CENTRE LINES

The PENNINGTON Family

This column is part of a feature series which focuses on a different Centre County family each week. Five new columns will be released each month unless some technical difficulty enters the picture.

This column's focus is on Pennington. An effort has been made to identify all persons carrying that name in the 1890 U.S. Census, using the Centre County business directory which was formed from a preliminary review of that census before the larger set of 1890 U.S. Census records was destroyed by fire. (Sadly, the postal directory does not typically provide the ages of females, but it's the best record we've got).

There are four books in the Pennsylvania Room of the Centre County Library in Bellefonte that apparently deal in part with the Pennington family. They are: Sandra Daugherty's Father Pennington's Chapel (Bellefonte, Pa., 1977), and three volumes of Pennington Pedigrees A Magzine for Pennington Cousins (Vols. 3, 4, 5).

There are 20 first-name entries for Pennington in John Blair Linn's History of Centre and Clinton County (1883). In addition, there are several mentions of the name in Beers' Commemorative Biographical Record of Central Pennsylvania (1898).

And, now, your ancestors' Pennington neighbors in 1890:

BELLEFONTE Borough:

John, 21, machinist--112 E. Logan Levi, 37, laborer--19 N. Penn Tamazine Maud Thomas 8 Tamazine Jr. Jennie May Thomas, 65, laborer--128 Decatur Alley Mary Benjamin 21

HARRIS Township:

Levi, 35, laborer--Boalsburg Mary Nettie E. Mary

HUSTON Township:

Francis, 36, farmer--Martha Elizabeth Laura E. Harry 11 Jerry 9 Esther Charles 5 Gray 3

MARION Township:

Clayton O., 14--Walker

PATTON Township:

James H., 49, farmer--Fillmore Harriet Lizzie Mary--Buffalo Run

POTTER Township:

Anna E.--Tusseyville Catharine--Centre Hill

RUSH Township:

John, 26, laborer--Retort Agnes E. Frederick J.