Charles John Lenn 
M, (August 1879 - 24 December 1927)
- Relationship
- 8th great-grandson of Herman Op Den Graeff
Charles John Lenn was born in August 1879 at Evansville, Vanderburgh County, Indiana. He was the son of Robert Dale Owen Lenn and Susan Derrington. Charles John Lenn married Lillian Mae Yates circa 1917. Charles John Lenn died on 24 December 1927 at Hopewell, Virginia, at age 48 years and 4 months.
He From Gary R. Hawpe, ed. and Carol L. Richards, comp., 'Charles John Lenn,' Van Bibber Pioneers E-Newsletter, Vol. 4 No. 7 (May 2001), pp. 13 - 14.
CHARLES JOHN LENN
Charles J. Lenn was my mother-in-law s father. When I requested information about him I didn t even get the standard answer twhat do you want to know that forA. She simply told me she did not remember anything more than he died when she was a little girl. That wasn t much to go on. Then one day, out of the blue, Uncle Bob said tmy father died in Hopewell, Virginia one December. I remember the month because it was near my birthday but I don t remember the year.A
The initial Virginia death search proved futile. The state of Virginia and the City of Hopewell had no record of a Charles Lenn dying in any year from 1915 to 1939. Then a letter arrived from an Appomattox Regional Library, the librarian had discovered a newspaper article about a Christmas Eve fire in Hopewell in 1927. Using the information in the newspaper article I wrote to Hopewell again and again received a tsorryA no information available. I decided to write one more letter and enclose the names of two other men who perished in the same fire; in 1991, three years after I started the search, a letter arrived from the clerk at the Appomattox Cemetery. Here is part of that letter:
tDear Mrs. Richards,
You will be pleased to know I have located the grave site of Charles Lenn. The names of John McCorkle and Charles Sanborn helped a great deal. With these names I located your grandfather in a very short time. Enclosed is a map of the Appomattox Cemetery and a map of the block in which your grandfather is buried. Also enclosed is a copy of the file cards that I found.A
tThe Prince George-Hopewell StoryA by Francis Earle Lutz.
'The holiday season of 1927 was marred by another tragedy when the Grand Central Hotel fire took place in Hopewell on Christmas Eve killing eight persons. The hotel was a three story brick building and the hotel occupied the top two floors. The fire started in the furniture store and spread upward quickly trapping those who died. Eyewitnesses described it as a blazing inferno.'
Charles J. Lenn was one of the eight bodies found in the hotel. He had traveled to Hopewell to work at the Hopewell China Corporation in the capacity of an expert potter.
Why did it take so long to find his death record and burial site? It s all in the name. The Tri-County News spelled his last name Lynn and Linn and Lenn. The cemetery records and death certificate lists his last name as Linn.
Identification of the bodies took some time and burial was not until January 3rd of 1928. Lillian Lenn traveled from Sebring, Ohio to attend the funeral of her husband, Marie (my mother-in-law) who had just had her ninth birthday accompanied Lillian to Hopewell. Uncle Bob had his tenth birthday the day of Charles funeral. This was the beginning of a very traumatic time; not only did the children s father die but their mother contacted tuberculosis and was admitted to a sanitarium. The four Lenn children were placed in an orphanage.
When I knew the whole story I did not need to ask Marie why she did not remember what happened to her father.
A closings note: The death certificate of Charles J. Lenn supplied enough information to track the Lenn family to Evansville, Indiana and to his father, mother, grandfather and grandmother Olive Van Bibberdbut that s another story.
He From Gary R. Hawpe, ed. and Carol L. Richards, comp., 'Charles John Lenn,' Van Bibber Pioneers E-Newsletter, Vol. 4 No. 7 (May 2001), pp. 13 - 14.
CHARLES JOHN LENN
Charles J. Lenn was my mother-in-law s father. When I requested information about him I didn t even get the standard answer twhat do you want to know that forA. She simply told me she did not remember anything more than he died when she was a little girl. That wasn t much to go on. Then one day, out of the blue, Uncle Bob said tmy father died in Hopewell, Virginia one December. I remember the month because it was near my birthday but I don t remember the year.A
The initial Virginia death search proved futile. The state of Virginia and the City of Hopewell had no record of a Charles Lenn dying in any year from 1915 to 1939. Then a letter arrived from an Appomattox Regional Library, the librarian had discovered a newspaper article about a Christmas Eve fire in Hopewell in 1927. Using the information in the newspaper article I wrote to Hopewell again and again received a tsorryA no information available. I decided to write one more letter and enclose the names of two other men who perished in the same fire; in 1991, three years after I started the search, a letter arrived from the clerk at the Appomattox Cemetery. Here is part of that letter:
tDear Mrs. Richards,
You will be pleased to know I have located the grave site of Charles Lenn. The names of John McCorkle and Charles Sanborn helped a great deal. With these names I located your grandfather in a very short time. Enclosed is a map of the Appomattox Cemetery and a map of the block in which your grandfather is buried. Also enclosed is a copy of the file cards that I found.A
tThe Prince George-Hopewell StoryA by Francis Earle Lutz.
'The holiday season of 1927 was marred by another tragedy when the Grand Central Hotel fire took place in Hopewell on Christmas Eve killing eight persons. The hotel was a three story brick building and the hotel occupied the top two floors. The fire started in the furniture store and spread upward quickly trapping those who died. Eyewitnesses described it as a blazing inferno.'
Charles J. Lenn was one of the eight bodies found in the hotel. He had traveled to Hopewell to work at the Hopewell China Corporation in the capacity of an expert potter.
Why did it take so long to find his death record and burial site? It s all in the name. The Tri-County News spelled his last name Lynn and Linn and Lenn. The cemetery records and death certificate lists his last name as Linn.
Identification of the bodies took some time and burial was not until January 3rd of 1928. Lillian Lenn traveled from Sebring, Ohio to attend the funeral of her husband, Marie (my mother-in-law) who had just had her ninth birthday accompanied Lillian to Hopewell. Uncle Bob had his tenth birthday the day of Charles funeral. This was the beginning of a very traumatic time; not only did the children s father die but their mother contacted tuberculosis and was admitted to a sanitarium. The four Lenn children were placed in an orphanage.
When I knew the whole story I did not need to ask Marie why she did not remember what happened to her father.
A closings note: The death certificate of Charles J. Lenn supplied enough information to track the Lenn family to Evansville, Indiana and to his father, mother, grandfather and grandmother Olive Van Bibberdbut that s another story.
Last Edited=15 Oct 2008