For our purpose, Thomas Tennant (1755-1821) was Hal’s grandfather’s grandfather’s father. We have no photograph of him: photography wouldn’t be invented until more than a decade after his death.
It was Thomas who chose, at the age of 66, to leave everything he knew, to gather his wife, their ten children and two servants, to take up pioneering in Canada’s Ottawa Valley.
Until then, Thomas had been an administrator at Ballintemple, the estate of the Butler family near Aghade (a-HAYD) parish, a few miles outside the town of Tullow in County Carlow, Ireland.
Thomas, family & servants were among the 402 settlers who sailed on the vessel Commerce from Greenock, Scotland on Wednesday, June 21st, 1820, and arrived in Quebec on Saturday, August 5th.
There were no railways. The Lanark settlers had to haul their possessions overland by wagon, and by barge for weeks before arriving at the Prescott Military settlement. From there, Thomas and sons took a stage to Perth. From Perth, Thomas and sons would hike north some 20 miles to find the land they wished to claim as part of the settler’s program. Then, given a starter kit of supplies, they had to quickly build a log shelter on their new property before winter set in.
Robert D. Tennant’s original history suggests that Thomas was heartbroken over his decision to move his family to “this wilderness”. On February 7th, 1821, barely six months after first setting foot in Canada, Thomas died following a short illness.
He’s buried in a spot he had chosen himself, in what would become the Tennant Family Burying Ground, at a small, sandy clearing in the woods within view of his homestead.
11 comments:
Yay! I'm looking forward to many more tales from the Tennant vaults.
Just curious if we're related -- Any branches in your family tree from West Virginia (or, farther back, Glasgow)?
-- Thomas Tennant
(thomas.o.tennant@gmail.com)
Hi Thomas-
And thanks for dropping by.
This line of Tennants may have originated in Scotland or Northern England (where our surname seems to have originated). From there it's believed my ancestors went to Ireland with Cromwell- not a nice story there- and lived there for a couple of centuries, before our Thomas Tennant came to Canada in 1820.
I'm among his thousands of descendants, many of whom may have since settled in West Virginia.
But any Tennants that might have emigrated from Glasgow to West Virginia would likely have done so before 1820- and we have very little record of the family that far back. So many records were lost in Ireland's Customs House fire in the 1920's.
Not sure if this helps- but it's always a pleasure to chat with a cousin.
Mike:
I love your show "The Age of Persuasion" with Terry. I have been bitten with the Tennant genealogy bug seriously for about 4 years now and just can't get enough of it.
I have been concentrating lately on the migration of the Tennants fromLanark County over to Wilberforce Twsp in Renfrew COunty and then up to the Tennant Settlement in Chalk River. This is quite a journey. I am interested in talking to you and finding out through which of Thomas and Ann's sons we are related. I am descended through Richard and Jane Cardiff. I am in Cambridge ON.
George Tennant son of Thomas and Mary Ann and grandson of Richard Tennant and Jane Cardiff was renowned for his ability to apply the "Tennant Cancer Cure" to those he came across who had skin cancer. My dad and mom recount many times they heard and saw cancers being cured by George. Many of his "patients" were locals in the Chalk River and Pembroke area. George's son Wesley Tennant of Chalk River also had the cure and applied it up until just a few decades ago. My dad Thomas George Tennant has the ingredients for the "cure" but not the amounts required and thus for all intents and purposes it has been lost with time and modern medecine rules and regs.
Here is an excerpt fromthe Perth Courier of 1899:
Perth Courier, June 2, 1899
John Dunlop of Pembroke Township, we regret to hear, is troubled with a cancer in the lower hip. Mr. Dunlop is about 83 years of age but apart from the cancer is in excellent health. Mr. Tennant of Chalk River who, a couple weeks ago, treated Charles Cornwith so successfully for the same condition, came down on Monday and hopes to effect a cure in Mr. Dunlop's case in a short time.
Here is another quote from the Coppsville/Clarkesville website:
Chalk River is not without it's folk heroes and legendary sons. The Tennant family, prominent even today in the area, deserves special mention. It seems that Mr George Tennant Sr. , now deceased, had an uncanny ability to prescribe herbal cures for a variety of ailments. Mr Tennant's abilities were certainly well appreciated, considering that Doctors were few and far between in those days. Mr Dick Tennant, George's brother, performed many pioneer veterinary services for the areas sick animals. His sister-in-law, Mrs Andy Tennant who acted as midwife, delivered many of today's (1979) village residents. The Tennants and the services of this family were undoubtedly greatly appreciated by the early settlers of the area
The Ivan Tennant Memorial Award is awarded annually to the top academic high school player in the Ontario Hockey League. It is named in honour of the late Ivan Tennant, a former education consultant for the Kitchener Rangers who worked to develop the academic standards for the entire league during twenty years of service. The award was first given out in 2005 and is based on the player's average in his best six courses regardless of level of difficulty of the courses.
