My Genealogy Hound

Peter Alphoncious Fenn, a young and enterprising merchant of Vienna, was born in New York City, January 27, 1856, and is a son of Anton and Mary Ann (Klug) Fenn. Anton Fenn was born in Germany, December 27, 1820, and when about fifteen years of age immigrated to America, locating in New York City, where he became a retail milk dealer, and afterward a wholesale dealer. He was engaged in the milk business about twenty years in that city, and in 1866 moved to Long Island, where he lived four years. In 1870 he located in Wayne County, Pa , where he purchased a fine farm of 135 acres, and devoted his attention to farming, but for the past three months has been living in Vienna, Maries Co., Mo. Mary Ann Fenn was born in Germany in 1820, and died in June, 1888, the mother of eleven children, only three of whom are living, viz.: Peter A., John, residing on the old homestead in Pennsylvania, and Mary, wife of Willis Hoyt, also living in Wayne County, Pa. Peter A. Fenn received his education in the public schools of Tremont, N. Y., and when but twelve years of age left school to work on the farm, which he continued until seventeen. He then commenced working as a house carpenter and millwright, and in 1877 went West, and erected a steam mill at Osage City, Mo., for Woolley & Locks. He afterward clerked for the same company in their store in that city one year, and the following year clerked on their steamboat, “Phil E. Chappell,” on the Missouri River. He then took charge of a store for the same company at Proctor, which he resigned in 1881 to enter the employ of William Wettock, at Charleston, Mo. Two years later he was employed by R. L. Schenker, of Vienna, for whom he worked two years, and then accepted the position of deputy county clerk, which he filled eight months. The following two years he clerked for J. J. Lewis, at Dixon, Mo., and January 10, 1887, purchased from that gentleman a stock of goods at Vienna. Mr. Fenn had only $250, and the stock he purchased invoiced $1,285, but he gave his note for the balance. His familiarity with the mercantile business enabled him to manage his stock successfully, and that he has done so the biographer needs only to say that by April 1, 1888, Mr. Fenn had paid his note, was free from debt, and had a much larger stock than when he commenced. His trade is steadily increasing, and his store is known throughout the county as the “Wheel Store.” He is a practical book-keeper, energetic, and possesses much business ability.