This is a summary of genealogy information for the Wennihan family, starting with the family of Michael Wennihan (1840-1929) and Mary Etta Swan (1846-1917). It also includes information about the Wennihan branches of the Swan, Thompson and Bell families. Additional pictures and information to be posted soon.
Special thanks to Mary Carter (Mary Wennihan Carter... Owen & Stella Wennihan... Will & Mary Ann Wennihan... Michael & Mary Etta Wennihan) who collected and organized much of this information.
One major difficulty in researching the Wennihan family history is the exact spelling of the surname. As explained in the examples below, within just 20 years the US Census lists three different spellings for Michael's last name, NONE of which are "Wennihan." ("Winnehan" in the 1860 Census, "Mennihan" in the 1870 Census, and either "Winnehan" or "Winnahan" in the 1880 Census.) Owen Wennihan used to conjecture that, because of their Irish brogue, it was difficult for census takers to understand what they were saying. By the 1890s, our branch of the family had finally settled on the spelling as "Wennihan," whereas other branches chose different spellings. To further complicate it, other possible spellings for the same surname name include Minnihan, Mennihan, Minihan, Minahan, Minnehan, Minehan, Minahan, Minehan, Mynahan, etc.
Michael Wennihan (1840-1929) & Siblings
We are uncertain about Michael Wennihan's parents. The story Michael used to tell his kids (according to a letter written in the late 1970's by Dortha (Scott Mapes) Wennihan, the wife of Charles Wennihan, who was the son of John Timothy Wennihan, who was one of Michael's sons) was that Michael's parents died of sickness on the ship coming from Ireland, leaving him with his younger sister. According to this story, they were then adopted by another Irish couple on the boat who didn't treat them well. This story is problematic, however, since it leaves his brother Patrick entirely out of the story and since in numerous census records Michael and Mary later claimed to have been born in Illinois.
Another family story, this time from John Timothy's sister-in-law, Eva Wennihan, was entirely different. According to Eva (again as related in the above letter by Dortha) Michael was born in Honey Creek, Illinois, and his father was a carpenter who fell from a ladder while at work and was killed. According to this story, Michael had a brother (Patrick?) who died at age 21 and a sister (Mary?) who married a Dennis Cunningham and lived in Omaha. This story seems much more likely, particularly since the 1880 US Census clearly lists Mary as married to an Irish blacksmith named Dennis Cunningham and living in Omaha with their two daughters. (According to recent research by Joan Tongier, daughter of Mary Wennihan Carter, The City Directory for Omaha in 1914 lists the residence for Mary and Dennis as 626 South 19th. He was a blacksmith for NA Pedersen, and she kept a boarding house. The 1920 census lists her (not him), age 71, Keeper of Rooming House, and living with their son George D. Cunningham, age 30, blacksmith.)
So, despite conjecture, the origins of the family are unclear, other than there seems to be agreement that Michael's parents were born in Ireland. If Michael, Patrick and Mary were born in Illinois, PERHAPS their parents were the following listed in the 1840 Census from LaSalle County, Illinois:
Patrick Minnahan Household: Male 20 to 30 years old, Female 20 to 30 years old, and one child under age 5. (This year would fit with Michael's birth, and LaSalle is next to Bureau County, below.)Regardless of the above conjectures, the first conclusive documentation about Michael Wennihan comes from the 1850 US Census for Bureau County, Illinois, (next to LaSalle County) which listed the Wennihan children as living with the Dennis Manning family. They were:
Michael – 10 years old born in Illinois
Patrick 6 years old born in Illinois
Mary 3 years old born in Illinois
The census also shows Dennis Manning and his wife, Mary, were both born in Ireland. Their children, ages 14, 8, and 5 were listed as being born in Illinois. (Note: if the Mannings had been in Illinois at least 14 years prior to 1850, they obviously could not have met the Wennihan children on the boat from Ireland. However, perhaps the Mannings really did come over on the boat with the Wennihans, then just claimed that their children were born in Illinois for citizenship purposes. Who knows!)
1860 Census of Bureau County, Illinois listed Patrick (16) and Mary (13) still with the Manning family. Michael was listed in the Nemaha County, Nebraska census as a laborer born in Illinois living with or near a Tait family. This was near Peru, Nebraska. (Spelled Winnehan)
Michael Wennihan (1840-1929) and Mary (or "Marie") Etta Swan (1846-1917)
(Note spellings of last name: "Mennihan" in 1870 Census, "Winnehan" in 1880 Census)
Michael Wennihan married Mary Etta Swan on June 4, 1865, in Peru, Illinois. Mary was born in Illinois. Her father was born in Tennessee, her mother in Vermont. According to the letter from Dortha Wennihan (above), she was a decendant of the Swan family from the area around Kent, England that traced it's roots back to Sir Francis Swan, who was knighted in 1608. William Swan, the fourth son of Sir Francis, came to America and settled at what became known as Swan Point, Virginia where he died in 1638. William's descendants eventually migrated to other states, including North Carolina. (According to this letter, the family has a lineage of the Swan family documenting this connection that was given to Dortha by Elsie Swan Williams.)
