Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-04-21
Tennallytown in an old edition of the
American Encyclopedia and in Colton's

Tennallytown in an old edition of the
American Encyclopedia and in Cotton s
Atlas.
Eighth. Mr.. John L. Burnett of Rock
Vile. Md. clerk of the circuit court of
montgomery county. writes that in the rec
ords of his office, going back to the time
when Tennallytown was In the state of
Maryland, a number of legal transactions
are entered in which the names Tennely.
Tennelly and Tennally occur. but that he
nowhere finds the name Of Tenley.
Ninth In one of the newspapers the
Sentinel Of Liberty published in George
town during two or three years prior to
1900. notice Is printed signed John Ten
naliy, who appears to have been a man of
Intelligence and of property, and inferen-
TALLY citizen Of Montgomery county in
the neighborhood of Tennallytown.
Tenth. Finally, upon examining the
records of the register of wills of this Dis
trict the will of Sarah Tennally appears,
the date of it being March . 1872, in which
the name of the testator is given in the
BODY or the instrument as Sarah Tennelly,
put IN the signature Sarah Tennally
and she states that her residence is in
Tennallytown
This is the woman to whom Mrs Britt
as quoted by Mr.. Barry. refers as one of
the sisters of John Tenley. She leaves her
house and lot in the village to Sarah
Robey afterward wife of Daniel Light
foot and the mother of Mrs. Britt Why
upon the monument in Oak Hill cemetery
the name of Mrs. Britt's mother Mrs
Sarah T. Lightfoot. should appear as
family with whom she was connected was
Tennally, or why 'Tenley' should be given
at all as part of her name. l do not
clearly understand, especially as it seems
to have been adopted eighteen years after
Mrs. Lightfoots nterment
In view OF the foregoing facts, l am of
the opinion that the name Tennallytown is
correct; that it was given in honor of the
Iennally family, or of one of its members
that no such man as John Tenley ever ex-
listed, or. If he did. that he came to the
village subsequently to the civil war. as Mr.
Solyom states. and that the United States
geographic board decided In favor of the
name of Tenley upon insufficient evidence
Accordingly unless the past action of
this board is irrevocable and binding upon
the department, | suggest that the present
name of the Tennallytown station be ad-
hered to and that the board be called upon
to give its sanction thereto unless. after
careful reconsideration of the matter it
hnds much stronger support for the name
of Tenley than that presented in the argu-
ment of Mr.. Barry"
Mr.. Hugh I. Taggart referred to in the
foregoing letter, Informed the assistant
postmaster. Madison Davis, that in the
court house of Montgomery county, at
Rockville, Md. there appears of record a
deed executed in 1895 by DR.. John Weems
conveying one-half acre of land in Tennal-
iytown $50 spelled) to Sarah Tenna!ly (also
the postmaster OF Washington. D. c., when
he wrote the letter above referred to.
DR.. Barry Acquiesces.
The following letter, dated February 20.
1907. over the signature of J. Nelson Barry
and addressed to Postmaster Barnes.
speaks for itself:
Dear Sir: heartily congratulate you in
your triumphant vindcation of the depart
ment's spelling of the name of this place
The facts gathered certainly appear con-
elusive. and whoever had charge of the In
vestigation accomplished his task in a
most praiseworthy manner.
Il trust that the department will now
bring the matter to the attention of the
board of geographic names in order that
they may revise the spelling.
Thanking you for giving me exactly the
information / desired
More recently the matter has been
brought up officially. and the Post Office
department has decided to stand by the
original and correct spelling of Tennal-
iytown. but what the District of Columbia.
the United States geographic board and the
nlted states geological survey will do. if
they can do anything except acquiesce, has
not been determined.