Family/Spouse: Sarah BLACK. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

In 1850 in Franklin County Alabama, two Curry families lived across the road from one another—William Curry, born c1790, and Francis Curry, born c1791. Both men were born in North Carolina; both were farmers with large families. I think that they may have been brothers. I believe that our ancestor, Lucinda Francis “Fannie” Curry, is the nine-year old daughter of Francis and Sarah Curry.
Although Fannie had three sisters, she had only one brother, Lewis Curry, born c1832 in North Carolina.
William and Francis Curry, their wives, and some of their oldest children were born in North Carolina. Using birth information from the 1850 Census, we can surmise that the Curry brothers and their families migrated from North Carolina to Franklin County Alabama between 1833 to 1837.
1850 Census, Franklin County AL, District 5, 28 Nov 1850 #437, #437—Francis Curry, age 59 born c1791 NC, farmer, value of real estate: $0
Sarah Curry, age 27 born c1823 NC
Jane Curry, age 22 born c1828 NC
Lewis Curry, age 18 born c1832 NC—Titus County TX, 1860?
Elizabeth Curry, age 13 born c1837 AL
Francis Curry, age 9 born c1841 AL—living with the Charles Womble family 1860
1850 Agricultural Census, Franklin County AL
Francis Curry, acres of improved land: 50, acres of unimproved land: 40, cash value of farm: $500, value of farm implements & machinery: $30, value of livestock: $250 Eliza Curry, age 6 born c1844 AL—living with the Charles Womble family 1860

John married Frances Ellener JANE on 9 Oct 1819 in Rutherford County, North Carolina, United States. Frances was born in 1790 in North Carolina; died in 1860 in Franklin County, Alabama. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Unknown. [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

Lucinda married John B. JENNINGS on 7 May 1865 in Frankfort, Franklin County, Alabama. John (son of Christopher Henry JENNINGS and Mary) was born on 21 Jan 1837 in Virginia, USA; died on 26 Jun 1875 in Russellville, Franklin County, Alabama. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

"The other album contained several pictures of Daisie's children, Minnie, Clarence, and Alma. Since they lived in AL, they had sent their grandmother a lot of pictures . . . [Lucinda Fannie Curry Jennings] used to get lots of mail post marked Florence AL."[Letter to Jan Jennings in Tulsa OK from Carolyn Cunningham in Tulia TX (6 Aug 1976)]

Daisie married Wilburn Franklin HARGETT on 15 Nov 1885 in Honey Grove, Fannin County, Texas. Wilburn was born on 15 Jan 1863 in Florence, Lauderdale County, Alabama; died in 1931 in Wolf City, Hunt County, Texas. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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]

Veto married Venera Lonia CLUCK after 1910. Venera was born on 6 Aug 1869 in Pleasant Hill, Williamson, Texas, United States; died on 5 Jun 1957 in Tulia, Swisher, Texas, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Laura Pearl JOHNSON. Laura was born in 1884; died on 10 Oct 1972 in Tulia, Swisher, Texas, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]