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Robert 'Robin' TENER
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It is Memorial Day, 2004, and it has been quite a while since I have distributed a Tener story. I thought it fitting to mark the occasion of this day with a interesting, and heart warming tribute to Robert 'Robin' TENER.
In the Tener blue book published by Hampden Tener there is some information of Robert - see pages 23 and 24. He seemed to have been a linen merchant by trade, traveling through the north counties of Ireland. In his travels he met John Kinley - another linen merchant, and would later marry John Kinley's daughter. This is the 'source' of the "Kinley" name that has been passed down through many generations - spanning over three hundred years.
I have found it interesting that John Kinley was a very close friend with Alexander Campbell's father, Thomas, and had convinced him to pursue a theological education, even paying for him.
Robert and his wife Sarah had nine children - eight sons and one daughter: all but four of whom died without issue. Of his children, two of the more well known were John Kinley Tener I, and Isaac W. Tener.
We know that Isaac traveled to America, three times at least. And, we know that Isaac established a close relationship to A. Campbell. It is perhaps through this close relationship that we are privy to a son's remembrance of his father. And, it is also through the near obsessive manner in which Alexander Campbell chronicled his communications - through his publishing the "Christian Baptist" and later the "Millennial Harbinger" that we can get such a thorough understanding of the essence of Robin.
What follows is the letter that Isaac W. Tener wrote to Alexander Campbell to inform of the passing of his father - Robert Tener. I will 'copy' it in its entirety:
"Sunbury, Pa., October 22, 1857
Dear Bro. Campbell: -- I write to inform you that my Father, Robert Tener, died in Philadelphia, on the 17th inst., in the 87th year of his age. He had enjoyed unusually good health, all Summer, and only took ill on the evening of the 15th. He did not suffer much. He was affected with vomiting at first, but his bowels refused to act, and from the diaphragm downwards, he seemed to be completely paralysed from the first. He said at once he had no hope of recovering this time, and seemed glad the hour of his departure had come. During the last Summer he read, by himself, the entire Bible through from Genesis to Revelations, and marked very many passages. In his evening prayers at family worship, he frequently alluded to his expected change, and expressed his strong confidence in the Saviour whom he has so long loved and served.
His history is somewhat interesting in reference to the reformation in Ireland, and I shall state a few facts which, I think, should not be allowed to be forgotten. I shall try to state them in as few words as possible.
He was brought up in the Established church of Ireland, (called here Episcopalians) and in the year 1800, was married to my Mother, who was a daughter of your Father's old friend John Kinley. Her mother was a sister of Thomas Carr, of Newry, both of whom were pious Presbyterians, of the strictest sort, as you know. From my Father's connexion with my Grandfather Kinley, he was induced to a more attentive consideration of the gospel, and eventually all of them joined the Independents or Congregationalists. They had progressed so far in 1804, as to break bread every Lord's day, mutual exhortation of the brethren, the fellowship, the necessity of a profession of the faith in order to Church fellowship, and to a holy life in order to continue in the church. About this time Missionaries had been sent out to Otaheite, in the Pacific, and my Father took great interest in the reports sent home of the labors of these men, and amongst other matters it was stated that the converts from the heathens had been baptized. The idea struck my Father at once that he ought to be baptized, and, it is somewhat remarkable that up to this time, he did not know any thing about Baptists, or even that such people were in existence; but in the great desire he had to obey the Lord, he went to Mr. Hamilton, then the Minister of the Independent Tabernacle, in the City of Armagh, and told him he came to him to be baptized. He was asked why he wished this, as he had been baptized as a child. My Father replied, that of that he had no knowledge, and he thought he ought to obey for himself, and besides, he only a very short time before had believed the gospel, and he could discern no difference between himself and the heathen of Otaheite, and if they should be baptized upon a profession of the faith, so should he.
