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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE
A
DESCRIPTIVE AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF
BRISTOL COUNTY
MASSACHUSETTS
PREPARED AND PUBLISHED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF
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THE
FALL RIVER NEWS
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AND
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THE
TAUNTON GAZETTE
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WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF
HON. ALANSON BORDEN
OF NEW BEDFORD
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THE BOSTON HISTORY COMPANY, PUBLISHERS
1899
PART II
BIOGRAPHICAL.
Andrew Jackson Jennings
HON. ANDREW JACKSON JENNINGS, lawyer and district attorney for the Southern District
of Massachusetts, is descended from one of the oldest familes of Tiverton, R. I. He is a grandson of Isaac Jennings,
of Tiverton, and the third son of Andrew M. Jennings, who was born in Fall River, Mass., in January, 1808, and
died in 1882, having been for some thirty-five years the foreman of the machine shop of Hawes, Marvel & Davol;
his wife survives him. Their children were Thomas J., who died in 1872; Susan, Elizabeth E., Andrew, and Elizabeth,
all of whom died in infancy; Andrew J., the subject of this sketch; George F., superintendent of Bowen's coal yard,
of Fall River; and Annie P. (Mrs. J. Densmore Brown), of Milford, Conn.
Andrew Jackson Jennings was born in Fall River, Mass., August 2, 1849, and attended the public and. high schools
of his native city until 1867, when he entered Mowry & Goff's Classical School at Providence, R. I., from which
he was graduated in June, 1868. He then entered Brown University and was graduated from that institution with special
honors in 1872. While there be was active and prominent in all athletic sports, being captain of the class and
university nines. He was principal of the Warren (R. I) High School from 1872 to 1874, and in July of the latter
year began the study of law in the office of Hon. James M. Morton, of Fall River. In January, 1875, he entered
Boston University Law School, from which he was graduated with the, degree of LL. B. in May, 1876, and was at once
admitted to the bar in Bristol county. On June 1, 1876. he formed a law partnership with his preceptor, Mr. Morton,
which continued until 189Q, when the latter was appointed a justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts.
The firm of Morton & Jennings took a foremost place at the Bristol bar. Mr. Jennings was afterward associated
in practice with John S. Brayton, jr., under the style of Jennings & Brayton, for a short time, and in July,
1894, formed a copartnership with James M. Morton, jr., which still continues under the firm name of Jennings &
Morton.
Mr. Jennings has achieved prominence at the bar, and is everywhere recognized as an able, painstaking, and energetic
lawyer and advocate. He was a member of the Fall River School Board for three years, and served as a member of
the House of Representatives in 1878 and 1879 and as State senator in 1882. During his three years in the House
and Senate he was an influential member of the judiciary committee and chairman of the joint committee on the removal
of Judge Day by address in 1882. He was active in securing the passage of the civil damage law in the House and
the introduction of the school house liquor law in the Senate. He is a natural orator, eloquent and pleasing in
address, and a public spirited citizen. On the day of General Grant's funeral be was selected to deliver the memorial
oration for the city of Fall River, and on other occasions he has been called upon to make important and fitting
speeches. Mr. Jennings has been for several years a trustee of Brown University and clerk of the Second Baptist
Society of Fall River, and was president of the Brown Alumni in 1891 and 1892. As a lawyer he has conducted a number
of important cases. He was counsel for the defendant in the Lizzie A. Borden trial for homicide in 1893. from the
outset. In November, 1894, he was elected district attorney for the Southern District of Massachusetts to fill
a vacancy, and in 1895 he was re-elected for a full term of three years. He has been president of the Young Men's
Christian Association of Fall River since 1893, and is a director of the Merchants' Mill, the Globe Yarn Mill,
and the Sanford Spinning Company, and a trustee of the Union Savings Bank.
December 25, 1879, Mr. Jennings married Miss Marion G., only daughter of Capt. Seth and Nancy J. (Bosworth) Saunders,
of Warren, R. I. They have two children: Oliver Saunders and Marion.
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