Joseph Meisson Kennedy (1806 - 1876)

Born 1806 in New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana, USA

Died 4 Nov 1876 at about age 70 in New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana, USA

Biography

Judge Joseph Meisson Kennedy BIRTH 1806 New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana, USA DEATH 4 Nov 1876 (aged 69–70) New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana, USA BURIAL Saint Louis Cemetery Number 1 New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana, USA MEMORIAL ID 63281796 · View Source

• Fact: Residence (1850) New Orleans, ward 6 (1st municipality), Orleans, Louisiana, United States
• Fact: Residence (1860) New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana, United States
• Fact: Burial (1876) Saint Louis Cemetery, New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana, United States
• Fact: http://familysearch.org/v1/LifeSketch Joseph Meisson Kennedy, Sr was a superintendent of the U. S. Mint from 1844-1850, lawyer, and judge.

Joseph Kennedy, the second superintendent of the New Orleans branch mint, served from 1839 to 1850. He and his family, like other officers,were provided apartments in the mint building.

Social life in old New Orleans: being recollections of my girlhood Eliza Moore Chinn McHatten Ripley, 1832-1912 Social Life in Old New Orleans. Being Recollections of My Girlhood.New York; London: D. Appleton and Company, 1912.

pg 35 At the mint when Joe Kennedy was superintendent, and his family were fashionable people, their parlor curtains......

pg 117 Fancy Dress Ball at the Mint in 1850 I have never heard of a society ball in a United States mint building, before nor since, but the Kennedys, who gave this one, were a power in the social world at the time--and ambitious beyond their means. Rose and Josephine, the two oldest of quite a flock of daughters, were debutantes that winter. Both were handsome and accomplished. Rose was also a famous pianist, even in those days when every woman strove to excel in music, and it was customary to entertain even a casual caller with a sonata. Gottschalk declared Rose Kennedy rendered his famous "Bamboula" better than he did himself, and to hear her was to rise and dance.

Who was at that fancy ball? Everybody who was anybody in the fifties. The Eustises-George and Mathilde, George as a "learned judge" (he was son of Chief Justice Eustis and Mathilde in pure white and flowing veil was a bewitching nun.

There was Mrs John Slidell, of "Mason and Slidell" fame, a "marquise," in thread lace and velvet, her sisters, Misses Deslonde, "peasant girls from France".

Col and Mrs John Winthrop... or lived on Royal Street, near Conti Young De Wolf of Rhode Island, nephew of Col Winthrops, an "Arab sheik"

Philippe De La Chaise ..later married Victoria Gasquet

pg 118 Cuthbert Slocomb and Augusta. she married the Urquhart mentioned in "Musical History of Louisiana, as the father of Cora Urquhart Potter. Cuthbert Slocomb married a Miss Day his widow and daughter, Countess di Brazza, survive him.

There was the stately Mrs Martin Gordon chaperoning her exceeding pretty sister, Myrtle Bringier, who became the wife of General Dick Taylor.

The mint building was made ample for the gay festitivies by utilizing committee rooms, offices, and every apartment that could be diverted for the crowd's comfort--so, we wandered about corridors and spacious rooms, but never beyond the touch of gendarme--officers, soldiers, and policemen at every step. These precautions gave a rather regal air to the whole affair.

pg 119 Shortly after the grandest and most unique entertainment Mr. Joe Kennedy's term expired and he retired into private life. Beautiful Rose fell into a decline and died early. What fortunes befell that family i know not. They seem to have faded away. The Kennedys were a large family in those days, closely allied to the Pierce and Cenas families, all of which were socially prominent. And now their names are "writ in water."

1876-11-12; Paper: New Orleans Times Died KENNEDY-On Saturday, November 4, 1876, in this city, at the residence of his son-in-law, M R Chew, Joseph M Kennedy, 70 years of age.

Sources

• "Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : modified 23 January 2021, 23:32), entry for Joseph Meisson Kennedy Sr. (PID https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:L2RM-WNR ); contributed by various users.
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/63281796/joseph-meisson-kennedy