FENN FAMILY HISTORY IN BEDFORDSHIRE Grams-Issac-John-George-William-“Father” John

John Fenn (farmer) and Martha

John Fenn's home is listed with the National Trust: Little Hill just off the A4146 (between Stanbridge Rd with Mead Open Farm) and Church Turn: Billington, Central Bedfordshire LU7 9, UK

Note: The steam-engine narrow gauge railway in Leighton Buzzard, a nearby town, did not come in until 1919. Each Tuesday in Leighton Buzzard is Market Day on The High St. in Leighton Buzzard (GPS: postcode is LU7 1DN).

FAMILY HISTORIES FOR THOSE WHO LIVED IN ONE OR MORE OF THESE 3 VILLIAGES

  • John Fenn (“Father Fenn”) was born in 1776. At the age of 25, he married ~18 year old Martha Wells in Leighton Buzzard on 9 July 1801. John was a prosperous farmer in Billington and owned a “fine home” called Little Hill; the National Trust of England placed a preservation order on the structure in 1966. The home was old and dark, with heavy structural beams, a solid house with a curved staircase going up to the bedrooms. When John and Martha lived there, they had 8 acres of land (around the house, I imagine). It seems that John, Martha and their ten children that did live to maturity, lived and worked in Great Billington and worshiped in nearby Leighton Buzzard. John and his family belonged to the Wesleyan Methodist Church—that is until the missionaries came to his town. By the time the missionaries came, Martha had died at the age of 43. John and his second wife, Ann Cherry Fenn, with their two children, first heard the LDS missionaries preach in 1846. Two years later, Elder Robert Hodgert from Scotland recorded in his journal, “I preached at Eaton Bray and ordained Father John Fenn an Elder. He was the first who lodged the Elders and opened his house for preaching and joyfully assisted in the rolling of the work of God in Eaton Bray ...The Eaton Bray Branch took the lead of all others for increase of members. Nothing else was talked except this new doctrine and these men who are turning the world upside down.” Ann and her two children were baptized in September 1846. John's oldest living son, our ancestor, William (age 43) and William's son George (~age 16) were baptized three months later. John was baptized the following month, in January 1847. Two of John's married daughters and a son were baptized the next year and yet another grown son was later baptized. The Fenns belonged to the Edelesbrough Ward, London Conference in the British Stake. After John joined the LDS church, “he was arrested because he refused to leave every tenth sheaf of grain in the field for the Church of England minister. This incurred his indignation, and he resolved to emigrate to Utah. Some of his family were opposed to the venture. January 8, 1851, under the direction of President Franklin D. Richards, John, Ann, their two children (now ages 17 and 19) and grandson George (age 21), set sail for New Orleans, out of Liverpool, along with 461 other Latter-day Saints on the ship Ellen. The saints were divided into 12 wards. Each ward had its own presidency and each six wards had a president. The first twelve hours under way went well; there was a fair wind. Then Ellen “collided with a schooner, breaking her jib boom and mainyards and foreyards.” The following day, the Captain put into Cardigan Bay in North Wales for repairs. The Captain grew impatient at the delay. Apparently, he put Ellen to sea again on January 23, despite the winds being “adverse and at gale force.” A few days later, the weather became pleasant and “fair winds continued until the vessel dropped anchor in New Orleans”—50 days after leaving Cardigan Bay. During the ocean crossing there were 10 deaths, 1 birth, 6 weddings and 70 cases of measles. Five days after arriving in New Orleans, the Saints from Ellen then took a steamer up the Mississippi to St. Louis, landing March 26. John's war-wounded leg (against France) kept him, Ann and their son from going on to Utah, so they stayed in St. Louis, where John died in St. Louis, six years after he initially arrived in St. Louis, at about age 81. Grandson George left for Utah shortly after they arrived in St.Louis, settling for a time in Manti. John encouraged his and Ann's now 20 year old daughter to immigrate to UT; she did so the year after they arrived in St. Louis. She married a man who was on Ellen with them, and settled in Provo. See below for the account of John's oldest living son William arrival in Utah in 1855. Another one of John's children immigrated to Utah—the previously widowed daughter Mary Ann Fenn Bird and five of her children joined the Willey Handcart company; Mary Ann and these five children arrived in the valley in November 1856.
  • William Fenn, son of “Father” John Fenn (see above) was born in Billington, in 1803. (Like Opa's found Henry, William was named after the brother just older than he who died as a youngster. William was a farmer and worked as an enumerator in the 1841 and 1851 census—hence he could read and write well. His feelings about religion and government were perhaps mirrored in the christening of his children. His oldest two were christened in the Church of England in Billington. The next two were christened in the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel at Eaton Bray. The next child, named after her grandmother, was not christened at all. That leaves the youngest four children, born over a span of seven years—all christened on the same day at the Church of England in Billington. The youngest was just over a year old when these four were christened. The christening account gets muddier, as the older children, parents and grandparents were baptized into the LDS church about 6 months and 3 years prior to the births and the Church of England christening of the last two children born into this family. William and his son oldest son George were baptized the same day, 14 December 1846. In the 1851 census, William was listed as a 47 year old farmer of 12 acres, employing one laborer living. William, along with his wife Sarah Reeve (who was also born in Bedfordshire) and their seven children, a daughter in law and 3 grandchildren, sailed in 1854 out of Liverpool to New Orleans. They then all took a steam ship to St. Louis, at a cost of $3.50 per person for those 14 years and older, and half price for those younger than 14. Later on that year, while in St. Louis, William's wife Sarah, two of their children, and a grandson died from cholera. Newly-widowed William and three of his four unmarried children, crossed the plains, arriving in Utah 16 months after arriving in New Orleans. William's other single son came to Utah sometime in the next 3 years, married, had children, and along with the son whose two young children died on the journey to UT, “had some sort of dispute with someone” and decided to leave Utah. They left Provo with their families and cattle, etc. Indians apparently “stole all their livestock.” After these two families moved to Iowa, they became affiliated with the Reorganized LDS Church. William settled in Provo, remarried, and had a farm and cattle at Wallsburg near Heber. It is likely that William died by drowning in the Provo River in 1860.
  • William's son, George Fenn, was born in Billington, Bedfordshire in 1830 and christened in Leighton Buzzard. As noted above, George was baptized in December 1846, when he was 16 years old. In 1851, he sailed to New Orleans, and steamed to St. Louis with his grandfather John, some additional relatives and many other saints (see John Fenn's entry above). The trip took a little less than 9 weeks. Leaving the rest of his relatives in St. Louis, George crossed the plains shortly after arriving in St. Louis and settled in Manti, UT. The following year, he was called to serve a mission in England, so back he went. While in Bedfordshire, George married Eliza(beth) Ann Dyer (who was born in Eaton Bray and was a widow with a ~four or five year old daughter named Ann. Ann was a “plaiter,” someone who made straw hats, basktes, etc. from wheat straw which was plentiful in Bedfordshire. George was instrumental in persuading many Saints to come to Utah, among whom was his father, William Fenn. William and his large family sailed to New Orleans two days after George’s son John was born. (John is Gram’s paternal grandfather). About one year later, George, Eliza, Ann and John sailed to NY in 1855, and traveled on to St. Louis, living there for a couple of years when they were called during conference in St. Louis to settle in Nebraska and help establish new settlements. Later they moved to Council Bluffs, where Eliza and her premature twins died alone in childbirth in 1860. About four months later, George and his three children (Ann Ward-11, John-6, Alfred-3) crossed the plains with a wagon company and settled in Provo for a time until President Young asked him to settle in Gunnison, UT. George drove the mail and express wagon between Gunnison and Monroe, UT during the time of the Black Hawk Indian War. At the age of 51, George moved to Salina and became a farmer. He quarried rock salt, boiled it and sold it to his neighbors. George died in Salina, at the age of 74.