Mr. Hamilton then told him that there was a sect called Baptists who thought so, and he could give him some of their writings, which he accordingly did, together with those of Pedo-Baptists. He frequently said his own prejudices and the reasoning of the Pedo-Baptist writers, particularly of Wm. Ballantine, caused him to settle down for a time that they were right. However, after removing to Dungannon, and being there thrown more on himself and the reading of the Scriptures, he became decided, but knew of no one to baptize him. About this time Mr. Haldane, of Edinburg, was educating young men for the ministry, in the Independent church, and amongst others, Robert Smyth, from the neighborhood of Dungannon, had just returned in the year 1810 to be employed as a Missionary, (this Robert Smyth will be remembered by many of the old Disciples in Trumbull Co., Ohio, and also in Pittsburgh). My Father took him one day to talk over matters, and they sat up a whole night reasoning together; the result was, he convinced him that it was his duty to be baptized. Smyth said he knew of no Baptist in the entire North of Ireland, except one old man near Keady, in the County of Armagh, a native of England. Then said my Father to Mr. Smyth, go you to that man and get yourself baptized, and come here and baptize me, my wife and Wm. Smyth; this was done and these four began at once to meet in Dungannon as a church, they met every Lord's day to break bread, to contribute for the relief of the poor, to edify one another, to pray, praise, and read the Scriptures, in a large room my Father used as a place to pay for the linens he purchased. This drew the attention of many, and the indignation of clergy, still they held on, and from time to time, one would join them, and the congregation gained in numbers and knowledge, so that their number amounted often to 40, but by emigration and other causes seldom exceeded that number.
When they first began in this way, they did not know of any other people like themselves, still they held on their way. In 1825 my Brother Richard was a clerk in the Bank of Ireland, in Newry, and during that year you had sent over to your friends there some copies of the Debate with Walker and M'Calla, and several loose numbers of the Christian Baptist. Your relations in Newry being all Presbyterians, after reading some of them said to Richard that these American books would exactly suit his Father, and that he had better send him some. This he did, and my Father and Mother upon receiving them could hardly believe their own eyes, when they saw that the same views they had so long entertained were arrived at by you in America; they read almost day and night in wonder and astonishment.
They had been brought up rigid Calvinists, still, in the main, they agreed with all they read. My Brother William was then in Derry, and he at once opened a correspondence with you, and he and together, made up a sum of money and ordered five complete sets for all your works up to that date - one set was to be a Library for the church in Derry, one for the church in Dungannon, my Brother John took one, and William and I each took one. We all made good use of the works. Your views on the right of private opinion and on the distinction between fact and opinion were long debated but finally adopted. This worked a greater revolution ultimately than we were aware of, but in the end we were perfectly agreed on this also. On the design of Baptism, we had at last to adopt views set forth in the first extra. Our church order, in every respect, was the same before we received your writings that we found you advocated, so that here we had no change to make.
Mr. Woodworth, whom you met in Liverpool was a commercial traveler, and on his rounds called on us in Dungannon, and also on William, in Derry, to him we freely imparted our new views on matters, and gave him some of your writings; on his return to Liverpool he publicly advocated in the church the design of baptism to be for the remission of sins, and through his means many in Liverpool, Nottingham, and in Scotland, were prepared for the fuller development given in after years by Mr. Jones, of London, and thus the cause was introduced into England and Scotland.
In 1832, I came out to America, accompanied by my brother William, who died on the voyage, and was buried at sea. The following year my Father, Mother and the younger part of his family came out to this country and landed in Baltimore, and on his uniting with the church there, to his surprise, the man who first arrested his attention was the identical William Ballantine, whose work in support of Pedo-Baptism had decided him to remain one, when in a wavering state on the subject in 1806, now himself converted, not only to correct views on the subject, but to the views and practices of the gospel as adopted by the Disciples. The same year my father removed Washington, Washington County, PA where he remained till 1842, connected with that church, and was one of its elders. He then removed to Philadelphia, where he joined the church in Race Street, below Second, and, for several years, acted as one of its elders, jointly with Mr. Mingus and Mr. Rhees. And up to the last was highly esteemed and greatly beloved by all who knew him. In the good providence of God, as he said himself to me, in April last, he was made the honored instrument of originating the church in Dungannon, and through emigration, perhaps, many a church in the United States may owe its origin to someone who got their first correct views of the gospel from him in the church of Dungannon. He died in peace, and in the full confidence of a blissful immortality. May the good Lord help all his children and grand children to lead lives to His praise, as he did, and die in the same confident hope.
Your brother in the hope of immortality,
Isaac W. Tener"
I tried very hard to use Isaac's exact spelling and punctuation. I will apologize if I made errors and then did not catch them. This letter can be found in the published Millennial Harbinger, book for 1857, pages 706 to 709.
May 31, 2004
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Posted on May 31, 2004