Evermore Genealogy

James and Nancy Hennesy’s House

I took this photo from Jeff Hennesy’s website. The house is identified as being the old home of James and Nancy Caroline Hennesy.

However, Ethel Hennesy identified this photo as being of their house that was destroyed by a tornado, she said, in 1909-1910, and Curtis Hennesy said instead it was in 1912.

The first house looks close to a sidewalk or a very smooth earthen street that has little definition left, and shows no tall trees behind. The second house has tall trees in the background, seems far removed from a road or sidewalk, and seems to show no indication of the chimney that would have been on the right. The first house couldn’t be post reconstruction (if it was reconstructed) because it would have taken some time for the foliage in the yard to grow up around the house as it has. And why would it be identified as James and Nancy’s house if this was one rebuilt after he had died?

Questions, questions.

Curtis Hennesy noted that a letter from a C. C. S. (abbreviation by C. Hennesy) reported that the Hennesys lived in Bailey’s Mill, 1st Ward, which is near old Nebo Church in what is now Tangipahoa Parish. He mentioned elsewhere that they lived between James Hennesy’s store and Lular Hennesy’s House.

I’ve never been able to locate Nancy in the 1920 census.

Comments

  1. Jeff Hennesy Avatar

    Hi Julie,

    I’ve rebuilt my website and the pages have different html labels now. I turned up two pictures of very old houses that have been identified as Marion Isaac’s house and James Hennesy’s house. I wonder if they are labeled correctly. Please visit the new site (www.hennesy.net) when you have a chance and see if there are any new pictures that you haven’t seen. I am also building a page of unknown photos that are of the Hennesy line from that area. Hopefully, we can put some eyes on them to get them identified.

    Thanks and take care,

    Jeff Hennesy

  2. admin Avatar
    admin

    Jeff, I can’t tell you if they’re labeled correctly or not. I can say that the photo we have here of the tornado house doesn’t appear to be the same house you have identified as the old house of James and Caroline. This devastated house has tall pine trees in the rear and appears to have no landscaping around the house, whereas your house, identified as James and Caroline’s, does not show these tall pines behind and one can see through the fence slats a number of bushes. Jean is here and I showed her the pictures and she doesn’t know either what would be correct. At least one of the photos appears to be misidentified but I’ve no idea which one it would be. At the same time, the photos you have that are given as being James and Marion’s houses, are so similar that one wonders if they were built at about the same time and if they were built by the same people (family) or do they merely represent a type of house that was ubiquitous for the area? I wish I knew the answers to these questions.

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