Dedicated to the Tennants and Grawbargers who settled the Ottawa Valley in the 1850's.

The Grawbargers sailed to New Amsterdam (New York) in 1710 or so on the "Elizabeth". Some of their family members (Andrew Grawbarger) migrated northward as loyalists to the British Crown in the late 1700s or early 1800s.

The Tennants sailed to Canada in June 1820 on the "Commerce" out of Greenock Scotland and Dublin Ireland . They originally settled in Lanark Township in Lanark County Ontario and subsequently spread throughout Canada and the USA.

Meeting up in the Wilberforce Township area (near Killaloe) in the 1850s the Tennants and Grawbargers became fast friends and intermarried quite extensively.

Moving northwest into the Petawawa area together in the 1870s they founded the "Tennant Settlement" on what is now part of the Petawawa Military Base. Being bought out by the Military in 1906 some moved into nearby Chalk River while others made the trek to the Restoule/Golden Valley area and others rode the rails to Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia.

Their story of hard toil and heavy burdens marked them as they set down roots and pioneered the Lanark area in the early 1800s. Finding strength in each other and through their fantastic familial relationships as their descendants married other pioneers, the Tennants and their extensive families spread out from Lanark to explore whole new homesteads and occupations.

Thomas Tennant and Ann Hill would be proud of the varied and broad legacy of their descendants. Their heart-wrenching decision to sail to a new world would in a few short decades after their death, ultimately be rewarded with their progeny weaving themselves into and becoming a part of the very essence of Canada.

Their never ending spirit lead their descendants to become explorers, clergy and pastors, shanty-men, hunters, trappers, doctors, farmers, scientists, administrators, lawyers, railroaders, soldiers, writers, educators, paramedics, morticians, elected officials, police officers, firefighters, sports enthusiasts and entrepreneurs of the day.


Thursday, August 27, 2020

 200th Anniversary of the arrival of the Tennants in Canada

The journey of the Tennants on the ship 'Commerce'


Thomas Tennant and his wife Anne Hill and their extended family arrived in Canada at Montreal aboard the sailing ship Commerce in August 1820. 

The Commerce was a three masted ship with 1.5 decks. She had a draft of 17 feet. The ship was 111 feet long and 29 feet 6.5 inches broad and was built in Quebec at Fort William Henry in 1813. A sketch of the Commerce by Graham McBride of Halifax is shown below. It comes from page 13 of 'Carlow to Lanark - An Irish Family History' written by Robert Dawson Tennant.



Thomas and Anne emigrated to Canada with seven sons and two daughters. They were George and his wife Elizabeth Smith, William, John, Richard, Elizabeth, Judith, Thomas, Robert and Joseph and a man servant.

After landing in Montreal in August 1820 they all made their way to Fort Wellington at Prescott. The adult men then left for Perth via Brockville. In Perth they made formal arrangements for their Location Tickets. Thomas, the patriarch, and his wife Anne Hill settled on the 10 Concession of Lanark Townsip in  Lanark County. His children and their families settled in various other locations along the 10th and 12th Concessions of Lanark Township.

Settlement in Lanark Township


The family walked to their new home on the 10th Concession of Lanark Township in Lanark County around the 23 of November 1820. We know this as Elizabeth Smith, wife of George, the eldest son of Thomas, gave birth to her first child George Ansley Tennant on 23 November 1820 in the home of local resident, Willie Ireton, near Drummond Centre and Innisville, not too far from the Mississippi River. (From 1987 to 1991 I lived on 10 Concession Drummond Township not too far from Innisville and Drummond Centre). 

A photo of the log house of George Tennant and Elizabeth Smith is shown below from the summer of 1937.


Robert Dawson Tennant, the author of the Tennant family history book 'Carlow to Lanark - An Irish Family History' writes on page 20 of his geneaology regarding their journey to Lanark that "matriarch Ann[e] (Hill) Tennant carried an iron pot and some of their dishes". That pot is on view in the Middleville Museum. 



The museum is not too far from the original Tennant settlement. It is highly recommended that anyone interested in early Lanark Township life and times in general and the Tennants in particular, should visit the museum. It has several items of Tennant noteworthyness and overall gives an excellent perspective on early life in the area. Mike Tennant and Doug Tennant are shown in the photo below with a chest of drawers from the early Tennant household and which is on display at the Middleville Museum.



A low key celebration but a celebration nonetheless


On Saturday August 22, 2020 Mike Tennant and his wife Lorrie (nee Sawyshyn), Jeannie Tilson and Doug Tennant gathered during the great 2020 Covid-19 pandemic at the Tennant cemetery at 943 Concession 10B of Lanark Township to commemorate the 200th Anniversary of the arrival of the Tennants in Canada. After a memorial toast, salutation/prayer in memory of Thomas and Anne and their immigrant family, a modest picnic was enjoyed on the grounds of the cemetery. Mike provided a selected reading  from Robert Dawson Tennants family history and we all reviewed various stories about our ancestors and how our family has grown through marriagees and about how the Tennants and their descendants journeyed throughout North America..

Scott Meabry - cemetery custodian (who just recently assumed those duties from Gerald Tennant) expended considerable time and effort to ensure the grounds were exquisite for the 200th Anniversary celebration.

Lorrie, Mike and Jeannie at the 200th Anniversary Celebration of the arrival of the Tennants in Lanark Township.

Jeannie Tilson and Doug Tennant at the Thomas Tennant and Anne Hill gravestone at the Tennant Cemetery




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