BEDFORDSHIRE HISTORY

The villages of Eaton Bray, Leighton Buzzard and Billington are within a few miles of each other. The village Eaton Bray was once known as Eitone, or “Island Settlement”, a reference to the streams that surround it. The town was here prior to the Norman invasion.

Leighton Buzzard is five miles from Eaton Bray. There are a number of theories concerning the derivation of the town's name, but the most likely is that "Leighton" is an Old English term, meaning a “clearing in the wood.” The "Buzzard" was added by the Dean of Lincoln, in whose diocese the town lay in the 12th century. Having two communities called "Leighton" and seeking some means of differentiating them, he added the name of his local Prebendary or representative to that of the town. At that time it was a Theobald de Busar and so over the years the town became known as Leighton Buzzard. (The other Leighton became Leighton Bromswold.)

Billington is 3 miles south of Leighton Buzzard. “Father” John Fenn's home and 8 acres were in Billington. There are two settlements: Little Billington and Great Billington. The village once had a common, where the peasants cultivated their own strips of land. The village contains some half timbered thatched cottages, in the area around the summit of the hill, and also some old farmhouses and cottages. One of the thatched cottages on top of the hill, has the dubious honor of having featured on countless chocolate boxes and biscuit tins. One of the most attractive houses in the village is Walker Farm, a brick and timber house dating from the 16th century. Its once thatched roof is now tiled.