Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/84

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62
TEN EYCK
TENNENT

tory over the " Frolic." After the war he served in the frigate " United States" in 1815-'17 in the Mediterranean. He was promoted to lieutenant, 27 April, 1816, served at the. New York navy- yard in 1818, in the "Ontario," in the Mediterra- nean and West Indies, in 1819-'24, in the receiving- ship at New York in 1825, and in the " Delaware " in 1827-30 in the Mediterranean. He was pro- moted master-commandant, 9 Feb., 1837, command- ed the store-ship " Erie " in the West Indies in 1838, and was commissioned captain, 10 Dec, 1843.


TEN EYCK, Henry James, journalist, b. in Albany, N. Y., 25 July, 1856 ; d. there. 29 Nov., 1887. He was graduated at Yale in 1879, third in a class of 131, and entered the office of the Albany " Evening Journal," where he remained until his death. In October, 1883, he became its managing editor, and in 1885 city editor. He was an occa- sional contributor to the magazines, more particu- larly the ." Century " and the " Popular Science Monthly," an article from his pen in the latter magazine in 1886 on " Some Tendencies in Taxa- tion " having attracted much attention.


TEN EYCK, John Conover, senator, b. in Free- hold, N. J., 12 March, 1814 ; d. in Mount Holly, N. J., 24 Aug., 1879. He received his education from Erivate tutors, studied law, was admitted to the ar in 1835, and practised in Mount Holly, N. J. He served as prosecuting attorney for Burlington county in 1839-'49, and was a delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1844. Mr. Ten Eyck was a Whig till 1856, when he joined the Republi- can party, and he was afterward chosen to the U. S. senate, where he held his seat from 5 Dec, 1859, till 3 March, 1865. In the senate Mr. Ten Eyck took part in various debates, including that on the elect- oral vote of Louisiana in 1865, but his principal services were performed on the judiciary and other committees. On 24 April, 1875, he was appointed a member of a commission to revise the New Jersey constitution, and on the death of Abram O. Zabriskie he became its president.


TENNENT, William, educator, b. in Ireland in 1673 ; d. in Neshaminy, Pa., 6 May, 1746. He received a liberal education in his native country, being graduated probably at Trinity college, Dub- lin, entered the ministry of the Episcopal church of Ireland in 1704, and became chaplain to an Irish nobleman. Wishing for more liberty of conscience, he came to this country with his family in 1718, and on application was received as a minister of the Presbyterian church by the svnod of Philadel- phia. After brief pastorates in Westchester coun- ty, N. Y., and in Bucks county, Pa., he was called in 1726 to Neshaminy, Pa., where he remained till the^lose of his life. Here, on land that was given him by his kinsman, James Logan, in 1728, he erected a small building, and opened a school for the instruction of candidates for the ministry. In this academy, which became known as the Log col- lege, were trained many that became eminent in the Presbyterian church. The name was probably bestowed at first in contempt by its opponents. It was the first literary institution higher than a common school within the bounds of the Presby- terian church in this country, and is regarded as the germ from which sprang Princeton college and several lesser institutions of learning. Tennent had a rare gift of attracting youths of genius and imbuing them with his own zealous spirit. About 1742 he withdrew from active labor. The "Log college " has long since disappeared. It is de- scribed by George Whitefield, who visited it in 1739, as "a log-house about twenty feet long, and near as many broad, and to me it seemed to re- semble the school of the old prophets, for their habitations were mean." About 1840 part of one of the logs that formed the building was discov- ered, and from it a cane was made, which was pre- sented to Rev. Dr. Samuel Miller, then one of the oldest professors in Princeton seminary. See Rev. Dr. Archibald Alexander's "History of the Log College " (1846).— William's eldest son, Gilbert, clergyman, b. in County Armagh, Ireland, 5 Feb., 1703; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 23 July, 1764, came to this country with his father, was educated by him, and taught for some time in the Log college. After studying medicine for a year, he abandoned it for divinity, and in May, 1725, was licensed to preach by the Philadelphia presbytery. In the same vear he received the honorary degree of A. M. from Yale. After preaching at New Castle, Del., and receiving a call there, he left so abruptly that he was rebuked by the synod, and in 1726 was or- dained as pastor at New Brunswick, N. J. He was much admired as a preacher, and in 1740-'l made a tour with George Whitefield at the latter's re- quest. He had much to do with the division in the Presbyterian church in 1741 by his indiscretion in denouncing those that were opposed to revivals, but seventeen years later he was no less active in healing the breach. In 1744 he became pastor of a new church in Philadelphia that had been formed by admirers of Whitefield. Shortly afterward he asked Benjamin Franklin's advice as to whom he should call upon for funds to erect a new church edifice. Franklin told him to "call on everybody," and, taking the sage at his word, Tennent soon ob- tained money for an expensive building. In 1753, at the request of the trustees of Princeton, he went abroad, with Rev. Samuel Davies, to secure funds for that institution. Mr. Tennent was one of the most conspicuous ministers of his day. He affected eccentricity in his pulpit, but his sermons were marked both by forcible reasoning and by pas- sionate appeal. The controversies in which he en- gaged made him many enemies, and he was even accused of immorality. His published volumes are " XXIII. Sermons " (Philadelphia, 1744) ; " Dis- courses on Several Subjects" (1745); and "Ser- mons on Important Subjects adapted to the Peril- ous State of the British Nation (1758). Among his many separate published discourses are " The Necessity of studying to be Quiet and doing our own Business" (1744); several on the lawfulness of defensive war (1747 et seq.); and "A Persuasive to the Right Use of the Passions in Religion " (1760). Mr. Tennent also wrote an " Account of a Revival of Religion " in Prince's " Christian History " (1744). See also a volume of " Sermons and Essays by the Tennents and their Contemporaries " (1855). President Samuel Finley, of Princeton, delivered his funeral sermon, which was published with an appendix and a "Funeral Eulogy" by a young gentleman in Philadelphia (1764). — Another son, William, clergyman, b. in County Antrim, Ireland, 3 Jan., 170*5 ; d. in Freehold, N. J., 8 March, 1777, also came to this country with his father, with whom he followed a preparatory course, and then studied theology under his brother Gilbert in New Brunswick. "He had nearly finished his course there when he fell into a remarkable trance or cataleptic fit, continuing for several days as if dead. His physician refused to permit his burial, and efforts to resuscitate him were finally successful, though his life was despaired of for weeks. He was obliged to learn anew to read and write, and had no recollection of his former life till on one occasion he felt a " shock in his head," after which his former knowledge began slowly to re-