BIO:
Oliver Bush Tenney history was found in the little town of Winnebago, Minnesota, in their Historical Society library in a corner in this old book called: In the Name Index for "Memorial Record of the Counties of Faribault, Martin, Watonwan, and Jackson, Minnesota", Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1895 - Generated by Margaret Jenstad. We find the Tenney Name. We find a picture of O. B. Tenney with a beard and a history on page 319 -
O. B. Tenney, who was successfully carries on farming on section 13, Lura township, Faribault county, is a native of the Empire State. He was born in the town of Ontario, Wayne County, New York, December 9, 1828, and is a son of Meshach and Eliza S. (Bush) Tenney, being the second in their family of sixteen children.

The father (Meshach) was born in the town of Hancock, Hillsboro county, New Hampshire, July 22, 1792, and died at the age of seventy-six years. His father, Daniel Tenney, was a soldier in the war of 1812 and departed this life in the old Granite State. He as a man of more than ordinary intelligence, was a very fine penman and when in the army his services were required to make a sketch of one of the battles.
The Tenney family is of English origin and was founded in America in the early part of the seventeenth century by Thomas Tenney, who was one of the party of twenty families who crossed the Atlantic in the autumn of 1638, arriving in Salem, Massachusetts, in December. The Tenneys had lived in Rowley, on the Yorkshire Wolds in the East Riding of the county of York, England. Thomas Tenney first settled in Salem, but spent his declining years at Bradford, Massachusetts, where his death occurred February 20, 1699. His son, Deacon John Tenney, was born December 14, 1640, and died April 13, 1722. The next in the line of direct descent, Samuel Tenney, was born in Bradford, Massachusetts, November 20, 1667 and passed away February 3, 1747. Samuel Tenney, of the fourth generation, was born in Bradford, Massachusetts, now Groveland, December 17, 1697, and departed this life in Littleton, Massachusetts, in 1777.
Page 320 - His son, Samuel, was born in Bradford, May 25, 1725, and died in Hancock, New Hampshire, February 11, 1795. He was the father of Daniel Tenney, who was born in Littleton, July 7, 1756 and died in Hancock, March 24, 1812. The next of the family also bore the name of Daniel, and was born in Marlborough, New Hampshire, March 11, 1788, while his death occurred in Juneau, Wisconsin, September 21, 1849. Shadrack Tenney, the second son of Daniel Tenney, of the seventh generation, was born in Marlborough, New Hampshire, April 16, 1790, and died in Ontario, Wayne County, New York, December 15, 1868.
Meshach Tenney, the father of our subject, was reared on a farm and followed agricultural pursuits through much of his life. On his removal to Ontario, New York, he became interested in the iron ore mines and there remained until his removal to Fond du Lac county, Wisconsin, in 1854. He there purchased an eighty-acre tract of land, partly timber and partly prairie, bought a house which he removed to the farm and there he carried on agricultural pursuits until the fall of 1864, when he came to Minnesota. Here his remaining days were passed in the community he was accounted as a value citizen.
Meshach Tenney was first married in Vermont, to the lady of his choice being Phoebe Crane (name correction is Cram), of New Hampshire, and to them was born a son, Nathan C. Tenney, who went to St. Johns, New Mexico, where he met his death. On a certain occasion there arose some trouble between the Mexicans and cowboys, and while trying to quell the riot he was killed by a bullet intended for another, that came from the gun of a cowboy firing from the window of an adobe house. He was noted for his bravery and fearlessness and his noble qualities of mind and heart.
The surviving children born to the parents of our subject are: H.D., who came with his parents to Faribault county in 1864 and is now living in Spring Valley, Fillmore county, Minnesota, S.B., is practicing physician of South Dakota, Nancy A., widow of George Booth and a resident of Lane county, Oregon; Eber J., who is now a preacher of the Mormon faith and resides in Ramah, Valencia county, New Mexico; Avarilla, wife of James Ivers, an honored veteran of the late war, now residing in Baileyville, Nemaha county, Kansas; Ann Augusta, wife of John Goff, a farmer of Mapleton township, Blue Earth county, Minnesota; Sally F., wife of Horatio Wickes, of Cottonwood county, Minnesota; George, who now owns and operates the Tenney homestead on which his brother Ambrose located here the family came to the West and on which he and his parents all spent their last days; and Lovina, wife of Nathan Frakes, who is owner of a large stock ranch of Warner Lake county, Oregon.

O. B. Tenney was reared and educated in his native State, and in 1850 first started westward. He made his way to Fond du Lac county, where he had relatives living, among whom was Acy F. Bush, an uncle, - one of the pioneers of Racine county, but who later moved to Fond du Lac county. In the fall of 1850 he returned to Wayne county, New York. Mr. Bush had prospered in his pioneer home and advised our subject to persuade his father to come to the Badger State. Before doing this the father had contracted to clear fifteen acres of land, and that work was performed by our subject and his brothers, H. D. and Ambrose.
