2.12.3.2. Marvin Edward Jennings, Sr. (1901-1961)

Marvin Edward Jennings was born on 16 November 1901 in Roanoke, Virginia, to Charles Edward Jennings and his second wife, Effie Beard. He was their third child and his father was a grocer. In December 1905, Charles and Effie had another child, but she died six months later. The infant died a month after that. Marvin's father Charles had a partner in the grocery business, who apparently, ran off with all the money. So Charles lost the store and became a carpenter by 1910. He was 67 years old with three children for which to care.

On 9 August 1911 Marvin's half-brother, Daniel Jennings, sent an application to the Lutheran Orphanage in Salem, Virginia, and Marvin, who was ten years old, was accepted by the orphanage. His father paid the orphanage $8.50 a month for his care.

Marvin Edward Jennings, Sr., and an unknown woman; personal
collection

When the 1920 census was enumerated, Marvin Jennings lived with his half-brother Daniel's family at 424 Washington Avenue in Roanoke and worked as a clerk for the Norfolk and Western Railway. In 1923 he was transferred to War, West Virginia, and met Alice Muir. After dating for a few months, she moved back to East St. Louis, Illinois. However, upon discovering she was pregnant, she wrote to Marvin. He quit his job, moved to East St. Louis and married Alice on 13 May 1924. In East St. Louis he got a job as a rate clerk for the Illinois Central Railroad where he was responsible for calculating the cost of freight transported by the railroad. This was complicated mathematics as the type of freight, weight and distance traveled were part of the equation.

Marvin and Alice lost their daughter, Pearl in December 1924, but in 1927 they had a son they named Marvin Edward Jennings, Jr., Their youngest son, my father, was born in 1931. By 1930 they lived at 8304 State Street in East St. Louis in a house they rented for $18 a month. The family had a radio.

Marvin lost his job with the railroad some time during the 1930s Depression and worked odd jobs to support his family though they did go on relief. But things had improved by 1940. They lived in a home they owned, valued at $900, at 427 North 82nd Street in East St. Louis and Marvin worked as a clerk again for the railroad. He made about $700.

In 1941, Marvin moved his family to Washington, DC, where they rented a row house, and he went to work for the federal government. They bought a house in the Spout Run area of Arlington a year or so later. He also became active in the International Order of Odd Fellows.

Marvin Edward Jennings died on 1 May 1961 at the age of 50 of a ruptured abdominal aorta at Northern Virginia Doctors Hospital. He was interred National Memorial Park in Falls Church, Virginia.

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1910 Federal Census, Census Place: Roanoke Melrose Ward, Roanoke (Independent City), Virginia; Roll: T624_T646; Page: 8A; Enumeration District: 125; Image: 403
1920 Federal Census, Census Place: Roanoke Highland Ward 2, Roanoke (Independent City), Virginia; Roll: T625_1912; Page: 15B; Enumeration District: 31; Image: 728
1930 Federal Census, Census Place: East St. Louis, St. Clair, Illinois; Roll: 557; Page: 13A; Enumeration District: 61; Image: 55.0; FHL microfilm: 2340292
1940 Federal Census, Census Place: Signal Hill, St. Clair, Illinois; Roll: T627_879; Page: 19B; Enumeration District: 92-35
Global, Find A Grave Index, 1607-2015, 1961 Marvin Edward Jennings, FAG Memorial #17662909
Genealogy Notebook of Alice (Muir) Jennings, page 10
Grand Encampment, International Order of Odd Fellows, Official Bulletin No. 5, 1 May 1961
Grand Encampment, International Order of Odd Fellows of the District of Columbia, letter 8 February 1962
Lutheran Orphanage Form of Application, 9 August 1911
'Marvin Edward Jennings and an Unknown Woman,' personal collection
Resolutions and Memorial on the Death of Brother Marvin Jennings, Mt. Pleasant Rebekah Lodge No. 9, International Order of Odd Fellows, 18 May 1961
US, City Directories, 1822-1989, 1926 East St. Louis, Illinois (Jennings, Marvin E.)
US, City Directories, 1822-1989, 1928 East St. Louis, Illinois (Jennings, Marvin E.)
US, City Directories, 1822-1989, 1930 East St. Louis, Illinois (Jennings, Marvin E.)
US, Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current, 1961 Marvin Edward Jennings, FAG Memorial #17662909
US, Illinois Marriage License,  No. H-11915
US, Illinois Marriage License 1924 Jennings, Marvin - Muir, Alice
US, Virginia Birth Records, 1864-2014, 1902 Delayed Certificate of Birth No. 1505
US, Virginia Death Certificate Number 285
US, Virginia Death Records, 1912-2014, 1961 Marvin E. Jennings, Sr., Certificate No. 12772