John T. Tenney, an influential citizen of Concord, N.H., was born January 11, 1842, on the farm where he now resides, and is the son of the late Thompson Tenney, who was born at the same place.
Thompson Tenney followed the trade of carpenter for about twenty years. He also owned a farm of two hundred and fifty acres, and did an extensive farming business for thirty-five years, principally in the line of milk produce for the Concord trade. The fine set of farm buildings now owned by John T. Tenney were built by his father. Thompson Tenney was one of the Board of Aldermen of the city, and was Selectman of his ward. His wife was Harriet N. Corliss, daughter of John Corliss, of Concord. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Thompson Tenney; namely, Mary L., Abby Augusta, and John T. Mary L. is the widow of Charles H. Potter, the son of Judge Jacob Potter, of Concord; and she has one child-Hattie May, who is the wife of Frank Douglass, of Winthrop, Mass.
After studying in the public schools of Concord in his early years, John T. Tenney attended the academies at Loudon and at Contoocook, Boscawen Plains, thus acquiring a good education. He has always been a farmer, and has devoted himself principally to producing milk. He keeps about twenty cows, and has some fifty acres of tillage land. Mr. Tenney and his wife, Hattie E. Phippin Tenney, have one son-Arthur H., who married Lillian Coon. In 1892 Mr. and Mrs. Tenney suffered a severe affliction in the death of their beloved daughter, Gracie May, at the age of thirteen years.
Always interested in whatever concerns the general welfare of his native city, Mr. Tenney has devoted much time and attention to questions of municipal progress and reform. He has been Selectman of his ward, and has served in both branches of the city government, having been Common Councilman and Alderman. He has always been a steadfast Democrat, and he cast his first Presidential vote in 1864 for General McClellan.