William Morgan Jennings, oldest child of Caleb and Sarah McElroy Jennings, was born in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama on May 24, 1831.This date is from the Jennings family Bible.

He grew up on his father's family farm in the southeastern part of Tuscaloosa County, with his sister and four brothers. For reasons unknown, William Morgan did not receive any formal education. His signature was an (X), his mark.

On the 12th of August, 1858 William Morgan married Miss Sarah Frances Bowen, in the home of the bride's parents. She was the only daughter of Stephen Bowen and Mary Permelia Clementine Killingsworth, who owned a farm near the Jennings farm at Cottondale, Alabama.

William Morgan also served in The Civil War with Company B, Alabama Camp of Instruction at Talladega, Alabama. After the war, he returned home, walking and in tattered clothing. The children, playing in the yard, did not recognize him.

William and Sarah Frances continued to farm and bring up their children in Tuscaloosa during the days of Reconstruction. Three daughers, Nancy, Mary and Illena worked in a cotton mill in Cottondale, near their home. The boys worked on the family farm. Daughter, Nova Ann, died before the family moved from Alabama to Texas.

In 1884, he moved his family to Texas traveling in wagons drawn by oxen. They settled near Nolanville, Bell County, Texas and then moved to Oenaville in Bell County. We do not know what became of the farm back in Tuscaloosa, AL. The original deed to the property was brought with them to Texas and is in the possession of their great grandaughter, Clara Ivy Rich.

After living in Bell County for about eight years, the Jennings family moved to southeastern Leon County, Texas in 1892. Here, William Morgan died on July 10, 1896 and is buried in the Pleasant Grove Cemetery near the Middleton Community. His grave was unmarked, until his grandson, the late William Wade Jennings remembered that his father, Jasper Newton had told him about the cemetery, and went to search for his grave. When Wade was 18 years old, about 1914, the grave site was already lost.

In 1981, great, great grandaughter, Sharon Harrison Grimm, researched his Civil War records. She applied to the Veterans Administration for a government marker. This memorial to William Morgan Jennings was placed in the Pleasant Grove Cemetery.

William Morgan and Sarah Frances Jennings children:


1. Nancy Clementine
2. Mary Luisa
3. James Jackson
4. Willie Harriett Illena
5. Jasper Newton
6. Arlie Vanna
7. Nova Ann Permelia
8. Isaac Edward

After his death, Sarah Frances moved to Houston County, living with her children. They lived near the Alabama Ferry on the Trinity River. The last days of her life were with her widowed daughters, Nancy Cornwall and Mary Story, in the Wesley Chapel Community.