Birth and Childhood. Jeanette's great-grandmother, Lucy Ann (Jennings) Inman, was born "September 18, 1855, Bradford County, PA." Pennsylvania is given as her birthplace in all the census records we can find. From 1900 on, the census taker records that Lucy's father was born in Ohio and that Lucy's mother were born in Pennsylvania. We have no information on the identity of her parents. There are several Jennings listed in the 1850 Census for Bradford county, but we can't tell if any of them is related to Lucy Ann. Nor can we locate a child in the 1860 census for Bradford county named Lucy Jennings.
In the 1870 census, there's a 14-year-old Lucy Jennings in Asylum township, in Bradford county, in the family of 49-yr-old blacksmith J. L. [?] and 44-yr-old housewife Nancy Jennings, who were born in VT and NY, respectively. In the 1870 census, there's also a 14-year-old Lucy Jennings living with a New York-born couple, Phineas and Almira Shorewy [or Shoreway?], in Ogle county, IL. She's listed as being born in PA. Ogle county is about 150 miles north of Lincoln county, where Lucy settled after her marriage in 1872.
We have no particular reason to believe that either of these girls enumerated in the 1870 census was our Lucy Jennings, nor do we draw conclusions from her apparent absence from any 1860 census records. Sometimes people just didn't get counted! So until we find some conclusive information on Lucy's childhood years, we'll just have to consider those years to be an unknown quantity.
Marriage. Lucy married Ben Inman in DeWitt county, IL, on the day before her 17th birthday. She was "under age", according to Illinois law, which required that a person under 18 years of age not be married without parental consent. There was no information on their marriage license which indicated that the county clerk was aware of her age or whether any parental approval was given for the marriage. DeWitt county is next door to Logan county, where Lucy and Ben were enumerated in the next census.
Family members.
Aunt [?] Julia. Ben and Lucy's 1880 U. S. Census record lists a Julia Jenning, relationship "boarder", whose birthplace is given as Vermont, perhaps via the same figment of the census taker's imagination which assigned a Vermont birthplace to Lucy's dad in this census. The 1885 Census lists a 59-year-old Julie Jennings, born in New York, with Ben and Lucy. In the 1895 Census, a 70-year-old Julia, born in Pennsylvania, is living with Ben and Lucy in Park Rapids village, MN.
The 1870 census for Barnett township, in DeWitt county, lists a 44-year-old Julia Jennings as a "domestic servant" in the home of Robert and Margaret Block and gives her birthplace as Pennsylvania. If this is the same Julie, or Julia, the fact that she wasn't living with any other family members in this census is a hint that she wasn't Lucy's mother, but rather a "spinster", or widowed, aunt.
Brother Charles. There are several mentions of a Charles Jennings in the Enterprise in the 1880s and 1890s. In the stories of Ben Inman's visit to Hubbard, MN, in 1882, the Enterprise mentions, "Mr. Jennings has been favored with a visit from his brother-in-law, Mr. Ben. Inman" and "He [Ben] is stopping for a time with his sister, Mrs. Jennings." This implies that Ben had a sister who married Lucy Ann's brother. However, the censuses in which Ben Inman was enumerated with his parents and siblings don't list any female who could be the Mary listed with Charles Jennings. We believe the Enterprise got the relationship wrong and meant sister-in-law. Or could there have been another Mrs. Jennings in that town who was Ben's sister?
The Jennings family is listed as follows in the 1895 Census, also in Park Rapids:
| First Name | Age | Sex | Birthplace | Occupation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charles S. | 43 | M | Penn. | Farmer |
| Mary E. | 42 | F | Penn. | HW |
| Cora V. | 14 | F | Iowa | Pupil |
| Edith M. | 12 | F | Minn. | Pupil |
| Frank1 | 8 | M | Minn. | Pupil |
There is an 1880 census listing for Charles and Mary, with no children, in Liberty, IA. It sounds like Charles and Mary Jennings arrived in Park Rapids some time between Cora's birth in Iowa in 1880 or 1881 and Ben Inman's visit in the summer of 1882. The same Jennings family was listed in Todd precinct in the 1885 Census. I couldn't find the Jennings family in the 1900 Census, but the 1910 Census has a listing in Franklin county, Washington, that is obviously "our" Charles, Mary, Frank and a grandson, while the 1920 Census lists Charles, Mary, Frank and Edith in Clearwater county, Idaho.
Later Life. Lucy moved to Colorado with Ben between 1895 and 1897, and is listed with him in the 1900 census in Colorado Springs, then in Englewood in the 1910 census, and after Ben's death, in the same house in the 1920 and 1930 censuses.
Death. Lucy Ann died 19 January 1947 in Denver, Colorado.
