My Genealogy Hound

William D. Jennings is one of the early settlers in Yell County, his parents, Nathaniel and Mary (Craig) Jennings, natives of the Old North State and Tennessee, respectively, coming to Dardanelle in 1850, from Memphis, Tenn., where he was born May 14, 1836, in Marion County. His father was a carpenter, builder and mechanic by occupation, and died in 1858, his widow surviving him some fifteen years. Our subject’s early life was spent in his native State, where he received the advantages of the common schools, and on his coming to Arkansas finished his schooling and learned the carpenter’s trade, which he followed till the outbreak of hostilities, when he enlisted in Company H, Capt. Daniels and Col. Reynolds commanding, and fought in many of the famous battles; particularly was with Gen. Johnston on his renowned march to the Atlanta, thence to Tennessee, fighting in the battles of Franklin and Murfreesboro, and in the fight at Georgetown (Ky.), skirmishing around Cincinnati, and took part in a few minor engagements, and while in the service was promoted to the rank of corporal and sergeant. He remained with Gen. Johnston’s command till the surrender at Jonesboro. On his return to Arkansas he purchased sixty acres of good tillable land, and breaking and cultivating thirty acres began farming, his principal product being cotton. He was married in 1867 to Miss Jennie E. Hall, who was born in Shelby County, Tenn., in 1846, and they have become the parents of six children: William H., Lizzie, Wallace, Edgar, Maud and Orella. In religion his wife worships with the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, while he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and politically is a Democrat, being elected on the local ticket of his party in 1888, as justice of the peace. As a citizen, having the growth of his county at heart, he supports all public enterprises, and withholds not his aid from the distressed and needy, and all find in him a friend and comforter in time of trouble.