| Notes |
- The following narrative is taken from the book, "A Jennings Family Genealogy" compiled by Shirley A. Jennings Weber, copyrighted 1988.
Nothing is known about Charles's parents. Family tradition alleges--father died aboard ship and was buried at sea, shortly before his birth. Place of arrival in the New World for his mother is thought to be in South Carolina. Where, and how long his mother survived is not known. Her death, while he was still a young child, resulted in his being bonded out. Who became his guardian is unknown. Harsh treatment dealt out by his guardian motivated Charles into running away before he became of age. Also alleged, during a heated argument Charles hit his guardian with such force he believed he had killed him. This act prompted him to run away and find a way back to England.
In the early 1890's, when descendants of Charles were trying to prove their family heritage, Elizabeth, daughter of his son Ezekiel, related the following story about her grandfather and grandmother: "he started back to England and got on a ship and they came a storm and cast them away and they landed in Scotland from there they came back to Washington City married there and moved from there to North Carolina and died in North Carolina."
In the state of Maryland and located in St. Mary's County near where the moth of the Potomac River enters Chesapeake Bay, there is a town called Scotland. Records of that county indicate the town existed as early as 1710. When or where Charles met Elizabeth Bonafield is untold. Possibly on the ship headed for England, or perhaps it was after he landed. The birth of daughter Mary, in March, 1775, would indicate they were married by late spring or early summer, 1774.
One of the early churches of Prince Georges County, Maryland is St. Johns Broad Creek of Piscataway Parish. Recorded in the birth register of this church are two of Charles and Elizabeth's children, Mary, born 19 March, 1775 and Ezekiel, born 16 June 1785.
Possibly it was in the spring of 1797 that Charles left Maryland for North Carolina, possibly by way of the Occaneechi Path. This path was a major road to the Carolinas and Alabama, going through Virginia and the towns of Richmond and Petersburg, on the to the town of Salisbury, North Carolina where a miliary road could be traveled northwest into Iredell and Wilkes Counties. On December 20, 1797, Charles purchased one hundred and twenty acres on a branch of Hunting Creek in the southwestern corner of Wilkes County.
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1752 - 1835
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