"A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of the City of
Seattle and County of King, Washington." New York and Chicago: Lewis Publishing
Co., 1903.  p. 187.

CHARLES K. JENNER

     Charles Kirkham Jenner is one of the distinguished representatives of the
legal fraternity in Seattle, making a specialty of the department of land and
mining law.  Professional advancement in the law is proverbially slow. The first
element of success is, perhaps, a persistency of purpose and effort as enduring
as the force of gravity.  But, as in any other calling, aptitude, character and
individuality are the qualities which differentiate the usual from the unusual;
the vocation from the career of the lawyer.  For twenty-five years he has been a
representative of the legal fraternity of this city, and the qualities which
insure success are his and have met their just reward. He is likewise
extensively engaged in real-estate dealing and has prospered in this department
of activity.
     Mr. Jenner was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on the 15th of September,
1846, and is descended from English ancestors who became early settlers of
Connecticut. His grandfather, Edward H. Jenner, was born in Rutland, Vermont,
and served in the war of 1812. He was a distinguished mathematician and
successful teacher, and among his pupils who have attained marked prominence was
Stephen A. Douglas "the little giant of Illinois." In 1850 Mr. Jenner's father
crossed the plains to California, where he engaged in mining. He also possessed
remarkable inventive genius and when searching for gold on the Pacific coast in
pioneer times he invented a pump to force water up to the mine, one hundred and
ten feet.  He made a model of his invention in pure gold, the first and only one
of its kind ever sent to the patent office in Washington. As soon as he had
completed one invention he started to work upon another, his mind being
completely occupied with such work.  About 1854 he invented the system of
Browning gun barrels, and many other evidences of his genius in this direction
were found upon the market but he did not possess ability as a business manager
and therefore never secured the financial returns which he deserved for his
labors.  For some years he was also a successful dentist in San Francisco.  He
spent the greater part of his life in that city but also resided for a time in
Sonoma county, California.  Prior to the Civil war he gave his political support
to the Democracy, but at the time the south attempted to overthrow the Union he
joined the Republican party.  He was united in marriage to Ann Jane Wilby, of
Rochester, New York, and with her family of four children she accompanied her
husband to San Francisco in 1850.  Three years later she departed this life at
the age of thirty-three years, while the father of our subject was called to his
final rest on the 14th of January, 1879, at the age of sixty-seven years. All
their four children are yet living.  Sylvester, who learned the printer's trade
in California, is now on the force of the San Francisco Examiner.
     Charles K. Jenner was only four years of age when he arrived in California
with his parents.  He pursued his studies in San Francisco and at the Sotoyome
Institute in Sonoma county, read law with Colonel L. A. Norton, in Healdsburg,
and was admitted to the practice on February 21, 1871. Since that time he has
been admitted to all the courts of the United States and has had a large number
of cases tried in the supreme court of this country.  He.practiced law in
Healdsburg, California, until 1876, at which time he came to Seattle, where he
has resided for more than a quarter of a century. For a short time he was
employed in the office of Judge Orange Jacobs, and then entered into partnership
with him, an association that was maintained for fourteen years, during which
time they enjoyed a large and lucrative legal business.  Subsequently Mr. Jenner
was for some years in partnership with his son-in-law, Louis Henry Legg, and
Solon T. Williams, but is now alone in business.  His clientage is of a
distinctively representative character and he has been associated with some of
the most important litigation tried in the courts of this district and state,
and also in the United States courts. During his residence in Seattle he has had
much to do with real-estate interests and has been a partner in the platting of
a number of additions to the city. The first ten acres was called the Brawley
addition, after which he was associated in the platting of forty acres on Queen
Ann Hill, which is now one of the finest residence portions of the city. The
Comstock addition, containing forty acres, was named in honor of his wife's
mother, a lady whom he held in very high esteem because of her amiable
disposition and beautiful character. He has handled much city property and has
done his full share in the upbuilding and improvement of this splendid
metropolis of the northwest which, almost as if by magic, has grown to its
present extensive proportions. One of the most notable works with which Mr.
Jenner has been connected was the entering of the school section through which
the New Castle coal veins now run. He had the honor of establishing the
precedent of securing that kind of land from the government and subsequently he
sold it to the New Castle Company, which has operated its coal mines thereon for
many years. In the legal points concerned in this matter he differed from the
opinions of eminent jurists and displayed a profound and deep knowledge of the
land laws of the United States, carrying his point and establishing an important
precedent. He is counsel for the Forty-five Consolidated Mining Company, which
owns a valuable mine that has already produced twenty thousand dollars. He was
also at one time the manager of the Denny iron mine, but has sold his interest.
That was the first mineral entry made on Puget Sound and proved to be a very
valuable mine, containing the finest Bessemer steel ore in the United States.
This mine will ultimately prove of great value.
     On the 9th of June, 1870, Mr. Jenner was joined in wedlock to Cornelia E.
Comstock, a native of Tioga county. New York, born near the city of Oswego.
They became the parents of five sons and a daughter, namely: Helen, the wife of
Louis Henry Legg; Earl Robinson, who has charge of the court work for the Boothe
Whittlesey Abstracting Company; Ernest Comstock, who is the twin brother of
Earl, and is a sketch artist for the Post Intelligencer; Theodore, who is a
clerk with the Osborn, Tremper Abstract Company; Herbert and L. G., who are both
in Seattle.  Ernest served in the war with Spain and was for two years in the
art room of the San Francisco Chronicle. November 4, 1891, the mother of this
family, a most estimable lady of broad charity and humanitarian principles, was
called to her final rest.  She served as president of the Woman's Christian
Temperance Union, was one of the organizers of the Woman's Relief Corps and was
chairman of the Advisory committee to investigate needy cases and furnish them
with supplies.  In her home she was a devoted wife and mother and was a
consistent Christian woman whose loss was deeply felt.  November 14, 1892, Mr.
Jenner was again married, his second union being with Clara J. Hough, a native
of Wayne county, Ohio, and they have a son and a daughter, Cornelia E. and
Edward Hough.  In politics Mr. Jenner was long an active Republican, but
differing from his party on the money question he is now independent, for he
believes that both gold and silver should be used as the money standard of the
country. While he is one of the distinguished members of the bar of this city he
is entirely free from ostentation or self-laudation and this fact has made him
one of the most popular citizens of Seattle, with whose history he has been long
and prominently identified.


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Submitted to the Washington Biographies Project in February 2008 by Diana
Smith.  Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family
mentioned above.