Nine Year Anniversary
It was nine years ago when our first issue of the Jernigan Connection Newsletter was created and mailed out to about fifty people on Dixie Clonts' mailing list. This issue is the fifth we have been able to place on the Internet. We have changed the development software from Microsoft Publisher 97 to Microsoft Front Page 2000 on issue 19 to see if we can simplify your access and printing directly from the web.
Contents
Jernigan 1999 Checotah Reunion (from Debi Lane's Notes)
Marion Hargrove's Reasonable Ancestor Approach
Regency Bridge...Texas State Historical Site of Jernigan Tragedy
-
Petition of "Sundry Persons of Colour" 1822
-
Jernigan Pattern Important in Aircraft Design
-
Jernigan Special Events...Births, Marriages, Deaths, etc.
Jernigan 1999 Checotah Reunion
The 1999 Checotah Jernigan Reunion began Friday, July 2nd, at the Fountainhead Resort with the opening of the Hospitality Suite, hosted by Larry and Sallee Dixson. On display were copies the Jernigan Connection Newsletter and pictures with memorabilia from previous reunions. The late night fireworks over the lake was suburb.
Saturday morning started with a complete surprise of a 9 AM wedding for Lynda Dee Dixon and Charles (Chick) Hugo Stuhlman. Then at 10 AM Wydeman Sanders directed games for the young people, ages 3 to 40. The games included balloon blowing, team dodge ball, scavenger hunt, foot race, over and under, paper plate toss, and watermelon seed spitting. The games ended with a volley ball game for those that could stand the sand, sun, heat, and humidity.
Saturday evening was a dinner and business meeting at the Checotah Community Center. Group pictures were taken as families arrived and a delicious dinner was first on the agenda. After dinner, Bette Stout, reunion committee chairman, introduced the Checotah Mayor, J. Hayes, who welcomed us to his city and read a proclamation proclaiming July 3, 1999, as "Benjamin and Lou Jernigan Day". A memorial video created by Bette's daughter, Wende, and son-in-law, Chris Fears, was shown. It contained family members who were deceased and pictures of most children, grandchildren, great grandchildren of Benjamin and Lou Jernigan.
Descendants of Arthur Alford Jernigan were attending their first Checotah Reunion. Also attending their first reunion were Scott Kinkade, Chris Fears, Mark and Kaitlin Millican and Nanalee Revels.
Descendants of Arthur Alford Jernigan are: 1st row Sarah Burns,
Kayce Jernigan, Kali Jernigan.
Top row, Floyd Kernes, Bonnie Kernes,
Eva Jo Turner, Judy Jernigan, Steve Jernigan, Donna Jernigan and John M.
Jernigan.
This is a Thumbnail Picture: Click to see the full size picture, then use
your Browser's back button to return to this page.
Awards were presented to Larry Dixson for "Guess Who Game";
"Balloon Blowing" 1st place was Zac Winkle, 2nd was Aaron Winkle, and
3rd was Lesli Kinkade; "Scavenger Hunt" 1st team was Erin Jernigan
& Erica Winkle, 2nd was Becky Penic & Kali Jernigan, and 3rd was Zac
& Aaron Winkle; "Foot Race 6 and Under" 1st was McKenzie Winkle;
"Foot Race 7 and UP" 1st (tie) Zac & Aaron Winkle, 2nd was Erica
Winkle, and 3rd was Allissa Winkle; "Paper Plate Toss" 1st was Zac
Winkle, 2nd was Aaron Winkle, and 3rd was Allissa Winkle; "Watermelon Seed
Spitting" 1st was Justin Lane, 2nd was Eric Winkle, and 3rd was Aaron
Winkle.
"Here a Winkle; There a Winkle; Everywhere a Winkle!
The next Checotah Reunion will be held in July of 2001 at a place somewhere in Arizona. Jacque Tenge, Dixie's daughter, volunteered to chair the reunion. She said that she would look into holding the reunion in Flagstaff since many had voiced concerns about the Arizona July heat. Jacque is looking for volunteers to assist her with planning. She can be contacted via e-mail at [email protected] or by telephone (480) 739-5567.
