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Below is a family biography included in the Biographical Review Volume of Biographical Sketches of The Leading Citizens of Hampshire County, Massachusetts published by Biographical Review Publishing Company in 1896.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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DAVID A. JENNISON, proprietor of the Hampshire House in Ware, was born in Walpole, N.H., in 1837, son of John and Elvira (Russell) Jennison. His grandfather, who also bore the name of John Jennison, was a prosperous agriculturist. He married a Miss Moore, who bore him three sons and a daughter, as follows: Thomas, a farmer in Lancaster, N.H., who died past middle life, leaving two daughters; Ashley, who lived for a time in Lancaster, and afterward in New York State, and also died when past middle life, leaving a family of sons and daughters; Mary, the wife of Mr. Lovejoy, a merchant in Walpole, N.H.; and John. Their father died in 1825. His widow died several years later.

John Jennison, Jr., who was born in Walpole, N.H., in 1809, was brought up to farming; and he followed that occupation throughout his life in his native town. In 1829 he married Elvira Russell, a daughter of Thomas Russell, of Walpole. Nine children were born of their union, of whom seven sons and a daughter reached maturity. Six sons and the daughter are still living. They are: George, a successful farmer in Walpole; David A.; Charles, who served in the Civil War, and is now a commission merchant in Chicago, Ill., whither he went on his return from the war; Edwin, a carpenter in Walpole; Warren, who is also a carpenter, and resides in Athol, Mass.; Frank, living in Chicago; and Mary, the wife of Frank George, of Bellows Falls, Vt. John Jennison died in 1874, about forty years of age, leaving two sons and two daughters. The mother, after living to the advanced age of ninety-one years, died in January, 1894.

David A. Jennison received a good common-school education. At the age of eighteen years he started out for himself. At first he worked by the month on a farm. This he continued until 1858, when he came to Ware, Mass., to drive a wagon for his uncle, George Jennison, who had a prosperous grocery store and bakery. He had spent at this about three years, when in 1861, joined by Mr. Burns, a baker, he purchased the business of his uncle. During the succeeding three years they did a fairly profitable business. He then removed to Walpole, spent a year on a farm in Westminster, Vt., and conducted one of the Meadow farms for two years. When he gave up his last occupation, he moved to a farm of one hundred acres previously purchased by him in Walpole, and carried it on for three years. Selling this farm, he engaged in the sewing-machine business in Keene, N.H., for two years, after which he rented the Ludlow House in Ludlow, Vt. Having conducted the hotel for two years, he sold out in April, 1874, took a lease of the Summit House in Athol, Mass., in the following June, and managed that for four years. He then came to Ware, and purchased the Hampshire House, for which he paid the sum of twenty-seven thousand five hundred dollars. After running it for five and a half years, he sold the furniture, and gave a lease of it for ten years to John W. Lawton. Mr. Lawton died before the expiration of the lease; and in the winter of 1892 Mr. Jennison bought the interest of the estate, and has himself since that time conducted the hotel. It is a solid brick structure, three stories in height, contains thirty rooms, and is the leading hotel of the place. About the time Mr. Jennison leased the Hampshire House he purchased a farm of one hundred and forty acres within the limits of the corporation, and resided there during a portion of the time that Mr. Lawton had charge of the hotel.

In February, 1861, he was united in marriage with Miss Louisa Brockway, a daughter of Jesse and Mary (Pratt) Brockway. They have lost the only child born of their union; namely, Norman Jennison, who died in 1873, at seven years of age. Mr. Jennison is a faithful supporter of the Republican party, though he has never served in office. He is a member of the A. F. & A. M. In religious belief both he and his wife are Episcopalians.

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This family biography is one of the numerous biographies included in the Biographical Review Volume of Biographical Sketches of The Leading Citizens of Hampshire County, Massachusetts published in 1896. 

View additional Hampshire County, Massachusetts family biographies here: Hampshire County, Massachusetts Biographies

View a map of 1901 Hampshire County, Massachusetts here: Hampshire County Massachusetts Map

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