The Kennedy Family
First Generation in America
Unknown
Unknown
Second Generation
Isaac Kennedy (1789, PA - ? , OH) Isaac married Catherine Johnson (1800, PA - ? ) Third Generation
Isaac John Kennedy (1827-1921) Isaac married Hester "Hettie" Smith (1834-1902) In 1850, Isaac Kennedy married Hester Smith in Richland County, Ohio. She was the daughter of Lewis and Elizabeth Smith.
The following is excerpted from Billie Blodgett's 2012 article called "Isaac Kennedy and Hester Smith": "....On November 2, 1850, Lewis Smith applied for a marriage license for Isaac Kennedy, who was 'over twenty-one years of age,' and 'Esther' Smith, who was 'over eighteen years of age.' "....our Hester and Isaac named their first son, Lewis. At that time, couples often named their first son after the mother’s father. Hester and Isaac’s first daughter was named Mary Elizabeth, perhaps after Hester’s mother, Elizabeth...." "....Using the children’s birth dates as clues, we can assume that Isaac and family moved from Ohio to Missouri sometime between November, 1856, when George was born, and December 1859, when Samuel was born. I have not yet discovered where they lived while they were in Missouri. "....It was not easy to find this 1860 census listing. For many years I searched for our Isaac Kennedy in 1860 and 1870 census indexes for Pennsylvania, Ohio, Missouri and Kansas with no success. The reason for this lack of success has finally become apparent. In the 1860 Census for Johnson County, Kansas, Isaac is listed as “J. Cannady” and in 1870 he is using the name of John Kennedy. As noted, above, perhaps his name was Isaac John and he used John so he wouldn’t be confused with his father. "....Johnson County was very young when the Kennedys arrived there. It had been organized in 1855 and the first settlers arrived in 1857. Kansas itself had been Indian Territory until the early 1850s. The Kansas-Nebraska Act created Kansas as a United States Territory in 1854. It didn’t become a state until January, 1861, two years after the Kennedys moved to Johnson County. "I’m sure life in Gardner Township was very primitive in 1859. It wasn’t long, though, before the early settlers organized schools and churches. "....The family’s move to Missouri and then to Kansas occurred at a time in our nation’s history when those two states were in great turmoil over the slavery question. Johnson County, Kansas was generally proslavery but most of the early settlers of Gardner Township, where the Kennedys lived in 1860, were Free Staters. Gardner Township voted against the proslavery Lecompton constitution.11 In that township, it was defeated by a margin of one hundred to three. Of course this made the citizens of Gardner Township quite unpopular with the rest of the county and probably contributed to the three raids by Bushwhackers and Confederate supporters endured by the township during the Civil War. In fact, the town of Gardner, in Gardner Township, was the first town in Johnson County to be raided and looted by Confederates. I think we can assume that Isaac, who was born in Pennsylvania and spent some years in Ohio, was not one of the three who voted for the proslavery constitution. "I have not been able to positively identify Isaac’s Civil War service record but Shelley Sherman, a descendant through his son Samuel, claims he fought for the North with a Missouri regiment. The Index to Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served in Organizations From the State of Missouri12 lists a “John I. Kennedy/John J. Kennedy” in Company F of the 6th Regiment, Missouri Cavalry....." Fourth Generation
Alice Cedelia Kennedy (1861, KS-1916, KS) Alice married Jonathan Francis "Frank" Williams (1852, IN - 1941, KS) |
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