Member-only story
My Family Story: The Tragic Life of Jennie Tarleton (1868–1944)
An immigrant from Scotland at age 17, Jennie had a lot to grieve in her lifeand her story — her true factual story — has much to offer those of us now who want to understand her reality and how it has shaped ours.
I’ve heard tales of Jennie Tarleton my whole life long — the brave 17 year old Scots girl who set sail for the New World all alone from Glasgow. Jennie was my 2nd great-grandmother and her arrival in 1885 makes her my most “recent” immigrant ancestor. Everyone else was here long before she set foot here, many for decades. I should note that there are many other members of my family who have more recently immigrated to the US, but not my direct ancestors.
Jennie was a mythical being to me — part heroine from a child’s history book, part wizened harsh mistress stuck in the past and in no way connected to my own future. She was from “olden times” and the occasional snippet of her story lingered in my mind with stories from Laura Ingalls Wilder and Anne of Green Gables, for good and for bad. I never questioned this version of her life until I began to learn the facts. And, apparently, no one else in my family questioned either.
