James Cash Penney Jr. (1875 - 1971)

Born 16 Sep 1875 in Hamilton, Caldwell, Missouri, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Berta Alva (Hess) Penney — married 24 Sep 1899 in Cheyenne, Laramie County, Wyoming

Died 12 Feb 1971 at age 95 in New York City, New York, United States

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Biography

J. C. Penney Jr. is Notable.

James Cash Penney, Jr. (September 16, 1875 – February 12, 1971) was an American businessman and entrepreneur who, in 1902, founded the J.C. Penney stores.

He was born on Sep 16, 1875 in Hamilton, Caldwell, Missouri, United States. He died on Sep 12, 1971 in New York City, New York. ^[1]

Family

James Cash Penney married three times. His first wife: Bertha Alva Hess, died of pneumonia; his second wife: Mary Hortense Kimball, also died of unspecified medical issues in 1924. Finally Penney found lasting love with third wife: Caroline Marie Autenrieth, to whom he was married forty-five years, until his own death. By his first wife he had two sons, Roswell Penney and James C. Penney III. By his second wife he had another son, Kimball Penney. And by his third wife, he had two daughters, Mary Frances Penney and Carol Penney.

• The 3 Wives of J. C. Penney:

1. Berta (Hess) Penney, 1875-1910
2. Mary (Kimball) Penney, 1879-1923
3. Caroline (Autenrieth) Penney, 1896-1992

• J.C. Penney's Children:

1. Roswell Penney, 1901 - 1971
2. James Penney III, 1903 - 1938
3. Kimball Penney, 1920 - 1979
4. Mary Frances Penney Wagley
5. Carol (Penney) Guyer, 1930 - 1902

Business

In 1898, Penney began working for a small chain of stores in the western United States called the Golden Rule stores. In 1902 owners, Guy Johnson and Thomas Callahan, impressed by his work ethic and salesmanship, offered him one-third partnership in a new store he would open. Penney invested $2,000 and moved to Kemmerer, Wyoming, to open a store there. He participated in opening two more stores, and when Callahan and Johnson dissolved their partnership in 1907 he purchased full interest in all three stores.

By 1912, there were 34 stores in the Rocky Mountain States. In 1913 he moved the company to the Kearns Building in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah. The company was incorporated under the new name, J. C. Penney Company. In 1916, he began to expand the chain east of the Mississippi and during the 1920s, the Penney stores expanded nationwide, with 120 stores in 1920 (mostly still in the west) By 1924, Penneys' reported income of more than $1 million dollars annually.[1] The number of stores reached 1,400 by 1929. The large income allowed Penney to be heavily involved in many philanthropic causes during the 1920s. By 1921 Penney had a home (Belle Isle) on Biscayne Bay in Miami. Penney and partner Ralph W. Gwinn had invested heavily in Florida real estate including 120,000 acres (490 km2) in Clay County. Some of this land became Penney Farms. This was also the start of Foremost Dairy Products Inc. Penney later recruited Paul E. Reinhold to run the dairy. Most of this work was halted when the stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression left Penney in financial ruin.

After the 1929 stock crash, Penney lost virtually all his personal wealth, and borrowed against his life insurance policies to help the company meet its payroll. The financial setbacks took a toll on his health. Penney checked himself into the Battle Creek Sanitarium, where he was treated. After hearing the hymn "God Will Take Care of You" (written by Civilla Durfee Martin) being sung at a service in the hospital’s chapel, Penney became a born-again Christian.[2] Even after relinquishing daily operating management of the company Penney continued his active involvement in managing the company and its stores. In 1940, during a visit to a store in Des Moines, Iowa, he trained a young Sam Walton on how to wrap packages with a minimal amount of ribbon.[3] He remained as chairman of the board until 1946, and after that as honorary chairman until his death in 1971.

Personal Life

Boyhood home in Hamilton (that was moved from a farm to town for display)

J.C. Penney was born on a farm outside of Hamilton, Caldwell County, Missouri to James Cash Penney, Sr. and Mary Frances (née Paxton) Penney. He was the seventh of twelve children, only six of whom lived to adulthood. Penney's father was a Baptist preacher and farmer whose strict discipline included making his son pay for his own clothing once he reached his late pre-teens. His intentions after graduation from Hamilton High School were to attend college with the hopes of becoming a lawyer. However, his father's untimely death forced a change in plans, with Penney taking a job as a store clerk to help support the family. Penney's health problems caused him to venture west to Longmont, Colorado, in his early twenties, where he found employment with the previously mentioned Golden Rule stores.

Penney was a member of two professional collegiate fraternities: Alpha Gamma Rho for agriculture and Alpha Kappa Psi for business (Upsilon Chapter at University of Missouri).

On December 26, 1970, Penney fell and fractured his hip. Just a few weeks later, he suffered a heart attack and never fully recovered. He died February 12, 1971. The Reverend Dr. Norman Vincent Peale delivered the eulogy at Penneys' funeral. Penney was buried in the Bronx section of New York City. His grave, at the Woodlawn Cemetery, is not far from that of fellow retail entrepreneur, F.W. Woolworth.

Sources

1. ↑ #FG, #C1880, #C1900, #Wikipedia

• Wikipedia article on James Cash Penney, Jr.
• Find A Grave: Memorial #803 Retrieved Jun 8, 2017.
• "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (Link: 7 September 2017), James Penny in household of James C Penny, Hamilton, Caldwell, Missouri, United States; citing enumeration district ED 179, sheet 298D, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 0677; FHL microfilm 1,254,677.
• "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (Link: accessed 6 March 2018), James C Penney, Election District 10 & 1 Evanston city, Uinta, Wyoming, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 58, sheet 11A, family 213, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,241,827.

• "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M5XW-9W8 : accessed 20 August 2018), James C Penney, Salt Lake City Ward 4, Salt Lake, Utah, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 134, sheet 12A, family 256, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 1607; FHL microfilm 1,375,620.

• "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/X4GJ-74Z : accessed 6 March 2018), James C Penney, White Plains, Westchester, New York, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 352, sheet 29A, line 34, family , NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 1665; FHL microfilm 2,341,399.
• United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/KQPG-B79 : accessed 6 March 2018), James C Penny, Ward 6, White Plains, White Plains City, Westchester, New York, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 60-380, sheet 4A, line 30, family 35, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 2815.