By Danny McCarthy
You know folks: Being an actor/archivist/genealogist, I find it truly remarkable that there can actually be two individuals carrying the same full name – not just the surname {the last name} but the whole name being duplicated! - {well, being similar!}
Take for example the 1970s Broadway actor Paul Rudd who was on Broadway in Ah, Wilderness and co-starred with Maureen Stapleton in The Glass Menagerie plus the current 21st Century Paul Rudd of NBC-TV’s Friends along with being the Marvel classics movies Ant-Man.
I myself can’t join Actors Equity with my nickname of Danny McCarthy since there just happened to be a Danny McCarthy who starred on Broadway as The Bartender in Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh in 2018!
This article is about Hezekiah Jennings. There were two Hezekiah Jennings that I’m going to discuss here. One is from the Southold and the other from the South Fork of Long Island.
Whitaker Historical Collection patron Bill Risko initially had an interest in the Jennings surname and one happened to be research on {El}Nathan Jennings {which you’ll find as one of my Linkedin-com posts}, and the other on Hezekiah Jennings. Here goes with it all being in the name!
The North Fork’s {Southold’s} Hezekiah Jennings
According to the records I found, the dates that go with the Southold Hezekiah Jennings are 1749-1825.
Southold Town Records Volume I {that is available online to be downloaded from a website link}, includes information about the Southold Hezekiah Jennings.
Download this link which is Southold Town Records Volume I, and scroll up to page 294 for the beginning of exchanges of John Booth property. Proceed to page 295 where it continues and then on page 296 Hezekiah Jennings’ name is found at the bottom of the text {on page 296}:
https://books.google.com/books?id=X5Q-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA296&lpg=PA296&dq=hezekiah+jennings+town+records&source=bl&ots=d-8rsUMDuZ&sig=OkSmkyXcHf3NWTxmPxPlNd3n2BI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiGqNzA1t7fAhViQt8KHXmxDVcQ6AEwA3oECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q=hezekiah%20jennings%20town%20records&f=false
I learned that Thomas Brush owned a lot, but sold it in 1658 and removed to Huntington, where his descendants are still to be found. His lot {was} owned by Hezekiah Jennings.
The New York Times dated November 19, 1989 had an article by Kathleen Parrish titled ‘Behold Ye Living Passing By’: The Ultimate in Booking Ahead which was a sort of exploration of saving and preserving The New York Times articles from its archives by digitation.
In that article, the Sag Harbor Oakland Cemetery is discussed where Ms. Parrish reminds us that: “The grounds of the cemetery were laid out in 1840, but the oldest grave (moved from a crowded Old Burial Ground) is that of Hezekiah Jennings, dated 1767. Capt. David Hand, a whaling captain who died in 1840, is buried surrounded by the graves of his five wives. He outlived them all and wrote his own epitaph: Behold ye living passing by How thick the partners of one husband lie.”
{* I was thrilled to note about Captain David Hand as Whitaker Historical Collection and Southold Historical Society patron Tracy Tomaselli is interested in seeking information about that whaling captain. – Everything connects and so do people!}
Other “Related” Information Regarding Southold’s Hezekiah Jennings
In going online to the Suffolk Historic Newspapers website, I entered keywords Hezekiah Jennings.
The September 5, 1872 Sag-Harbor {stet} Express had a List of Jurors:
“List of Jurors drawn to serve at a County Court of Sessions to be held at the Court House, Riverhead, on Monday, the 16th day of September, 1872. GRAND JURORS … SOUTHOLD-Jesse G. Case, Hezekiah Jennings.”
The Long Island Traveler dated February 21, 1878 includes a Recollections of Southold {what we call like a “blog” today} saying words about mills:
{The Great Western Mill} “was at once the lion of the place, inasmuch as the sails were made of iron, and they were roofed {stet} and always kept in the wind by fans. Another improvement was a machine for hoisting the grain and returning the flour. A few years later a steam engine was attached by William Snediker {stet}, but it did not prove a success, and in the fall of 1848, the engine house was bought by Dr. Frank Tuthill, Hampton Youngs, Dea. {Deacon} M. C. Cleveland, and others who removed it to what is now the corner of Oak-Lawn {stet} Avenue and Main Street, and fitted it up as a Lecture Room for the First Church. The building was first used for that purpose in January 1840 … In 1871{,} Hezekiah Jennings purchased the ‘Lecture Room’ and removed it to his homestead, whence he has since furnished the public with choice meats, toothsome vegetables, etc, a business to which the building is much better adapted, than to its former use.”
