(No they didn't all marry Grawbargers but perhaps they dated a few - you never know?) Three of Thomas and Mary Ann Tennant's sons, George (the son of George Tennant and Lily Ann Hamilton) and Sophia and her brother Andrew Tennant (the daughter and son of Edward Tennant and Sarah Grawbarger) went to the family of James McAuley and Mary Jane Leach for their spouses. James was originally from the Alice Township area. All tolled five Tennant boys and one Tennant girl (from three different Tennant families) married six of James and Mary McAuley's children. The picture above is James McAuley (b. 3 June 1851) and his wife Mary Jane Leach (b. 13 January 1857). James was born in Shady Nook, Alice Twsp Renfrew County.
Jim and Mary's oldest daughter Nancy Foster McAuley was married at the age of 17 to Andrew Tennant age 28 on Wednesday March 28, 1894. Reverend E.S. Logie the Presbyterian Minister performed the ceremony either at the home of James and Mary or at the Presbyterian Mission Hall (church) near Forestview Cemetery. Daniel Stewart and Mary Boyle were the official registered witnesses. Andrew and Nancy moved to the Lakehead and the 1911 Census shows that they were living in Dorion with 8 of their children. Sadly Nancy died in Great Pandemic of 1918-1919 and the younger children were dispersed throughout Canada. Some of them went to live in Westlock Alberta with their Uncle Bill Tennant and Aunt Belle Mallard.
On Dominion Day Tuesday July 1, 1902 George Tennant, (son of George Tennant and Lily Ann Hamilton) age 40 and first cousin to Andrew, George and John and Sophia and her brother Andrew Wesley Tennant, married Mary "Minnie" McAuley age 26. They were both living up north at the time in the Restoule and Parry Sound area respectively but for some reason (perhaps because Mary's parents were living in the Tennant Settlement/Chalk River area) they got married in Renfrew County.
My Great Grandfather George Cardiff Tennant ( 16 April 1877 - 10 October 1952) was next
on the list of the Tennant boys to marry a McAuley . (The Cardiffs are another whole blog entry some other time). George was born in the Tennant Settlement and at the age of 26 he married my Great Grandmother Margaret McAuley on Tuesday September 1, 1903. Maggie McAuley was 17 when she was married to George. The details are sketchy but as the McAuleys and Tennants were both Presbyterian it is a fair guess that in 1903 George and Maggie were married in the Presbyterian Mission Hall (church) in Chalk River by Rev. George Campbell who served as Minister in the area from 1899 - 1912. The photo above is of George Cardiff Tennant and his wife Margaret McAuley in their Loyal Orange Lodge and Ladies Orange Benevolent Association regalia.
See elsewhere in this blog about George Cardiff Tennant and his cancer cure.
The following story is passed along by Margaret Ann McAuley - grand daughter of George and Maggie.
"Since Grandpa (George Cardiff Tennant) worked on the CPR he
would always send the hobo's as everyone called them, over to his log house on Railway Street for a home cooked meal that Grandma would have prepared. They were fed and treated well when they came and always left with a full stomach. When they would leave the house they would put little notches on the side of the house. When I asked Grandma why the notches were there, she said that the men put them there to tell others that there were good meals at this house".The photo to the right is of Margaret McAuley, her husband George Cardiff Tennant and her sister Sarah McAuley at a 12th of July parade.
John Tennant was born 30 October 1874 in the Tennant Settlement (d. 1955 in Westlock
Alberta). John was 30 years old when he was married to 20 year old Charlotte Jane McAuley (b. 25 June 1884 d. 1959 Westlock Alberta) on 1 November 1904. The ceremony would have been conducted at the Presbyterian Church on Main Street in Chalk River by Rev. George Campbell. The witnesses for John and Charlotte's marriage were Charlotte's brother John McAuley and his wife Sophia Tennant. Sophia was John Tennant's first cousin. There are no children present so the picture at the right could be their wedding photo.John Tennant's son - Hugh Wesley Tennant - is married to Betty Mortelette. Betty was widowed after her first husband Richard McAuley son of John McAuley and Sophia Tennant past away in 1980. Hugh and Betty are currently (as of May 2009) living in Barrhead Alberta.
In 1905 John Leach McAuley (the only son of James and Mary McAuley to marry a Tennant) married Sophia (pronounced "sof eye yaw") Tennant age 18. Sophia was the daughter of Edward Tennant and Sarah Grawbarger and sister to Andrew Wesley Tennant (see below). John and Sophia moved out west to Alberta with his sister Charlotte and her husband John, several other Tennants and Grawbergers after the federal government bought them out to turn the Tennant Settlement into the Petawawa Military base in 1907.
Andrew Wesley Tennant (son of Edward Tennant and Sarah Grawbarger) who died in the great 1918-19 Pandemic was married at the age of 29 to Sarah McAuley age 23 on April 21, 1910 in Alice by Rev. M. Blakely. Andrew Wesley Tennant stayed in the Chalk River area with his wife Sarah.
So here is a summary in case you weren't able to keep track:
Wednesday March 28, 1894
Nancy Foster McAuley married Andrew - son of Tom Tennant and Mary Ann Grawbarger
Tuesday July 1, 1902
Mary "Minnie" McAuley married George - son of George Tennant and Lily Ann Hamilton
Tuesday September 1, 1903
Margaret McAuley married George - son of Tom Tennant and Mary Ann Grawbarger
Tuesday November 1, 1904
Charlotte Jane McAuley married John - son of Tom Tennant and Mary Ann Grawbarger
Monday June 26, 1905
John Leach McAuley married Sophia - daughter of Edward Tennant and Sarah Grawbarger
Thursday April 21, 1910
Sarah McAuley married Andrew - son of Edward Tenant and Sarah Grawbarger
