June 2--daughter Alpha born; dies 20 days later
1867, September 29--daughter Daisie Z. born AL
1869, September 17--son Veto Curry born, AL
1870 Census, Colbert County AL, Cherokee post office, township 3, range 14, page 105b, #8: John Jennings, 33 years, dry goods & grocery merchant, $1500 personal real estate, born VA Francis Jennings, 29 years, keeping house, born AL
Daisey Jennings, 2 years, born AL
Veto Jennings, born Oct., AL
James Jennings, 16 years, works on farm, born AL [could this be John's half- brother Jim?]
1871, July 15--Transferred from the Masonic Order, Cherokee Lodge, to the Russellville Lodge; his name was in the minutes of meetings until the time of his death.
1871, October 14--son Richard Otto born, Birmingham, Jefferson County AL
1873, April 26--Franklin County AL Deed, town of Russellville. John B. Jennings paid $309 for lots 8, 9, 10 in the town of Russellville. [Originally recorded in the Franklin County AL Deed Book V, page 120, but a courthouse fire destroyed this public record; however, Lucinda Curry Jennings kept her copy of the deed in family records; the deed is in the possession of Arthur H. Jennings, grandson of John B. Jennings.]
1873, December 6--son Worth Alston born in Russellville, Franklin County AL
1875, June 26--John B. Jennings shot and killed, Russellville, Franklin County AL The first record of John B. Jennings in Franklin County, Alabama occurred in January 1859 when he made a cash entry purchase of 80.25 acres. In the few years before his death, John B. Jennings moved his family from Cherokee, Colbert County, Alabama where he was a dry goods merchant to the newly established town of Birmingham. Although son Richard Otto Jennings was born there, they may have stayed only during the year 1871. In July 1871, John transferred his Masonic membership from the Cherokee Lodge, to the Russellville Lodge where his name remained in the minutes of meetings
until the time of his death. In April 1873, John B. Jennings purchased three town lots for $309 in Russellville.
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"THE QUIET OF OUR LITTLE TOWN WAS DISTURBED . . . A MAN IS KILLED"
[On 1 July 1875, John B. Jennings' death in Franklin County AL was reported in the North Alabamian newspaper published in Tuscumbia, Alabama; parts of the following were published by Jan Jennings in "The Source: Historical and Adventure," 7, no. 2: 21-25.]
The Reconstruction Period in northern Alabama lasted longer than elsewhere in the state, due in part to the region's geographic isolation from the seat of government, its sometimes vehement disagreement
with southern Alabama politics, and a close identity with Tennessee. The North Alabamian newspaper, published in Tuscumbia, reported throughout 1875 about volatile politics, burglaries, and farms being burned out. On June 24, 1875, 93 degree heat and a drought contributed to frayed tempers; two men shot at each other with pistols on the street of Tuscumbia. Two days later, in nearby Russellville, G.C. Allman shot and killed John B. Jennings. The North Alabamian reported that "Jennings was struck with four large buckshot and expired in half an hour after receiving his fatal wounds. The sad affair grew out of an old grudge, a newspaper article that appeared in the Alabamian during the canvass last summer." Allman surrendered himself promptly to the sheriff. His trial began just two days following the shooting on June 28 and 29 and resulted in acquittal, holding that Allman acted in self-defense.
This true story illustrates on a local level, and at a personal scale, Franklin County's continuing difficulties and political upheavals following the Civil War. Although the North Alabamian reported the story, no Russellville paper remains extant, and public records of the trial burned in a courthouse fire.
In the late 1930s, Dr. Shaw, formerly of Russellville, a friend of John B. Jennings, gave an oral history account of the killing to Jennings' grandson, Veto Curry Jennings in Tulia, Texas: " . . . they were having a political rally. John went and made a speech for the candidate he was interested in. But it did not suit the opponent who was there. As John was walking home this fellow waylaid him and was going to give him a whipping because of the things he had said in his speech. Instead of giving John a whipping, he had to take one. John was a blacksmith and was a strong and active young man. It seems as if he went on home. The next morning the man went into a hotel just across the street from John's shop and asked if they had a gun, and told them there was a mad dog out
in the street. Someone got a gun for him and he walked over to the door and shot across the street killing John."
