Thomas Marion Fennell

1878-1951 · Tennessee

Born 1878, Tennessee

Died 1951

Father: Francis Marion Fennell

Mother: Sarah Jane Eddy

Children include Ora

Thomas Marion Fennell was born on 1 April 1878 in Tennessee. When he applied for a Social Security number he gave his birthplace as McMinnville, the seat of Warren County in Middle Tennessee, and his parents as Marion F. Fennell and Sarah J. Eddy.

He came west to Texas as a young man. In June 1897, at nineteen, he took out a license in Fannin County, Texas, to marry Minnie Belle Fennell, a Texas girl of fourteen who already bore his surname. In June 1900 the couple were farming in Justice Precinct 6 of Lamar County, Texas, in the Red River country northeast of Dallas, with two small daughters, Lizzie and Gertie.

The family later lived in Fannin County, Texas, the next county west. About 1914 to 1916 they crossed the Red River into McCurtain County, Oklahoma, and settled near Valliant. Thomas registered there for the First World War draft in 1918, giving his birth date as 1 April 1876. In 1920 he was farming in McCurtain County with Minnie and their children Leonard, Clarence, Harold and Allie. His youngest child, Ora Delane, was born at Rufe in 1921.

His parents and several brothers and sisters came to the same corner of Oklahoma. His father Francis Marion Fennell died at Valliant in 1924, and his mother Sarah Jane died at Rufe in 1916. His brother Jim and sister Hattie were still living at Valliant when he died.

He farmed for the rest of his working life and was a member of the Baptist church. The 1950 census still found him in McCurtain County, aged about 72.

He died at his home at 8:30 on a Friday evening, 28 September 1951, after a long illness. He was 73. Services were held at 2 p.m. the next Monday at Mound Grove, with the Rev. H. W. Young officiating, under the direction of Coffey funeral home. His bearers were George Donalson, Clem Fagan, Roy Wilson, Leslie Mitchell, Jack Boucher and A. P. Barnett. His obituary places the service at Mound Grove cemetery. His headstone, a double stone shared with Minnie, stands in Moran Cemetery near Valliant, the cemetery Minnie's own obituary names in 1956.

Parents

Sarah Jane Eddy (1842-1916)

Francis Marion Fennell 1844-1924

Children

Ora Delane Fennell 1921-2012

Sources

McCurtain Gazette (Idabel, Oklahoma), Wednesday 3 October 1951, page 1; clipping on Find a Grave memorial 9541162, added 23 August 2026.

Find a Grave memorial 9541162, Moran Cemetery, Valliant, McCurtain County, Oklahoma; photograph added by Sandie Manning Lambert, 9 October 2004.

McCurtain Gazette (Idabel, Oklahoma), obituary of Mrs. Minnie Fennell, late November 1956; transcribed on Find a Grave memorial 9541157, where the date is printed as Wednesday, November 28, 1958.

United States, Social Security Numerical Identification Files (NUMIDENT), 1936-2007, Thomas Marion Fennell, born 1 April 1877; FamilySearch.

United States Census 1900, Texas, Lamar County, Justice Precinct 6; FamilySearch.

United States Census 1920, Oklahoma, McCurtain County; FamilySearch 1:1:M2S6-CFR.

United States, World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918, Oklahoma, McCurtain County, Thomas M. Fennell; FamilySearch 1:1:KZDF-259.

United States, Social Security Numerical Identification Files (NUMIDENT), Thomas Marion Fennell, born 1 April 1877; United States Census 1900, Justice Precinct 6, Lamar County, Texas; World War I Draft Registration Cards, McCurtain County, Oklahoma (FamilySearch 1:1:KZDF-259); United States Census 1920 and 1950, McCurtain County, Oklahoma (FamilySearch 1:1:M2S6-CFR, 1:1:6FS6-49F6); McCurtain Gazette (Idabel), 3 October 1951, page 1; Find a Grave memorial 9541162

The Bonham News (Bonham, Texas), Vol. 32, No. 4, Friday, 25 June 1897, page 3; Portal to Texas History, ark:/67531/metapth913076.

If Thomas Marion Fennell is in your family, start your own tree.

Cite: Heirology, "Thomas Marion Fennell (1878-1951)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/thomas-marion-fennell-1878-1951-ffabbe.