A 3D Look at the Past

Welcome TWITTER Followers! This is the story so far:

I'm always looking for ways to better connect with my family's story; invariably, technology has provided more and more ways to do so. However, seldom has it provided ways as startling as this...

My son introduced me to a program called FaceGen, which enables the user to create a 3D portrait out of 2D photos. I fooled around with it for a couple days and found the results amazing. Naturally, I subjected all my family to endure a photo session which was as fun for them as getting their mug shots taken. Nevertheless, they humored me and I got some pretty outstanding models made of them.

FaceGen does not recommend using portraits done as drawings, but I had to try to see how well it would work with the photo of William's engraving, which appears at the top of this blog. I followed the directions for selecting key areas of the face for the program to use in the creation of the model, and then I hit go. About five minutes later, FaceGen delivered this:

FaceGen model of my 3rd great-grandfather, William Jennings (1821-1872)

Corey Jennings (1878-1933), my grandfather.

The original photo of Corey

Pretty stunning! It did a couple interesting things, like not rendering his beard (which I'm cool with), as well as making him appear a little younger than I thought it would. Nevertheless, to see the portrait of my 3rd great-grandfather in a manner that he would never have imagined is pretty startling. What's even eerier, my wife saw it and said, "Who is that? I know him!" She couldn't believe it when I told her!

I also tried the same thing with the best photo of my grandfather, Corey. Again, despite the poor quality of the photo, the result is awesome! Corey died in 1933 (needless to say, I never met him), but at certain angles he bears a resemblance to my father -- his son!


My goal is to someday create an entire family portrait using FaceGen -- all six generations of Jennings Men, which would include my son and myself. Now, that will be amazing!

Look for FaceGen HERE. 

I'm Coming to Get You, Paul Bishop Jennings!

I did it. Just now. Bought a DNA kit, . Hoping that 2016 will be the year I'll solve one of the family's most puzzling genealogy questions...well, as far as I'm concerned: How were Paul Bishop Jennings and William Jennings related?

As far as the Jennings research, there's an organization based in Bath, England that will look into records for you for a small fee. My strategy will be to do that, and also to contact hits that I get through the DNA test. My other strategy involves finding a descendant of the guy I suspect was William's uncle (Paul Bishop Jennings) and hope that they have had the DNA test done as well.

Wish me luck? And William, if you're out there, I could use a hand here!

Oh, Those Gaylord Kids!

This photo provides another piece of the JENNINGS HOUSE story, albeit a small piece. What attracted me to the postcard is that I recognized the architectural features as belonging to my great-great grandfather's hotel, the Jennings House.

I'm not sure when the hotel passed into the hands of the Gaylord Family, but I think it had to have happened shortly after William Jennings died in 1871. The hotel stood for around 40 years until it was destroyed by fire in 1910.

I assume this postcard -- dated 1906 -- show the Gaylord children. At this point, I'm not a subscriber to that ancestry website I have a love/hate relationship with -- so I can't add any names to the faces. However, from another source I find this information:

Jennie C. Gaylord b. Feb. 22, 1897 Mehoopany, Pa.

Helen Gaylord b. Sept. 9, 1903 Mehoopany, Pa.

Roy Gaylord b. Dec. 23, 1899 Mehoopany, Pa.

Jennie, Helen & Roy are the children of John W. & Grace (Custer) Gaylord.

Could they be the children on the postcard? Most likely. I also discovered a Jennings on the source page, a Catherine Jennings, but my genealogy chops are rusty so I'll have to get back to you on this. In any case, I'm thrilled to have a close up of the hotel in the latter days, and a peek inside the people that knew it.

A Place in Time

Somebody asked if I knew where the Jennings House was located; fortunately, I know exactly where it was, within a couple feet of the actual spot. Using Sketchup's export function, I flew it out into Google Earth -- giving us a look at where the hotel was located using imaging of the surroundings as it looks today.

While the model isn't complete (and correct -- the roof is off lacking some crucial dimensions), this is, too date, the best visualizations of a building that time forgot. Almost.

"There is (actually, three) a tavern in the town, in the town!"

"…The third tavern was part of the Jennings House (Hotel) which was located in the Mehoopany end of town across the big Mehoopany Creek. A part of the front of the building was put up by Daniel Hicks in 1838 and in 1850 John Maynard built the addition. This was known as the Jennings House or Gaylord House."

Wyoming County, 1842-1992, Wyoming County Sesquicentennial Committee, 1992, Page 60

The hotel was probably a family-operated business. What is known is that Franklin Livingworth Jennings -- William's son -- was the barkeeper. 

Imagining the JENNINGS HOUSE

Early Sketchup model of "Jennings House"

I've taken another stab at creating a model of William's hotel in Sketchup, a 3d modeling application. This is a screenshot of my progress. The building doesn't exist today: it was destroyed by fire a little more than a century ago, along with a handful of other buildings.Most of my information about the original hotel comes from less than a half-dozen photos taken of the building, with a couple images from postcards thrown in for good measure.

Speaking of good measure (sorry), the most help I've received for this project came from a high school drafting teacher -- now retired -- who offered insight into the building conventions of the times. For example, he offered his best guesses about the dimensions of the doors and windows, ceiling heights, etc. His help is greatly appreciated; unfortunately, there is only one very blurry view of the rear of the hotel.

Sketchup is free (unless you want to buy the full version), and may be found here. It's a fabulous program that is easy to use and yet yields tremendous results. And did I mention it was free :) ?

So, you might be asking why go to all this bother? I'm not sure, except that I feel it serves as just one more attempt to bring a little history to light -- my history, and to a lesser extent, the history of a once-bustling little Northeast Pennsylvania town.

Long ago, the Jennings family probably didn't like a guy named "French Joe" very much...

JENNINGS BARN FIRE

TUNKHANNOCK REPUBLICAN, 15 Feb. 1871

Mehoopany Barn. Photo-illustration by Bruce Jennings, 2012

"A barn belonging to Wm. Jennings in Mehoopany, near Robinson's Ferry was totally destroyed by fire at about 7 o'clock p.m., last Saturday. An institution on the town properly known as "French Joe," who was ejected from the hotel but a short time before, was found in the vicinity drunk, upon whose person was found pipe and matches, who may have set the building on fire accidentally. The barn was fully insured."

Reprinted from LEST-WE-FORGET Wyoming County Pioneers, published by the Wyoming County Historical Society, 15 September, 2012, VOL. 32, NO.1, page 19.