The Fentons.

Hi, Renate! I made this blog ages ago and never used it, so I thought it would be a good place to write down what I know about the Fentons and the Hathaways.

So you and I are second cousins...your mom, Ruth Fenton Adams, and my dad, John Clark, are first cousins. My grandma Mary Anne Fenton Clark (1924-2009) and your grandpa Lewis Grant Fenton were brother and sister.

Here are your grandpa Lewis (1911-1986) and your grandma Ruth Renata Abrahams Fenton (1918-1969.)

Here are Lewis and Ruth over the years. I don't know which girls are which in these pictures, but you probably recognize them. That's Joyce, I'm sure in the first picture.

So Lewis and his youngest sister Mary were two of the children of  Clyde Fenton (1887-1961) and Emma Anne Shank Fenton (1883-1967.) Grandma told me that when she was little, Lewis would put her on his lap at the dinner table so she wouldn't have to sit on the hard bench. I think he must have always had a soft spot for little kids, because my dad remembers how great Uncle Lewis was with babies. Lewis must have really been fond of my grandma, because I recently found out he mortgaged part of his farm to provide money for Grandma to build a house when she left my grandpa and they divorced.

Clyde and Emma Fenton had six kids: Lewis, Helen, Esther, Florence, Walter and Mary. Here are Clyde and Emma early in their marriage (Grandma says the hat covers Lewis's baby bump!) and then with Lewis as a baby.

Clyde and Emma met when she came to Missouri to keep house for her brother John Shank, who was an itinerant minister and church planter. The way Grandma told me, Emma was on her way from southern Missouri to Goshen, Indiana to go to college when she stopped in to see John in Marion County. She felt that someone needed to keep house for him, so she stayed and then met Clyde at Pea Ridge Mennonite Church, where John was preaching.

Grandma said that Emma never did get to go to college, but she did do some work in Goshen's high school program in 1909-1910. Here she is in one of the school's literary societies. Emma is easy to spot--she's the only one in "plain" clothes down on the right.

It's no wonder Emma left school life behind when she met Clyde--look how handsome he was!

Clyde and Emma did a lot of traveling in their early married life, taking Clyde's father Grant Fenton with them, because his health was poor and they were trying to find a climate that would agree with him. I suspect Clyde and Emma were also enjoying the adventure of living out West. Their daughter Helen was born in Nebraska in 1913, and their daughter Esther was born in Wyoming in 1915.

This picture was taken in Nebraska--I really hope they didn't tent-camp their way across the country, but Aunt Helen told me that her mother covered the floor of the tent with feed sacks, and Helen would dig in the dirt under them with her spoon. This suggests this may have been a long-term house for them!

When they got to Wyoming, Clyde worked on the ranch owned by Buffalo Bill Cody, breaking horses and delivering goods. I have not tried to confirm this, but Grandma and Helen were pretty firm that he did indeed work for Buffalo Bill! This will be a fun thread to research when I have the chance.

While they were living in Wyoming, and Grandma was pregnant with Esther, a family legend occurred. Lewis and Helen were playing Sunday School one winter Sunday morning (it happened to be Helen's second birthday), and Helen slipped off her chair and fell into the coal bucket, which tipped her toward the hot woodstove (they were living in a log cabin at this time.) Lewis grabbed her dress and pulled her back, but she was badly burned on her face and right eye.

Emma put egg whites and Vaseline on Helen's eye, bundled her and Lewis up, and took them out to find Clyde. Emma was very pregnant and couldn't carry Helen, so Lewis and she took Helen's hands and led her across the frozen Bighorn River.

When they found Clyde, the boss of the ranch hitched a couple of fast horses to a buckboard, placed the bundled-up Helen into her dad's arms, and slapped the horses to take them to the nearest town, 15 or 20 miles away, and to a doctor.

Helen's sight was not damaged, but she had a scar on her face for the rest of her life. The doctor praised Emma's fast action. I can't imagine how tough she must have been. This must have been an often-told story in the Fenton family, because Aunt Helen told me the whole thing, with all these details, when I visited her in 2001, about six weeks before she died.