Sunday afternoon we gathered at the home of Margaret and OT Dixon for their 2nd Annual Ice Cream Social and Birthday Party. We wished Gretchen, Kasi and Marcus a Happy Birthday. The homemade ice cream and cakes were excellent but all was cut short by a surprise rain shower.
The 1999 Checotah Jernigan Reunion concluded and pronounced as a success!
Marion Hargrove's Reasonable Ancestor Approach
NOTE: This information was taken directly from letters written by Marion Hargrove to Laona Hagenstad (1992) and Frank Jernigan (1993). During the Dunn Jernigan Reunion of 1998, we asked Mr. Hargrove for permission to use the data in those letters and he graciously agreed. The information is in Marion's own words and quiet extensive for insertion into a single newsletter. Therefore the data which traces the "Jernigans from Nansemond County, VA," will be placed into three or more consecutive issues.
Beginning in England with SIR JOHN JERNEGAN of Somerleyton, near Great Yarmouth, in the County of Suffolk, who by my own reckoning was 12th (twelfth) in the direct line of descent from Sir Hubert Jernegan of Horham in Suffolk. That Hubert was listed in the 13th-Century "Red Book of the Exchequer" as one of 22 "knights holding [lands] in the Honour of Eye" in the year 1166.
13: SIR JOHN JERNEGAN of Somerleyton was the eldest son of Edward Jernegan, Esquire, (ca. 1472-1515), Gentleman Usher of the King's Chamber, and his first wife Margaret Bedingfield. (Edward's younger brother was Sir Richard Jernegan, a quite distinguished statesman and diplomat.) Sir John was knighted in 1533, along with 43 others, for the coronation of Herry VIII's new wife Anne Boleyn. He was married to Bridget Drury, daughter of Sir Robert Drury and wife Anne Calthrop.
(Sir John's half-brother "Harry" Jernegan, 1509-1572, was a very active and important supporter of Princess Mary's accession to the throne in 1553, having been an officer of her household when she was a child taken away from her mother. The new Queen Mary made Harry a Knight of the Bath, Vice-Chamberlain and Master of the Horse, and endowed him with numerous profitable positions and estates, including the manor and park of Costessey "alias Cossey" in Norfolk, and Wingfield Castle in Suffolk. As "Sir Henry JERNINGHAM" he founded the younger branch of the family, which still spells it that way. Many otherwise learned and intelligent scholars automatically change the spelling of all Jernigans into the newfangled "proper" spelling, while the real Jernegans, Johnikins, etc., continue to spell it any damned way they want to -- except, of course, with that cute little piggy finish.)
The children of Sir John and Bridget Drury Jernegan include GEORGE (see below); Anne, who married Sir Thomas Cornwallis and was the ancestress of You Know Who in the American Revolution; and Elizabeth, who married Sir John Sulyard, Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk.
14: GEORGE JERNEGAN, Esquire, son and heir (apparent) of Sir John, was born in 1515. (His siblings were Anne, 1516; Robert, 1517; Elizabeth, 1519; and John, 1520.) George married ELIE SPELMAN (apparently pronounced Ellie), daughter of Sir John Spelman, second Justice of the King's Bench, and Elizabeth daughter of Sir Henry Frowick of Gunnersbury in Middlesex. Their sons were JOHN, WALTER, THOMAS and HENRY; their daughters Anne, Elizabeth (and/or Elie) and Margaret. George Jernegan was a Member of Parliament (for the borough of Orford) in 1553. He died at the beginning of January 1558/9, predeceasing his father by two months.
On 3 January 1558 (Old Style), ten days after the burial of his son, Sir John wrote a new will. He left to Elie the revenues of two manors, Newton and Corton. To her three younger sons, the annuities of another manor (Horham!), and her daughters £100 each. The bulk of his estate went, by law and custom, to his grandson JOHN. Sir John's executors were his son-in-law Thomas Cornwallis and his brother Henry "Jernegan" (also Old Style). He was buried on 3 March in the chancel of Somerleyton, by the tomb of his father.
15: JOHN JERNEGAN, as it turned out, was the last of the Jernegans of Somerleyton. He married Catherine Brooke, daughter of Lord Cobham, and they had four daughters and no sons. The third daughter Frances, widow of Sir Thomas Bedingfield, married secondly her cousin Henry Jerningham of Costessey. John died in 1587, the manor of Somerleyton apparently passing to Frances and Henry, who sold it to John Wentworth the same year, along with Newton and Corton. John's mother, Elie Spelman Jernegan, was buried in the church at Somerleyton 19 February 1564/5.
