Lapeer-Saint Clair County MI Archives Biographies.....Jenness, Isaac N. 1827 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com March 16, 2007, 1:57 am

Author: Chapman Bros. (1892)

ISAAC N. JENNESS. One of the largest landowners in Lapeer County is he whose
name appears above. He is a general farmer and business man, owning about seven
hundred acres of land in this county. He has a farm on sections 3 and 4, Attica
Township, of six hundred acres, to which he gives his special superintendence.
Mr. Jenness was born in Grafton County, N. H., August 22, 1827. He is a son of
Peter M. and Mary (Hall) Jenness, both natives of New Hampshire. The former was
born in 1788 and died in 1840. He was a general farmer and was also interested
to some extent in the lumber and stone business and was a very successful man.
Our subject's mother was born in 1791 and died in 1844. His paternal grandsire
was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. Isaac was twenty years of age when he
left home to take care of himself. Previous to that he had attended a district
school and had assisted his father on the farm. In 1846 he came to Michigan and
settled in the village of Almont, being there more or less until 1857 and was
engaged in the lumber business. A portion of that time, however, was spent in
Port Huron and St. Clair where he followed the same business and in which he was
very successful. From Almont Mr. Jenness came to Attica in 1851. There was no
village here at that time and not even a house was constructed. He purchased a
tract of land and built a mill and had it run for him until 1857, when he
removed to Attica village.

  Our subject was first engaged on coming here in sawing lumber for the local
demands of building, but when that demand ceased he floated the logs to Port
Huron for lumber purposes, keeping up this business until the Grand Trunk
Railroad was built through Attica in 1870. In 1867 he built the sawmills on Elk
Lake and one of these is still standing. There he sawed and shipped the lumber
and worked at the business until 1882, since which time the pine interests in
that vicinity have been small.

  In 1869 Mr. Jenness built the block at present occupied by him as a store. It
was run in connection with his lumber business at first, but since 1882 he has
confined his attention to the store and to the conduct of his farm. The house in
which he at present resides was built in 1857. Mr. Jenness has controlled over
twenty thousand acres of land in Lapeer County, always having been interested in
dealing in real estate. His farm is an excellent one, its owner being a
thoroughly practical agriculturist.

  The original of our sketch was married December 25, 1850, to Miss Eliza A.
Nye, of Attica. She is a daughter of Horatio Nye. This union was blest by the
advent of one child, but the little one was taken away in infancy. Our subject
is a Republican in politics. He was present at the formation of the Republican
party in the city of Jackson. He has always refused public office, although his
qualifications as a far-seeing business man of excellent judgment and a large
landowner have qualified him especially for such a position. During the days of
the lumber prosperity in this portion of the State Mr. Jenness had constantly
employed one hundred men in the summer and about three hundred in the winter and
his pay-roll aggregated thousands of dollars annually. From 1869 to 1879 he
manufactured one hundred and thirty-seven million feet of lumber in this
vicinity. On his advent into the country it was a wilderness and heavily covered
with pine mixed with oak. Our subject has been instrumental in developing this
section, by his individual efforts securing the post-office and also the
express-office here. He was the first Postmaster appointed in Attica and the
first year took charge of the office for $10 for the sake of getting it
established. He held the position for fifteen years.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

Portrait and Biographical Record of Genesee, Lapeer and Tuscola Counties,
Michigan, Containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative
Citizens, Together with Biographies of all the Governors of the State, and of
the Presidents of the United States

Chicago:
Chapman Bros.
1892


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