The June 20, 1884 The Long Island Traveler “added” a classified:
“PHELPS’ COMPLETE FERTILIZERS from one year to eight years : J. Azariah Horton, D. T. Conklin, J. H. Boisseau, Henry Talmage, W. S. Newbold, G. Wells Phillips, E. L. Boisseau, William Lowery, Frank T. Wells, Hezekiah Jennings, W. S. Simons, Ira H. Tuthill, J. K. Voorhees, Michael Hodgins, Grover Cook, Michael McCabe, Adam Berseager, Wm. Fury, Stuart T. Terry, Orrin A. Prince, and scores of others. Sold by J. HORTON CASE Southold, L.I.
The November 25, 1904 The County review {stet} mentions:
“Hezekiah Jennings and wife to George R. Jennings, 19 acres north side of Village Street adjoining land of Daniel T. Terry; also 9 acres wood-land and 14 acres cleared land south side of Commoner’s Beach, adjoining estate B. H. Booth; also 5 acres wood-land west side of Horton’s Point, adjoining land of J. B. Terry; also 1 acre meadow on Goose Creek adjoining meadow of J, B. Terry, Southold.”
The Long Island Traveler-Mattituck Watchman that is dated October 22, 1942 carries a true feature covering “sixty-five years ago. …”
“Numerous out of town ads appeared but one local notice demands more than passing attention it reads as follows:
“DON’T USE PARIS GREEN {stet} But call upon the gentlemen mentioned below and then get your-POISON J. B. TERRY{stet] B. H. Booth Hezekiah Jennings W. H. Richmond Michael Gagen Volney Horton S. Moses Terry Gilbert W. Horton J. B. Terry It is a dry powder. Sieve given with each barrel It is a Fertilizer For sale at 43 cents per pound or $6 per barrel, Southold, July 10, 1877’”
The September 19, 1946 The Long Island Traveler-Mattituck Watchman shares a bit about Long Island Traveler-Mattituck Watchman publisher Joseph N. Hallock where Hezekiah Jennings is discussed briefly:
“… While with the Traveler{,} he “Joseph N. (Nelson) Hallock} stabled his horse in Hezekiah Jennings’ barn.”
The Long Island Traveler-Mattituck Watchman dated March 19, 1953 includes an entry of an Oxen and Obituaries column where George W. Case wrote about an issues of The Farmers’ Almanac {and I do think it was the 1953 edition!}. I’d like to quote him if I may:
“The March page takes me back to the dear dead days of Yesteryear, when the farmers functioned on the cow-yard, and pig-pen free rural delivery route, soon as Spring sprung. The memory of it still sends a shiver shuffling along my spinal spindle. …”
Mr. Case proceeds by mentioning that twenty years after 1851, “when the Traveler, the Weather bureau, and I began our careers … the nearest thing to an ox was a cow, riding quietly to Hezekiah Jennings, in the back part of his one-horse butcher wagon. As the wagon swung along the Highway, Uncle Hezzy would announce its progress by vigorously ringing a bell, similar to the one that always rang at the wrong time, in our school days. The butcher wagon seldom stopped at our house. After the hams, and sausages were gone, we depended largely, on the pork barrel, ’till hog killing time rolled ’round again.
Also in the March 19, 1953 The Long Island Traveler-Mattituck Watchman was a Mrs. Anne Jennings {A} Tribute. When she was 21 years old, Annie Jennings “came to live at the Hezekiah Jennings home in Southold … as the bride of George R. Jennings. …”
… Of old Dutch extraction, Annie Jennings, born Anne Lavinia Van Cleaf on August 1, 1863, at Fort Hamilton, Brooklyn, lost her father and mother when she was less than five years old. She was reared by her grandmother, Lavinia Stillwell Van Cleaf. … The Bay Ridge Methodist Church was the church of her girlhood. In those days, Methodist camp meetings abounded, and it was the one held each summer on Shelter Island which drew Lavinia Van Cleaf and her granddaughter to Southold. They stayed at Hezekiah and Julia Boisseau Jennings’ farm on the Main Road of the village. The outcome was the marriage of Annie and the son in the family, George R. Jennings. …”
This Proceeds to Get So Interesting …
And I’m still with that Mrs. Anne {Jennings} Tribute article:
“The Jennings home, built in 1814, originally was typical of Cape Cod structure with its one and a half story, one central chimney and three fireplaces, built upon great timber and rock. When they married, George and Annie Jennings set up housekeeping in an extension added to the rear of the house. There, two sons were born, Henry in 1885, and Frederick T. in 1888. Later on, after Hezekiah Jennings’ death, the entire house was shared with ‘Grandma Jennings’ …
The life of an old home becomes the symbol of the character of those who live in it. The Jennings’ home, close to the side of the road, was an open house to everyone and every purpose. The hospitable board served abundant food to many a Methodist minister and presiding elder….”