15-A: (for convenience) THOMAS JERNEGAN of Stebbing in Essex, fourth son of George and Elie, may or may not have been the Thomas Jernegan of St. Martin-in-the-Fields (London) who in 1572 married Agnes Dowley, of the same parish, gentlewoman and widow. It does not really matter, since Agnes died the following March, leaving Thomas some interesting bits of real estate in Charing Cross Road and elsewhere.
In 1575, in the market town of Bishop Stortford in Hertfordshire, 30 miles or so northeast of London, we find our Thomas Jernegan, gentleman, and Elizabeth his wife buying two house in Stortford and Thorley and in 1578/9 a couple of others "and gardens". At the same time -- Hilary term, 21 Elizabeth -- Thomas's brother HENRY JERNEGAN, Gent., and wife Anne (it says) bought land in Farnham, a couple of miles north of Stortford but in the county of Essex. Thomas continued buying lands through at least 1598, including a piece in Stortford that he sold to Henry in 1596.
Thomas's wife was Elizabeth Thompson, daughter of Edward Thompson of Bishop Stortford and Anne Browne of Abbots Rooting in Essex. Elizabeth seems to have been a cousin of Henry Jernegan's first wife, also named Anne Browne -- or more likely Elizabeth Browne, as listed in The Visitation of Essex, 1612 -- daughter of George Browne Esq. of Abbots Rooting and wife Elizabeth Leventhrope. At any rate, the Essex pedigree says that she "married Henry Jernegan, 4th son to Sir George Jernegan of Somerleton, Suff.", who, as we know, was not a sir. Apparently she died childless, and Henry in 1606 married Agnes Sells of Shalford in Essex. Henry died in late 1616, survived by Agnes and their young children Anne and Henry.
Thomas died in January 1608/9 at Stebbing in Essex and was buried in the chancel of the parish church there. His widow Elizabeth died at Shalford in January 1613/14 and was buried beside her husband in Stebbing. Thomas's will:
1 Jan 1608 -- Original Wills of Essex and Herts., Box 21. THOMAS JERNEGAN of Stebbing, gent. Wife Elizabeth, executrix, bonded £1000 to overseer, son-in-law Mathew Cracherood, gent. Son THOMAS: £200 within year after wife's decease. Daughters Franke, Ele, Penelope: each, within year after wife's decease, £100; each 10 shillings in gold to buy every a [memorial] ring withal. 10 shillings each to children of daughters Susan Bigg (William, Dorcas, Thomas, Elizabeth, John, Anne, Jernegan, and Samuel); Elizabeth Drakes (Elizabeth, Mary); Marye Mingay (Isabel, Marye), and Jane Everis (Bittris). 10 shillings to Anne Jernegan, daughter of my brother Henry, at 21 years.
[Signed:] THO: JERNEGAN. Witness: Henry Jernegan;, John Allan(?). Probate 31 Jan 1608.
16: THOMAS JERNEGAN of Pentlow in Essex, only son of Thomas and Elizabeth, is mentioned in the will of his uncle Henry -- of Much Wendon in Essex, 5 Sep 1616 -- as "my nephew Thomas Jernegan, Gent., of Poslingford, Suffolk." I know nothing about his wife except that her name was Elinor. According to information furnished me in 1978 by the Record Office of the Suffolk County Council, the parish registers of Poslingford records the baptisms of four of the children of Thomas "Jerningham" gent.: Henry in 1613, Edward 1615, Mary 1617 and THOMAS 1618. A letter from the Essex Record Office, also in 1978, lists the baptisms -- in the parish rigisters of Pentlow -- of "more of the children of Thomas Jernigan (spelt also Jarningan, Jernegan, Jarnegan, Jerningham) and his wife Elinor as follows: "Elinor 1620, George 1621, Tomisere (=Thomasin? Tamsin?) 1623, Elizabeth 1624, Henry 1629 and Anne 1631. The letter adds the obituary: "Also recorded," it says, "is the burial, 11th August 1645, of Thomas Jarnegan, gent., who 'obiit in aquis,' i.e. drowned."
