By Jared L. Olar
September-October 2008
The surname "Pennover" indicates an English or Welsh origin, and more often is found as "Pennoyer" ("Penoyer," "Pennyer," etc.), a form that appears to have given rise to the surname of "Paneer." According to Raymond H. Lounsbury's "Pennoyer Brothers: Colonization, Commerce, Charity in the Seventeenth Century," the Pennoyer name apparently originated in Wales, where the spelling reportedly was "Penoyre." Some have said that the name means golden or light-haired (Welsh pen, "head," and oyre "golden"), but another version is that the name original was that of a manor at the head of Golden Vale, the valley through which flows the River Dore from Clifford to Herefordshire, where a Penoyre family is said to have settled during the Middle Ages.
At this time we know nothing of our Pennover ancestors: we have little more than scanty information regarding our ancestress MARY ELIZABETH PENNOVER, also known as "Mary Paneer," born circa 1818 in New York, second wife of Albert Riggs. The Riggses were a numerous family in colonial Connecticut, so it is probable that Mary Pennover was a member of the Penoyer family of Connecticut, descendants of ROBERT PENOYER who arrived in Massachusetts in 1635 and later settled in Stamford, Connecticut.
11. ALBERT RIGGS, son of Samuel and Elizabeth Riggs, born 9 Dec. 1815 in Philipstown, New York; died after the 1880 U.S. Census. Albert married firstly to HANNAH KNAPP, but they apparently had no children, and the marriage presumably ended with Hannah's premature death. Around 1840, Albert married secondly to MARY ELIZABETH PENNOVER (called "Mary Paneer" in John H. Wallace's 1901 Riggs Genealogy), born circa 1818 in New York. The 1880 U.S. Census says Albert's father and mother were born in Connecticut. Albert and his second wife Mary Elizabeth moved from New York to Davis County, Maryland, and later moved to Illinois, where they lived successively in Chenoa, McLean County; Chicago, Cook County; Alton, Madison County; Godfrey, Madison County; and finally Murrayville, Morgan County, where they are reportedly buried in Murrayville Cemetery. In the 1850 U.S. Census, there is an Albert Riggs, age 35, born in New York, living in New York Ward 15, Eastern Half, New York City, who is probably our Albert. In the 1860 U.S. Census, Albert, age 46, and his wife Mary Elizabeth, age 43, are shown as residents of McLean County, Illinois, with six children: David, 18, Martha E., 16, Charles, 13, Albert, 8, Analaura, 5, and Mary E., 2. The 1880 U.S. Census shows Albert, age 64, a carpenter, born in New York, with his wife Mary, age 61, living in Godfrey, Illinois, with their daughters Mary, 21, and Priscilla, 18. That brings to seven the total number of known children of Albert and Mary, which agrees with the family's records that they had three sons and four daughters:
-- DAVID RIGGS, born circa 1842, md. Elizabeth E. Elliot
-- MARTHA E. RIGGS, married R. Lonsberry.
-- CHARLES RIGGS, born in Davis Co., Maryland, md. Sadie E. Ford.
12. ALBERT RIGGS, born 19 Aug. 1852 in Illinois.
-- LAURA A. RIGGS ("Analaura"), married Preston Jones (or Smith?).
-- MARY E. RIGGS, married (NN) Walters.
-- PRISCILLA MARGARET RIGGS, married John D. Lewis (or Ulrich?).
Penoyer Genealogy Resources:
Still Surname Message Board Still Family Genealogy Forum Genealogy of an Axworthy Family of Devonshire: Descendants of John of Yealmton Axworthy Surname Message Board Axworthy Family Genealogy Forum Murrayville Cemetery Index Children of Albert and Luvenia Riggs (with errors) Riggs burials in Murrayville