Descendants of Captain Arthur Fenner

Kenneth Raymond Fenner

**Kenneth & Bess,** 1922. Courtesy of Rick Buckingham.

[b 10 July 1901 at Alfred, Allegany Co., NY; d 23 Aug. 1965 at Baltimore, MD] Kenneth Raymond Fenner and his siblings were raised on a farm in Coneville, Potter Co., PA. “One of his childhood memories was of seeing Halley’s Comet when it appeared over North America in May 1910.”[1] As a young man, Kenneth worked as a clerk in a general store in Coudersport, where his father Olin was the manager. On 9 Jan. 1922, Kenneth eloped to marry Bessie (“Bess”) Norton [b 7 Feb. 1900 at Annin Creek, McKean Co., PA; d 8 Oct. 1971 at Baltimore, MD] at Port Allegany, McKean Co., PA, by a Justice of the Peace. Bess was the daughter of Claude W. Norton and Anna Holcomb.

Not academically gifted or advantaged, Ken learned to work with his hands, and grew strong from his regular farm chores, a ruggedly handsome youth. In his senior year, Ken found himself in the classroom of a serious young teacher named Miss Norton, just out of college, who was only eighteen months older than he. He took a fancy to his new teacher and tried in various ways to impress her. Perhaps it was his infectious humor, or his good looks, or his moral rectitude, or perhaps the combination of these qualities, but in any event, he won her heart, and at the age of twenty, he dropped out of college after one year and married her. He was working at the time as a clerk in Coudersport, Potter County, probably in his father’s General Store. Apparently self-conscious about the fact that his bride was a year and a half older than he, he lied about his age to the McKean County Justice of the Peace, M.A. Teater, and his birth year was recorded in McKean County as 1900.[1]

In 1923, Ken traveled with Bess and her family to Southern California, where they got involved with a farm in Glendale, CA, but within a year, they had all returned to Shinglehouse, PA. Originally members of the Baptist Church there, they transferred their membership to the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1928, and both Ken and Bess were active in the administration of the Sunday School. For several years, Ken worked in the oilfields in Pennsylvania (owned by his uncle Eldyn Fenner), hunted wild game, and learned carpentry.

One winter, probably about 1937–38. Ken was sent with another man, Bill Sutherland whose job was tool dresser, to perform some work at a drill site on a mountain. There was an accident, in which Sutherland was seriously injured. Ken knew his friend’s only hope was to get to a hospital as soon as possible. Heavy snowfall, however, had blocked the mountain service roads, and they were incommunicado with the outside world. Bandaging his fallen comrade as best as he could, Ken hoisted the man on to his back and gingerly carried him down the mountain in deepening snow. Finally arriving at a road, he found help and transport to the nearest hospital, where doctors informed him that he literally had saved the man’s life.[1]

After the tragedy of Pearl Harbor, 7 Dec. 1941, thrusting the U.S. into World War II, Ken took up work at a shipyard in Baltimore, MD. After World War II, Ken was one of many carpenters who found work under the Truman administration in post-war construction. He was “employed in the great renovation of the interior of the White House in Washington, DC [1948–1952]. He settled his family in a neighborhood of northwest Baltimore . . . [and] became a much loved and respected member of Howard Park Methodist Episcopal Church.”[2] In 1954, he built a brick house on an adjacent property for his daughter, Beverly.

Kenneth Raymond Jr. [b 29 Oct. 1924; d 13 June 2000 at Cape St. John, MD] m Isabelle Hughes.
Beverley Jean [b 20 Nov. 1929] m Kenneth Lee Buckingham.

Sources:
1. Rick Buckingham, The Book of Begats (rev. 2021), Line 2.
2. Rick Buckingham, Genealogy, 9.
3. Rick Buckingham, via Facebook, 9 April 2021. Pioneer Oil Museum >
4. Kenneth’s memorial at FindaGrave, no. 193785666