The Romantic and Rugged Life of John A. Tennant
A survey of the extraordinary life of a pioneer who navigated the Cherokee Nation, the Fraser River gold rush, and the Methodist circuit.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Rev. John A. Tennant, one of the pioneer settlers of the Sound country and a prominent figure in the history of Whatcom County, died at his home at Lynden. Born in 1829 in the Cherokee Nation, his father was a missionary for over sixty years, and his mother a half-breed woman. Tennant was admitted to the bar and later became proficient as a surveyor. In 1858, when the Fraser River mining excitement was at its height and Whatcom was a tent town of 7,000 people, he was deputy sheriff. In 1862 he was a member of the territorial legislature and became engaged to a lady belonging to one of the most prominent families of the state, but her parents objected and the engagement was broken. A few months afterward he married a daughter of the chief of the Lummi tribe and took up a farm near Ferndale. He later became a circuit rider, accomplishing a great amount of good in his work of a quarter of a century among the Indians and whites.
“In 1858, when the Fraser river mining excitement was at its height and Whatcom was a tent town of 7,000 people, he was deputy sheriff.”
John A. Tennant's life bridges the gap between the chaotic colonial expansion of the 1850s and the structured settlement of the 1890s. His biography highlights the complex, often erased intermarriages and cultural exchanges that built early Washington.
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