The Rockingham, Ontario Tennants

The following post information is about new research results linking William Tennant (1824-1902) of the Rockingham, Ontario area (near Barry's Bay) to his father Richard Tennant (1797-1879).

For nigh on 100 years or so, it seemed that William Tennant (1824-1902), son of  Richard Tennant (1797-1879) and Jane Cardiff (1801 - ?) was a lost soul. Indeed, in the family history book written by Robert Dawson Tennant entitled "Carlow to Lanark - An Irish Family History" William has his name listed once on page 64 along with his genealogical cataloguing system number '53' and that is it. There is no other information listed, that this blogger could find, in the book about William. Do not confuse him with the William listed as number '3' by Robert Tennant on page 25 in his book and who died in 1821 unmarried.

The family history book about all things 'Tennant'

So what happened to William Tennant, son of Richard and Jane Cardiff? Where did he go? Who did he marry? Did he have children? All good questions which went unanswered for tens and tens of years until a distant relative of mine from the North Bay, ON area called one late winter Friday night in 2014 to enquire if I would 'just take a look' at some information about a 'William Tennant who had married a Mary Coughlin'. After discussing the matter for a considerable time via telephone I agreed to do the research. Then with dogged determination, I let life get in the way and put off the research for almost four years. One rainy day while my wife Jeannie was doing some geneaology, I decided to work on some 'dougieology' and set about checking out the Drouin collection for St. Patrick's parish near Renfrew, ON.

In the parish registery there are some very discernable entries about a William Tenant (which is an early variable of the Tennant surname) who was baptised into the Roman Catholic religion and then was married that very same day to a Mary Coughlin by the parish priest Father John McNulty.

A screen shot of the registry is provided herein for your review as well as this amateur geneaologists attempt at transcibing the entries.

Transcription (below) from the St. Patrick Roman Catholic parish registry. St. Patrick’s church is near Calabogie or Renfrew ON. The first entry (No. 74) by Father John McNulty is regarding the baptism of William Tennant (1824-1902), son of Richard Tennant and Jane Cardiff. The second transcription  (No. 11) is about the marriage of William Tennant and Mary Coughlin.

No.74    May 14, 1851 of the Indulgence Grant received After Incantation, Baptised (illegible word - possibly 'such') Conditions William Tenant aged 27 Years of Lake Doré Settlement. Sponsor John McNulty and Bridget Coughlin St. Patricks

No.11    May 14, 1851 of the Indulgence Grant Married Wm. Tenant to Mary Coughlin before witnesses John McNulty and Bridget Coughlin St. Patricks

William's father and mother (Richard Tennant and Jane Cardiff) are shown living in the Lake Doré Settlement area in Wilberforce Township, Renfrew County, ON in the 1851, 1861 and 1871 census documents. While the census for New Brunswick and Nova Scotia was completed in 1851, Canada West and Canada East did not start their collection of data until the following year. Therefore, for Canada West and Canada East, and in Wilberforce Township, what is known as the Census of 1851 officially began on January 12, 1852. Wilberforce Township is named after William Wilberforce (1759 – 1833) who was a British politician, philanthropist, and a leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade.

As William fell in love (hopefully and obviously) with Mary Coughlin, it was for him, given the context of the times, to have to consider and choose to change his religious denomination and convert from being a member of the Church of England or protestantantism to Roman Catholic. In 1851, when William got married to Mary Coughlin, it would have been literally unthinkable for him to convert to Roman Catholicism and remain as an accepted part of the Tennant family associated with Richard Tennant and Jane Cardiff. The only option for William to be able to marry Mary would be to convert to Roman Catholicism. This would have triggered, in that day and time, the action of being ostracised and/or shunned by his parents and siblings. This shunning or ostracisation by Richard and Jane with regard to their son William, would have been a momentous action and would explain why there was no further mention of or information provided about him in the family history book. For all intents and purposes, William would have been considered 'dead' and unknown to his parents and other family members.

So, having researched and found that a William Tennant was baptised as a Roman Catholic on May 14, 1851 and then married that same day to Mary Coughlin is interesting. All the more interesting is that this William Tennant was from the Lake Doré Settlement where Richard Tennant and Jane Cardiff were living having moved there from Lanark Township, Lanark County ON about 1843 or 1844. We know this as their daughter, Elizabeth Tennant (1844 - 1923) who married William Carnegie (1818-1896), was born in Wilberforce Township according to the 1871 Canadian census.

William Tennant was married 14 May 1851 to Mary Coughlin. The 1851 census was conducted in 1852, due to delays, and there is no record of him living with or near his father Richard, in the 1851 census.

William Tennant and Mary Coughlin were content to stay in the Brudenell/Sebastopol Township area for the rest of their lives. They had five children (see insert).

William died 18 November 1902 and was buried on 21 November at St. Ann's Parish Church. Mary died 16 May 1906. The following is taken from the church registery: Item # 4 Page 267 # S 7 Mary Coughlin was born in Ireland  (Mrs. Wm. Tennent) May 18th 1906 We, the undersigned blessed the body of Mary Coughlin Tennent who died the day before yesterday aged seventy-three years. Witnesses to burial James Stanley.

In the 1861 census William chose to list his religion as Church of England while Mary and the children were listed as Roman Catholic. The census shows William and Mary living amongst Mary's 'Coughlin' relatives (see insert from the 1861 census). Indeed, Mary's parents, Simon and Mary O'Brien were living just down the road from her and William.

1861 Census for Brudenell Township

On 20 September 2019 my wife, Jeannie, and I ventured to the Brudenell area (Letterkenny Road and Rockingham area) after having confirmed by telephone several months earlier that descendants of William Tennant and Mary Coughlin were still living in the area.

We met up with Allen Howard Tennant and his wife Lorna Roberston who live on Tennant Road just off Letterkenny Road. Over tea and homemade cookies we exchanged some stories of family lore on both sides and thoroughly enjoyed a wonderful 'mini family reunion'. With Allen and Lorna (my 3rd cousin 1X removed) calling themselves the 'Rockingham Tennants', Jeannie and I (of the Chalk River Tennants) left our new-found cousins and headed home. It was exciting knowing that we had finally met the descendants of William Tennant and Mary Coughlin - mystery solved!

Some of the Rockingham Tennants