Ivan James Tennant was the eldest son of James William (Bill) Tennant who left Chalk River Ontario to settle in Timmins. They were quite a hockey family and Ivan took on his fathers sporting abilities.
The winners so far of the Ivan Tennant Award:
2007–08: Alex Friesen, Niagara IceDogs
2006–07: Andrew Shorkey, Owen Sound Attack
2005–06: Joe Pleckaitis, Ottawa 67's
2004–05: Matt Pelech, Sarnia Sting
Ivan's son David Tennant who lives in Kitchener Ontario has taken over from where his father left off and he is now the Educational Consultant for the Kitchener Rangers.
The Parish of Aghade.
Thomas Tennant and Judith Butler most likely worshipped at the Aghade church as they and some of their relatives are buried there. While Thomas and Judith's graves have not been found a vertical tombstone can be found secured in place with the inscription telling of the death of Richard Tennant (son of Thomas and Judith) on December 3, 1772 and burial in 1775 of a 6 month old baby boy -Thomas Tennant- son of Robert. See the following link for more details about the gravestone at Agahde Church. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~tennant/aghadegravepage2.htm
The name of the Aghade parish is not of ecclesiastical origin though it is of great and celebrated antiquity as we read from what is known as 'The Book of Ballymote'. There it is told how Eochaidh, the son of Enna Cennsealach, killed the poet Niall of the Nine Hostages. The High-King pursued him into Leinster, laid waste the province and forced the Leinstermen to surrender Eochaidh to him. He then carried off his prisoners to 'Ath Fadhat' on the banks of the Slaney and there he left him with a chain around his neck secured to a stone. As Niall retreated northward, nine of his champions returned to put an end to Eochaidh. When the latter saw them coming the 'legend' has it that he put forth all his strength, gave a sudden jerk by which he broke the chain and seizing an iron bar to which it was secured, attacked and slew his champions. Encouraged by this feat the Leinstermen rallied, attacked Niall's army, defeated it and pursued it as far as Tullow slaughtering the retreating troops all the way. In modern times, human bones and skeletons as well as mangled pieces of swords and other military equipment have been dug up from Aghade to Tullow. Nothing can be more certain that a bloody conflict took place here at a remote period.
Christian origins of Aghade and All Saints.
In the fifth century Saint Iserninus, Saint Patrick's nephew, resided in and was buried at Aghade. It is argued that Iserninus in close consultation with St. Patrick founded the church here.
From the 'The Carlow O.S. Letters' we learn that an abbey for nuns of the Order of St. Augustine was founded by Dermot McMorogh, King of Leinster, in 1151. He appointed it to be a sub abbey of the nunnery of St. Mary de Hoggis in Dublin. It appears that in the reign of Henry V! (1422 - 1461) 60 acres of land in Ardristian as well as the rectory of Aghade belonged to this Abbey or rather to the head house of that order in Dublin city. The present day church occupies the same site of the former convent.
Quoting from the O.S. letters we read 'There is now no vistage or remembrance of the abbey now at Aghade but there are a blessed (holy) well, without a name, and a very old baptismal font near the present church which is sufficient indication of a religious establishment of other character having formally occupied the same situation'.
In bygone days, bound by the fetters of superstition, very few people went went to a funeral in Aghade graveyard without paying a visit to the well and taking a drink from it as the water was believed to have curative properties.
The church hall was the parochial National School until its closure in 1967.
A picture of the Aghade "All Saints" church can be found at the link below.
http://www.ballonvillage.com/Aghade%20church.htm
Is there a family tree for Warden Thomas Tennant of Chalk river? My grandmother was a Tennant who came to Sombra from Ireland. Is it possible to find out the names of the 10 children he brought with him to Canada?
J. Hamilton
Edmonton, AB
The nine children Thomas and Ann brought to Canada were:
George, Thomas, William, Robert, Richard, John, Joseph, Elizabeth, Julia.
Thomas Tennant was Reeve (Mayor) of Chalk River in the early 2000s. His tree is on Ancestry under Tennant- Carlow to Lanark.
Hi I'm Dawson Tennant, son of Eric Tennant, son of John "Leslie" Tennant (of Restoule), son of John Day Tennant, son of George Tennant, son of Richard Tennant, son of Thomas Tennant, son of Thomas Tennant. Thanks for your blog. I got my information from my Dad who got it from Vivian Bethinger.
I am Dawson's cousin, Kevin. I am the son of Alvin Tennant who is Eric Tennant's older brother. Much of my information comes from the book "Carlow to Lanark" by Robert Dawson Tennant. I am going to Ireland in July/August of this year and plan to visit Aghade. Do we know if there are any direct descendants of Thomas Tennant still there?
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