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Mary Jane Milne is my 7th Cousin, two times removed. She married Henry Smith Fenner. He was born in Smithfield, lived at Centerdale,(North Providence) and attended school there, then lived at Georgiaville. During 1862-1864, he kept a dairy of hiis daily activities. It is written in magnificent handwriting and contains many interesting comments and insights. Herny Smith was very handy with tools and the diary records his making a sled, a screw driver, a walnut mallet, a potato masher and a set of dominoes (made from mahogany). The diary also reveals several personality traits. Henry S. was apparently something of a hypocondriac, as the diary has numerous references to his health and how he seldom felt well,. He was somewhat intolerant of others, when their opinions and actions did not match his, but perhaps this was his youth speaking. Henry S. did the bookkeeping at the Georgia Mills and was in charge of the mill when his father was away. There are a number of references to the shortage of cash money, particularly coinage, during these Civil War years. When coins were available, there was a premium charged of up to 27%. This created problems paying the mill workers, so Henry S. resorted to a system of script money.
There is also and interesting note on 31 August 1862, reporting that there was a great scramble to get all of the cloth off the looms, cut and out of the mill before a new national tax went into effect on 1 September. All supplies and finished p products went to and from Georgiaville by horse-drawn wagon. Henry Smith was an avid reader, and he attempted to keep up on business matters. His note of 9 October 1862; "I have not done much today except read the 'U.S. Tax Payers Manual'. Quite Interesting." There are a numbver of references to the Civil War; (13 June 1862) "I saw a returned sailor who was on the Congress when captured by the Merrimac. His name is E. Morrissey. He tells of destitution in Virginia while he was a prisoner."; (5 August 1862) "Jeremiah Slocum returned home on furlough in hopes of revovering from Rheutmatism."; (12 August 1862) "There are a great many scared men about here on account of the prospect of a draft for active service. There are or wiwill be a great number of cripples young old and of all kinds not fit for service."; (25 August 1862) "The canvassing officer is about, looking for men 18-45."; (9 July 1863) "There is considerable excitement about now in consequence of the Drafft which is now going on in the city. Six of our village were drawn." Henry S. was educated in public schools in North Providence. On 25 May 1863, he began to study at Bryant, Statton and Masons Commercial College in Providence, and commuted from Georgiaville on the daily stage coach. There is no indication as to when this course ended, but Henry S. began another course at the Lapham Institute in Scituate on 30 Novemberr 1863. He boarded there during the week, and generally went home on the weekends to do the books at the mill. The studies included: bookkeeping Latin, Greek, Geometry, reading and Anabasis. The school was apparently very strict, as his note for 8 December 1863 reads: "This day several Scholars were expelled for violating the regulations and some were put on strict probation for walking with the other Sex." In the Census of 1865, Henry S. is listed as a clerk at Smithfield. In 1870, he graduated from Brown University with a Bachelor of Philosophy degree. He was brilliant in mathematics and was offered a professorship at Bates College. He chose to return to the textile business, and managed several mills in Rhode Island including the Union Mill on Main Street in East Greenwich. In 1875, Henry S. went to Fall River, Massachusetts, Superintendant of the Slade Mills (later the Ancona Corportaion). The following year he was made Treasurer, a position that he would hold for 27 years. On 12 December 1878, he married Mary Jane Milne at the Baptist Temple in Fall River, and they moved into a house on Middle Street. On 13 September 1879, Henry Milne Fenner was born. Sometime after this, there was a fire in the house, and Mary Jane, the baby and the family dog were hustled out of the house and put in a passing hack and sent to 272 June Street, the home of Henry Greene Fenner (where they lived for the remainder of their lives). Their furniture was thrown out of the windows. Henry S. was a Director of the Fall River Nationanal Bank from 1880 to 1903, a trustee of the Fall River Home for the Aged, a member of the Fall River Common Council, and an active member of the Brown Alunmi Association. He was a hard worker and a bug on cleanliness. During his lifetime, he hahad all of the carpets in the house (which were wall to wall carpets) taken up twice a year and taken out to be cleaned, while the help scubbed the floors on hands and knees. He saw to it that his sons had household and gardening duties. He posesed mental aritmetic questions to Henry M. at the table. On 11 march 1903, Henry Smith suffered a stroke at work and was partially paralysed. he recuperated at home, but he was never able to resume his duties and had to retire. A third stroke, in 1905 confined him to his room. he died 2 January 1907. He died intestate and insolvent. His son, Henry M., was executor and chose his uncle, Henry D. Milne, as appraiser. The bulk of his assets (44 shares of various Fall River textile concerns) was pledged as colateral on a note. The house valued at $8150., was sold on 23 July 1907 to John Cruichkshank Milne, for $5750., and was immediately given to his daughter, Mary Jane Milne Fenner. Henry Smith Fenner's obituary, in the Daily Globe, read, in part: "Mr. Fenner was a brilliant man, thoroughly posted in practical manufacturing and during his business career was popular with his associates and those who came into contact with him socially." "At the time he was a member of the city council....the halls rang with the sound of the voice of Mr. Fenner, who was ever ready to speak upon whatever subject was presented for discussion. His speeches here, as elsewhere, were eloquent and forceful and were given in the most scholarly and brilliant language and would have been read with attention in legislative bodies much higher than that in which they were delivered." "Personlly, Mr. Fenner was a most loveable man and always ready to assist those who came to him for advice or instruction and his mind was a store house of information, his retentive memory being a revelation to his friends." The Daily Herald's obituary noted: "He was a hard worker, devoting himself unsparingly to any duty which he undertook. he was a companionable man with a keen sense of humor that always made him welcome in social circles. Children of Henry Smith and Mary Jane Milne Fenner are recorded in this PAF Program. This information has come to me from Richard Greene Howland Knight III, for which we are very thankfull. Herman Tripp--Remembering......
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Tripp Families of North America
