Living

Living married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Living
2. Living

John married Mary Knight on 18 Jun 1936 in West Point, U.S. Military, Academy, New York. Mary (daughter of Richard Greene Howland Knight and Laura Fenner) was born on 08 Jun 1914. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Mary Knight is my 9th Cousin. She graduatd from B.M.C.Durfee High, Fall River, in 1932 and from Vassar College in 1936. She lives at the family home in Wickford, Rhode Island. Herman William Tripp--Remembering......

Richard married Laura Fenner on 15 Feb 1913 in Fall River, Bristol, Massachusetts, USA. Laura (daughter of Henry Smith Fenner and Mary Jane Milne) was born on 13 Jan 1886 in Fall River, Bristol, Massachusetts, USA; died on 24 Aug 1964 in Providence, Rhode Island, USA; was buried in Swan Point Cem., Lot 105, Providence, Rhode Island. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Laura Fenner is my 8th Cousin, one time removed. She attended Fall River public schools and graduated from B.M.C. Durfee High. Her adolescent years were marred somewhat by her father's stroke and resulting paralysisi ( in 1903 ) untl his death ( in 1907. the Chadwicks helped out whenever they could, taking Laura with them on trips, including a tour of Europe in the summer of 1906, and allowing her to entertain her friends at their house. And Henry M. Fenner was always her big brother.

How exactly she and Richard met is unrecorded. The first mention of their courtship is in Henry M.'s diary, July 1-2, 1907, noting that Laura went to East Greenwich. On September 13th of that year, he notes "Knight here for dinner." Laura spennt a week in June at East Greenwich the following year. In 1909, the two mothers exchanged visits. Laura announced her engagement on December 11th, 1911. Henry M. handled all of the details of his sister's wedding, from the catering to addressinng the invitations, including taking out an $800.00 loan to finance the event. The wedding was on Saturday, February 15th, 1913 at 7:00PM, in the southeast corner of the parlor of the family's home. The Orpheus Orchestra ( piano, violin and cellllo ) played. There were 200 guests. Richard Greene Howland Knight was born and brought up at Howland Hall, East Greenwich. He attended a one room grammar school on the South County Trail. He attended high school at the East Greenwich Academy, o on Pierce Street in East Greenwich. He then took a one-year course in mechanical engineering at the Rhode Island State College, in Kingston, Rhode Island ( now the University of Rhode Island ). A graduate of the Bradford Durfee Textile School of Fall River, Massachusetts, RGHK worked in the textile industry all of his life. Before his marriage, he worked for the Nottingham Mill in Providence. He met and married Laura Fenner and they lived at 22 Pierce Street, East Greenwich. On 15 December 1913, he became Overseer for the Booth Mill in New Bedford, Massachusetts. he and his bride took up residence with Captain Cleveland master of the whaler Charles W. Morgan ( The ship is today fully restored and part of the collection at the Mystic, Connecticutt Seaport. ) Later the moved to 39 Keane Street. In June of 1915, he moved back to Providence ( to 49 Tenth Street ) to work for the Weypoyset Manufacturing Company, located in Central Falls. Then, in 1917, he became the Night Superintendant for the Weypoyset Mill. In 1920\21, he went to Fall River, Massachusetts Superintendant of the Shove Mills, located on South Main Street at the Tiverton line. The B.M.C.Durfee Bank called in a loan and put the company out of business in the early Depression years. he then ran a cork roll factory, which covered rolls for the textile industry. He was Commodore of the Fall River Yacht Club, reelected in 1928. In 1938\39 he became Assistant Superintendant ( and later Superintendant ) of the Panemah Mills at Taftville, Connecticutt, and remained there until his retirement in 1955. He retired to his summer home ( now winterized ) at Wickford, Rhode Island.

Arthur married Mary Arnold Howland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Mary Jane Milne is my 7th Cousin, two times removed. She married Henry Smith Fenner. He was born in Smithfield, lived at Centerdale,(North Providence) and attended school there, then lived at Georgiaville. During 1862-1864, he kept a dairy of hiis daily activities. It is written in magnificent handwriting and contains many interesting comments and insights. Herny Smith was very handy with tools and the diary records his making a sled, a screw driver, a walnut mallet, a potato masher and a set of dominoes (made from mahogany). The diary also reveals several personality traits. Henry S. was apparently something of a hypocondriac, as the diary has numerous references to his health and how he seldom felt well,. He was somewhat intolerant of others, when their opinions and actions did not match his, but perhaps this was his youth speaking. Henry S. did the bookkeeping at the Georgia Mills and was in charge of the mill when his father was away. There are a number of references to the shortage of cash money, particularly coinage, during these Civil War years. When coins were available, there was a premium charged of up to 27%. This created problems paying the mill workers, so Henry S. resorted to a system of script money.

