The Kennedy Family of Montgomery County, Ohio

JOHN KENNEDY, farmer, P. O. Dayton, was born in Montgomery County, Ohio, December 21, 1822. He is the son of Joseph and Nancy (Kerr) Kennedy. His father was born in Lancaster County, Peun., in 1775, came to Ohio in 1803, and located in Montgomery County where he erected a distillery, which he conducted in connection with his farm work. His wife was a native of Virginia, born in 1797. She was a life-long member of the Presbyterian Church and died in 1862, at the ripe old age of sixty-five years. She was the mother of six children, three of them now surviving. Her husband, when he came to Ohio, purchased forty acres of land, but by industrious habits and close attention to his work he succeeded in accumulating 300 acres at the time of his death, which occurred in 1856. John, our subject, lived with his parents until 1855, when he married Miss Martha Darst, of Greene County, Ohio. He received a very good education in the common schools of Dayton, and afterward attended Center College at Danville, Ill. After his marriage, he located on the farm of 160 acres, which he now occupies. He has had five children, all of whom are living. Himself, wife and oldest daughter are members of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Kennedy is a Republican, a good farmer, an indulgent father and a highly esteemed citizen.

As printed in the source³. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

GRAFTON C. KENNEDY.

Among the men whose records have reflected credit and honor upon the history of the Ohio bar Grafton Clagett Kennedy was numbered. In his law practice and his business interests his work was characterized by an intelligent anticipation of possibilities and a recognition of opportunities that others passed by heedlessly. Lie displayed, too, that commendable confidence and courage that come of conscious personal ability, right conception of things and a habitual regard for what is best in the exercise of human activities. He was prominently known in the business and religious world and for years his memory will be cherished by those who were his associates and friends while he was still an active factor in the world’s work.

Born on a farm in Harrison township, Montgomery county, Ohio, March II, 1859, Grafton C. Kennedy is a representative of a southern ancestry on his mother’s side. Elis great-grandfather, Gilbert Kennedy, came from Scotland in the eighteenth century, locating first in South Carolina, whence he afterward moved to Pennsylvania, while later in the same century he became a resident of Warren county, Ohio, where he died in the opening years of the nineteenth century. It is thought that he was a soldier of the Revolutionary war.

Joseph Kennedy, the grandfather of our subject, came from Shippensburg, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, to Ohio in 1805 and settled on a farm of three hundred acres, four miles north of Dayton, which he had purchased from a cousin, the original owner of the land. His birth had occurred in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, but the greater part of his life was passed on his Ohio farm, where his death occurred about 1854, when he was eighty years of age. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Nancy Kerr, was also of Scottish lineage and died in 1861. They were parents of three sons and a daughter but the latter died about 1855. The elder son, Gilbert Kennedy, became a distinguished lawyer of Dayton and Cincinnati and died some time during the ’80s. The other sons, John and Joseph, became farmers.

Joseph Kennedy, father of Grafton C. Kennedy, was born and reared on the old homestead farm in Harrison township in 1826, early becoming familiar with the hardships and privations of pioneer life and with the arduous work incident to the development of new fields. At the time of the Civil war he was instrumental in raising a company for the One Hundred and Thirty-second Regiment of Ohio Infantry and drilled his company for some time on the Fair grounds. It was the understanding that the one reporting to camp the largest number of enlisted men should be made colonel. Mr. Kennedy reported the largest number of men present but the commission was given to another who reported a larger number of men enrolled though all were not present in person. His men, as well as Mr. Kennedy himself, were disappointed over this decision, yet Mr. Kennedy manifested his willingness to go to the front in any capacity but, when the governor learned the true state of the case, he thought it best that Mr. Kennedy be given an honorable discharge and be permitted to return home. In early manhood he had wedded Catharine Clagett, a native of Maryland and a daughter of Grafton A. Clagett, also born in that state. Mr. Kennedy followed farming as his life work, retaining his residence on the old family homestead. His wife died in 1866. There were two sons and a daughter in the family: Grafton C.

and Gilbert, both now deceased; and Caroline, the wife of Edward Martin, of Chicago.

