Mary Anna DAVIS
[2049] [S42] Personal notes Leslie Minner Walls
_Thomas MINNER could be 8925_
| (1800 - ....)
_Nathaniel MINNER ___|
| (1833 - 1917) m 1856|
| |_Lydia ______________________
| (1810 - ....)
_Dennis William MINNER _|
| (1890 - 1970) |
| | _____________________________
| | |
| |_Eliza ______________|
| (1836 - 1863) m 1856|
| |_____________________________
|
|
|--James M MINNER
| (1919 - 1984)
| _____________________________
| |
| _____________________|
| | |
| | |_____________________________
| |
|________________________|
|
| _____________________________
| |
|_____________________|
|
|_____________________________
[14560] [S221] Personal notes of Cheryl Bertelsen
+Henry R PENNINGTON
Clara Barr PENNINGTON
+Ida H. PENNINGTON poison candy case
Thomas M PENNINGTON
+Mary Elizabeth PENNINGTON poison candy case
_John Atkey PENNINGTON _
| (1744 - 1820)
_James PENNINGTON _________________|
| (1775 - 1819) m 1807 |
| |_first wife ____________
|
_Thomas McDonough PENNINGTON _|
| (1808 - 1870) m 1825 |
| | _Thomas MACDONOUGH MD___+
| | | (1747 - 1795)
| |_Hannah (Susannah) MACDONOUGH _____|
| (1773 - ....) m 1807 |
| |_Mary VANCE ____________
| (1751 - 1792)
|
|--John Barr PENNINGTON Esq.
| (1825 - 1902)
| ________________________
| |
| _John BARR farmer of New Castle Co_|
| | |
| | |________________________
| |
|_Henrietta BARR ______________|
(1808 - 1889) m 1825 |
| ________________________
| |
|___________________________________|
|
|________________________
[3947]
"History of Delaware" James and Web Printing, R975.1 McC(found book at Odessa Library) published in 1890's
"John Barr Pennington attended the old public school in Christiana and others in the vicinity, and in 1843 and '44 the academies of New Castle and Newark. In the spring of 1845, he entered Jefferson College, at Cannonsburg, PA. from which he graduated A. B. in June, 1848. He graduated with distinction in a class of sixty-seven members. He then traveled south and west, and spent some time in Indiana in the study of law. Having there an attack of hemorrhage from the lungs, he regained his health by an out-door life in overseeing the construction of the Wabash canal, and returning home in 1851, engaged in farming until 1854. He then studied law in the office of Hon. Martin W. Bates, was admitted to the bar in 1857, and settled at once in Dover for the practice of his profession. Always prominent in the Democratic Party he was elected to the Legislature in 1856, and took his seat in January 1857. The House was then composed of quite young men, many of whom have since been distinguished. In 1859, he was Clerk of the House, also in 1863, and again in 1871. Under Andrew Johnson, he was United States District Attorney for Delaware for thirteen months before Grant came into office. Gov. James Ponder appointed him Attorney General, Oct. 3, 1874, for five years, holding the office until Oct. 3, 1879. Mr. Pennington has always been devoted to his profession, and is one of the leading members of the Delaware bar. A gentleman of scholarly attainments and high social position, he is yet very unassuming in manner. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and was married in 1848 to Miss Rebecca A. Rowan. Four of their children are living. His son, Henry R., now a lawyer in Wilmington, spent previously seven years in the United States Navy: four years at Annapolis and three years as midshipman. The daughters are Clara B., Ada H., and Mary C. Pennington."
PENINGTON, John Brown, a Representative from Delaware; born near New
Castle, Del., December 20, 1825; pursued an academic course in New
Castle and Newark, Del., and was graduated from Jefferson College,
Canonsburg, Pa.; engaged in teaching in Indiana for several years;
returned to Delaware; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1857 and
commenced practice in Dover, Del.; member of the State house of
representatives in 1857; clerk of the State house of representatives
in 1859, 1863, and 1871; delegate to the Democratic National
Conventions at Charleston and Baltimore in 1860; appointed United
States attorney for the district of Delaware in 1868 by President
Johnson and served until 1872; appointed attorney general of the State
by Governor Ponder in 1874 and served until 1878; elected as a
Democrat to the Fiftieth and Fifty-first Congresses (March 4,
1887-March 3, 1891); was not a candidate for renomination in 1890;
resumed the practice of law at Dover, Del., where he died June 1,
1902; interment in the Presbyterian Cemetery.