To Be Continued in Issue 20: Note the child, THOMAS, born 1618, is our "Immigrant Thomas Jernigan, and the next subject.
Regency Bridge (A Jernigan Tragedy)
REGENCY, Texas--The well-off-beaten-track Regency Bridge, about 3 ½-hour drive southwest of Dallas, spans the Colorado River and connects Mills and San Saba counties. One of the few remaining cable suspension bridges in Texas, it's just outside the ghost town of Regency (population 25), where the only surviving building is an abandoned country store.
The nearby small towns of Goldthwaite in Mills County and San Saba in the county bearing its name both claim the bridge as their own. Goldthwaite is about 90 miles west of Waco. Since, August '98, the bridge had been closed for more than $1 million in repairs, which means ranchers with livestock on both sides of the river have had to drive 40 miles out of their way. Much to the delight of cattlemen and tourist alike, the bridge reopened in March 1999 with many fanfares and a dedication by Governor Bush..
The Regency Bridge is the third bridge to span the Colorado River at this spot. Concrete pillars supported the original one, built in 1903. In 1924 a herd of cattle was divided into several groups to be driven across the bridge. Martin Luther Jernigan and sons Malcolm Luther and Raymond Burns were bringing the last group of cattle across the bridge when the cows became frightened by a car entering from the other end and stampeded. The bridge collapsed. Malcolm's horse fell 40 feet and landed on its feet with Malcolm, age 11, still astride. Martin Luther was badly injured, while one of the bridge beams fell on nine-year-old Raymond, killing him in the mayhem.
Raymond's brother, Hawley, who retired last December as a Mills County commissioner, worked toward having the bridge restored, as well as getting a new state historic marker commemorating the tragedy of Raymond Burns Jernigan. Raymond was the grandson of Noah Jernigan and the great grandson of Aaron Jernigan of Florida.
The original concept for this article came from the Dallas Morning News. Sharon Tingley's research effort in July caused contact with Janell Jernigan Sherwood (daughter of Malcolm Jernigan) who supplied additional information. A second contact was heard from in Bruce Gillan (Raymond was his uncle), while a third was the wife of the editor's insurance contact, Pam Jernigan Spruill.
Petition of "Sundry Persons of Colour" 1822
A remarkable petition filed in the North Carolina General Assembly records for November/December 1822 at the NC State Archives is from "Sundry persons of Colour of Hertford County" who pray for the repeal of an Act of the NC Assembly which declares that slaves can be competent witnesses against free persons of Colour. The identification of the county as Hertford is enough to interest any researcher, let alone that it is apparently from mostly literate free blacks, some of whom claim to be Revolutionary patriots. A transcription follows:
To the Honorable the General Assembly of the State of North Carolina
Your petitioners coloured persons citizens of this State would approach your Honorable Body with all the difference (deference) & respect due to the Character of Representatives of the People.
They beg leave to state that some of them whose names are assigned to this petition bore and honorable part in the Seven Years War which established the Liberties of their Common Country: That during that eventful period they were taught to believe that all men are by nature free & equal, and that the enjoyment of life, liberty and property ought to be secured alike to every Citizen without exception & without distinction.
With these views they need not attempt to express to your Honorable Body the deep concern with which they learned of the passage of a Law at the last Session of the Legislature by which their lives & liberties are virtually placed at the mercy of the Slaves. They would ask of your Honorable Body whether their Situation even before the Revolution was not preferable to one in which their dearest rights are held by so slight a tenure as the favour of slaves and the will & caprice of their vindictive masters, for it cannot escape the notice of your Honorable Body that persons of this description are bound to a blind obedience, and know no Law, but the will of their masters.
Your petitioners will not believe that Your Honorable Body will hesitate to lend a compassionate ear to their well grounded complaints, and to redress a grievance so oppressive to them, and so wholly in congenial with the spirit of our republican government.
They therefore humbly pray your Honorable Body that the Act of the last Session of the Legislature making slaves competent witnesses against them in criminal cases may be repealed.
The signatures affixed to the petition are mostly well defined, and few persons have to use a sign. There are 136 names on the petition which contain MILES H. JERNIGAN and MILLZ JERAGAN.
