Wyatt Wayman Jennings
1836-1924
 

Wyatt W. Jennings was born March 8, 1836 in Edgefield District, South Carolina. He was the second son and child of John “Jack” Lockhart and Mary Ann “Polly” Hill Jennings.

John Lockhart and Mary Ann Hill Jennings had two other children:

Osborn Jennings- b. July 25, 1831, Edgefield District, South Carolina. d. Jan. 15,

              1927, Pawhuska, Tillman Co, Oklahoma. Marr: Eliza Crowley, April 1851,
              Chickasaw County, MS.  Served in Civil War.

Eliza Crowley- b. March 1833. d. Aug. 13, 1917, Kerens, Texas.   
           Parents: Josiah Crowley (1802-1845) and Sarah “Sally” Jennings (1804-1854).  
           Osborn and Eliza were cousins.

Mary Ann Jennings- b. January 15, 1844, Atlanta, Chickasaw Co, MS. d. Oct. 10,      
            1924, Kerens, Texas. Marr: William Harvey Walker in 1859 Chickasaw Co, MS.

Wm. Harvey Walker- b. Dec. 25, 1840, Atlanta, Chickasaw Co, MS. d. 1889,
           Chickasaw Co, MS. Served in Civil War.
            Parents: James Fleming Walker (1804-Aft. 1870) and Sarah A. Cooper (1814-Aft. 1866).

Wyatt married Margaret L. Campbell on Oct. 22, 1857 in Sparta, Chickasaw
            County, Mississippi by Alex Trull.

Margaret L. Campbell- b. Sept. 09, 1839, Alabama. d. May 3, 1879 in Bazette, Texas. She is buried in Prairie Point Cemetery in Bazette.

Parents: William Richard and Rebecca Campbell.

Children of Wyatt and Margaret Campbell Jennings:

1.- Rufus A. – b. Oct. 18,1858, Chickasaw Co., Miss. d. Sept. 23,1905, Bazette, Texas.

     Bur: Bazette Baptist Cemetery. Marr: Ella Mae Walker, his first cousin. Ella’s
     mother was Wyatt sister, Mary Ann Jennings Walker.
     Children: Wm. “Woodsie” Bryant and Ruth Ann Jennings.

2. - Van Dorm- b. Nov. 5, 1861, Chickasaw Co, Miss d. 1862, Chickasaw Co., Miss.

3. – Lamar- b. June 10, 1866, Chickasaw Co., Miss. d. Jan. 22, 1904, Bazette, TX.
          Marr: Ella Endura Kyser in Miss. Children: Clarence, Rocksie, Bessie M., Euel
         Curtis, Velma and Emmet.

4. - Lula- b. July 12, 1867, Chickasaw Co, MS.  d. May 14, 1917, Tell, Texas.
         Marr: George Washington Ellison on Oct. 13, 1889, Corsicana, Texas. Children:
         Minnie Lee, Karl Eugene, Issie Lucy, Daughter, Mary Margaret and a son.

5. - Mittie- b. 10-23-1868, Chickasaw Co, MS. d. 4-16-1897, Bazette.
      Marr: Dr. J.A.  Fite.

6. - Samuel “Thomas”- b. March 16, 1870, Chickasaw Co., Miss. d. June 18, 1920, 
      Mineral Wells, Texas. Bur: Prairie Point Cem, Kerens, TX. Never married.

7. - Adah- b. Aug. 13, 1872, Chickasaw Co., Miss. d. July 15, 1966, Kerens, TX.
         Marr:  W. Eugene Albritton. Children: Lera (never married) and Truitt.

8. - Beulah- b. May 1, 1875, Chickasaw Co., Miss. d. March 8, 1899, Bazette, Texas.

9. - Curtis J. - b. Aug. 4, 1877. d. July 16, 1907, Bazette, Texas. Bur. Bazette Baptist
        Cemetery.

W.W. Jennings married a second time to Lucy L. Wilson, on March 9, 1881 in
             Powell, Texas. Lucy was 21 and Wyatt was 45.

Lucy L. Wilson- b. Aug. 21, 1860, Rusk, Texas. d. June 17, 1936, Bazette, Texas, in
              an auto accident.  Parents: William P. Wilson and Melissa Jane Roynemere.

Children of Wyatt and Lucy Wilson Jennings:

10. - Wayman- b. Feb. 24, 1882, Bazette, Texas. d. Sept. 22, 1882, Bazette, Texas.

11. - Worcester- b. April 20, 1885, Bazette, TX. d. Aug. 11, 1949, Bazette, Texas.  
         Never married. Bur: Prairie Point Cem, Bazette, Texas.

12. - Uel- b. May 10, 1887, Bazette, Texas. d. Feb. 16, 1888, Bazette, Texas.

