Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 274 - 275  

PATRICK KENNEDY. The property of this gentleman includes 400 acres of choice land, 240 acres on sections 29 and 30, in Grant Township, and 160 situated in Harvey County, Kan. He is numbered among the self-made men of Southern Kansas, his accumulations being the result of his own industry, obtained by self-denial and economy, and the exercise of a naturally good judgment, both in regard to agricultural pursuits and business matters. He came to Sedgwick County in the spring of 1871, and since that time this has been the field of his operations, and the center of his interests and hopes. 

     The Kennedy farm is now largely devoted to the raising of grain and stock, the latter including high-grade Norman horses, thoroughbred Short-horn and Holstein cattle, and pure-bred Poland-China swine. These ranging through the beautiful fields, many of them enclosed with hedge fencing, form a delightful picture in a landscape naturally pleasing to the eye, and rendered still more attractive by the evidences of industry and civilization. 

     The early home of our subject was on the other side of the Atlantic in County Tipperary, Ireland, where he was born Dec. 26, 1843. He was the youngest in a family of three children, of whom only one besides himself is living, namely, his sister Anna, who is a resident of Union County, Ohio. His brother Mathew died in that county in the spring of 1887. 

     The parents of our subject were also of Irish birth and parentage, and the father emigrated to the United States with their little family when their son Patrick was a child three years of age. The mother, whose maiden name was Madden, had died in County Tipperary when Patrick was but an infant. Patrick Kennedy, Sr., the father, was employed on public works in the Buckeye State, and died there in Union County, in 1874, when quite an aged man. He was greatly afflicted in the loss of his sight a few years before his decease. 

     Patrick Kennedy, Jr., was reared in Canandaigua, Ontario Co., N. Y., in the home of a family by the name of Sanborn, who carried on farming, and had settled there during the pioneer days. Young Kennedy was given a good education, completing his studies in the academy at Canandaigua. There he developed into manhood, and after the outbreak of the late war enlisted, on the 25th of February, 1863, in Company F, 1st New York Light Artillery, for three years, or during the war. He met the enemy in many important battles, including the siege and capture of Richmond, the battle of the Wilderness and Cold Harbor, and was in various minor engagements. He served under the immediate command of Gen. Grant in Virginia, and was at Petersburg at the time of the mine explosion, which will readily be recalled by those conversant with the history of the Rebellion. He received a serious injury when at Cold Harbor by being thrown from a caisson, by which his arm was dislocated, and never regained its original shape. After the surrender of the Confederate army he received his honorable discharge at Elmira, on the 17th of June, 1865. 

     Mr. Kennedy now returned to his old haunts in New York State, and carried on farming there until the fall of 1868. He then joined his father in Union County, Ohio, where he resided until in March, 1871, then set his face once more westward, and coming to this State located first in Harvey County. There he homesteaded a quarter-section of prairie land, upon which he effected considerable improvement, breaking a part of the sod, and subsequently adding to his possessions 240 acres across the line in Grant Township. Of this he took possession in 1873, and decided to here build his permanent home. He still considers it was a wise movement to invest his surplus capital in land, and now has his 400 acres in a fine state of cultivation. He has also erected a set of farm buildings which will bear comparison with anything of the kind along the northern line of Sedgwick County. 

     Mr. Kennedy has never taken a very active part in politics, although keeping himself well informed upon matters of general interest, and uniformly votes the straight Republican ticket. He has never sought office, and his views in this respect have been kindly respected by his fellow-townsmen. The Kennedy homestead is pleasantly situated about one and three-fourth miles from Valley Center, and to the enterprises calculated for the general welfare of the people around him our subject has ever been a cheerful and liberal contributor. He realizes the advantages of education, and his children in this respect will be well provided for. He was reared an Episcopalian. 

     The wife of our subject was in her girlhood Miss Eliza L. Allen, who was born in Illinois, in 1854. She came with her parents to Sedgwick County in 1880, and her marriage with Patrick Kennedy was celebrated at her home in Grant Township, in April, 1883. Her parents were David R. and Emeline (Bigelow) Allen, the mother a native of Massachusetts, and the father of Vermont, but now living in Wichita. Mrs. K. was the youngest of their three children. They settled in Illinois after their marriage, and thence came to Kansas in 1870, and are now residents of the city of Wichita. 

     Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy became the parents of six children, of whom five are living, namely: Charles, Rosa, Edward, David and Grace. They are all at home with their parents, the two eldest attending school near their home.

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