Their daughter, Eleanor, was born on February 20, 1912. Shortly thereafter, Josephine and the baby joined J.M. in Pendleton.

In the Spring of 1912, J.M. was promoted to manager of the Penney store in Moscow, Idaho. His career with J.C. Penney blossomed from there. In 1913, the Penney corporate offices were moved to New York. On April 1, 1914, J.M., his wife, and their small daughter joined the headquarters organization of the Penney Company.

1n 1914, the Penney Company consisted of 71 stores doing a business of $3,500,000. That total stands for a great deal of merchandise, considering that in those days a fairly good work shirt sold for 25 cents and the best overalls were only 83 cents.

Afer a few years, J.M. was made a member of the Board of Directors of the J.C. Penney Company and put in sole charge of the buying. In four years (1918), the company business grew to $21,338,000. In January, 1921, J.M. was made a vice president of the company and was put in charge of merchandising as well as new store acquisitions. The years he headed those departments, until his retirment in 1929, represented one of the firm's best eras. In his less than a decade as Vice President, the number of stores had grown from 312 to 1,395.