Clay Co., KS AHGP-Portrait and Biographical Album of Washington, Clay and Riley Counties-George W. Kennedy
Portrait and Biographical Album of Washington, Clay and Riley Counties Chapman Brothers, Chicago, 1890
GEORGE W. KENNEDY. Among the prominent men of Blaine Township, Clay
County, may be properly mentioned Mr.
Kennedy who owns and operates a well-tilled farm
on section 32. He is one of the homesteaders who
came to this section at air early date and who by
his plodding industry has not only accumulated a
competence, but has established himself in the esteem
and confidence of those around him. He is
in the prime of life, having been born Dec. 19,
1846, and is an Ohio man, his early tramping
ground having been in Ashland County, that State.
The parents of our subject were George W. and
Catherine (Glessner) Kennedy, the former a native
of Pennsylvania and the latter of Germany. His
paternal grandparents were natives of Ireland,
whence they emigrated at an early day, settling in
the Keystone State. There George W. was reared
to manhood and married, removing thence to Ashland
County, Ohio. In that county the mother died
when her son George W. was a little lad of six
years. The father was married a second time and
subsequently removed to Williams County, Ohio,
settling among its earliest pioneers. He improved
a farm from the wilderness and died in 1879.
The subject of this sketch was the third child of
his mother and remained with his father after her
death until approaching man's estate. He assisted
in clearing the farm from the timber and until a
lad of fourteen years attended the primitive schools.
As may be supposed his advantages were quite limited
but he made the most of his opportunities for
reading and observation and is a man with whom
an hour may always be spent in a pleasant and
profitable manner. The family was more than ordinarily
intelligent. One brother Arthur, is a teacher
in Pittsburg, Pa., and two other brothers, Francis
and Gratton, are in the drug business, the firstmentioned
in Byron, Ohio, and the latter in Chicago,
Ill.
After the outbreak of the Civil War Mr. Kennedy,
Dec. 19, 1862, enlisted as a Union soldier in
Company H, 38th Ohio Infantry, which was assigned
to the Third Division, 14th Corps, Army of
the Potomac under the command of Gen.
Thomas. Later he was transferred to another corps
and participated in the battles of Chickamauga,
Mission Ridge and Jonesboro. At the latter place
his regiment was nearly cut to pieces and his
brother John fell fatally wounded by two rifle balls.
George W. received a slight flesh wound in the
right knee. Subsequently he participated in several
skirmishes. Afterward he was employed as. a Government
muleteer in hauling provisions, and in this
capacity went with Sherman's army on the march
to the sea. He participated in the siege of Atlanta
and still remaining with Sherman's army went up
through the Carolinas to Washington and was present
at the Grand Review. After a service of about
two years and eight months he received his honorable
discharge. He was the youngest soldier who
carried a gun in his regiment.
After leaving the array young Kennedy returned
to his old haunts in Williams County, Ohio, and
remained there several years. Finally, in 1872, he
decided to cross the Mississippi, and coming to
Kansas homesteaded 160 acres of land in Sherman
Township, Washington County. This land
lay along Peach Creek. He took it in its primitive
condition and constructed therefrom a good farm
and resided upon it until 1884. That year he decided
upon a change of location and took up his
residence upon his present farm. This comprises
280 acres of finely-improved land which yields to
the proprietor a handsome income.
In November, 1883, occurred the marriage of
George W. Kennedy and Miss Melinda Wilson.
This lady was born in Lexington, Ky., and came to
Kansas with her parents in 1868. Of her union
with our subject there are two children�Cora B..
born June 25, 1884, and Arthur T., Aug. 22, 1886.
When coming West and homesteading his land Mr.
Kennedy had not enough money to buy a sack of
flour. For about thirteen years he kept bachelor
hall in Washington County and endured the hardships
and privations common to live on the frontier.
He has seen the country develop from its wild state
into one of the most prosperous commonwealths
west of the Mississippi and takes an honest pride in
the reflection that he has performed his part in
the great transformation. Mr. Kennedy is a sound
Republican, politically, but has little ambition for
office. He, however, has served as Clerk of his
school district and for two years was Constable.