“JENIFER.  Post office and mining town on the Louisville & Nashville Railroad and the Southern Railway, the northeast corner of Talladega County, sec. 17, T. 17, R. 7 E., on Salt Creek, about 1 mile from Choccolocco Creek, and 12 miles northeast of Talledaga.  Altitude: 577 feet. Population: 1888–500; 1890–323; 1900–331; 1910–104.

In December, 1863, Samuel Clabaugh and James A. Curry (half-brother of Hon. J.L. Curry) began the erection of an iron furnace on the spot where Jenifer furnace now stands.  It was operated until burned by the invading armies in the spring of 1865.

The ruins were purchased in 1866 by Horace Ware, who formed a company and began operations in1872, under the name of the Alabama Furnace.  In 1891 the property again changed hands.  H. Ware, Samuel Nobel, and A.L. Tyler rebuilt the plant and called it ‘Jenifer, ‘ in honor of Samuel Nobel’s mother, Jenifer Ward Nobel.”

Reference Data:

History of Alabama and Directory of Alabama Biography, Vol. 2, by Thomas McAdoryy Owen and Marie Bankhead Owen, 1921, pages 811-812