On the farm which came into possession of his grandfather in the opening years of the nineteenth century, Grafton C. Kennedy spent the days of his boyhood and youth, working at different times in the fields, while the winter months were devoted to study in the district schools. He also spent two years as a pupil in the public schools of Dayton and in further pursuit of knowledge, qualifying him for life’s practical and responsible duties, he entered Wittenberg College, in which he spent five years in the preparatory and college courses, being graduated with the Bachelor of Arts degree in June, 1879.

An earnest desire to become a member of the bar led him to take up the study of law in September, 1879, in the office of Conover & Conover, with whom he read for one year, while later his reading was directed for two years by Warren Munger, then a distinguished member of the Dayton bar. In May, 1882, he was admitted to practice and in February, 1883, opened an office and entered upon the active work of the profession. In March of the same year he was appointed United States commissioner at Dayton for the southern district of Ohio and held the position until October, 1894, when he resigned.

Mr. Kennedy practiced law alone until May, 1888, when he formed a partnership with his former preceptor, Mr. Munger, under the firm style of Munger & Kennedy and, when at the Tst of January, 1893, Harry L. Munger, son of the senior partner, was admitted the firm name was changed to Munger, Kennedy & Munger, so continuing until the death of Warren Munger on the ist of June, 1894. Later Eugene G. Kennedy, a brother of Grafton C. Kennedy, was admitted to the partnership and the firm remained Kennedy, Munger & Kennedy until the death of the subject of this review. From the beginning of his practice he made continuous progress until the consensus of public opinion placed him in the foremost rank of Dayton’s leading lawyers. He possessed a mind of singular precision and power. It was in a marked degree a judicial mind, capable of an impartial view of both sides of the question and of arriving at a just conclusion. In his practice he was absolutely fair, never indulged in artifice or concealment, never dealt in indirect methods but won his victories, which were many, and suffered his defeats, which were few, in the open field, face to face with his foe. He achieved the highest distinction and he deserved it. He was always careful to conform his practice to a high standard of professional ethics and in his work exemplified the theory of the law that the counsel are to aid the court in the administration of justice.

On the 30th of April. 1889, Mr. Kennedy was united in marriage in Dayton to Miss Louise Achey, a daughter of John J. Achey and unto them were born two children: Katharine Louise and Grafton Sherwood. The death of the husband and father occurred January 10, 1909, when he was in the fiftieth year of his age. Throughout his life he had been an active factor for good in the communities in which he labored. Public-spirited, he was interested at all times in the welfare of the community and for four years did effective work for public education as a member of the Dayton school board, serving from 1897 until 1901 and acting as president of the board during the last three years of that period. In 1892 he organized the first county board of elections. He was also president of the board of sinking fund trustees of the school funds and whenever his aid was needed for the performance of any beneficial public project it was immediately and heartily given. Pie found recreation in golf, and his religious faith was sustained and strengthened through his membership in the Third Presbyterian church, in the work of which he took most active and helpful part. His grandfather, Joseph Kennedy, was one of the founders of this church, and the family have remained in active connection therewith to the present time. Grafton C. Kennedy was one of the elders of the church and clerk of the sessions and was deeply interested in all religious work. He was an able, faithful and conscientious minister in the temple of justice and a devoted adherent of every cause which he believed would benefit humanity, while in private life he was endeared to all who knew him by the simple nobility of his character.

As printed in the source². Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

EUGENE G. KENNEDY.

Eugene C. Kennedy, attorney at law of Dayton, was born on a farm in Harrison township, Montgomery county, Ohio, October 27, 1874, the home place being known as Maple Grove. There he was reared amid the environments of agricultural life and in his early youth pursued his education in the district schools. Later, however, he attended a private school in Dayton and in further pursuit of an education entered Wittenberg College at Springfield, Ohio, from which he was graduated with the class of 1895. With a good literary education to serve as a basis for professional knowledge, he took up the study of law the same year in Dayton and after three years preliminary reading was admitted to the bar in June, 1898. Later be entered into partnership with his brother, G. C. Kennedy, and H. L. Munger and practiced as a member of the well known law firm of Kennedy, Munger & Kennedy, until the death of Grafton C. Kennedy, when the name was changed to Munger & Kennedy. He belongs to the Phi Kappa Psi college fraternity but his attention is largely given to his profession to the exclusion of club and fraternal interests.

