fenn was born in 1866 at clyde, new york, u.s.a., the son of samuel p. fenn and martha wilson, and was ordained in 1890. he married alice holstein may castle (d. 1938) on 8 june 1892 in washington dc. they had a daughter, martha wilson fenn, and two sons, henry courtenay fenn, well-known american china scholar and architect of yale university's chinese language program, more commonly known as h. c. fenn, (february 26, 1894 - july 1978), and william purviance fenn (born 1902) general secretary of the united board for christian higher education in asia.