Family Tree Maker's Genealogy Site: Genealogy Report: Descendants of Richard Tennant

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Descendants of Richard Tennant

Generation No. 1

1. RICHARD² TENNANT (RICHARD¹) was born Bet. 1739 - 1744 in Glasgow, Scotland, and died Bet. December 18, 1822 - January 31, 1823 in Jakes Run, Monongalia County, West Virginia. He married ELIZABETH HAUGHT Abt. 1769 in Moorefield, Hardy County, West Virginia, daughter of PETER HAUGHT and ?. She was born Abt. 1748 in Rotterdam, Holland, and died 1830 in Jakes Run, Monongalia County, West Virginia.

Notes for RICHARD TENNANT:
Richard Tennant, born near Glasgow, Scotland in 1744, emigrated to America about 1760. He settled on the South Branch of the Potomac River near present day Moorefield, Hardy County, WV. Indentured to Peter Haught for seven years to pay for his passage, Richard would eventually marry Peter's daughter, Elizabeth, and become the progenitor of a large family that is scattered throughout the U.S.

Family tradition has it that upon his return from service in Lord Dunmore's War in 1774, Richard passed through what is now Monongalia County, WV, and decided to make his home there. A certificate on file at the Monongalia County Courthouse states "Richard Tenant Senr. is Intitled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia County on the waters of Dunkar Creek adjoining Lands of Henry Smith in the right of Residence Including his Improvement made in the year 1775."

During the Revolutionary War, Richard served as a drummer in Captain Parson's Company. He took part in Brigadier General Lachlan McIntosh's Campaign in 1778, who was directed by Congress to "proceed without delay, to destroy such towns of the hostile tribes of Indians as he in his discretion shall think will most effectually tend to chastise and terrify the savages, and to check their ravages on the frontiers of these states." A force comprised of 2000 men assembled at Fort Pitt and headed for Indian territory on September 11, 1778. Although they never had an engagement with the Indians, they would construct the first permanent fort north and west of the Ohio River, Fort Laurens, on the banks of the Tuscarawas River in Ohio.

Richard and Elizabeth were the parents of 13 children who lived to maturity and have many descendants still living near the ancestral home on Jakes Run in Monongalia County, WV.

Although the exact date of his death is unknown, Richard's will was signed on December 18, 1822 and probated on January 31, 1823.

The following narrative was published in The Monongalia Story, A Bicentennial History, Volume III. Discord, pages 75-79, written by Earl L Core. Notes in parentheses are my own.