13. - Rosa Maude b- May 25, 1889, Bazette, TX. d. Nov. 13, 1962. Never married.

Note: Adah Jennings Albritton wrote down the names and dates of her family line which I have used here.

Wyatt served in the Confederate Army as a 2^nd Lt. in Company C, 24^th Mississippi Infantry, CSA. He enlisted on September 13, 1861 at Atlanta, Mississippi, under Capt. J.D. Smith.  

                                                                                                                                              Also in Company C., was his father, John Lockhart Jennings, William and John Ellison. John Ellison’s son George would marry Wyatt’s daughter Lula Jennings. William Ellison and his family would also leave Chickasaw County, Mississippi for Bazette, Texas. He was the first Postmaster of Bazette.

Wyatt was in the Battle of Murfreesboro, Perryville, Chickamauga, Chattanooga and many other skirmishes. Chattanooga was the last battle he fought.

Wyatt was captured on Nov. 24, 1863 at Lookout Mountain, Chattanooga, Tennessee. It was called the Battle above the Clouds. He was first transported to Nashville, Tennessee then to Louisville, Kentucky.  On Dec. 1, 1863, he was sent to an officer prison in Ohio. It was island near Sandusky, called, Johnson Island. Wyatt stayed there till the end of the war.

Note: Wyatt was held for the Exchange program. This was where each side could 
          exchange each others prisoners for their own men. It took 4 privates to exchange
          for a 2^nd Lt. which Wyatt was. By the time Wyatt was captured in Nov. 1863, the
          program deteriorated so much that it wasn’t being used.

After the war, life in the southern states changed drastically. Many families in Chickasaw County moved shortly after the war to the southwestern states.                                           
Wyatt and Osborn moved with their families to Bazette, Texas in 1874.

Note: Their sister, Mary Jennings Walker, moved to Texas in the 1890’s, after her parents and husband had died.  

Wyatt and Lucy are buried in Prairie Point Cemetery, Kerens, Texas, common headstone.                                           Margaret Campbell Jennings is buried about 10 ft. from Wyatt’s. Her headstone is about 3 ft. tall dark from moss.

Wyatt outlived all but three of his children, Adah, Worchester and Rosa Maude.

Reprint from “The Lone Star State”

Note: Adah Jennings Albritton wrote down the names and dates of her family line which I have used here.

Published by Lewis Publishing Co., 1893

Early settlers of Navarro County, Texas.

Wyatt W. Jennings, of Navarro County, was born in South Carolina in 1836, a son of John L. Jennings, also a native of that state, born 1809. He was a son o f Robert and Tabitha (Lockhart) Jennings, natives of Georgia. The Jennings family came from England to America before the Revolutionary War. John L. Jennings moved to Mississippi in 1839 where he died in 1874. Politically he was a wig, and later a Democrat; socially affiliated with the Masonic Order, and religiously was a member of the Baptist Church. Our subject’s mother, nee Mary Hill was a native of South Carolina and a daughter of Abel and Margarette (Mosely) Hill, natives of that State. Mrs. Jennings died in Mississippi in 1876. Mr. and Mrs. Jennings were married in 1829, and were the parents of three children: Osborn Samuel, a farmer of Navarro County, Wyatt W. Jennings, our subject, and Mary Ann, widow of William Harvey Walker.

Wyatt W., the subject of this notice, remained with his parents until twenty years of age, and during that time attended country schools and worked at farm labor, except one year spent at Houston. He then taught school two years, worked on his father’s farm one year, and then enlisted in the Confederate Army, Second Lieutenant in Company C, Twenty-fourth Mississippi infantry.   

He participated in a number of engagements, was captured at the Battle of Lookout Mountain and was imprisoned at Johnson’s island seventeen months or until the close of hostilities. He then returned home and cultivated his father’s farm two years, next bought land in Chickasaw County, Mississippi, came to Texas in 1876 and two days after landing in this State purchased his present home. Mr. Jennings is a self made man, and is the owner of 218 acres of land, a half interest in a gin, and has money at interest.

He was united in marriage in 1857, to Miss M.L. Campbell, a native of Alabama, and a daughter of William and Rebecca Campbell, natives also of that State. To this union was born nine children: Rufus A., Van Dorn, Lamar, Lula (now Mrs. George Ellison of Navarro County), Mittie (wife of Dr. J.A. Feute of Indian Territory), Thomas, Adah, Beulah and Curtis. The mother died in 1879, and Mr. Jennings afterward married Miss L.L. Wilson, a native of Texas and a daughter of William P and Malissa J. Wilson. Our subject and wife have had four children: Wayman (deceased), Worcester, Vel (deceased) and Rosa. Mr. Jennings affiliated with the Democratic Party and the Masonic Order and both himself and wife are member of the Christian Church.