The account in the Tuscumbia paper, posted by an anonymous reporter (a "Russel Villian") found fault with both men, Jennings for insulting Allman and Allman for acting with southern chivalrous behavior. Unfortunately, Russel Villian failed to state the nature or substance of the disagreement that ended in
Jennings' death. [Evidently both were southerners; Allman was born in Alabama, Jennings in Tennessee or Alabama.]
This was not necessarily a quarrel stemming from Reconstruction, but it had something to do with the general unease and outright lawlessness that defined the period in northern Alabama. In 1877 the Moulton Advertiser reported that "blood continues to flow in old Franklin County, and there seems to be a mania among the people to kill and cut each other to pieces. Only one moon has passed since a man was shot down in his field near Russelville and last week S.F. Williams shot and seriously wounded a Mr. Normere without the least cause." In 1888, the newspaper reported seven men killed in Franklin County the previous year, and a local pundit dubbed it "Bloody Franklin." (Moulton Advertiser 12 Jan 1888) [http://www.lawrencecounty.ala.nu/FranklinCoF.htm]
When Veto questioned Dr. Shaw about the trial, he said that "he didn't suppose that they had one because "the country was so badly torn up just after the Civil War that anyone could get by with any crime if they could get out of the country without getting caught." [oral history interview Veto Curry Jennings and Dr. Shaw (date unknown)].
Who was this Dr. Shaw? Veto Jennings stated that Shaw was an elderly man when he moved to Tulia in the late 1920s or early 1930s and had known John Jennings when he was a young man. Shaw told Veto that he had visited in John's home many times before John was married. Dr. Shaw may be Dr. Marshall J. Shaw who was on the 1925 Tax Roll in Swisher County TX and on the 1930 Census in Tulia as a 77 year old man. Shaw would have been twelve years old when John Jennings married so his account is from his memory, or what he heard, as a boy. His young age may account for his not knowing about the trial.
On June 26, 1875, Jennings' wife, Lucinda Fannie Curry Jennings, was probably at home with her children when she learned that her husband had been shot. We don't know if Fannie was able to see John in the thirty minutes he lived after the shooting. Fannie became a widow at age thirty-five and from that fateful moment when her husband was shot, her life was turned upside down. In the ensuing days, with children aged two, four, six and eight, she turned her thoughts from housekeeping to settling their affairs. We don't know if she had any help from her family or John's in arranging his funeral and burial. As a young man of thirty-eight, John probably had not made a will or bought a cemetery lot. There is no tombstone for John B. Jennings in Franklin County. Fannie appeared in Franklin County's Probate Court (probably in 1875) to take guardianship of their children: Daisie Z., Veto Curry, Richard Otto, and Worth Alston Jennings. Living in town, Fannie was probably well aware of the speedy trial of her husband's killer and his acquittal. [Fannie retained her copy of the Guardianship papers; the Courthouse fire destroyed the public record.]
We will never know what John and Allman quarreled about, but Allman prospered. [variant spellings--Allman, Almon] George C. Allman would have been twenty-five years old when he murdered John Jennings. In 1880, five years after the shooting, Allman was practicing law in Russellville; he, his wife and three-month old daughter boarded in the household of James E. Wilson. Their presence in Russellville may have been doubly bitter for Fannie, as was his growing popularity. [See 1880 Census, Franklin Co AL for Allman].
"At the age of twenty years George C. Almon entered the law department of the
University of Mississippi, at Oxford, having been thoroughly prepared for the
University under private tutors in his native county. He graduated from the law
department mentioned, in. 1873, and at once entered upon the practice of law at
Franklin, Franklin county, where he was meeting with a promising patronage. A
year later, however, the seat of justice was removed to Russellville, and his
business being with the courts, he of course followed the court house, this
event occurring in 1875, success following him as he had followed the court
house. In 1879 the court house was again removed, this time to Bel Green, the
present county seat. Having, in the meantime, been appointed probate judge, Mr. Almon also removed to Bel Green, where he remained till 1887, when he returned to Russellville to resume his private practice, and Russellville has been his home ever since. In 1886 he was elected to the state senate from the twelfth
senatorial district, his popularity as a citizen equalling his reputation as a
lawyer. The marriage of the judge took place in 1876, to Miss Modena Burgess,
daughter of William Burgess of Alabama, and there has been born to them one
child, Susie B. The judge and family are members of the Methodist Episcopal
church, south, and he is a K. of P. In politics the judge is a stanch democrat,
and takes great interest in the party, especially in its election of candidates
who are fully qualified to fill the positions for which they may be nominated."
