WASHINGTON IRVING TENNEY, secretary of the board of the Miami County Fair Association and formerly auditor of Miami County, is a resident of the city of Troy and has a wide acquaintance throughout this section of the State. He was born in Montgomery County, Ohio, near the Miami County line, in 1833, and is a son of Dr. Eli Tenney.

Dr. Eli Tenney, who was auditor of Miami County at the time of his death in 1873, was a well known exponent of the medical profession, and from 1848 until 1871 was in practice at West Milton. He then entered upon his duties as county auditor and moved to Troy. He was a graduate of Starling Medical College, of Columbus. Doctor Tenney was a member of the Legislature of Ohio one term, being elected in 1855.

W. Irving Tenney was practically reared in Greene County, Ohio, until his fifteenth year, when, in 1848, his parents moved to West Milton. He attended the district schools and also Columbus High School one year. During the war he was in the 100-day service as a member of the One Hundred and Forty-seventh Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was first elected county auditor in 1873, as successor to his father, and in 1875 was reelected for two years. Upon retiring from that office he purchased a farm just west of Troy, on which he lived and farmed until 1894; he then purchased a small tract of sixteen acres and lived upon it until 1905, when he moved to Troy, although he has since continued to superintend farming operations. He has been a member of the Miami County Fair Board since 1877, and has served as secretary of that body since 1883. He is vice-president of the Mad River and Miami Valley Fair Circuit. He was a member of the Board of Education of Troy for ten years, and still is one of the Board of School Examiners. In 1901 he was elected to represent the county in the State Legislature and served two terms with marked efficiency. Mr. Tenney was engaged as teacher for about twenty years, being superintendent at Milford.

In 1858 Mr. Tenney was united in marriage with Miss Jane C. Kelley, who died in 1901. The following were the offspring of their marriage: Miss Ida B., a teacher in the high school at Denver, Colorado; Frank W., a Miami County farmer; Charles Elmer Tenney, D. D. S., who is practicing at Sydney., Ohio; Alice Bertha, who lives with her father; Mary Estella, who at the time of her death was an instructor in the public schools at Troy; William Harold Tenney, D. D. S., who is practicing at Toledo, Ohio; Prof. George L. Tenney, who is connected with Lewis Institute, of Chicago, and is a graduate of the University of Colorado, at Denver, where he taught in the public schools several years; and Horace K. Tenney, who resides in New York State. Religiously the subject of this record is a member of the First Christian Church of Troy, of which he was a trustee a number of years. He is also a member of Coleman Post, G.A.R.