James Kennedy (1775 - 1864)

Born 13 Jul 1775 in New York Colony

Descendants

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Biography

Book Excerpt

James [Kennedy], ... born July 13, 1775, died Oct 19, 1864, was married, April 16, 1800, to Sarah, born Feb. 27, 1778, died Aug. 7, 1866, daughter of John and Alice (Fuller) Abbott. He removed from the Wyoming Valley, Pa., after June, 1833, and on the 6th of Aug. in that year, he bought from Joseph and Mary (Tuttle), and Joseph Beach Tuttle and Fanny Tuttle, of Kingston, Pa., 179 acres of Lot 10, in Tunkhannock Township, now Wyoming Co., Pa. He was a blacksmith by trade, and was so assessed in Wilkes-Barre in 1799 and 1807. In 1801 he was assessed as a blacksmith in Pittston.

Some of the children of James and Sarah (Abbott) Kennedy were:

1, Catharine, born Aug. 8, 1804, married Feb. 11, 1826, by Elder Joel Rogers, to Lucius Utley, of Lenox, Susquehanna Co., Pa.;

2, Lyman, born Nov. 24, 1806, married to Mercy Swingle;

3, John A., born Aug. 6, 1808, married, Jan. 11, 1837, to Elizabeth Campbell;

4, Thomas, born Jan. 3, 1811, died June 1, 1889, (Jackson Cemetery, LaGrange, Pa.), married to Sarah _______;

5, Stephen A., born Aug. 15, 1814, married, Sept 8, 1838, to Minerva Billings.

James and Sally (Abbott) Kennedy are buried in Jackson Cemetery, LaGrange, Wyoming Co., Pa. The name of Sarah (Abbott) Kennedy appears as Sally on her tombstone.
(The Michael Shoemaker Book, 1924, by Williams T. Blair, pages 73-74.^[1] Paragraph separations added for clarity.)

Additional Biographical Information

The WikiTree profile for James Kennedy’s father John Kennedy has information about James’s parents.^[2]

Census records 1800 to 1860^[3] and the writing on the gravestone for James Kennedy^[4] in the Jackson Cemetery are consistent with the book excerpt above.

Henry Stark, the husband of James’s sister Elizabeth, died in January, 1807. Elizabeth could not take care of the nine children. The children were placed with different families as guardians. On January 2, 1809, James was appointed legal guardian for two of the children, Elizabeth and John, both under age 14.^[5]

Calvin Parsons wrote about his memories of the early days of Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania. He remembered “James Kennedy, blacksmith and the greatest hunter in the valley.”^[6]

Sources

1. ↑ The Michael Shoemaker Book, 1924, by Williams T. Blair, pages 73-74. https://archive.org/details/michaelshoemaker00blai/page/n5/mode/2up
2. ↑ John Kennedy, https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Kennedy-5672
3. ↑ "US Census, 1800," James Kennedy, Pittston, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHR6-F46
   "US Census, 1810," James Kennedy, Wilkes Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XH2B-K9S
   "US Census, 1820," James Kennedy, Wilkes Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHL5-WCH
   "US Census, 1830," James Kennedy, Wilkes Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHPR-X3L
   "US Census, 1840," Jas Kenedy, Tunkhannock, Wyoming County, Pennsylvania, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHTV-ZQQ
   “US Census, 1850," James Canady, Tunkhannock, Wyoming County, Pennsylvania, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4ZH-P4X
   "US Census, 1860," James Kennedy, Tunkhannock, Wyoming County, Pennsylvania, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MXRC-YMN
4. ↑ Find A Grave has a gravestone photo for James Kennedy, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/113006767/
5. ↑ Luzerne County “Orphan’s Court Docket,” Book 1, page 242, January 2, 1809, Petition of Elizabeth Stark, from “Pennsylvania Probate Records, 1693-1994,” image 139 at
   https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89SM-4S6M
6. ↑ The historical Record of Wyoming Valley, Volume 9, 1901, edited by F.C. Johnson, page 166. https://archive.org/details/historicalrecordv9john