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.
My maternal grandmother, Margaret Ellen MacDonald (1903-1981) was born in the Tennant Settlement. Her father was Alfred MacDonald (1877-1959) and her mother was Mary Grawbarger (1884-1961). While the foregoing is not earth shattering or even perhaps of interest to many who have visited this blog, I want to acknowledge that there was a notable extended family connection between not only the Tennants and Grawbargers but that that connection runs through the MacDonald/Cuthbert part of the family tree. You see my grandmother on the MacDonald/Cuthbert side had a grandmother who was a Tennant.
In addition to the above tidbit, my grandmother, Margaret MacDonald who married Ken Cuthbert, who was born at Rosehall Farm (where my wife Jeannie and I currently live), also had two sets of great grandparents who themselves were Grawbarger/Tennant and Tennant/Grawbarger (see below).