The Road to Morgantown. One of the earliest examples of Monongalia County folk literature is the famous "Road to Morgantown," the author of which is unknown but believed to be Joseph Park and the date likewise unknown but apparently about 1832.
The story concerns Robin Darrah, a resident of Miracle Run, in western Monongalia County, who is directing a stranger to the county seat (Robert D. Darrah was the father of Henry Darrah, who married Anna Tennant. Anna was the daughter of John Tennant and Rosanna Moore). Along with illustrating the garrulous nature of some backwoodsmen, the account gives sidelights on living conditions of the day and the people mentioned were real men and women living in the area at the time.
The text follows:
STRANGER: My friend, can you tell me the road to Morgantown?
ROBIN DARRAH: (Throwing down an armful of chips which he was carrying from the yard). By the grace of God I can tell you as well as any man in the county, for I've been there myself. You come past old Joe Tuttle's, didn't you? With his lip stickin' out like your foot, and the amber running off his lip sufficient to swim ducks. He chaws tobaccy, sir!
STRANGER: I care nothing for him. I've come past there. I wish to get to Morgantown.
ROBIN DARRAH: Well you'll take up the hill past old Blink-eyed Balwin's, all the blacksmiths we have in the county; the cussedest iron roaster you ever saw in the born days of your life. He will burn up forty plowshares a year, if you'll take 'em to him. A few days ago, Jake (dang his name) and Bets (dang her too! For I can't think of either of their names), was running off to get married over in Pennsylvania, and stopped at Blink-eyed Baldwin's to get their hosses shod. He blowed and blowed and the devil a shoe he made and whether they got married or not I'm unable to tell. He's got a little stewed up old woman for a wife about as big as your fist, about so high! and she keeps the whole country in an uproar with her lies, running so that it's Mattie Baldwin here and Mattie Baldwin there and Mattie Baldwin in everybody's mouth. And there's not a lawsuit in the county in which she is not summoned as a witness for somebody, and whether she swears or not I'm unable to tell you, but I believe she swears lies.
You'll take down the hill from there to old Dave Chew's that married old Aaron Foster's widder. You'll turn around his farm to the right - that road will lead you down to Dan Cokes, the dog shooter; he has killed all the dogs in this county, so if you're afraid of dogs you needn't be alarmed, for there's not a dog left to bark at you, and it's Dan Cokes here and Dan Cokes there and Dan Cokes in everybody's mouth. He ought to be made pay for the dogs, and I think he will before he gets through with it. The other day me and my son, Joe, was going through a field and up jumps a fox and the dog took after it, and we've never heard of the dog or fox since till this day, and then the fox was about 350 yards ahead of the dog till he hasn't got back yet, and I expect Dan Cokes killed him.
You just keep down the run from there and you'll come in among the fattest, lustiest set of Negroes you ever seen in all the days of your life. Their name is Dowd and its Dowd here and Dowd there and its Dowd in everybody's mouth. I've one of the cussedest lawsuits with them you ever heard of in your life, and it's all about slander and there's Tom P. Ray, Clerk of the county court at Morgantown and Edgar C. Wilson the best lawyer in the Virginny, both say I'll beat 'em as slick as a bone and it's all about slander, though I've never slandered anybody myself.
You'll come across a pint there and fall over to another run. By turnin' to the right you'll come down to old Bill Messers. He married a Metz and her name is Peg, and she's the cussedest woman to swear you ever heard in all your life, sir. Her hair sticks out like a scrub broom. She don't comb it from one week's end to another and it's Peg Messer here and Peg Messer there and Peg Messer in everybody's mouth and she can outswear Mattie Baldwin!
You'll turn there to the left and that will take you to a pint and you will fall over into Jake's Run, named after old Jake Straddlers in Indian times, and it's settled with Tennant's from head to mouth! And they are the cussedest set of men to fight you ever saw in all your born days. Whenever they have a log-rollin' or any comin' together of the people, their jackets are off, and the blood a flyin' and all hollerin' fair play. The father will fight the son and son will fight the father. The brothers will fight one another. There's old Enock Tennant, a steppin' around with his head a stickin' to one side; I believe he is the foulest Tennant among 'em (Enoch Tennant was the son of Joseph Tennant and Catherine Haught). But there's Black Ben, Pete Tennant's slave, I'd like to forget him (Pete Tennant refers to Peter, Richard Tennant's first son. Black Ben is Ben Ponzoo). He's the only white man among the Tennants.
You'll turn up that run by turnin' to the right, no road to turn you off, till you fall on the head of the Little Paw Paw, to my son-in-law's Ben Shuman's, one of the ugliest men you ever saw in your lifetime and it's Ben Shuman here, and it's Ben Shuman there and it's Ben Shuman in everybody's mouth; he keeps the whole neighborhood in an uproar with his lies. But I must say that Ben Shuman has the best breed of dogs in the county, and he's going to have a lot of pups soon. My Joe spoke a pup and I 'low to go over day after tomorrow myself and buy the mother and sell her to my brother-in-law, Joe Koon, for a gallon of whiskey, or a bushel of corn.
John Hood's got the best store in Blacksville. There's going to be a famine on the creek for Shep Lemaster and Joe Park are selling their corn out at 25 cents a bushel and they'll have to give 50 cents for the same corn back again between this and harvest. And Bill Lantz and Bill Thomas have got a barrell of whiskey apiece and are retailing it out at a bushel of wheat to the gallon and they'll get all the wheat in this neighborhood and that wheat will go from there to Pittsburgh and I'm a drawin' a pension at this time, and devil a bit more right have I to it than they have, but there's old Andy Cobley and Jake Brookover got me before the squire and didn't care what I swore so they got part of the money. All the exploit I ever done in my life was to kill my mother and then the gun went off by accident (He accidently shot his mother while cleaning his gun).
STRANGER: Goodday, sir!
MRS DARRAH: Robin, the gentleman don't know no more about the road now than if you hadn't said a word.
ROBIN DARRAH: Hold your tongue, old woman. By the grace of God, he can't miss the way, and I know he recollects it, for he said good morning and we parted.

Children of RICHARD TENNANT and ELIZABETH HAUGHT are:

2.	i.	PETER³ TENNANT, b. February 25, 1773, Hardy County, West Virginia; d. January 29, 1847, Jakes Run, Monongalia County, West Virginia.
3.	ii.	MARY TENNANT, b. Abt. 1774, Pennsylvania; d. Bet. 1850 - 1860.
4.	iii.	ALEXANDER TENNANT, b. Abt. 1775; d. Aft. 1850, Ohio.
5.	iv.	RICHARD TENNANT, b. 1777, Jakes Run, Monongalia County, West Virginia; d. June 27, 1824, Jakes Run, Monongalia County, West Virginia.
6.	v.	WILLIAM TENNANT, b. August 12, 1778, Pennsylvania; d. September 20, 1869, Clay District, Monongalia County, West Virginia.
7.	vi.	JOSEPH TENNANT, b. September 04, 1782, Fayette County, Pennsylvania; d. December 24, 1872, Clay District, Monongalia County, West Virginia.
8.	vii.	ADAM TENNANT, b. 1784, Pennsylvania; d. March 01, 1878, Monongalia County, West Virginia.
9.	viii.	ELIZABETH TENNANT, b. Abt. 1785, Pennsylvania; d. Bet. 1860 - 1870.
10.	ix.	JOHN TENNANT, b. 1785, Fayette County, Pennsylvania; d. Bet. 1850 - 1860.
11.	x.	ABRAHAM J TENNANT, b. Abt. 1786, Clay District, Monongalia County, West Virginia; d. December 19, 1875, Clay District, Monongalia County, West Virginia.
12.	xi.	MARGARET TENNANT, b. 1788, Monongalia County, West Virginia; d. July 24, 1857, Monongalia County, West Virginia.
13.	xii.	CATHERINE TENNANT, b. 1790, Monongalia County, West Virginia; d. 1863, Greene County, Pennsylvania.
14.	xiii.	JACOB AARON TENNANT, b. 1792, Monongalia County, West Virginia; d. November 07, 1874, Clay District, Monongalia County, West Virginia.

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