Descendants of Captain Arthur Fenner

Eldyn Locke Fenner

 

[b 22 July 1898 at Alfred, NY; d 12 Oct. 1972 at Olean, NY; bur Shinglehouse, PA] On 24 Aug. 1918 at Niagara Falls, NY, Eldyn Locke Fenner m 1st Helena Pauline Bradley [b 8 May 1899 in Ransomville, KY; d 28 Dec. 1978 at Newfane, NY]; they divorced ca. 1920–1925. He m 2nd Helen Myrick [b 31 Jan. 1901 at Shinglehouse, PA; d 28 Nov. 1984] on 26 Nov. 1925, daughter of Isaac Myrick and Amanda Olive Huber. Eldyn started out as a farmer, but he later developed a successful oil and gas drilling business.

Richard Lee Buckingham, a descendant of Eldyn’s uncle Olin Smith Fenner, offered these recollections:

I remember Eldyn as a very kind and humble man. Although he had money, he lived very modestly in an old family home in Shinglehouse, Pennsylvania. His only “splurge” was the purchase of a nice boat, which he kept out of sight in his backyard garage so as not to appear uppity to his neighbors.

The family story I heard was that his father, Henry Edgar Fenner, and my great-grandfather, Olin Smith Fenner, who were brothers, went together in an oil producing company. For a long time the company was not profitable, so eventually Olin sold most of his interest to Eldyn; then Eldyn’s company struck oil! I do not know if any of the other brothers, Ellery Maxson, Albert Smith or Elim Elisha, were also partners. What I do know is that my widowed grandmother was still receiving a small annual pittance, representing my grandfather’s 1/16th of a share—or whatever it was—until her death in 1972. At that point, the profit was mainly coming from the storage of natural gas.

Again, these are a child’s memories, so I cannot vouch for their accuracy. My grandfather, Kenneth Raymond Fenner, and his younger brother, Alfred Gerald Fenner, both worked in the Pennsylvania oil fields. I can remember as a boy rising early in the morning to go and watch my uncle Al “blow” a well—he was the nitroglycerin handler! That morning we saw no oil spout, only the water that was poured in above the explosive. Still it was quite exciting. There is a nice little Oil Museum near Boliver, New York, which mentions some of the Fenners.

Child of Eldyn & Helena Bradley:

  1. Marjory [b 20 Oct. 1919 in NY; d 6 Sept. 1998 in Ransomville, KY] m George Lederhouse.

Children of Eldyn & Helen Myrick:

  1. Mary Louise [b 24 Apr. 1928 at Olean, NY; 26 Feb. 1990 at Niagara Falls, NY] m Keith Rennard Rushton [1920–1989] on 20 Aug. 1960.

  2. Twin boys [b/d 22 May 1930].

  3. Henry Edgar II [b 11 Oct. 1932 in Olean, NY; d 17 July 2022] m Ruth Ann Elliott. 

Lineage:
Arthur | Thomas | Thomas | William | Stephen | Isaac | Elisha | Henry | Eldyn

Sources:
1. Eldyn’s memorial at FindaGrave.com, no. 30946497
2. Email from Doris Demet to Chris Fenner, 3 Aug. 2017.
3. Email from Richard Arthur Fenner, 26 April 2020.
4. Richard Lee Buckingham, via Facebook, 9 April 2021.