The Jennette Family of Lightkeeper Lore



Everyone has seen images of the famous lighthouses of North Carolina, but only recently did I discover our family's close connection to them.

The famous Cape Hatteras Lighthouse has stood since 1870.

My grandfather, Joe Jeanette, descended from a Williamson County, Tennessee family of blacksmiths. His father, Ben Jeanette, moved to Ohio in 1916 for a job with the Pennsylvania Railroad when my grandfather was just an infant. Joe and most of his family believed the Jeanettes originated in France, settled in French Canada, and then New York, Kentucky, and Thompson's Station south of Nashville, Tennessee, a family of loggers.

But researchers now agree that these Jeanette ancestors received bad information somewhere along the line, because before Tennessee and Kentucky, census data traces them to the eastern counties of North Carolina, along the barrier islands and on the mainland along the various waterways.

So my research took me to North Carolina's Outer Banks and a branch of the family that settled in the south end of Hatteras Island, in and around the town of Buxton.

Joseph Claud Jennette and his wife, Terah Levena (Williams) Jennette

I focused my research on Joseph Claud Jennette, who lived his entire life on Hatteras Island. Joseph is believed to have descended from the same John Jennett line from which my Jeanette line descended, although the exact connection remains a bit fuzzy. Joseph was born in 1805 and died in 1866. He married Terah Levena Williams, and they had about a dozen kids.


During the 1700's, shipwrecks became all too common off the Cape near what was known as the Diamond Shoals, where the warm Gulf Stream from the south collides with the cold Labrador current from the north. It was so bad that the area became known as the "Graveyard of the Atlantic." So around 1800, the United States Congress appropriated funds to construct a lighthouse on Hatteras Island. The four acres of land for the project was purchased from four Jennett orphans, William, Mary, Jabez, and Aquilla, by the U.S. Treasury Department for the purchase price of $12.50 per acre.



The original Hatteras Lighthouse was completed in 1803.

Joseph Jennette was the chief keeper of this lighthouse from 1843 into the 1850's. After that, many of his sons, in-laws, and grandsons also served as either chief lightkeeper or as an assistant. His son Joseph Edward Jennette manned the lighthouse after his return from the Civil War, where he fought for the Confederacy in North Carolina's 1st Infantry. Another son, Benjamin Claud Jennette, was keeper of the light from 1868 to 1871. You can check out the entire list of Hatteras lighthouse keepers here... Hatteras Keepers.


Benjamin Fulcher Jennette,
grandson of Joseph and Terah

Mariners complained that the lighthouse was inadequate, so improvements were made in 1853. It was increased by 60 feet to a new height of 150 feet. It was also painted red at the top and equipped with a brighter light, illuminated by refracted mirrors.

But by the 1860's, with the elements taking a toll on the structure, Congress again appropriated funds for a new and improved lighthouse. In 1870, construction was completed on a 210 foot lighthouse, and the old structure was demolished the following year.

Unaka Benjamin Jennette cleaning the lenses

The Cape Hatteras lighthouse keepers were phased out by 1937 when the U.S. Coast Guard took over the duties. Unaka Jennette, great grandson of Joseph and Terah, served as the last lightkeeper from 1919 to 1937. In 1999, a major project was successfully completed to relocate the historic structure one-half mile to save it from the eroding coastline and encroaching sea.

Here is an entertaining story penned by Unaka's son, Rany Jennette, his memories of life around the lighthouse....  Cape Hatteras Lighthouse As I Knew It

About a mile from the lighthouse, in the town of Buxton, I found an old cemetery, just off Highway 12. Take a right turn onto Buxton Cemetery Road and drive about 100 yards along a very creepy lane. It is called Quidley Cemetery, or just Buxton Cemetery.




Scary cemetery lane

This cemetery is the final resting place for Joseph Claud and Terah Levena Jennette, and for many of their descenants. This branch of our family seems to have added an "e" to the end of the original "Jennett" version of the surname in the following generation or two.

Terah Levena Jeanette (1807-1882)

  

Joseph Claud Jennette (1805-1861)

It is unknown whether this branch of the family moved southward to Hatteras from the northern end of the outer banks, or if our John Jennett direct line moved northward from Hatteras to the area in the mainland just west of Roanoke Island.  The Jennett legacy in the outer banks dates back before 1700, and many researchers speculate that they might have coexisted with the native tribes that inhabited the area. There are many more mysteries to be solved.