On July 7, 1904, Mr. Kennedy was married to Miss Mabel Manwaring, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, and has three children: Thomas Gilbert, torn April 16, 1905; [name withheld], born October 14, 1906; and Frances, born July 3, ik)o8. Mr. Kennedy still resides on the old farm which has been in the possession of his family for over one hundred years, and takes his greatest pleasure in the conducting of it, and also other farms which they own.

As printed in the source². Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

JOSEPH W. KENNEDY, secretary and treasurer of the Dayton Cast Steel Plow company, is a native of Montgomery county, Ohio, and was born on a farm four miles north of Dayton, September 22, 1869, a son of John and Martha (Dorst) Kennedy. The excellently equipped plant of the Cast Steel Plow company is located at 122 North Front street. The business dates its inception back to 1885, when it was founded with the following named gentlemen as interested principals: Stephen J. Allen, John Kennedy, Joseph Kennedy, L. S. Aughe, Joseph W. Kennedy, and Grafton C. Kennedy. The enterprise was established for the purpose of manufacturing cast-steel plows of special design and of many points of recognized superiority, and the success of the venture is the best evidence of the character of the products turned out. The original executive corps of the company comprised Mr. Allen as president, Mr. Aughe as superintendent, and Joseph W. Kennedy as secretary and treasurer. The capital stock is $18,000, while the surplus has now reached an aggregate of about $9,000. The works afford employment to a body of from twenty to twenty-five skilled operatives, and the most punctilious care is accorded to every detail of manufacture. The present members of the company ares. H. Carr, president; J. F. Allen, vice-president; Joseph W. Kennedy, secretary and treasurer; and L. S. Aughe, superintendent. Joseph Kennedy, Sr., and Grafton C. Kennedy have retired from the concern, and S. J. Allen is now deceased. The principal trade territory covered by the company comprises Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky, and the business is gradually extending its range of operations as the merits of its products become known.

Joseph W. Kennedy received his educational discipline in the public schools of Dayton, though he continued to reside on the old homestead until 1883, when he came to Dayton and accepted a position as clerk in the establishment of C. Wight & Son, with whom he remained a few weeks, after which he became bookkeeper for the Parrott Manufacturing company, manufacturers of plows, continuing in their employ for two years. He then became personally interested in the enterprise with which he is at present identified, and has done much to insure the marked success which has attended the prosecution of the business. He is recognized as a representative of that progressive young element in the business circles of Dayton which is carrying the city forward to an even more conspicuous place in the industrial world than she has yet attained.

In his fraternal relations Mr. Kennedy is a member of Miami lodge of the Knights of Pythias, and he is also identified with the Garfield club, a republican organization. His marriage was solemnized in July, 1887, when he wedded Miss Daiy A. Macy, a daughter of Davis Macy, a prominent farmer of Harrison township, Montgomery county. Two children were born of this union, but the parents were called upon to bear a double bereavement in the death of both in the month of January, 1896 — Lawrence being seven years of age and Howard M. five. Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy are members of the Presbyterian church, in whose affairs they maintain an active interest.

Kyy1 L. BLUMENSCHEIN. — The sub- M Q I ject of this biographical review was born in Brensbach, Germany, December 16, 1849. He lived for many years in Pittsburg, Pa., but has been a Buckeye resident since the fall of 1876. Portsmouth, Ohio, was his first point of operations, whither he was called to direct the Harmonic society. The Ironton choral union was also under his direction for a season. In the summer of 1878 the Dayton, Ohio, Philharmonic society extended a call to him, which was accepted, Otto Singer, so recently deceased, being his predecessor. Since then the Philharmonic society has been continuously under his direction, and has won for itself and director a far more than local reputation. Indeed, the repertory of choral works performed in Dayton will compare favorably with that of any of the prominent choral organizations of the country.

The directorship of the Indianapolis, Ind., Lyra society (male chorus and orchestra) was intrusted to him for a season, also the Springfield Orpheus mixed chorus, and, incidentally, two Ohio saengerfests in Dayton and Springfield, respectively. The Cincinnati May festival chorus was given under his direction, superintended by Theodore Thomas, from 1891 to 1895.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.