Mary Elizabeth Nanney, (b. Aug. 26, 1920-Madison Co., Tenn.) was
married to Orson Kenneth Watlington on May 1, 1942 at the home of
her parents, Spurgeon Arthur and Vora Tenry Nanney, on Manley Road
near Malesus, Tenn. Her parents had lived and worked in several places
before settling on a farm near the home of his Grandmother Mary Ada
McVey Nanney. Mrs. Mary A. C. Nanney had come from Itawamba Co.,
Miss., in the 1880's with seven children to live near relatives in Madison
Co., Tenn.
Further investigation has traced the Nanney lineage into Brunswick
Co., Va., to John Nanney, Sr. (ca. 1720-1788) who married
Frances Howard. Their son Uriah Howard Nanney was an Ensign in the
Navy during the American Revolution
and is a direct ancestor of Mary Elisabeth Nanney through his son John
Howard Nanney and Spurgeon Arthur Nanney.
Research for the Nanney ancestry has been done by Frances
Elaine Nanney, a cousin of Mary Elisabeth, and circulated by her and
Lynn Edward Fussell.
Research on the Tenry (Tenery) family has been less extensive,
but Tenry relatives were Methodists at Morris Chapel, Milledgeville
and Adamsville in West Tennessee, which are in Chester, Hardin and
McNairy Counties. Allied families included those of Mary Elizabeth
Jane Fields, Newton Fields and Mary Ann Cherry.
A recent publication, Chester County Tenn. 1882-1995,
History and Families[22], on page 140
traces the Tenry/Tenery families in Tennessee thru a William Daniel
Tenery (b. 1789) who came to Giles County, Tenn., before 1815. He
raised twelve children by two wives, eight by Nancy Young and four by
Casey McCormick (b. 1786). The oldest child by Casey, Lewis
Washington Tenery (1836-1897) came to Marl Bluff, Henderson
Co., Tenn., where he married Margaret Elizabeth Vernon (b. 1834)
and had two children: William Thomas (1856-1884) and James Robert
(1860-1934), who was the father of Katy Vora Tenry who married
Spurgeon Nanney. Both Vora and Spurgeon Nanney were born in Chester
Co., though his Grandmother Nanney settled with her seven children
near the Parkburg Community in Madison, Co., Tenn.
Tenery descendents in Chester Co. include children of Dennis Hall
Latham, Jr. who married Joyce Evelyn Stanfill (1937-1974) and Joel
Thomas Stanfill who married Eva Ida Tenery, a sister to Katy Vora
Tenry.