James Wiley Jennings

This Jennings Family has been well researched and documented in:

"Mr. Henry: A Twig on the Jennings Family Tree" by Mildred Jennings Deering Available through inter-library loan at Lebanon, Wilson County, Library

The family has been traced to 1650 Warwickshire, England. The oldest identified ancestors are Humphrey Jennings and Mary Milford. Our line, then, follows 4 John Jennings.

John Jennings I. Born 9/5/1667 in Warwickshire. Married Mary Green.

John Jennings II. He was born 12/8/1706 in Warwickshire. He and his wife, Ann Barton, embarked from Whitehaven, Cumberland County, England in December 1754 for Fredericksburg, Virginia, landing on the Rappahannock River. His gravestone is located in the Jennings Cemetery about 13 miles north of Wilkesboro, NC on Highway 18. He died in 1811 and is buried in NC.

John Jennings III. Born about 1730 in England. He (or his father) were granted 90 acres of land in Dinwiddie County, VA as recorded in the County Book 2 in 1755. His brother, Luke, is listed as a Revolutionary War Patriot (performed public service - not a soldier) by the DAR.

John Jennings IV. He was born about 1762 in Virginia. By 1788 the Jennings family was living in North Carolina. In the 1790 census, the family is living in Fairfield County, Camden District, SC. (just 100 miles south of Wilkesboro, Wilkes County, NC.) Mary Virginia "Polly" was born in South Carolina in 1799. By 1820 the Jennings Family was living in Wilson County, TN.

John Jennings IV married Mary Grubbs about 1787. Both John Jennings and his wife are believed to have died in Wilson County, TN between 1820-1830.

JENNINGS WESTWARD MOVEMENTS - TN/MO/TX

John Jennings IV and Mary Grubbs had 5 children - 4 sons and Mary Virginia "Polly" who married Williams Jones (the line followed by this website).

The Jennings brothers were very aggressive frontiersmen - among the FIRST settlers in Tennessee, Missouri, and West Texas. Williams Jones and Polly sometimes moved with the brothers or followed a few years behind. The history of each of the four brothers is briefly described below.

1. JAMES JENNINGS. Born in 1788, probably in South Carolina. He was an early settler in Lafayette County, MO in 1825. He moved his family again in 1846 - arriving in Texas two days after Texas joined the Union. They came by wagon train with the Peters Colony to Sherman, Grayson County, TX. James Jennings died in Sherman, Grayson Co., TX in 1866.

James married Martha "Patsey" Rutland in 1813 in Wilson County, TN. She was the daughter of Blake and Martha Rutland. Patsey was born in NC 10/28/1794 and died 2/8/1891 in Sherman, TX.

Mrs. Mildred Deering, family researcher, is descended from James and Patsey's oldest son John (born 1814 in Wilson County, Tennessee.) Most of the Jennings information came through this line. John's daughter Mary Ellen Jennings documented the family's history in private letters during the period of 1932-1934, including identifying their sister, Virginia "Polly," as being the wife of William Jones of Fannin County, Texas.

2. WILLIAM JENNINGS. Born about 1793 in the Fairfield District, SC. He died at Berry Creek, Georgetown, TX. He married Elizabeth Hopper 3/9/1828 in Lafayette County. She was born in Indiana and was the daughter of Thomas and Becky Gray Hopper. They moved to Texas about 1850.

3. ALLEN JENNINGS. Born about 1800 probably in South Carolina. He died in Lafayette County, MO in 1857. He married Lucinda Whitsett 1/20/1828 in Lafayette County.

4. JOHN JENNINGS. Born 1802 in South Carolina and died 11/4/1867 in Burnet County, TX. He married Sarah C. Harris 8/29/1821 in Wilson County, TN. William Jones was the bondsman. They soon left for Missouri.