TENNANT, Henry - Putnam

One who was amply rewarded for his toil as a husbandman and who at the same time so ordered his life as to gain and retain the good will and respect of his neighbors and acquaintances was Henry E. Tennant, well known agriculturist and stock raiser of Scott township, Montgomery county, a descendant of the well known and influential Tennant family of Putnam county, the good reputation of which he ever kept unsullied. Mr. Tennant was born in Putnam county, Indiana, November 3, 1856. He was a son of Elijah and Mary E. (Chenoweth) Tennant. The father was born near Lexington, Kentucky, and he came to Putnam county, Indiana, in a very early day, probably soon after the county was settled. Mary E. Chenoweth was a daughter of John W. Chenoweth and wife, her family having come from near Harper's Ferry, Virginia, and drove a stage from Baltimore north over the mountains. When Mary E. was a girl about fifteen years old her people came to Putnam county, Indiana, prior to the days of railroads in this state. Her father was a slave owner and one of the old negroes on their plantation followed him to Greencastle, and Mr. Chenoweth took care of her the rest of her life. The elder Chenoweth thought it wrong to sell slaves and divide their families, so he was good to those about him. When they were freed some of them refused to leave and remained with him. The parents of our subject were married in Putnam county, and there they began farming about a mile and a half south of Greencastle. In 1862 when our subject was six years old, his father died, leaving a widow and two children, Henry E., of this sketch; and Lawrence, both of whom are deceased. Lawrence lived at Brazil, Indiana, his death occurring there March 1901. Henry E. Tennant died in the city of Indianapolis on June 12, 1913. The mother of these two children married again, her second husband being John R. Miller, and they soon afterward moved to Parke county, where our subject grew to manhood, and there he attended the common schools, later was a student at Merome College, south of Terre Haute in Sullivan county. He then returned to his Parke county home. In 1877 he bought a farm on Big Raccoon creek in Parke county, about one hundred and fitty-five acres, and there he lived some time before his marriage, which occurred in December, 1870, when he le dto the altar Sarah Miller, daughter of Jacob B. and E1izabeth (Kerr) Miller. She was born and reared in Parke county, as was also her father, and these parents spent the rest of their lives in this locality. Jacob B. Miller was a son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Bell) Miller. The elder Miller was a pioneer of Parke county, coming there before there were any roads or any improved farms, indeed, when Indians were still numerous. After the marriage of our subject and wife they remained on his farm in Parke county three years, then sold out and bought a place in Champaign county, Illinois, and was there three years, then moved back to Parke county, remaining there another three years, then moved to Vermillion county, where they purchased one hundred and twenty acres of good land near Dana. Remaining there about nine years, then came to Montgomery county and settled about a mile south of Browns Valley, buying there the Robert Goff farm, which they operated about three years, then returned to Parke county, living south of Bellmore two years. They then came to the southwestern part of Scott township, Montgomery county, where they remained about nine years, Mr. Tennant securing two farms there, one of one hundred and forty-two acres in section 30, and another of fifty acres in section 29. He resided on the latter. His one hundred and ninety-two acres are well improved and kept well cultivated. Mrs. Tennant's mother died on January 6, 1864 and her father survived many years, passing away on November 19, 1896 at the old home where he spent his life. Mr. Tennant's mother had four children by her second marriage, namely: Mrs. Lizzie Jeffries, Daniel Miller, Robert Miller, and Mrs. Effie Bullion. Mrs. Tennant's brothers and sisters are Mrs. Mary E. Smock, Marion Miller, Mrs. Sarah J. Tennant, Mrs. Rosella Sellers, Thomas O. Miller, Cora E. Miller and Robert O. Miller. Years after Mrs. Tennant's mother died the father married again and has one son by this union, Jacob B. Miller. Mr. and Mrs. Tennant had one daughter, Mary T. wife of Charles N. Nicholas. Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas live on Mr. Tennant's farm in section 30, Scott township. They have one daughter, Lelah. Fraternally, Mr. Tennant was a member of the Knights of Pythias. Mr. Tennant's step-father died in January, 1897. Our subject's mother lived for a short time with her children. She spent the last four years of her life with the subject of this sketch, and died at his home on August 31, 1911.