Fenno Family

The Fenno family were an established and prosperous New England lineage, prominent from the eighteenth through the nineteenth centuries in Boston, Milton, and later New York. Their wealth derived from mercantile and publishing ventures, especially in printing, journalism, and trade. Members of the family operated one of the early American printing houses—Fenno & Son—responsible for The Gazette of the United States, a Federalist newspaper founded by John Fenno (1751–1798), a close ally of Alexander Hamilton.

His descendants continued to enjoy affluence and cultural influence. The Fennos intermarried with other prominent families, including the Russells, Lymans, and Lawrences. By the nineteenth century, branches of the family engaged in banking, shipping, and real estate in New York and Boston. Their education, travel, and frequent association with Harvard and the Boston Athenaeum reflected their upper-class standing.