The Southold Historical Society Becomes Illuminated in Printed Form
The May 19, 1960 The Long Island Traveler-Mattituck Watchman definitely, so historically, and yes again folks, definitely makes it so as
“The Southold Historical Society, the natural outgrowth of the Southold-Peconic Civic Association, and organized at the final meeting of the Committee, February 29, 1960, has received formal recognition and honor as a group worthy to receive the provisional charter of the State Education Department Board of Regents, University of the State of New York.” {“The provisional charter, always the first step, was granted at the April 29th meeting of the Board of Regents …”}
“… Southolders can see 42 historical markers already in place on old houses in Southold, Peconic and Arshamomaque. … and by mid-June will see not only 50 house markers, but 10 large Roadside Site Markers in place as well.” {Also by July 10 {1960) Southolders} will be able to buy a copy of the ‘First Guide to Historical Markers,’ … and by July 1 (or sooner {stet}) may visit the Society’s Headquarters {which was then in 1960} at Mrs. {Ann Hallock} Currie-Bell’s house to see the collections of antiques and relics which will be on display there. …”
Guess What? - Does Hezekiah Jennings Come Into Play Here?
In that article, just one of those 1960 Southold Historical Society displays included “an old Gale plow well over 100 years old, used by Hezekiah Jennings, presented by Henry Jennings.” {!!!}
Now for the Other Fork
The Hezekiah Jennings when he was in the South Fork in Sag Harbor is represented in an ad in The Corrector issue dated October 19, 1822.
Here’s an online website link with that:
http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn83031606/1822-10-19/ed-1/seq-4/#date1=01%2F01%2F1700&index=2&date2=12%2F31%2F2018&words=Hezekiah+Jennings&to_year2=2018&searchType=advanced&sequence=0&from_year2=1700&proxdistance=&page=1&county=Suffolk&rows=20&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=Hezekiah+Jennings&andtext=&dateFilterType=range&SearchType2=phrase
Southampton resident Jeremy Dennis had a discussion of Eastville online. Here’s a bit of what I captured about Eastville and I was actually amazed that Hezekiah Jennings’ name is shared.
I went “write on ahead” and took care of re-working the font size of the letters Jeremy Dennis made use of in his Eastville online item to match mine here, but I will add his online website link at the end of the Eastville portion quoted in my article.
“The area known locally as Eastville consists of Hampton Street (County Route 114), Hempstead and Liberty Streets, and Eastville Avenue. Hempstead Street is a portion of the original 18th century road between Sag Harbor and East Hampton and, therefore, the oldest street in Eastville. At the turn of the 19th century, a new inland road to East Hampton was laid, Hampton Street, replacing this ancient shoreline route. [1, Zaykowski , manuscript, ch. 11] Inc. 1836-37 another new street was laid out by Hezekiah Jennings, which ran between Hempstead Street and Hampton street and continued to the southwest. The street was called New Street but was later renamed Eastville Avenue2. It is not known when Liberty Street was laid out. This area lay well outside the developing village of Sag Harbor.”
Here’s the website link featuring this item by Jeremy Dennis. {*Note – There is a clarification for donations!}:
https://www.jeremynative.com/onthissite/listing/eastville/
Alright! {or Half-Left Like in Politics}
- Now Here’s the Story …
Of course fathers and sons can have the same name. These two Hezekiah Jennings were father and son. The Southold Hezekiah Jennings was born in Southold on December 27, 1748 and died about 1823 in Southold and is “rumored” to be buried in the God’s Acre {The Southold First Presbyterian Church Cemetery}. His son, Hezekiah Jennings, was born about 1782 in Southold {!!!} and died March 25, 1840 in Sag Harbor and that Sag Harbor Hezekiah Jennings is buried in the Sag Harbor Oakland Cemetery.
Here is the findagrave.com online entry about Mary Rachel Smith Jennings “Wife of Hezekiah Jennings, whom she married on July 12, 1809 in Suffolk County, NY” This is the wife of the Hezekiah Jennings that is buried in the Oakland cemetery {!!!}:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/153549867/mary-rachel-jennings
BY THE WAY – SPEAKING HISTORICALLY OF COURSE!:
I just happened to come across a Town of Southold legal where Hezekiah Jennings had dealings with Kenneys Road in Southold.
Cheerio for now!