Biography of
Elijah Jennings

Goodspeed's History of East Tennessee
The Goodspeed Publishing Company 
Chicago   1887

Elijah Jennings was born in Anderson County, November 18, 1825, and is the son of Jesse and Nancy (Pearson) Jennings. The father was a native of Anderson County, and was a farmer. He was the son of Daniel Jennings, a native of England, who immigrated to Virginia, and from that State came to Tennessee, being one of the pioneers of Anderson County. The mother was born in Blount County, Tenn., and died in about 1850. Our subject was reared on the farm, and attended the schools of the neighborhood. He has followed farming as a vocation, making a success of the same, and now owns a good farm of over 300 acres. He served in the was of the United States with Mexico, volunteering under the second call for volunteers, and joined Company C, Capt. Kirkpatrick, of Col. Heiskell's regiment of Kentucky Infantry. He served through the war, and was discharged from the ranks and sent to the hospital at New Orleans, a few weeks prior to the close of the war. After the war he returned home and resumed farming, which he continued until the fall of 1862, when he enlisted in the Confederate Army, joining the body-guard of Maj. Gen. McCowan. He served until the spring of 1863, when he was discharged for disabilities, and sent to the hospital. After the war he returned home, and has been engaged in farming up to the present time. He was married in 1847 to Mary Wilson, nee Galbraith, who died about 1865. He was married, the second time, in 1866, to Nancy Peoples, of Sullivan County, Tenn., who was born about 1844. To this union two children were born, one of whom is living. The wife died in 1869, and our subject was again married, in August, 1874, to Emaline Arnold, who, was born in Hawkins County, Tenn., in 1846. To this union seven children have been born, six of whom are living. Our subject is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and his wife of the Methodist.