Page 321 - Through the instrumentality of Mr. Bush, O. B. Tenney secured eighty acres of land in Alto township and began to make a farm, transforming the wild land into rich and fertile fields. He erected good buildings and so increased the value of the property that when he was ready to sell in the fall of 1864 he secured the price of $3,200. He came at once to Faribault county and purchased the farm of Charles Marples, where he now resides. The place to-day is adorned with a beautiful natural grove of twenty-five acres, and on it are two flowing wells, one on the north side of the farm and the other in the milk-house. His pleasant and substantial residence was erected in 1884. There are good barns and other improvements upon the place, and there are surrounded by field of weaving grain.
On the 15th of October, 1854, Mr. Tenney married Lovicy A. Booth, daughter of Isaiah and Hannah Booth, the wedding being celebrated in Wayne county, New York. The lady was born May 28, 1836, and became the mother of three children: Sylvester, who was born December 2, 1855, and died January 30, 1856, being interred in Fond du Lac county, Ellen Jane born may 27, 1857, the wife of Edwin Cook, a farmer living four miles west of Wells, Minnesota; and Mittie T., who was born October 7, 1859, and became the wife of Albert Herring, who died December 18, 1885, at his home in Walnut Lake township. Their daughter, May, now resides with her grandfather, Mr. Tenney, while Florence is living with George Herring in Cottonwood county, Minnesota, and one child died in infancy. The mother was married a second time, being now the wife of J. T. Hammett, a painter, residing in Mankato, Minnesota.
Mr. Tenney lost his first wife in Fond du Lac county, Wisconsin, her death occurring May 28, 1863.
On the 21st of May, 1865, he wedded Dette Maxson daughter of Austin and Melissa Maxson. She was born in the Badger State, December 4, 1847, and of his marriage four children were born: Edith May, who was born August 30, 1867, has been successful school-teacher of Faribault county and is now the wife of Arthur Cook, who for the last twelve years has been station agent and operator on the Omaha Railroad and is now serving in that capacity in Mountain Lake, Cottonwood county: Kittie I., born April 19, 1874, has also been a school-teacher and is now the wife of Frank Baxter, a farmer of Cottonwood county;
Oliver De Estaing, born April 19, 1874, is a well-known and popular young man of Mountain Lake, where he is serving as assistant in the railroad office: and Helen Pernelia, born October 17, 1876, now a school-teacher of Mountain Lake. Mr. and Mrs. Tenney obtained a legal separation January 21, 1889, and she has since married John Brennan. One the 6th of September, 1890, Mr. Tenney wedded Mrs. Cordelia A. Bennett, a daughter of Henry P. and Hannah (Chase) Brown, born November 25, 1837, in Parishville, St. Lawrence county, New York. Her father was born in Windsor, Vermont, in 1814, and with his parents removed to the Empire State. In 1867 he took up his residence in Mankato, this State, but his death occurred in Potsdam, New York, May 19, 1888. He was thirty-third degree Scottish rite Mason, - one of the highest orders in the United States. His wife, who was born in Windsor, Vermont, May 6, 1813, went to the Empire State in the same year as her husband, and died in St. Lawrence county, April 17, 1858.
Page 322 - The present Mrs. Tenney is the eldest of six children, one son and five daughters, of whom three are now living. Her brother, Ira, lost his life on board the North America, December 18, 1863. Her first marriage, to Mr. Bennettt, was celebrated in Potsdam, January 29, 1862. Mr. Bennett was born December 7, 1822, and died in Winnebago City, Minnesota, December 27, 1885. He also was a thirty-third-degree Scottish rite Mason. They became the parents of five children, two yet living, Jennie, the elder, was born in Mankato, this State, August 9, 1867, was graduated at the Normal School of that city in 1886, successfully followed teaching for a time and is not the wife of John Johnston, Jr. , of Mapleton, Minnesota.
James I. Bennett was born October 1, 1869, in Mankato, and is now the one-half owner of the Rocky Flour Mill of that place. He wedded Miss Mamie Nelson of Winnebago City.
Mr. Tenney has served on the Town Board of Supervisors, and as Appraiser of the school lands. He supported Pierce for presidency and since the organization of the republican party has been one of it's stalwart advocates. His wife holds membership with the Methodist Episcopal Church. These worthy people have many friends in Faribault county, and our subject is numbered among the pioneers who laid the foundations for the prosperity and progress of the county.
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Oliver B. Tenney died in Lura, Faribault county, Minnesota