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Jane preferred being called Janet.
Jane was born in about 1840 in Ontario, Canada (note birth dates vary - see Research Notes). Her parents were John Ellis Jennings (1807-1894) and Ann McIntyre Jennings (1814-1891). She was the third of twelve children.
Jane's family moved from Canada to Monroe, Green, Wisconsin in about 1852, and they remained there at least until her death in 1917.
In 1860, Jane is living with her parents and siblings. (Magg is listed as born in Canada, but that cannot be true if they immigrated in 1852).[1]
Household | Role | Sex | Age | Birthplace | Occupation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
John J Jennings | head | M | 52 | Pennsylvania | farmer |
Ann Jennings | wife | F | 45 | Canada | |
Jane Jennings | daughter | F | 21 | Canada | teacher |
Dudley Jennings | son | M | 19 | Canada | farmer |
Adaline Jennings | daughter | F | 17 | Canada | |
John Jennings | son | M | 16 | Canada | |
Ann Jennings | daughter | F | 14 | Canada | |
Barnelia Jennings | daughter | F | 11 | Canada | |
Magg Jennings | daughter | F | 9 | Canada | |
Mary Jennings | daughter | F | 5 | Wisconsin | |
Nettie Jennings | daughter | F | 2 | Wisconsin |
Her brother Guilford Dudley enlisted in the Civil War in 1861, and when he was severely wounded at the Battle of Chancellorsville, Jane went to the Washington Armory Square Hospital and nursed him back to health. She continued working at the hospital as a volunteer nurse.
She was single and too young to meet superintendent of nurses Dorothea Dix's requirements to serve as a nurse, however she found a way around these requirements by appealing to the head of Washington hospitals and was enlisted at Armory Square in 1864. Jane ended up taking charge of a few hospital units, and remained there until she was discharged in August 1865. She enlisted on 9 Aug 1864 and was discharged 9 Aug 1865. [2] During this time, Jane became close associates with Clara Barton.
After the Civil War, Jane remained in Washington, D.C., and became a government employee and reporter at the United States Treasury Department, and remained there for fifteen years. Following her government work, she became a freelance reporter and contributed articles to the New York Tribune and the Chicago Herald – Tribune, among others.
In 1880, Jane is living with her parents and siblings.[3]
Household | Role | Sex | Age | Birthplace | Occupation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
John C Jennings | head | M | 72 | Pennsylvania | farmer |
Ann Jennings | wife | F | 65 | Canada | keeping house |
Jane E Jennings | daughter | F | 38 | Canada | retired school teacher |
John C Jennings | son | M | 34 | Canada | farming |
Maggie Jennings | daughter | F | 26 | Wisconsin | at home |
Mary Jennings | daughter | F | 24 | Wisconsin | at home |
Nettie Jennings | daughter | F | 21 | Wisconsin | school teacher |
Freddie Lee | grandson | M | 9 | Wisconsin | at school |
At the breakout of the Spanish-American War in 1898, Jane, now 59 years old, used her ties with Clara Barton to acquire a Red Cross pass to go to Cuba as an affiliate and reporter. She had not planned on nursing in Cuba, but when she arrived, she found the hospitals desperate for aid. She tirelessly cared for patients and also submitted articles to newspapers. Shortly after arriving, Jane boarded the army ship, U.S.S. Seneca, with two inexperienced physicians, as the only nurse on board, and aided in the transfer of roughly 100 of the worst wounded and sick soldiers to New York. Conditions on the Seneca were horrific – unsanitary, putrid water, scarce food, and very few medical supplies. Jane worked twenty-four hours a day and succeeded in transporting every soldier to New York. She gained the nickname "Angel of the Seneca".
Arriving in New York, she reported to newspapers about the terrible and unsanitary conditions on the Seneca, and blamed the government for not providing appropriate transport for soldiers. Headlines read "A Filthy Transport" and "Voyage of Horror on Hospital Ship". President McKinley investigated, and confirmed Jane's claims. Changes were made to responsibilities for the fitting of hospital ships, and a nurse reserve corps was established to allow women to serve on the war front.
Following the war, she returned to Wisconsin continuing with her journalism and publishing two books about the Civil War – "Abraham Lincoln, the Greatest American" and "The Blue and the Gray".
In 1900, Jane is the head of household with her brother John and niece Dorothy Smith living with her. Jane and John immigrated to the United States in 1852.[4]
Household | Role | Sex | Age | Birthplace | Occupation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Janet Jennings | head | F | 56 (Dec 1844) | Canada | |
John Jennings | son | M | 50 | Canada | farming |
Dorothy Smith | niece | F | 13 | Wisconsin |
Jane suffered a stroke in 1915 and passed away 31 Dec 1917 in Washington, D.C. at her sisters home and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Monroe, Wisconsin.[5]
Birth date is uncertain. Sources indicate 1839, 1840, 1842 and 1844.
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