Family Group 17

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Family Group 17

James, b. England, to New Brunswick, d. New Brunswick

Group 17 formerly included only the descendants of James L. PENNINGTON (1799-1888) of Minnesota, but has been broadened to include all the descendants of his father James Pennington who died before 19 Feb. 1808 in York County, New Brunswick, Canada. ¹

James PENNINGTON was born in England and fought for the British in the Revolutionary War. A member of the Queen’s Rangers, he was held as a prisoner of war at various sites in Pennsylvania:

1779, Easttown Gaol (Jail), Easttown Township, Chester County ²
1780, Reading Gaol (Jail), Berks County ³
1782, Lancaster, Lancaster County ⁴

Following the war James was granted land in the province of New Brunswick. He settled in the parish of Queensbury, York County, not far from the provincial capital of Fredericton. Within a few years he married Mary "Polly" PRICE, whose parents had moved to New Brunswick before the Revolutionary War.

James died before 19 February 1808 when his widow was named administrator of his estate. ⁵ He left a widow and five children aged ten or under. Mary raised the children, probably with the aid of nearby brothers and sisters, and outlived her husband by about fifty years. She died in 1859 and is buried in the Boundary Creek Cemetery near Moncton, Westmorland County, N.B.

James and Mary are known to have had five children, James L., Elizabeth, Mary Jane, William E. and Deborah.

Children (order of birth not certain):

1. James L. (1799-1888), a farmer and lumberman, moved to Houlton, Maine in 1840 and to Stillwater, Minnesota, in 1854. He married Mary Ann GALLOP and they had ten children. Many of their descendants have lived in Minnesota, Washington, California, Alberta and British Columbia.

2. Elizabeth married William MCKEEN. She died before 1851. The couple left many descendants in New Brunswick and Maine.

3. Mary Jane (born about 1801, died after 1871), known as Jane, married Edmund HOVEY (pronounced "Huv'ee"). Their children and grandchildren lived in New Brunswick and Maine.

4. William E. (1804-1884) became a prominent Baptist minister. He is said to have organized twenty churches and baptized more than a thousand people. He was also a farmer and lived in several locations in New Brunswick, as well as Houlton, Maine, and Hudson, Wisconsin. He married Isabella SLIP or SLIPP and they had fourteen children. Many of their descendants have lived in New Brunswick, Maine and Minnesota.

5. Deborah married William KINNEY or KIRON in York County, N.B., in 1827. The couple may have had a daughter Isabella, a son Willliam and another son who was a member of the Maine state legislature. Nothing more is known of the couple or their descendants.

So far, no one has identified James Pennington’s parents or his place of birth in England. He and his wife Mary had children William and Elizabeth, perhaps named after the parents of James. Before he joined the Queen’s Rangers, maybe James was living in southeastern Pennsylvania where he first appears as a prisoner of war. There were several William Penningtons in the area who could have been James’s father:

1. William Pennington of Easttown, Chester County, Pennsylvania, died before 31 March 1779 when an inventory of his estate was prepared. ⁶ He left a widow Mary.

2. William Pennington, listed on the tax lists of Plumstead, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, of 1762, 1763 and 1764. ⁷ Plumstead is adjacent to New Britain. Members of the New Britain Baptist Church included Charles Pennington (1758-1845), progenitor of PRA family group #5, and Edmund Pennington (abt. 1753 – 1813), progenitor of PRA family group #14. Maybe William, Charles, Edmund and James were all related. It’s possible that William was the father of the other three.

3. William Pennington, listed as a resident of Northern Liberties, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, in a 1769 tax list. ⁸

It’s possible that all three William Penningtons were the same person.

SOURCES

1. R. Wallace Hale, Early New Brunswick Probate Records 1785-1815 (Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1989), p. 351.

2. British Military & Naval Records, “C” Series (RG8), National Archives of Canada, microfilm #C-4217.

3. Jonas Howe, “A Sergeant of the Queen’s Rangers,” New Brunswick Magazine, Saint John, N.B., vol. 3, no. 2 (Aug. 1899), pp. 87-93.

4. British Military & Naval Records, “C” Series (RG8), National Archives of Canada, microfilm #C-4218, vol. 1865, pp. 11, 36, 55.

5. Hale, p. 351.

6. Chester County, Pennsylvania, estate papers, no. 3666, FHL microfilm 1,429,133, p. 1.

7. Terry A. McNealy and Frances Wise Waite, Bucks County Tax Records 1693-1778 (Doylestown, Penna.: Bucks County Genealogical Society, 1987, third printing), pp. 35, 38, 44.

8. Pennsylvania Archives, Third Series, vol. 14, p. 135.

Above is a photo of the brothers James L. Pennington (1799-1888) and Rev. William E. Pennington (1803/1804 - 1884). They were sons of James Pennington, progenitor of PRA Group 17. Click on image for a larger picture.

Used with consent of Rick Crume , 9/30/00.

For the more information concerning this family please contact Rick Crume, Group Leader and refer to the Group 17 web page.

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