William Tennent (1740-1777) papers, 1758-1777.

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Tennent, William, 1740-1777. William Tennent (1740-1777) papers, 1758-1777.

William Tennent (1740-1777) papers, 1758-1777.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/42215828

Album, 1758-1777, transcribed by John Charles Tennent in 1828 from the papers of his father, William Tennent III (1740-1777), including several letters dating to his life in the Colonies of New Jersey and Connecticut and his later work on behalf of the Patriot cause during the American Revolution in South Carolina, including efforts of Tennent, a cleric of the Presbyterian Church and a dissenter, to secure the disestablishment of the Anglican Church. Seven love letters, 1758-1763, written to "Zephyra" [addressing his future wife, Susan Vergereau, in New York] in which Tennent wrote under the name "Alexis," illustrate the reserved style of courtship for the period; this union may not have occurred without the assistance of statesman and philanthropist Elias Boudinot (1740-1821), a cousin of Susan Vergerau, a friend of the Tennent family, and later a President of the First Continental Congress; 8 letters, 1758-1761, from Boudinot discuss religious thought, offer encouragement, and reveal his friendship and admiration for William. Two poems date to the Seven Years War: "The Reduction of the Famous Isle of Louisbourgh" (1 Aug. 1759) re British conquest of the French stronghold at Louisbourg (Nova Scotia, Canada) during the French and Indian War, and "The Birth of Measures" (5 Sept. 1759). Essay [1774], "To the Ladies of South Carolina," re evils of drinking tea, illustrates Tennent's political involvement in the tea controversy; and undated essay, regarding "The rumor that St. Philips Church Steeple... was struck with lightening." Undated letter [ca.1774?], "To The Right Honorable The Countess of Huntington," [Selina Hastings Huntingdon] reports his friendship with the famed Methodist minister George Whitfield, who had founded Bethesda Orphanage, a home and school in Savannah, Ga., "Without regard to Denomination we have been the steady friends of Mr. Whitfield," and discusses her Ladyship's plans in connection with "Appropriation of the Orphan House Estate" and education for the ministry, discussing Rev. William Piercy, a minister from St. Paul's, Charleston, appointed by Huntingdon in 1773 to operate the Orphanage and train missionaries. Tennent diplomatically expresses his concern that many benefactors had donated money and property to provide care for orphans but not towards a college to train missionaries (pp. 133-142). Three letters [June-Sept. 1774], in which Tennent wrote under the name of "A Carolinian," and addressed to "Mr. Printer" and "To Inhabitants of South Carolina," re in which he takes issue with the actions of British Parliament and local colonial administrators. Several items document the end of the established, Anglican Church in the colony: "Interesting Events as they took place in... South Carolina 1776," includes the order "that all prayers for the King of Great Britain & his Royal Family be omitted in the Liturgy... the first Ecclesiastical Order in the State," and which includes an account of events in Charleston on 5 Aug. 1776 when "The Independence of the United States... was... proclaimed." Written as a member of the General Assembly meeting in Charleston, Tennent provides a personal report on the actions of the legislature in essay, "Historic Remarks on the Session of Assembly began Tuesday September 17th 1776"; Tennent's speech to the General Assembly, 11 Jan. 1777, brought about the disestablishment of the Anglican Church in South Carolina; this document also includes the only known copy of the Dissenters' petition for the disestablishment which was also prepared by Tennent. Journal, 1775, copied by J.C. Tennent, "A Fragment of a journal kept by Rev. William Tennent who was sent in conjunction with Mr. Drayton by the Committee of Safety to the Upper Country of So. Carolina to induce the Tories there to sign an Association not to bear arms against, but for their Country"; entries, 2 Aug.-15 Sept. 1775, discuss meeting Catawba Indians, frontier travel, visiting militia camps around S.C., worrying about committing treason, and securing signatures on the Association. The volume also includes an inscription, 1838, memorializing John Charles Tennent (d. 1838), written by his widow, Ann Martha Smith Tennent.

2 v.

University of South Carolina, System Library Service, University Libraries