Santa
Clara County
Biographies
DANIEL D.
TENNYSON
DANIEL
D. TENNYSON. A
well known and influential resident of San Jose, D. D. Tennyson has practiced
before the Interior Department as United States government claim agent since
1877. A man of strong individuality,
upright and honest, he is well qualified for the work in which he is engaged,
and the esteem and respect in which he is held by all with whom he has business
dealings bears speaking evidence to the success he has attained in his
position. A son of Allen Tennyson, he
was born November 9, 1847, in St. Joseph county, Mich.
A native of England, Allen Tennyson
was born in Hull, where his father, David Tennyson, was for many years harbor
master. Emigrating
to this country he settled in Michigan, where he cleared and improved a farm on
which he spent his remaining years. His
wife, whose maiden name was Maria Hewett, was born in Hull, England, and died
in St. Joseph county, Mich. Of the four children born of their marriage
three are living, D. D., the subject of this personal record, being the oldest
child, and the only one residing on the Pacific coast.
Brought up on the parental homestead
in Michigan, D. D. Tennyson received a limited education in the district
schools, which he attended when not needed on the farm. During the Civil war, he tried at different
times to enlist in the Nineteenth Michigan Regiment, but was in each case
rejected. On July 10, 1864, however, he
entered Company E, Thirteenth Michigan Volunteer Infantry, as a recruit, and in
August, 1864, joined his regiment at Lookout Mountain, in Chattanooga,
Tenn. He subsequently served in Georgia
and Tennessee, took part in the engagement at Florence, Ala., and after
stopping a short time in Atlanta, Ga., returned to Chattanooga,
from there going to Louisville, Ky., where, in June, 1865, he was mustered out
of service, being even then but seventeen years old. The following two years Mr. Tennyson remained
on the home farm, and was afterward engaged in the insurance business in St.
Joseph county for a number of years. Locating in San Jose, Cal., in 1877, he began
practicing before the Interior Department as United States claim agent, having
an office in the theater building, and making a specialty of pension
settlements. Since coming here, at least
seven-eighths of all the titles to government lands have passed through his
hands, keeping him busily employed.
During these twenty-seven years that he has served as claim agent there
is one noteworthy fact connected with his occupancy of the position, his losing
but four days of work in all that time, a remarkable record of service. Mr. Tennyson has also taken much interest in
horticulture, and has owned and set out valuable orchards in this vicinity,
being quite successful as a fruit grower.
In St. Joseph county,
Mich., Mr. Tennyson married Miss L. B. Benham, a native of that county, and
daughter of Isaac Benham, who was one of the fifty organizers of the Republican
party of Michigan, meeting for that purpose under an old oak tree in the town
of Jackson. Mr. and Mrs. Tennyson are the parents of three children, namely:
Howard A., graduated with the degree of D. D. S. from the University of
California, is practicing his profession in San Francisco; Clarence R., also a
graduate of the University of California, where he received the degree of D. D.
S., is a dentist in Lodi, Cal.; and Julius B., a United States mail clerk, has
headquarters in San Jose, running from this city. Mr. Tennyson is Republican in politics, and
attends the Presbyterian Church. He is a
member of the National Union, and belongs to Phil Sheridan Post, No. 7, G. A.
R.
Transcribed by
Doralisa Palomares.
Source: History of the State of California &
Biographical Record of Coast Counties, California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A.
M., Page 1142. The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2016 Doralisa Palomares.