Wilm City Dir 1858-9 Spruence Lib Doylestown PA
John B Pennington attorney at law 512 King h 813 Market
Dear Ruth:
I'm a retired San Francisco newspaperman writing a true-crime book about
San Francisco murders by women, mostly in the 19th century. I'm new at
geneaology and getting kind of too old to learn (69), but I'm trying. I
found your name with the Pennington family web site as the Family Group 21
leader. I'm hoping you can help me or suggest steps I could take.
The case involves the Penington (one "n") family. Here's the
background:
I'm researching an 1898 crime still remembered in Dover as the "poison
candy" case. The box of arsenic-laced bon-bons was mailed from San Francisco
by plump, fortyish, snobbish, sexy Cordelia Botkin. It was addressed to Mary
Elizabeth Dunning with a note, "With love to you and baby, Mrs. C."
Cordelia evidently hoped that by getting rid of Mary and her namesake
daughter,then about 6 years old, she could persuade her paramour, John P.
Dunning, to marry her. A star reporter who lost his Associated Press
position because of embezzling funds to pay for horse-track debts, he had
moved in with Mrs. Botkin for a life of gambling and drinking. His
humiliated wife (divorce wasn't an option for upper-crust wives in 1895)
took their little girl and moved back to her family home in Dover. A kept
man, Jack Dunning was rescued by the Spanish-American War, which prompted
the AP to say all is forgiven and would you cover the war? He kissed the
weeping Cordelia goodbye on March 9, 1898, told her he wouldn't be coming
back, took the Overland Train to New York, reconciled there with Mary
Elizabeth and headed for Cuba.
Comments by Cordelia, as told to an apparently sympathetic woman
reporter, suggest that she somehow assumed that with the faithful wife and
innocent child out of the way, Jack would return to her. The bon-bons
arrived from the post office on an August evening just as Mary and her
extended family relaxed on the veranda after supper. The candy killed Mary
and her sister, Ida Harriet Deane, although it was thought at first that the
cause was food poisoning. They died in terrible agonies two days later. A
half dozen others were horribly sick. ("Arsenic and Old Lace" gives the
impression that arsenic poisoning is a peaceful way to expire. Not true.)
Anyhow, a pile of circumstantial evidence in two trials in San Francisco
sent Cordelia to San Quentin Prison, where she died in 1910 of "softening of
the brain." Jack died of a brain tumor at age 44 in Philadelphia. The
grandparents were dead. Mary Elizabeth was an orphan. And her cousin, Leila
Deane, had lost her mother.
There's no shortage of information about the murders and the trials, but
nowhere can I find out about the two girls. That's the purpose of this
request.
Here's the information I've been able to glean from various sources:
Mary Elizabeth Dunning, born Dec. 15, 1891.
Father: John P. (for Preston) Dunning. Born in Middletown, DE, about
1863. Died Philadelphia April 17, 1907. Married February 1891 in Old
Presbyterian Church, Dover. Librarian at Philadelphia Inquirer couldn't
help but referred me to the Temple University urban archives. A staff
researcher looked up the names of both Dunnings in clipping files from old
issues of the now-defunct Philadelphia Bulletin. No luck.
Mother: Mary Elizabeth Penington, born Jan. 14, 1863. Died Aug. 12,
1898, aged 35 years.
Cousin: Leila Deane. Said to be age 14 in 1898.
Her mother: Ida Henrietta (Penington) Deane, born about 1854, died Aug.
11, 1898.
Her father: Joshua D. Deane (see below)/
Grandfather: John B. (for Barr) Penington,1825-1902, two-term
ex-congressman from Delaware, former Delaware attorney general, lawyer in
Dover. His father: Thomas McDonough Penington, 1808-1870, who is said to be
nephew of the famous 1812 war hero Commodore Thomas McDonough (MacDonough in
some spellings), who died in 1825. His is often spelled "Pennington," but I
saw his gravestone in July. It's "Penington."