["Memorial Record of Alabama," Vol. I, (Madison, Wisc.: Brant & Fuller, 1883), 1027-1028.] George C. Almon and his wife Modena are buried in the Knights of Pythias Cemetery in Franklin County, Alabama.
Dr. Shaw's account of John's death gave his occupation as blacksmith, although Fannie told some of her children that John was a lawyer. Although these occupations seem incongruous today, in the nineteenth century it was not uncommon for a laborer to also "read law." John B. Jennings' granddaughter thought that he was a District Attorney . . . One of my sisters said she also thought that Grandpa was a D.A. but was running for Sheriff at the time he was killed." [Letter to Jan Jennings in Tulsa OK from Mrs. H. (Annie) Cunningham in Lockney TX (c1976)].

Died:
Murder

John married Lucinda Fannie CURRY on 7 May 1865 in Frankfort, Franklin County, Alabama. Lucinda (daughter of John Leman CURRY and Frances Ellener JANE) was born on 18 Oct 1840 in Frankfort, Franklin County, Alabama; died on 18 Sep 1912 in Tulia, Swisher County, Texas; was buried in 1912 in Rose Hill Cemetery, Tulia, Swisher County, Texas. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

1860 Census, Franklin County AL, Western Division, Frankfort--Fanny Curry 17 born 1842 AL and Elisa Curry 15 born 1844 AL, live in the Charles Womble household. Womble and his wife Mary M., both born in TN, headed a household of 8 Womble children, all born AL. Charles Womble was a merchant with $1400 real estate and $1500 personal estate. They comprised Dwelling #10.
Dwelling #20 was the household of S.C. [could this be L.C.?] Curry 25 born 1834 AL, a grocery keeper with $350 real estate value; Elisa 20 born 1839 AL. At Dwelling #21 lived John Curry 30, a rockmason born 1830 AL. [Roll M653-10, page 669]
NAME: On the 1870 Census, Fannie is enumerated as Francis Jennings.
Sometime in 1875, the Russellville Masonic Lodge No. 371 presented to Lucinda F. Jennings a Certification that her husband, John B. Jennings, deceased, was a member of their lodge. The certificate recommended that John's widow and children be given "kind consideration and a helping hand;" Fannie's name and her children's names were written around the edge of the certificate. [original
certificate in the possession of Bobby and Helen Jennings, Lorenzo TX]
From the Memorandum page in the John B. Jennings & Lucinda Fannie Curry Jennings' family Bible:
"The earliest record of the Jennings started with them in Virginia and Georgia. The John B. Jennings family lived at Russellville, Alabama. John was murdered over an election argument. Mrs. J.B. Jennings and children moved to Honey Grove, Texas in 1880. The family came to Swisher County Texas December 1890."
Fannie Curry Jennings and her four children remained in Franklin County Alabama through June of 1880, because they are on the census there.
Later that summer, Fannie loaded a wagon of their possessions and took her three sons to Honey Grove, Fannin County, Texas where her brother Lewis had settled.
On the Memorandum page in the John B. Jennings and Lucinda Fannie Curry Jennings’ Bible: “Lucinda F. Curry Jennings had a brother to settle in Titus County just after the Civil War.”
To provide money for themselves, Fannie sold town lots 8, 9, and 10 that her husband purchased in 1873.
"Veto Jennings was only six years old in 1875 when his father was killed in a political argument back in Alabama. His mother, Lucinda Fannie Jennings, wanted to be close to her brother in Texas so she brought her sons Veto, Otto, and Worth and came to Fannin County Texas. Little is known about the trip except that it was the summer of 1880." ["Veto Jennings," Windmilling: 101 Years of Swisher County Texas History 1876-1977 (Dallas: Taylor Publishing Co., 1978), 377.]
1880 Census, Franklin County AL, Twp 6, Range 11, enumerated 19 June 1880
Lucinda F. Jennings, age 39, born 1841 AL; widowed; keeping house; mother born TN; father’s birthplace unknown
Dasie Z. Jennings, age 12 born 1868, attended school
Veto C. Jennings, age 10 born 1870, attended school
Richard O. Jennings, age 8 born 1872; mother born AL; father born TN; attended school
Worth A. Jennings, age 6; attended school
In December 1890, Fannie moved from east Texas to the high plains. In 1890 only 100 people were enumerated on the Swisher County, Texas Census. Just ten years earlier, in 1880, there were only three Anglos in the census district that included Randall and Swisher Counties combined. Swisher County was organized in July 1890, just a few months before Fannie and her children arrived. One hundred and fifty names were required on a petition to organize the county, but with only 100 people there it seems clear that children and cowboys helped round out the count. The county's first newspaper, "Staked Plains Messenger," was published in Tulia in June 1890.
