My Genealogy Hound

Thomas Jennings, proprietor of the Mountain House, Fayetteville, Ark., was born in Fayette County, Ga., April 4, 1830, on the farm of his parents, Allen and Cynthia (Varner) Jennings, both of whom were natives of Oglethorpe County, Ga. The Jennings family traces its ancestry to the early days of Virginia. The family is of English and Welsh extraction, and the ancestors were planters and farmers by occupation. Vobert Jennings, the grandfather of our subject, left his home in Virginia to settle in Georgia. The maternal ancestors were also early settlers of Virginia, and Cynthia Varner was a daughter of Frederick Varner, who also left Virginia to settle in Georgia. Both grandfathers were soldiers in the war for independence. Thomas Jennings grew to manhood in Georgia, and there married Louisa E. Black, daughter of Cyrus and Elizabeth (Harkey) Black, natives of North Carolina and early settlers of Georgia. In 1859 Mr. Jennings removed to Texas with his family, and, locating in Upshire County, made that his home until the Civil War. He then served about a year in the Texas Militia and then joined the regular Confederate army under Gen. MacGruder, in D. S. Terry’s regiment, cavalry corps. After the war he spent a year in Texas, and in 1866 located in Fayetteville, Ark., where he has since been engaged in the livery and hotel business. Mr. and Mrs. Jennings have reared a family of three sons and three daughters: Edgar, Fannie T. (now Mrs. C. G. Waite, of Barton County, Mo.), Thomas A., Lillie, Willie and Lizzie. All of his children are well educated, Edgar being a graduate of the Arkansas Industrial University, and Lillie a graduate of the Daughter’s College of Harrodsburgh, Ky. Mrs. Jennings and her daughters are members of the Christian Church. Mr. Jennings is one of the foremost men in all enterprises for the development of the county, and was of great assistance in securing the right of way for the San Francisco road, and the location of its depot at Fayetteville. He is also a liberal contributor to all worthy objects.