Jennie's House

A couple of weeks ago, I was blessed with the opportunity to visit the home of Jennie Hodgers.  A snow storm back in December put the trip on hiatus, and I'm glad Mark and I waited.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day with bright, warm sunshine when we met Mr. Al Arnolts, the historian for the village of Saunemin, and .Mrs. Cheryl O'Donnell, who has worked tirelessly to have the house restored.   She has also visited Clogerhead, Ireland where Jennie was from and plans to return soon.  During our three-and-a-half-hour visit, we toured the house and the cemetery before enjoying lunch at Mulligan's, which, I think, may have been the only eating establishment in the town of approximately 400.  The hospitality shown by these kind folks rivals our own down here in the South.  We thoroughly enjoyed talking with them and feel that we have made new friends.  Many thanks to Rick Keating for putting us in touch with them.


Upon reflecting on our visit, I realized that I spent more time at a small one-room house than I did at any of the more elaborate museums! We talked about a lot of things:  reenacting, women soldiers, and, of  course, Jennie's house.  Before the war, Hodgers was living in Belvidere where she enlisted as a private in Co. G, 95th Illinois Infantry as Albert D.J. Cashier.  After the war, she maintained her disguise and moved to the village of Saunemin, Illinois in 1869 where she performed a number of odd jobs including town lamplighter, janitor for a church, and shepherd.  During this time, she lived with the Chesbro family and sometimes slept on the floor of the Cording Hardware store in exchange for labor.  In 1885, Joshua Chesbro built her a small one-room house where she lived until her death in 1915.

Since then, it has been moved six times between Saunemin and Pontiac, Illinois, which are about 12 miles apart, and used as a hatchery, storage shed, and nearly a prop for a training lesson by the local fire department.   Thankfully, that didn't happen, and the little house was eventually returned to Saunemin in 2006 where it currently stands a mere 20 feet from its original location.   It has been restored to as close to the correct dimensions as possible, with the aid of a lot of folks, including men who came over from Ireland.  Though there are no descriptions or pictures of the interior, period furniture and other appropriate items have been added.  Only the door and window frames are originals.

Mrs. O'Donnell and Mr. Arnolts say that not many people come to visit the house.  Not many people know about it.   I'm sure they would like to change that.  So if you're in the Chicago area, or will be visiting, get in touch with them to check out the site.  The email on the pamphlet they gave me is villageofsaunemin@frontier.com.   Saunemin is about 90 miles south west from Chicago.  The house is located one block north of highway 116 on the corner of Center and Maple Streets.

photo by Mark Hidlebaugh

side view; photo by Mark Hidlebaugh

For more pictures, please visit my Facebook page.  It's a lot easier to post pictures there!

Click here to visit the album.

Our new friends informed us that an Irish crew would be in town the following day to film a documentary.  It would have been nice to check that out.  But I had a train to catch. 

Until the next formation......rest.