Grandmother: Rebecca Rowan, 1827-1901.
Two of the J.B. Penington children, Henry P. and Clara B., predeceased
their parents. Both are buried near their parents, Mary Elizabeth Dunning
and Ida Henrietta Deane in the Old Presbyterian Church cemetery in Dover. A
son of Henry's, named Harry (who changed his name to Henry in later years),
was raised in Wilmington by Dr. George Carmichael who (according to my
sketchy notes) may have been a postmaster.
Notes on Mary Elizabeth: Can't find anybody by that name in the search
machines of Ancestry.com or the Social Security Death Index, although
there's a close call: Nexis gave me Mary Elizabeth Dunning, SSN 095-20-5655,
born 12-16-92, died 7-23-2001, in Ilion , Herkimer, NY 13357 (near Utica).
No obit was found in electronic archives of the Utica paper despite her
apparent age, a very newsworthy 108. Maybe it's her. Even weirder, a Mary
Elizabeth Dunning lives in Dover even as we speak. I called. "Never heard of
those people," she said. "Anyhow, Dunning is my ex-husband's name, and we've
been divorced for 18 years." What's his first name? "Jack."
Notes on Leila Deane: Her father, Joshua D. Deane, had a stationery
business in Dover at the time and, with the rest of John Penington's
extended family, lived in the patriarch's home on what was then called
Public Square (today it's The Green). According to John Ahlstadt, the former
Dover police sergeant who wrote a privately published book on the case
("Love to Yourself and Baby"), Deane and daughter moved to Philadelphia
after the trial. I couldn't find anything in Ancestry.com on Joshua Deane or
his daughter.
Speculation regarding Mary Elizabeth: After her father's untimely death,
she might have been taken in by Joshua Deane or perhaps the George
Carmichael who is said to have been the foster parent of young Henry
Peninger. Or she may have married and moved away. She may have died at an
early age. She may have changed her name to Grandma Moses or emigrated to
Kauai or joined the circus. Who knows? Her fate, and that of Leila, are
loose ends in the unraveling of a happy little family until a gift of candy
arrived in the mail from a lovelorn psychopath in a corset.
Most genealogical work seems to focus on the search for ancestors to
produce family trees decorated with names and dates that usually lack much
by way of story and detail. In our situation, with plenty of story and
detail, we need to find descendants. I would sure appreciate any help,
advice or background.
Thanks for wading through this overlong memo.
Lynn Ludlow
1540 Hampshire St.
San Francisco CA 94110
415/648-3369
ludstadt@rcn.com
[3948] [S148] "History of Delaware"
[16071] ( bio and places information)
[3945] [S16] DE Archives Death Card file
[3946] [S5] Tatnal Tombstone microfilm records 1930
[15553] [S21] Delaware Gazette
[15554] [S65] DE Archives Marriage Card file
Martha E HARNER
+Anna A HARNER
Sue May HARNER four children
May A HARNER jad four children
Alverta J HARNER
_John Daniel (Sr) STONESIFER ______+
| (1731 - 1813) m 1765
_John Daniel Jr STONESIFER _|
| (1780 - 1849) |
| |_Maria Elizabeth YINGLING _________+
| (1744 - 1821) m 1765
_John Joseph STONESIFER _|
| (1811 - 1891) |
| | ___________________________________
| | |
| |_Elizabeth BAUER ___________|
| (1772 - 1846) |
| |___________________________________
|
|
|--Sarah Elizabeth STONESIFER
| (1842 - 1923)
| _Adam Conrad ROUTSON ______________+
| | (1737 - 1827)
| _John Henry ROUTSON ________|
| | (1784 - 1860) |
| | |_Elizabeth Catharine WIESSNER (?) _
| | (1736 - 1831)
|_Lydia ROUTSON __________|
(1809 - 1881) |
| _Henry BEGRIL (BECTEL) ____________
| |
|_Barbara BEGRIL (BECTEL) ___|
(1785 - 1850) |
|_Barbara STONESIFER _______________+
(1765 - 1835)
[12118] [S14] "History and Genealogy of the Stonesifer Family of MD and PA"
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