After they were married, they lived in Nemaha County, Nebraska, near Peru (where Michael had been listed as a laborer in the 1860 census) and their first four children were born there. 1870 Census of Nemaha County listed:
MENNIHAN, Michael, 29, born in Illinois
Mary E., 22, born in Illinois
Nancy, 4, born in Nebraska
WILLIAM HENRY, 2, born in Nebraska
Mary Alma 11/12 born in Nebraska
In 1873 or 1874, the family moved to the Sharp's Grove neighborhood north of Craig, Missouri, along with several of the Swans. There are two interpretations for the spelling from the 1880 US Census, perhaps due to obscure handwriting, so the spelling was either "Winnehan" or "Winnahan." The census lists:
Michael a farmer born in Illinois
Marie (Mary) born in Illinois
Nancy, 13, born in Nebraska
William Henry, 12, born in Nebraska
Alma, 10, born in Nebraska
Rosa, 8, born in Nebraska
George died
James (N.S.), 5, born in Missouri
Stephen, 3, born in Missouri
John Timothy, 2, born in Missouri
Dora, 7/12, born in Missouri
All together the family had 13 children. The remaining children include:
Charlie born in 1882
Lydia Estelle born in 1883
Cora born in 1884, died in 1888
Leroy born in 1887, died in 1888
In around 1893, Michael and Mary Etta and the younger children moved to Kansas, homesteading 160 acres near Norcatur (Decatur County) in the northwest portion of the state. According to the above letter by Dortha Wennihan, John Timothy (one of Michael's sons) didn't like it in Kansas. John Timothy was about 15 years old when they moved. He stayed about a year, then came back to Craig. He never saw much of his family after that, so really wasn't too close to any of them. Many of the Wennihans of Craig, Missouri "descended" from this decision.
Michael Wennihan and family.
(Michael is on the front left, Will on the front right)
(Taken 1917 at the time of Mary Etta's funeral)
When he died in 1929 at the age of 89, Michael owned 320 acres of wheat country in Norcatur. The land was divided an sold, so now none of it is in the hands of family members. Mary Etta died in 1917 at age 71 in Kanona, Kansas and was buried in Norcatur.
Wedding Day, Will and Mary |
Will Wennihan (1868-1921) and Mary Ann Thompson (1865-1934) |
Mary Ann Thompson was the youngest of 13 children born to Samuel Thompson (1813-1899) and Evaline Moffett Dunihoo (1823-1884). We know quite a bit about her background thanks to family histories written by two of the granddaughters of Samuel & Evaline Thompson, Mabel Plankinton and Elva Long. See Thompson family history for details. Included there is an interesting family history story about her father, Samuel Thompson's, unfortunate encounter with a band of Missouri "Bushwhackers" during the Civil War. (To briefly summarize, this incident occured as a result of the intense rivalry at the time between Kansas and Missouri, with Kansas "Jayhawkers" raiding the Missouri side and Missouri "Bushwackers" raiding the Kansas side. According to the story, a group of Bushwhackers thought Samuel knew important information about the Union troops, and threatened to hang him if he didn't tell. He refused to tell (or perhaps he really didn't know anything) so they hanged him, but let him down before he died. Still he refused to talk, so they briefly strung him again. Still he wouldn't talk, so they let him go.
Will and Mary Ann were married September 14, 1890 in Holt County Missouri. On March 4, 1893, they moved to Northwest Kansas near Norcatur where their only child, Furman Owen, was born on June 6, 1896. Will said there were too many relatives there so he moved his family to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) north of Ramona. It seems this was about the time the oil field tank farm was being built. Owen often said there was just enough room for a wagon to go between one tank and their house. There were a lot of Indians in the area and they passed close by on a trail from the Ochelata area. They were fascinated with Will’s wife as she was an attractive lady with very long hair.
At their new farm in Kansas |
On January 25, 1910, Will moved his family to a 320 acre farm 3 miles northeast of Havana, Kansas. The farm stayed in the family until 1977 when it was sold. Owen said that the reason they moved from Ramona was that his folks wanted to get him away from the ruffian cowboys and oil field workers in that area. He was 13 years old at this time. |
Will, Owen and the buggy
The following is from the above cited letter written by Dortha Wennihan (Mrs. Charlie Wennihan, the son of John Timothy):"One time when Charlie was a child, two of the brothers came back to visit, Uncle Will and Uncle Steve. Both men were quite large. One of them sat in a rocking chair and the chair collapsed because it could not sustain such weight. That really impressed Charlie."
