In 1852 Joseph Fenner, then 35 years, married Mary Gossett, then 18 years, in Mississippi.  They lived on a farm.  They left Mississippi with their four children and were living in Arkansas by 1870.

In 1871 their 17 year old daughter married John T. Leslie, who was 23.  In the fall of 1872 John, Lucy and their infant daughter migrated with other Leslie families to Fannin County, Texas.

In the winter of 1874 John T. Leslie drove a covered wagon to Arkansas and brought Joseph Fenner and his family back to Texas.  Joseph was able to purchase an 80 acre farm which he still owned at his death.

For his service during the Texas Revolution Joseph Fenner received a meager pension and in 1880 land grants for a total of 4,676 acres, which he sold for $579.40.

Joseph Fenner is buried in the Grove Hill Cemetery.  His headstone reads:

He was with Fannin at Goliad

And Houston at San Jacinto

In 1962 a second stone was placed at his grave by the State of Texas which reads:

Joseph F. Fenner

Texas War of Independence Veteran

Member Shackford’s

Company, Colonel Fannin’s

Command, 1836

The Leslie family of Bailey became a very prominent Fannin County family, including John Leslie (farmer) and his sons Fenner Leslie (Fannin County Judge), Hugh Leslie (who owned a drug store in Bailey) and Roy (a professional baseball player).

For more information on Joseph Fenner, see The Fenner Forebears of Samuel Fenner Leslie by Ruth Leslie Barrett, available at the Portal to Texas History.