Like Brothers Marrying Sisters, but Not Quite

Like siblings, double-first cousins have the same four grandparents. I, myself, have double-first cousins as my father and his brother married sisters. If double-first cousins marry siblings, genetically, it is the same as one set of siblings marrying another set of siblings. And that's what happened in this line of my family tree.

Alma Virginia Drinkard[1] and Vera Virginia Drinkard were one of many sets of double-first cousins in my family tree. However, unlike all the the others, they married brothers.

Brothers married double-first cousins; graph created using Powerpoint

Frank Edward and Alma Virginia (Drinkard) Jennings

Frank Edward Jennings was my second cousin twice removed. He was born on 10 January 1892 in Amherst County, Virginia, to Henry Beasley Jennings, Sr. and Nancy "Nannie" Goode Parks. His father was a farmer. By 1910 Frank's father had sold his farm in Amherst and purchased a new farm in Appomattox County. 18-year-old Frank worked on his father's farm.

Henry Beasley Jennings, Sr., father of Frank Edward and Horace Strubbe
Jennings; courtesy of Ancestry.com members higgins162 and jeanrathbone57

He married Alma Virginia Drinkard on 27 November 1915[2]. Alma was the daughter of William Henry and Lizzie (Stone) Drinkard. She grew up in Stonewall, Virginia, on her father's farm. Several Drinkard relatives lived nearby.

Frank and Alma lived in Stonewall until sometime before 1920 where Frank worked on his own farm. When the 1920 census was enumerated Frank and his family lived on 2208 Fifth Street in Lynchburg and Frank worked as a salesman for a lumber yard. By 1930 the family was back in Appomattox County and Frank again owned a farm. Perhaps he lost that farm during the Depression because in 1940, the family lived in Bedford, Virginia, and Frank worked as the foreman for a large farming operation. 

He died on 8 August 1946 in Bedford County, of acute coronary thrombosis and was interred in Spring Hill Cemetery in Lynchburg. He was 54 years old at the time of his death. Alma moved to Lynchburg after Frank's death and worked as a seamstress to support herself. She died on 23 May 1987 at Chippenham Hospital in Richmond of cardio-respitory arrest, though her usual place of residence was still Lynchburg. She was interred beside her husband. She was 96 years old at the time of her death and had been a widow for 41 years.

Frank and Alma had three children during the course of their marriage. However, one child still lives so I will not list them in this post.

Horace Strubbe and Vera Virginia (Drinkard) Jennings

Horace Strubbe Jennings was born on 12 March 1896 in Amherst County to Henry Beasley Jennings, Sr., and Nancy "Nannie" Goode Parks. He was the youngest of nine children. By the time Horace was required to register for the World War I draft, he lived in Lynchburg and worked for Franklin Cairo Co. as a traveling salesman in Mississippi.

Nancy "Nannie" Goode (Parks) Jennings, mother of Frank Edward and Horace
Strubbe Jennings; courtesy of Ancestry.com member higgins162 and jeanrathbone57

He married Vera Virginia Drinkard on 17 January 1920[2]. She was the daughter of Thomas Austin and Lucy Annis (Stone) Drinkard). Like her cousin, Alma, she grew up on her father's farm in Stonewall. The couple made their home at 1014 Clay Street in Lynchburg and Horace worked as a traveling salesman for C. H. Beasley & Brothers, Inc., a wholesale grocer. The company was owned by Charles Henry Beasley, a first cousin of Horace's. Charles' mother was Mary Susan Jennings, a sister of Horace's father.

Horace continued to work for his cousin's company until sometime between 1923 and 1930. By 1930 He and Alma had moved to Charlotte, North Carolina. They lived at 501 East Kingston Avenue and Horace was the secretary-treasurer of the Palmetto Brick Sales Co. He moved to Kendrick Brick & Tile Co. and then became Vice President of Boren Clay Products, a company still operating today.

In the mid 1950s Horace and Vera bought a second home in Mount Holly, North Carolina, along the Catawba River. Mount Holly is about 16 miles northwest of Charlotte.

Horace died on 8 November 1974 at Huntersville Hospital in Huntersville, North Carolina, of respiratory failure as a result of tuberculosis from which he suffered for three months. He was interred in Sharon Memorial Park. Vera died on 28 January 1978 in Charlotte and was buried beside her husband.

Horace and Vera had two children during the course of their marriage. Some of those children are still living so I will not list information about them in this post.

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[1] Many other public trees list Alma's middle name as Vera. However, the only time her full maiden name was listed was on her daughter's death certificate. All other records list her name as Alma V. Drinkard or Alma V. Jennings.

[2]This information comes from a fellow Jennings researcher, Logan Jennings, and Miller-Duff and Related Families by Marian Miller Duff. I have found no source documents for either marriage.