NORTHERN NEW YORK
Genealogical and family history of northern New York: a record of the achievements of her people
in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation.
New York: Lewis Historical Pub. Co. 1910.



JENNE



Transcribed by Coralynn Brown



Isaac Jenne, immigrant ancestor, born in Wales, came from England with his brother Ephraim Jenne prior to 1720. He married Milly ____, an English woman.
Children:
Isaac, Ephraim, James (mentioned below), Mary and Milly.
Mary died at an advanced age, unmarried; Milly married General Pike, who was killed at the battle of Little York, during the siege of Quebec.

(II) James, son of Isaac Jenne, was born in New Bedford, Mass., Aug. 14, 1744, married in 1769, Miriam Pope, born May 10, 1752, sister of General Pope of revolutionary war fame. Shortly after their marriage they removed to the western part of Massachusetts.
Children:
1. Isaac, born in New Bedford.
2. Thomas, mentioned below.
3. Miriam, married, 1811, Ralph B. Thompson, of Grantham, New Hampshire; had one daughter and three sons; removed to West Stockbridge, Mass in 1826, and both died there.
4. James, born in Grantham.
5. Sarah, born in Grantham, married Moses Chase; resided in Grantham all their lives, leaving no children.
6. Elisha, born in Grantham.
Four of the sons of Elisha and Isaac served in the civil war.

(III) Thomas, son of James Jenne, was born in New Bedford, Jan. 11, 1773, and died Jan. 9, 1861, at the advanced age of eighty-eight. He removed with his parents to Grahtham in 1777.
He married, March 2, 1797, Betsey Hunter, born at Ashford, Conn., Sept. 13, 1777, and remained in Grantham unil 1821, when they settled in Lenox, Berkshire county, Mass.
Children, born at Grantham:
1. Thomas, March 23, 1799; died Dec. 3, 1873; married Oct. 6, 1822, Bathsheba Holbrook; children: Betsey Ann, Ariel, Maryette, Thomas W. and Irvin; his wife died in Lenox, Oct., 1871, aged seventy-two.
2. Siloam S., mentioned below.
3. Moriah (a son), Dec., 1817.

(IV) Siloam S., son of Thomas Jenne, was born in Grantham, New Hampshire, July 26, 1809. He attended the public schools there until the family moved to Lenox, where he continued in the schools. He then taught school several years and then worked as carpenter, millwright, wagon maker and manufacturer of special machinery. He assisted Professor Lyman in the construction of a sixteen-foot telescope. He made a set of special machinery for a book bindery, having special devices of his invention, among which was one of the earliest machines for cutting out envelopes. These and many other labor-saving devices conceived by him show his versatility in mechanics.
He married, Nov. 26, 1829, Amelia R. P. Root, who died in Lennox, Jan. 27, 1892.
Children:
Nancy Maria, died in infancy.
Mary A., born Aug. 25, 1833, married Nov. 24, 1853, Albert Rideout, of Lee, Mass.
William K., mentioned below.
Francis, born June 27m 1846, died May 16, 1873.

(V) William K., son of Siloam S. Jenne, was born Jan. 14, 1837. He was educated in the public schools, and, inheriting a strong predilection for mechanics, entered a machine shop at Lee, Mass., and served an apprenticeship of three years at the trade of machinist. Then he entered the employ of the firm of Plaisted & Whitehouse, of Holyoke, Mass., and was sent to Ilion, N.Y., to make the fine tools necessary for a contract that the firm had made with the Remington Arms Company of Ilion fr certain parts of firearms they were making for the U.S. government. After the contract was completed, Mr. Jenne became a subcontractor for the Remington company, and engaged in manufacturing the Eliot pistol. He soon became known as a mechanic of unusual skill, and demonstrated inventive ability of high order. In the development of the Remington sewing machine, Mr. James [sic] was from first to last an important factor. In 1873 there was brought to the Remington works by Mr. James Densmore and Mr. G. W. N. Yost, a typewriter model, one of the earliest. It was a very crude model indeed. Mr. Densmore was president of the Typewriter Company, organized for the purpose of perfecting, manufacturing and selling typewriters based upon the model above mentioned. The model, because of its crudeness and mechanical imperfections, was not a salable article, so arrangements were made with E. Remington & Sons for the making of an improved model or models in the hope that the product might be useful and marketable. Mr. J. M. Clough, then superintendent for E. Remington & Sons, brought the crude model to Mr. Jenne's department in the works and they undertook to make such improvements as they might agree upon, resulting in the construction of three models which in appearance were so greatly improved that the representative of the typewriter company believed they would serve the purpose. The models were sent out to be tested in actual work, and it was found that the Ilion mechanics, who had never before thought of typewriters, had yet something to learn. Three more models were made by the same mechanics, and were pronounced satisfactory, whereupon the Typewriter Company entered into a contract with E. Remington & Sons for the construction of five hundred machines like the last models. The machines under this contract were the very first typewriting machines placed on the market. The manufacture of typewriters has been continued in Ilion to the present (1910) day, and the improvements made from time to time have resulted in the wonderfully useful and durable Remington Typewriter, known all over the world and is still manufactured in Ilion. Mr. Jenne is entitled to take some pride for the important part he has taken in producing the machine in its present perfection. No one person has had more to do in making the typewriter a commercial necessity.

He is a member of Ilion Lodge, No. 591, Free and Accepted Masons, of Ilion; and formerly of Astorogan Chapter, Royal Arch Masons of Little Falls, N.Y.; a charter member of Iroquois Chapter, No. 256, Royal Arch Masons, of Ilion, and has held most of the offices in succession in these Masonic bodies. He is a member of St. Augustine Protestant Episcopal Church of Ilion.
In politics he is a Republican. On account of ill health, Mr. Jenne retired Dec. 1, 1904, from active work. At that time his friends and neighbors took occasion to express their esteem and good will, and several dinners were given in his honor and various substantial tokens, such as an elegant loving cup from the Remington Typewriter Company, a fine cut-glass punch bowl and accessories by his townsmen, an elegant gold watch from the shop foremen, and tokens of esteem from Remington sales agencies in all parts of the world. At the Paris Exposition Universelle, 1889, Mr. Jenne was awarded a silver medal and diploma for his typewriter inventions.

He married, Feb. 27, 1859, Mary McSherry, of Lee, Mass., born Nov. 27, 1834, died Aug. 12, 1902, daughter of Hugh McSherry, of London, England.
Children:
1. Willis P., born in Lee, Aug. 9, 1860.
2. Elmer E., born in Ilion, Sept. 23, 1863; married Dec. 31, 1889, Anna M. Goff, of Big Flats, N.Y.; children: Helen, born Nov. 9, 1890; William K. Jr., July 8, 1892; Frances M., Oct. 1, 1897.
3. Evelyn Alice, Nov. 15, 1865; died Dec. 7, 1872.
4. George D., Oct. 13, 1873; died April 13, 1902.

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