Jennie Kyle & Jane Porter Rogan
Status: looking for family!
Oh, the joy of finding clearly labeled names and dates!
Usually when I come across a post card such as this one, my hopes dwindle as I turn it around to read the backside. More often than not, these RPPCs (real photograph post cards) aren't labeled, which I find a bit ironic, as they were meant to be sent to loved ones...but I digress.
This one, however, was truly a gift. Not only did it provide names: it provided first names, last names, and middle names (or initials). Not only did it provide dates: it provided day, month, and year of birth. And it provided an explanation of something not many labeled photos do: relationships between those photographed. Grandmother and granddaughter.
All these little details made researching this couple immensely easy: the very first search result I received on FamilySearch was a 1920 Federal Census with Jennie W Kyle as the head and a 5 year old Jane Porter Rogan listed as a granddaughter. Let's start with Jennie.
Jennie W Kyle
Jennie was born as Jennie Wilkins in Mississippi in 1850 and married Leonidas Kyle when she was 19. Leonidas, surely named after the Spartan warrior king, was a Captain in the Confederate Army during the Civil War and, actually, there is a fantastic portrait of him, painted in 1858, kept at the Tennessee State Library and Archives.
Leondias Kyle
In the portrait, Leonidas is pictured with his two dogs, Tasso and Vedoc, and his horse Zilpha. According to the Tennessee State Library, "Leonidas was a leading figure in Rogersville during the second half of the 19th century. He was promoted to Captain in 1863, and he led Company E of the 29th Regiment of the Tennessee Infantry. Leonidas also served as a Deputy U.S. Marshall. Leonidas and his wife Jennie Kyle purchased the home that would become known as the Kyle House in the early 1890s." Rogersville today is a small town, northeast of Knoxville near the TN-VA border.
Kyle House, the building which today houses 'Kyle House Reflexology & Massage Therapy’, was built in 1837 and is, apparently, a 22-room mansion, which explains how, in 1920, Jennie lived there with two daughters, one son, two children-in-laws, and three grandchildren!
Kyle House
According to FindaGrave, it appears Leonidas died April 12 1898. Together, Jennie and Leonidas had five children: one son, Gale, and three daughters: Josephine (Josie), Kate, Lois, and Mary G (Graham).
Jennie and her children continued to live in Kyle House throughout the early 20th century. In the 1920 Federal Census, Jennie, a widow of 20 years, lives with daughters Josephine and Lois, son Gale and his wife Gladys, and their two children Alma and Kate. In the house is also her daughter Graham and her husband Robert Rogan, the parents of our little Jane.
Jennie died on April 2nd, 1925 and is buried in the Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Rogersville, Tennessee.
Jane Porter Rogan
Little Jane (not Jean, as it is written on the postcard) was born on December 19th, 1914. In 1930, following the death of her grandmother, Robert and Graham moved to a house of their own in downtown Rogersville, not far from Kyle House. Unfortunately, it appears Jane never had any children of her own: her grave still bears her maiden name. Luckily for us, Graham and Robert had another daughter, Jane's sister, who had a family of her own to whom I will attempt to return this photo: Graham Kyle Rogan.