Finding the Fenners - An Update

Over two years ago now, I ran across the name of a book about the Fenner Family, The Fenner Forebears.  Privately published in 1987 by Ruth Leslie Barrett, now deceased, the book is currently out of print. So on a whim, I called the New Bern Historical Society in New Bern, North Carolina, where I knew the family had lived at one time, to see if the organization might have a reference copy.  A helpful person who answered the historical society's phone quickly referred me to the Kellenberger Room of the New Bern-Craven County Public Library. I chose to call rather than use the research room's online resources, since I wanted to ask a researcher some specific questions about Richard John Fenner and his wife, Anne Coddington Fenner. Richard and Anne Fenner, early New Bern residents, are likely my Irish-immigrant ancestors. Although the book was not available, Victor T. Jones, Jr., the research department head, gave me the legal description (Lot 89 of the Town of New Bern) for the old Fenner House. 

I told a friend of mine who lived in New Bern at the time about the house, and she offered to take a photo and send it to me. At the time the photo was taken, the owners, who are Fenner family descendants, were in the process of restoring the house. The town of New Bern, with three separate historical districts that contain some beautifully restored properties, takes preservation of historical structures seriously. And it shows throughout this beautiful old town. 

Digital Photo by Amy Vaupel

The Fenner House, located at 217 Hancock Street, is within an easy walk of downtown shops and sightseeing adventures that include historic cemeteries, Tryon Palace, the Territorial House of North Carolina, Its lovely gardens, and a waterfront with comfortable benches for people watching and restaurants that overlook the water. One can only imagine how New Bern looked in the mid 1700s when the Fenner family occupied this colonial residence. Missing its original small front porch, the remodeled/restored structure now resembles a New England salt box styled structure. According to various historical accounts, Richard John Fenner may have been appointed to a position in the North Carolina territorial government, a position he occupied until his death in 1756. 

During the past two years, I continued to search for a copy of Mrs. Barrett's book so that I might learn more about my maternal third grandmother, Rachel Fenner, who married William Neatherlin in Wilkes County, Georgia. My search finally paid off when John T. Leslie, a distant cousin contacted me by email and told me he owns a copy of the book. It seems that John T. (as his family calls him) and I are descended through two of the three sons born to Richard and Anne Fenner. Later, we talked by phone, and John T. generously offered to scan and email digital copies of the book's pages, which he has now done. And sometime soon, we plan to meet and further discuss our Fenner connections.

What a way to start off the New Year.....meeting a new cousin and getting to read a much-searched-for family history book! 

The Family of John P. Gibson - My Brick Wall

This is an update of my "brick wall" family, headed by John P. Gibson. During the past three months, I have searched and re-searched for any information I could find on this family that consisted of John and his wife Margaret J. Williams Gibson, and their children, Elvira, Malverda , Francis, Asberry, Mary, Martha, and Becky.  Although I have little to show for my efforts, I am posting what I have found to date, in the hope that someone will be able to connect with one of these individuals and, in turn, help me uncover more about my Gibson ancestors.


I do know that John P. Gibson married Margaret J. Williams on January 3, 1843 in Aberdeen, Monroe County, MS.  This event is substantiated by a copy of the marriage bond that I obtained directly from the Monroe County courthouse.  I first found the date by searching through the Mormon Church's records at www.familysearch.org, when the site first went online almost ten years ago. The fact that I found the information the first time I searched the site was remarkable to me, and I immediately made a phone call to the Monroe County courthouse in Aberdeen to request a copy of the marriage record.  For less than five dollars, including postage, I received a copy in the mail a few days later. 


Later, I found out quite simply by accident, while reading a blog post written by the late Terry Thornton, that a fairly large number of residents of northeast Mississippi and the neighboring Alabama area became part of a group of Mormon followers that migrated west during the early 1800s. That event led to the twentieth century microfilming of early Monroe County vital records, including the marriage record of my third great-grandparents. 


An examination of the marriage record for John and Margaret revealed that Joseph Gibson had posted a five hundred dollar bond for John to marry his bride.  The posting of such a large bond (five hundred dollars in 1843 was a very large amount of money) almost certainly means that either John or Margaret had been married previously. The simple fact that Joseph Gibson posted a bond for John indicates some sort of familial relationship. To date, I have been unsuccessful in my attempts to validate a previous marriage for John or for Margaret, nor have I been able to prove a blood relationship between the two men.


A few years ago, I examined Joseph Gibson's will, on file in Monroe County, Mississippi, but the document failed to establish a blood relationship between John and Joseph.  A search of the Monroe County deed records conducted at the same time found that John P. Gibson had owned no real property in the county.  Joseph Gibson, however, owned large amounts of land, including several parcels that he had sold to others.  One of those individuals who purchased land from Joseph Gibson was John Williams. This finding raised a still unanswered question about Margaret's relationship to John Williams.


Several online researchers believe that Joseph Gibson was the son of John Gibson, a Revolutionary War veteran, born September 16, 1760 in Orange County, NC, who was living in Lincoln County, Tennessee, at the time of John's marriage to Margaret.  But according to the elder John Gibson's will, dated June 4, 1844, his sons were named Albert G., John H. Gibson, Felix G. Gibson, and Parke Gibson. Although it is possible, it is not likely, that Parke could be John P. Gibson, when he already had a brother named John H.


An important fact was established early in my research by a review of the U. S. Census recorded in 1860 in Calhoun County, Mississippi.  John P. Gibson was enumerated on that census, and details included an approximate date of birth of 1799, South Carolina as his place of birth, and the fact that he and his family resided in the Cherry Hill community at the time the census was taken.  John's occupation was shown to be that of "Blacksmith."


Earlier this summer, I was fortunate to have some assistance from a kind lady in Calhoun County, Mississippi, who found evidence that John P. Gibson sold land that he owned in Calhoun County in the late 1860s, when he and his family moved to Carroll County and purchased land there.  This move to Carroll County, Mississippi, validates oral family history information that places Malverda Gibson, a daughter of John and Margaret Gibson, in the area of Carroll County where my paternal great-grandmother, Margaret Susanna Meriweather Porter, grew to adulthood.


But the question still remains:  Who were John P. Gibson's parents?