There is also and interesting note on 31 August 1862, reporting that there was a great scramble to get all of the cloth off the looms, cut and out of the mill before a new national tax went into effect on 1 September. All supplies and finished p products went to and from Georgiaville by horse-drawn wagon. Henry Smith was an avid reader, and he attempted to keep up on business matters. His note of 9 October 1862; "I have not done much today except read the 'U.S. Tax Payers Manual'. Quite Interesting." There are a numbver of references to the Civil War; (13 June 1862) "I saw a returned sailor who was on the Congress when captured by the Merrimac. His name is E. Morrissey. He tells of destitution in Virginia while he was a prisoner."; (5 August 1862) "Jeremiah Slocum returned home on furlough in hopes of revovering from Rheutmatism."; (12 August 1862) "There are a great many scared men about here on account of the prospect of a draft for active service. There are or wiwill be a great number of cripples young old and of all kinds not fit for service."; (25 August 1862) "The canvassing officer is about, looking for men 18-45."; (9 July 1863) "There is considerable excitement about now in consequence of the Drafft which is now going on in the city. Six of our village were drawn." Henry S. was educated in public schools in North Providence. On 25 May 1863, he began to study at Bryant, Statton and Masons Commercial College in Providence, and commuted from Georgiaville on the daily stage coach. There is no indication as to when this course ended, but Henry S. began another course at the Lapham Institute in Scituate on 30 Novemberr 1863. He boarded there during the week, and generally went home on the weekends to do the books at the mill. The studies included: bookkeeping Latin, Greek, Geometry, reading and Anabasis. The school was apparently very strict, as his note for 8 December 1863 reads: "This day several Scholars were expelled for violating the regulations and some were put on strict probation for walking with the other Sex." In the Census of 1865, Henry S. is listed as a clerk at Smithfield. In 1870, he graduated from Brown University with a Bachelor of Philosophy degree. He was brilliant in mathematics and was offered a professorship at Bates College. He chose to return to the textile business, and managed several mills in Rhode Island including the Union Mill on Main Street in East Greenwich. In 1875, Henry S. went to Fall River, Massachusetts, Superintendant of the Slade Mills (later the Ancona Corportaion). The following year he was made Treasurer, a position that he would hold for 27 years. On 12 December 1878, he married Mary Jane Milne at the Baptist Temple in Fall River, and they moved into a house on Middle Street. On 13 September 1879, Henry Milne Fenner was born. Sometime after this, there was a fire in the house, and Mary Jane, the baby and the family dog were hustled out of the house and put in a passing hack and sent to 272 June Street, the home of Henry Greene Fenner (where they lived for the remainder of their lives). Their furniture was thrown out of the windows. Henry S. was a Director of the Fall River Nationanal Bank from 1880 to 1903, a trustee of the Fall River Home for the Aged, a member of the Fall River Common Council, and an active member of the Brown Alunmi Association. He was a hard worker and a bug on cleanliness. During his lifetime, he hahad all of the carpets in the house (which were wall to wall carpets) taken up twice a year and taken out to be cleaned, while the help scubbed the floors on hands and knees. He saw to it that his sons had household and gardening duties. He posesed mental aritmetic questions to Henry M. at the table. On 11 march 1903, Henry Smith suffered a stroke at work and was partially paralysed. he recuperated at home, but he was never able to resume his duties and had to retire. A third stroke, in 1905 confined him to his room. he died 2 January 1907. He died intestate and insolvent. His son, Henry M., was executor and chose his uncle, Henry D. Milne, as appraiser. The bulk of his assets (44 shares of various Fall River textile concerns) was pledged as colateral on a note. The house valued at $8150., was sold on 23 July 1907 to John Cruichkshank Milne, for $5750., and was immediately given to his daughter, Mary Jane Milne Fenner. Henry Smith Fenner's obituary, in the Daily Globe, read, in part: "Mr. Fenner was a brilliant man, thoroughly posted in practical manufacturing and during his business career was popular with his associates and those who came into contact with him socially." "At the time he was a member of the city council....the halls rang with the sound of the voice of Mr. Fenner, who was ever ready to speak upon whatever subject was presented for discussion. His speeches here, as elsewhere, were eloquent and forceful and were given in the most scholarly and brilliant language and would have been read with attention in legislative bodies much higher than that in which they were delivered." "Personlly, Mr. Fenner was a most loveable man and always ready to assist those who came to him for advice or instruction and his mind was a store house of information, his retentive memory being a revelation to his friends." The Daily Herald's obituary noted: "He was a hard worker, devoting himself unsparingly to any duty which he undertook. he was a companionable man with a keen sense of humor that always made him welcome in social circles. Children of Henry Smith and Mary Jane Milne Fenner are recorded in this PAF Program. This information has come to me from Richard Greene Howland Knight III, for which we are very thankfull. Herman Tripp--Remembering......

Henry married Mary Jane Milne on 12 Dec 1878 in Fall River, Bristol, Massachusetts, USA. Mary (daughter of John Cruickshank Milne and Abby Ann Gifford) was born on 28 Jan 1854 in Fall River, Bristol, Massachusetts, USA; died on 02 Sep 1935 in Fall River, Bristol, Massachusetts, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]