Mary Ann
Will died in 1921 and Mary Ann in 1934. They are buried in Tharp Cemetery in Sharp’s Grove, MO, just up the hill from where Mary Ann was born.
Mary Wennihan Carter remembers as a little girl driving with her parents, Owen and Stella, to Missouri for her grandmother's funeral. She particularly remembers crossing the Missouri on a ferry and her Dad's sage advise for how to keep the boat from sinking - "Hold your feet up!"Also, as you can tell from this family history, "Mary" is an extremely common name in this family, starting with Michael's sister, Michael's wife and Will's wife. Owen & Stella's daughter, Mary Wennihan Carter, was named for her grandmother, Mary Ann Thompson. This tradition has continued with Mary Wennihan Carter's daughter, Linda Marie Carter, and granddaughter, Asha Marie Park-Carter.
F.O. (Owen) Wennihan (1896-1982)and Stella Bell (1901-1990)
Owen lived most of his early childhood in a house on the edge (literally) of an oil field in Oklahoma. When he was 13, though, the family bought a beautiful farm near Havana in southeast Kansas that was nestled in the Chautauqua Hills. Their drinking water came from a spring hidden in the bottom of a deep ravine of solid sandstone, and the hills were covered with blackjack oaks and huge boulders. One of Owen's first loves was horses and, except for the last few years, he always owned at least one the rest of his life.
Owen on his earliest mode of transportation |
Owen on a later mode of transportation, Goldie |
As a child he attended a one-room schoolhouse at Round Mound, then later, the Independence Business College (where, among other things, he acquired a beautiful handwriting style). He served at the end of World War I in France as an ambulance driver. After he returned from the service, he studied auto mechanics at Rahe’s Auto School in Kansas City. He and a life-long buddy then started an auto repair business in nearby Wayside, about 10 miles from the family farm.
| The first family in Wayside to own an auto was the Martin Bell family, and Owen married the daughter, Stella Emily Bell, on June 1, 1921. |
Stella was the daughter of Martin James Bell (1878-1960) and Nellie Gertrude Marshall (1882-1951). Martin was the son of James Bell and Catherine Stage (1844-1915), and he moved to Wayside with his parents.
Martin and Nellie Bell |
Martin, Mary Louise, Stella and James Bell: 3 Generations |
Stephen Douglas Marshall |
Nellie was the daughter of Stephan Douglas Marshall (1856-1913) and Nancy (Nannie?) Jane Wolcott (?-?). The Marshalls (including Nellie's two oldest sisters) lived in Anthony, (Harper) Kansas at the time of the 1880 US Census, and he listed his occupation as a barber. Stephen and his wife, Nannie J., were listed as having been born in Illinois. At some point, they moved to Kansas City, where Stephan was a barber. He was murdered on December 17, 1913 at 8th and Grand Street. He had refused to join the Barber's Union and charged less for haircuts, and was shot (supposedly for this reason) as he left a street car. His barber shop was below 12th on Grand Avenue in downtown Kansas City. After his death, Nannie and at least Nellie moved to southeast Kansas. She died there sometime later. |
1921 was the year Owen and Stella were married as well as the year Owen's father died. Soon after, he gave up the auto repair business and he and Stella took over operation of Owen's family farm. In addition to farming, he had many different occupations, including working on nearby oil wells where he'd use his team of horses to move rigs and “pull" wells. He also was briefly involved in banking (as trustee for a local bank that went under during the 1920's), owned and operated (with Stella) the Havana General Store, and drove a school bus.
Owen and Stella had four children: Mary Louise born February 20, 1922, Nellie Belle born November 27, 1924, Viola Mae born March 18, 1930 and Effie Gertrude born December 11, 1937.
Owen, Mary, Belle, Gertrude, Viola and Stella Wennihan
As of 2004, all four sisters are in good health and have children and grandchildren, and some even have great-grandchildren.
Owen died March 18, 1982 and Stella died November 6, 1990. They are both buried in the Havana Cemetery.
Will & Mary Ann (Thompson) Wennihan and Samuel & Evaline (Dunahoo) Thompson are buried near Craig, Missouri.
Martin & Nellie (Marshall) Bell and Nancy (Wolcott) Marshall are buried in Caney, Kansas. (About 15 miles from Wayside.)
Stephen Marshall is buried in Kansas City, Missouri.
Michael and Mary (Swan) Wennihan are buried near Norcatur, Kansas
James and Catherine (Stage) Bell are buried in Wayside.
Larry at LCarter.Com
www.LCarter.Com