Based on reports about other Tulia pioneers, the Jennings would have made the trip from Fannin County to Swisher County in a covered wagon pulled by oxen or horses. They would have burned cow chips at night for fuel. There were no fenced off roads; wagons followed ruts across the plains. Many Swisher pioneers described seeing huge piles of buffalo bones, evidence of hunters who had killed and skinned large numbers and left the rest to rot. The county was a "raw land" of tall grasses, antelope, deer, turkeys and native trees. "As the wagons gained the summit of the Caprock, the rolling plains lay before them covered with green grass that could be seen for miles and miles in every direction." Upon arrival, the first thing was to build fences, break sod, farm and tend cattle before a house above ground was built. [Windmilling: 101 Years of Swisher County Texas History, 1876-1977 (Dallas: Taylor Publishing Co., 1978), 321.]
Almost all of the settlers arriving about 1890 lived in dugouts or half dug-outs. In 1891 Fannie's son Veto and his family moved from Fannin County TX; they lived in a half-dug out until around 1908 when Veto built a two-story house. Several of their children were born in the dug-out. [Ethel Bell, "Veto Jennings," Windmilling: 101 Years of Swisher County Texas History 1876-1977 (Dallas: Taylor Publishing Co., 1978), 377.] A half dug-out was two rooms on the ground floor. "Most lived in these temporary quarters until the turn of the 20th century or later." W.T. Bagley's dugout, for example, was 20' x 50' x 6' deep with the top portion containing half windows. As soon as possible the Jennings would have dug a well for water and put up a windmill as soon as they could afford it. To claim the land in Swisher County, Fannie and her sons were required to pay $2 an acre, plow up 20 acres of sod, and put rocks at the corners for section boundaries. Freight and lumber was hauled by wagon from Canyon, the nearest point on the railroad. [Windmilling: 101 Years of Swisher County Texas History, 1876-1977 (Dallas: Taylor Publishing Co., 1978), 145, 159, 216, 498, 512, 514, 537, 563, 568.]
In 1893, Swisher County had a grasshopper plague and in 1898, a blizzard. One Swisher County pioneer stated that the grasshoppers ate all the bark off fence posts and when they left it was three days before the sun was visible. [Windmilling: 101 Years of Swisher County Texas History, 1876-1977 (Dallas: Taylor Publishing Co., 1978), 288].
Where did Fannie and her sons live when they arrived in December (winter) of 1890? Had Veto already constructed the half-dugout in 1889 as his biography suggests? When Veto moved his wife and daughter from Fannin to Swisher County, his wife's parents came with them. Were all these people in the same dugout? Veto did not have enough money to build a two-story house until 1908. In 1900 Fannie and her son Otto are living in Veto's household. (Lucinda F. Jennings, mother, widow, age 56 born Nov 1843 AL, parents born SC, gave birth to 5 children, 3 children living) [1900 Census, Swisher County TX, Justice Precinct 4, hh 128]
Mrs. Jennings is noted as a pioneer member of the First Baptist Church in Tulia, joining in 1891: "A few courageous men and women met in the early summer of 1891 in the home of Mrs. S.E. Butts to organize a Baptist Church." [Mrs. Ethel Christian Hooten, "Tulia First Baptist Church," Windmilling: 101 Years of Swisher County Texas History, 1876-1977 (Dallas: Taylor Publishing Co., 1978), 89.] The first year that the Jennings were in Swisher, the Baptists held two summer revivals.
Like most women of her time, Fannie's life probably revolved around her family, her farm and her church, but tragedy did not escape her in TX. Fannie's daughter, Daisie Z. Jennings married Wilbern Hargett in 1885 (location unknown), but she died at age twenty-eight. According to one account, Fannie returned to Alabama after Daisie's death to help her husband and children. She may have stayed "several years." [letter to Jan Jennings in Tulsa OK from Mrs. H. (Annie) Cunningham in Lockney, TX (c1976)] Fannie's youngest son Worth Alston married in February 1897 but his wife commited suicide by poisoning in November. Veto's wife also died early, in 1910; if Fannie was not already in his household by then, she probably moved in to help him with his six children.
