George E. Tener II's descendants

It has been a while since I added something to this site, so let me proceed with the following!

John Kinley Tener I had six sons – one of whom was George Evans Tener who attended college at Bethany under the instruction of Alexander Campbell. I think his marriage to Susan Wallis was after his graduation – however, there could be a discrepancy!

The September 1851 Millennial Harbinger has an article stating that George made the commencement oration in July 1851; and thus I made the assumption that is when he graduated. However, an on-line research repository seems to indicate that he was married to Susan Wallis in March 1851! Since the Tener Blue Book reveals that their daughter was born in 1852 – Roberta M. F. Tener – see page 74, we can accept 1851 – sometime, as the year of marriage!

In any regard, George E. Tener I and his wife Susan had a number of children, among which was their first born son -- George E. Tener II who was born in 1856. George II married Annie Frances Fallbush around 1887 (approximate year deduced from Census population schedules) and she was 21 years of age at the time of their marriage.

George II and Annie would have four children: Alexander Campbell Tener, Kinley John Tener, Edith A. Tener and Frances Tener.

Alexander Campbell Tener was born in PA. October 13, 1888. He attended the public schools of Pittsburgh and Sewickley, graduated from The Hill School at Pottsdown, PA in 1908, and from Yale University in 1912, where he was elected to Skull and Bones. He completed his legal education at Harvard Law School from which he graduated in 1915. He was admitted to the Allegheny County Bar in March 1916.

Alexander C. Tener engaged in the practice of law with his brother Kinley J. Tener and in 1954 became the senior partner in the law firm of Tener, Van Kirk, Wolf, Moore and Forsyth – continuing as such until his death. He served as a Judge of the Orphan’s Court of Allegheny County between 1943 and 1945. He was also a member of the Pennsylvania State Board of Law Examiners for many years; and formerly served as a director of Phelps Dodge Corporation, Fidelity Trust Company of Pittsburgh and other corporations.

During WWI Judge Tener served in Naval Intelligence and during WWII he was on the Price Adjustment Board for the Pittsburgh Ordinance District of the US Army.

Alexander’s brother Kinley J. Tener was born in Pittsburgh in 1893. As noted above he was also an attorney – working at one time with his brother Alexander Campbell Tener. Kinley also attended The Hill School at Pottsdown, and was graduated in 1916 from Yale University where he too was a member of the Skull and Bones Society! Kinley was also a graduate of Harvard Law School.

Mr. Kinley J. Tener served during WWI with the Rainbow Division in France as a Lieutenant in the field artillery, and later was a Captain in the School of Fire at Fort Sill Oklahoma.

From internet resources the following was derived to tell us something about ‘The Rainbow Division’: There is a monument in honor of the 42nd Rainbow Division, on the site of what was Camp Albert Mills. The "Fighting 69th" was an integral part in the formation of the Division in August 1917. The Chief of Staff Major Douglas MacArthur remarked that the Division "would stretch over the whole country like a rainbow". The 27,000 soldiers came from 26 states and the District of Columbia. MacArthur subsequently became the commander of the Rainbow Division. http://www.irish-society.org/Special%20Articles/gc-monument.htm

…the World War I Rainbow battlefield sits on both sides of the Ourcq River where from July 25 through August 3, 1918, the Rainbow Division had suffered 5,476 killed and wounded, mostly in the four infantry regiments. Its attached units had an additional 983 casualties for a total of 6,459 during those decisive few days of battle at the Ourcq. In General Douglas MacArthur's own words, "We...took Meurcy Ferme in (a) hand-to-hand fight...But the center at Seringes et Nesle still held....Their artillery was concentrated; their machine guns east and west of the town raked us fore and aft; but nothing could stop the impetus of that mad charge. We forded the river; we ascended the slopes; we killed the garrison in the town to a man. At dusk on July 29 we were in sole possession." http://www.sauruspress.com/lookback/worldwars/meurcy_farm.htm


Kinley John Tener’s obituary appeared in the May 12, 1947 New York Times:


Alexander and Kinley had a sister named Edith who was born about December 1899 in Pennsylvania. She attended Scoville School – described as “one of New York's finest finishing schools, the Scoville School for Girls on Fifth Avenue at 90th Street”. In March 1925 she married Thorpe Nesbit – and they had two children: Hope and Thorpe Jr.. She passed away in Philadelphia, January 1943.

The forth child of George E. and Annie F. Tener was, according to the Tener Blue Book, Frances Tener. Interestingly, in the 1900 US Census she is listed as “Annie F. Tener” born July 1898. She was married to William Thayer Brown and they had four children: William, Alexander, Horace and Jeremy.

I do not know what happened to William Brown, Frances’ first husband – but there is record of her marrying Malcolm Muir in 1943. At that time he was listed as a publisher with Newsweek This marriage took place at her mother’s ‘summer home’. Frances Muir died in New York in October 1989.