Jernigan Pattern Important in Aircraft Design
S. A. (Gus) Jernigan, Sr. was reared in a large family in rural Alabama near Brewton and received only about a 6th grade education. He moved with his family to Pensacola, FL., about the time of WWI and worked in the shipyard during the war. He went to school at night to learn how to read and interpret blueprints and become proficient in all types of woodworking. He became a finish carpenter and cabinet maker. He also made police clubs from "mock orange" for his friends. Gus became a pattern-maker for the L & N Railroad in Pensacola and later transferred to the Naval Air Station supervising workers who kept up the grounds around NAS.
Then he moved into another area at NAS that was adjacent to the wet basin where the emergency vessels would respond to a downed airplane in the surrounding bay. There were many of these accidents occurring with the intensive training of pilots during the beginning of World War II. The Navy Cadets would start flying the yellow, canvas-covered two-winged, light weight trainer planes, and advance to the single-winged, metal-covered plane which was similar to what they would eventually fly. The nose cowling of this particular aircraft was consistently getting damaged in minor accidents.
Gus Jernigan was given the task of making a pattern which involved the use of a "shrinkage" rule, where the pattern was actually larger than the finished product, so that the plaster-of-paris pattern would shrink to a size that formed the metal cowling. The assignment was most difficult since the nose cowling curved continuously in two different directions. Many people attempted to make the same pattern in Pensacola and Corpus Christi, TX, but Gus Jernigan made the only one that worked.
Jernigan Special Events
Return to Jernigan Connection Home PageMarriages
Judy Jernigan reports: ERIC COLEMAN married STEPHANIE LEIGH POSKEY on June 5, 1999 at the First Baptist Church in Marion, AR. Eric is the son of Ross Jernigan of Jonesboro, AR.; the grandson of Grover Coleman Jernigan; and the great grandson of Arthur Alford Jernigan. Stephanie is the daughter of Eddie & Anglea Poskey of West Memphis, AR., and is employed by Mid-South Health Systems. Eric is employed by Telemations and the couple resides in Jonesboro, AR.
LYNDA DEE DIXON married CHARLES (Chick) HUGO STUHLMAN during the Checotah Jernigan Reunion on July 3, 1999 at the home of Lynda's parents, O.T. & Margaret Jernigan Dixon. Lynda is the granddaughter of Benjamin Harrison Jernigan.
JACQUE CLONTS TENGE married ROBERT (Rob) HOLLADAY on August 6, 1999 in Mesa, AZ. Jacque is the daughter of Franklin and Dixie Clonts; granddaughter of Mary Jo Dixson; and great granddaughter of Benjamin Harrison Jernigan. Rob is manager of All-Cut Concrete Co. and the couple are residing in Mesa. Between Jacque and Rob, they have 10 children and 4 grand children, with only 3 living with the couple. Jacque advises that it was "true love at first sight". They were married on the 2-week anniversary of their first date. "She knew what she was looking for, found him and being a woman of action...why wait?"
Deaths
JACK ARLEN JERNIGAN, born December 24, 1934, passed away Sunday July 25, 1999. Jack was born in Lepanto, Ark. to the parentage of Nokonis (Noke) Orville and Sadie Jernigan. He was preceded in death by his son, Jason in 1987. He was a beloved husband, father and Papa. Survivors include his wife of 36 years, Jo; sons: Mark Jernigan, Kirkland, WA , Jack Jernigan Jr. & wife, Stacey, Dallas, TX, & Justin Jernigan, Dallas, TX; grandchildren: Brittany, Longbeach, WA, Hunter & Jillian, Dallas, TX; brothers: Al, Dallas, TX, & Roy Laughlin, Nevada; sister: Eva Jo Turner, Dallas, TX and numerous nieces & nephews. Funeral Services 3:00 P.M. Tuesday July 27, 1999, in the GROVE HILL FUNERAL HOME CHAPEL with Rev. Terry Blankenship officiating. Interment Grove Hill Memorial Park.
Omission
The "Lucy Ann Snowden Ellis Jernigan" article in the Jernigan Connection Newsletter, Issue 18, failed to provide credit to Deborah Biesbrock for much of the research as it should have.
times since September 21, 2000.