Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 27, 1995 TAG: 9505300032
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ROBERT FREIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Certainly it would have been better for the Jennelle family had the Civil War never occurred.
In 1860, the Jennelles were a well-to-do family of 14 (Lewis, Melvina and their 12 children) farming the rolling hills of Montgomery County near Yellow Sulphur Road.
Five years later, four children were dead: two of the family's five brothers who fought in the war and two daughters who died at home of diphtheria. Armies that moved through the county treated the farm roughly.
Now, 135 years later, out of the disaster shared by their ancestors and so many other Americans, the latter-day Jennelles have discovered a new sense of unity.
Come Sunday afternoon, there will be a gathering of Jennelles as never before - perhaps as many as 200 - at the family graveyard, on a hilltop above the old homeplace.
They'll be there to dedicate new gravestones for the brothers who fought in the war, whose existence nearly became as forgotten as the unmarked graves they occupied.
It's all happening because of an intense genealogical quest undertaken over the past year by the brothers' descendants, an effort Roy Jennelle of Blacksburg says "spread out like ripples in the water."
With brother Leonard, sister-in-law Cheryl and other kinfolk, Roy Jennelle has filled out the family stories about their ancestors with documents - military and census records, marriage licenses and property deeds - gathered by long hours of library research and long-distance telephone calls.
"We didn't know many details," said Leonard. "We really took it on as a hobby, and surprised ourselves."
The five brothers began to re-emerge. Aged between 16 and 32, they enlisted in several Confederate units. A family legend says that one of the brothers literally left a plow in the field, saddled a horse and rode off to war.
Two brothers joined Company E, the "Montgomery Highlanders" of the 4th Virginia Regiment, which was incorporated into the renowned "Stonewall Brigade." One of those, Louis, died in the vicious fighting in August 1862 at Second Manassas and evidently was buried in an unmarked or mass grave. He is the only fighting brother not in the family cemetery, but the Jennelles got a marker for him, anyway.
Another brother, James, died of tuberculosis within a mile or so of home, at the Montgomery White Sulphur Springs military hospital. A third, Hamilton, captured in May 1864 at Spotsylvania, survived a year as a prisoner of war at the infamous federal prison in Elmira, N.Y.
Hamilton, who died in 1911, was the only brother buried beneath a headstone. Leonard Jennelle said the family had talked about getting a stone for their grandfather, Jasper, too. "For some reason or another it never happened. Until now."
Roy learned that he could get headstones for no charge from the Veterans Administration, but needed documentation of the brothers' service records to do so. The Jennelles credit Frank "Ruffy" Moseley of Blacksburg with steering them toward the military records on microfilm at Virginia Tech's Newman Library, and Buddy and Kenneth McCoy of McCoy Funeral Home in Blacksburg with helping to get the markers.
Having placed the stones, the family decided to make a production of it. "Well, we thought we ought to have a ceremony," Cheryl said. "That sounded like a good idea," added Leonard. "Might as well have a picnic, too."
The genealogical research had given them access to names of hundreds of Jennelles across the country. Cheryl contacted as many as she could, and invited them to the dedication. Relatives from nine states - and as far away as California - plan to attend.
Next the family spruced up the old cemetery and rebuilt part of the fence. It's ready for the ceremony, scheduled for 3 p.m. Sunday, with the Harvey Black chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy conducting the dedication.
Afterward, all the Jennelles will head for Blacksburg's "Caboose Park" for a picnic and reunion. Cheryl says she has lots of the name tags for the Jennelles they've never met. The family welcomes anybody with a Jennelle in their family tree.
This weekend won't end the work, however. "We're still finding little bits and pieces" about the brothers and the Jennelle family, Roy said. Cheryl says the goal is to write a book, with family photographs included.
"It's brought us all closer together," Roy said.
by CNB