The Fentons ended up traveling all the way to Oregon (where Grant had a stroke and traveled back home to die in 1916) but came back to Missouri by 1917 when Florence was born. Clyde traveled ahead and sent Emma and the kids along on the train with all their belongings--Helen told me she was terrified by one of the porters on the train, because she had never seen a black man before. Walter was also born in Missouri, and then the family moved to Kansas in the early 1920s, where Mary was born. They lived outside Newton, KS till 1940, and then moved back to Marion County, MO, where Clyde had grown up. This is the house and farm they bought--it was an old plantation house and I remember the ruin of it standing back behind Uncle Walter's house outside Philadelphia. He tore it down when I was in college. Grandma and Aunt Helen told me there were posts or shackles or something in the basement where slaves had been chained up before the war, and they hated to go down there.

 Here are some pictures of Clyde and Emma and their family over the years.

 Back row is Esther, a girl who I think was their hired girl, Helen, and Lewis. Front row is Walter, Emma, Florence, Clyde and baby Mary.

Here are Emma, Clyde, Lewis and Ruth in the back row, Esther, Walter, Helen and Mary in the front row.

 This is my favorite, I have it printed and framed in my living room. Helen, Florence, Mary, Lewis, Esther and Walter behind, Clyde and Emma in front. I'm sure you know they were of the Mennonite faith, and Great-Grandma Emma dressed plain her whole life.

There are several families to talk about, going back in time from here, but I'll start with Great-Grandpa Clyde's family, the Fentons. Clyde Fenton's parents were Ulysses Grant Fenton (1864-1916) (who went by the name Grant--did you and Marilyn name your sons after him? Or after Uncle Lewis?) and Lillian Sophronia Hathaway Fenton (1865-1946.) They had three children: Clyde, Bessie and Elza.

Here are Grant and Lillian in middle age. I'm a little fuzzy on this one--the children on the left are Clyde's sister Bessie's children but I don't have their names handy. Lillian is on the left with a baby, then Bessie with another baby, then Great-Grandma Emma with your grandpa Lewis, and I think the man next to her is Bessie's husband Lee Teninty. Behind are Grant and Clyde.

Grant Fenton was born in Illinois, and named Ulysses Grant after the Civil War general and President. His father Orville Fenton briefly served in the war under Grant's command, and must have been impressed with the man. Family lore says that they knew each other personally--they were both from the same area, I believe. Another topic that demands some research!

Grant joined the Mennonite church when he married Lillian. Grandma told me he was a very quiet and gentle man who never raised his voice. Here is Grant, again in middle age, on the right, with his mother, Sarah Coleman Fenton Gibbons (she remarried in 1885 after being widowed), in the middle and his siblings.

Grant Fenton's parents were Orville Fenton (1838-1874) and Sarah Coleman Fenton (1845-1916), who was called Sally. Here they are:

Orville Fenton was born in New York and moved to Illinois at some point, either as a child or a young man. He served as a chaplain in the 8th Illinois Cavalry from 1861-1862, but was discharged because of ill health, which shortened his life--he died about 12 years later. I imagine he picked up an illness in camp--more soldiers died of disease in the war than of battle wounds. Grandma had his discharge papers and also the application his widow Sally made for his army pension. He worked as a minister before he died.

Orville Fenton's parents were Stanley Fenton (1808-1876) and Lana Strunk Fenton (1810-1866). They were both born in New York, moved to Illinois, and then must have continued moving west, as she passed away in Iowa, and he passed away in Nebraska. I believe Stanley Fenton was also a minister.

Stanley Fenton's parents were Washington Fenton (1776-1864) and Sarah Mead Fenton (1782-1860.) They were both born in Connecticut but moved to New York between 1800 and 1810.

Washington Fenton's parents were Solomon Fenton (1749-1831) and Sibyl Snow Fenton (1749-1824.) According to my sources, Solomon was born in Connecticut and served in the Revolutionary War, but I don't have my Ancestry account activated right now so I can't look at the details.

Solomon's father was Ebenezer Fenton, and Ebenezer's father was Robert Fenton. I believe either Ebenezer or Robert, or possibly both, immigrated here from England or Ireland, but again, I need to find the info I have and/or do more research. And that's where my Fenton information ends!