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| Another son, Edwin Smith Rennie is documented as having died at 189 Frendship Street at 6 years of age, 4 months, 5 days; born at Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Rennie’s father owned a patent medicine manufacturing business and after leaving the military, Zenas went to work with him in the company. They produced “RENNE’S MAGIC PAIN KILLING OIL”, one of many patent medicines manufactured and sold in small bottles during that period and often referred to by many as “Snake Oil”. They also produced “RENNE'S NERVINE”, but the Magic Pain Killing Oil was their major product. Their caption was “It Works Like A Charm” and was recommended for both medical and dental uses. | |||
| Advertisements listed ten different “ailments” it was sure to cure. Rennie’s competition at the time was “A. D. Elmer's Pain Killing Balm” with the caption “It Cures Like a Charm”. A. D. Elmer of Northfield, Mass, like Zenas C. Rennie, manufactured the elixir which promised to cure everything from diphtheria to humors, from cramps to cricks in the back, from toothache to wounds by glass, scythe and rusty nails. Renne advertisements included billboards, large colourful metal signs that were nailed to walls and fences and metamorphic cards that when folded shows a man/woman in grim, crippled, painful condition and after using Renne's they appear young and happy as shown when card unfolded. There were also comical cartoon advertisements of a salesman juggling bottles of the elixir with claims that it cured all internal and external pains and was available for 25 cents, 50 cents or $1 a bottle. Then there was the hand bills that were passed out to people on the street, stating it was “safe, clean and delicious to use”. | |||
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| A search of the State Census
index revealed no record of the family in Rhode Island in 1875,
indicating by that time they may have removed back to Massachusetts.
Rennie’s wife passed away in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1884, leaving him with his son Harry, born in 1865 and Richard, born in 1873. Two years later he married Mary Eunius Warner. Records reveal that Zenas in 1886, arrived in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.Zenas applied for a military pension while in Massachusetts, before migrating to Australia, under pension Application number 1329207, Certificate number 1102407. |
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He came to Australia on
October 27, 1886, as an insurance agent in the city of Sydney,
for the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York. He was
retired in 1904 and returned to the US, settling in San
Francisco, California but an earthquake a couple of years later
destroyed his possessions. He then
decided to return to Australia and became a member of the Military
Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, as well as a Knight
Templar. Rennie passed away in Sydney but his legacy lives on in the
Rennie Trophy which is awarded at a Rowing Regatta on the Hawkesbury
River, each year. The Athletic Association of the Great Public Schools of New South Wales (A.A.G.P.S) was the forerunner, and the outcome of a meeting held at Gunsler’s Café on new Circular Quay, on 30 March 1892. The schools represented at the initial meeting were The King’s School, St Ignatius’ College, St Joseph’s College, All Saints College, Bathurst and the North Shore Grammar School (SCEGS). On April 12, 1892 delegates from Sydney Grammar School, Newington College and Cooerwull Academy joined those who attended the first meeting. At a third meeting held on April 28, 1892, membership of the AAGPS was clarified and St Patrick’s College Goulburn, St Stanislaus College Bathurst and The Scots College joined those schools who attended the earlier meetings. Sydney High School applied for membership in March 1894 but were not admitted until February 14, 1906 and the Armidale School entered the Association on May 7, 1897. It was then that official rowing competition began; in 1893. In June 1893, Major Rennie came up with his silver trophy to be used for the major event at the Sydney Rowing Regatta, which began that year and continued until 1935, on the Parramatta River. In 1936 the race was transferred to the Nepean River and remained there until 1996, when it was moved to the Olympic course. From 1993 until 1909 the race was contested by four-oared boats and by eight-oared boats since then. Since 1996 the race has been contested over 2000 meters; all previous events were over a mile and a half, except in 1946 and 1947 when the race was over a mile and a quarter. Trophies were allotted to winners of the rowing competition with 1st VIII in 1910 and onwards, the original “Major Rennie Trophy”, presented by Rennie himself as a prize to the regatta in 1894 that has since become known as the “Head of the River”. Until 1910 the Major Rennie Trophy, donated in 1894, was awarded for the First Four race there being no First Eight race until 1910. |
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Renne's Pain Killing Magic Oil utilized the slogan
it Works Like A Charm.
The Elmers bottle is ten times harder to find and is thought to be the elder brother of the two. A. D. Elmer of Northfield, Mass, like Zenas C. Rennie, manufactured the elixir which promised to cure everything from diphtheria to humors, from cramps to cricks in the back, from toothache to wounds by glass, scythe and rusty nails. Metamorphic card that when folded shows man/woman in grim, crippled, painful condition. After using Renne's they appear young and happy as shown when card unfolded. |
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Rennie's Indigestion Remedy |
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Bob Ducharme, George Maple, Department of Mass, SUV Franklin Haley, Historical Data Systems, Inc Kenneth S. Carlson, Reference Archivist “Life With the 49th Massachusetts Volunteers”, Henry T. Johns, Washington, D.C., Ramsey & Bisbee,1890 Massachusetts Soldiers, Sailors and Marines in the Civil War Register of the Commandery of the State of Massachusetts MOLLUS Union Blue: History of MOLLUS |