Fannie was a witness when her son Worth remarried on 4 December 1901 in Canyon City, Randall County TX. The other witness was J.M. Vansant, father of Worth's bride, Eddie Johnson Vansant. [original certificate in the possession of Bobby and Helen Jennings; she signed her name as "Fannie Jennings".]
Annie Jennings Cunningham remembered her grandmother as a small quiet woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. "She always wore a shawl around her shoulders. I have a picture (tintype) of Grandma taken when she was a young woman. She had a shawl around her even then . . . Grandma was of Irish ancestry . . . my Grandma was always busy doing something making quilts and making soap for other people." [Letter to Jan Jennings in Tulsa OK from Mrs. H. (Annie) Cunningham in Lockney TX (c1976)]
It is an extraordinary fact that fifty-year old Fannie struck out on her own to a sparsely populated land to farm, but, she had grown sons, eighteen, twenty and twenty-two years old, to help her. Nevertheless, it is obvious that Fannie Lucinda Curry Jennings was an independent woman. She never applied to either Alabama or Texas for a widow's pension for John B. Jennings' Confederate service.
At the time of Fannie's death on September 18, 1912, she lived with her son Veto Curry Jennings and his family. She died alone, probably of heart failure, in the late afternoon; her granddaughters discovered her body when they returned home from school. "Grandma always had indigestion (she called it colic). On the day she died we found part of a watermelon that she had eaten. So they thought that was what made her sick and caused her to die." [[Letter to Jan Jennings in Tulsa OK from Mrs. H. (Annie) Cunningham in Lockney TX (c1976)]
Fannie Lucinda Curry Jennings is buried at Rosehill Cemetery, Tulia, Texas, alongside her oldest son Veto Curry Jennings (1869-1934). Her son, Richard Otto Jennings (1871-1941) is also buried at Rosehill. Youngest son, Worth Alston Jennings (1873-1949), is buried at Dreamland Cemetery in Canyon, Randall County, Texas. The burial site of the Jennings' only surviving daughter, Daisie Z. Jennings Hargett (1867-1895), is not known.

Died:
Age: 71

Notes:

On July 13, 1861, at the age of 18, J.T. enlisted in the Confederate Army at Unionville, Tennessee. On May 12, 1864, he was shot through the knee at Drury's Farm, captured and taken to a Union hospital later to spend time in prisons at Point Lookout, MD. and City Point, VA. He told of having a handkerchief run through his wound before being sent to the hospital.
On July 25, 1865 he was released and furnished transportation from Lookout, Virginia to Shelbyville, Tennessee. He and Sallie, daughter of Elias Kees Thomas were married on February 20, 1868 in Bedford County, Tennessee.
Five of their six children (all of whom were given a classical [or] biblical name) were born there in Bedford County. Sometime between the births of Albert Andrew 1882 in Bedford County and Fenton Augustus 1884 in Fannin County, Texas, the Family moved to Honey Grove, Texas.
Ozro, the eldest, went to Swisher County in 1890 with friends and Veto Jennings [my great-great grandfather], (his brother-in-law). Pleased with the area, Ozro filed on the land and invited the others to come to "this new land of opportunity."
After Sallie's death, J.T., who was an imposing figure more than six feet tall, weighing at least 300 pounds, lived the rest of his days, until around 1910, with either our family or that of Uncle Dosh. One thing I remember when he lived with us was that he was sent down to the town pumping station periodically to take a bath. They had hot water there -- the only place where there was hot water and a tub large enough for him.
Source: Fred Mynatt via http://www.gencircles.com/users/claw/1/data/208
Headstone says that he was a 1st Corporal in Company F 23 of the Tennessee Infantry, CSA.
Source: http://www.rootsweb.com/~txswishe/roscemp3.htm

Died:
Age: 72

John married Sarah Long THOMAS on 20 Feb 1868 in Marshall County, Tennessee, USA. Sarah (daughter of Elias Kees THOMAS, daughter of F E SHAW) was born on 19 Jul 1841 in Tennessee; died on 25 Jul 1910 in Dallas, Texas; was buried in Tulia, Swisher County, Texas, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]