Charles A. Kennedy

As printed in 1905

HON. C. A. KENNEDY.

Among the better known and most successful of the younger ])business men of Lee county, Iowa, is Hon. C. A. Kennedy, of Montrose, a native of that village, where his birth occurred March 24, 1869. He is the son of "william Kennedy, who was born in the year 1830 in County Galway, Ireland, and the father of our subject on coming to America first located at Ogdensburg, New Work, whence he removed to Keokuk, Iowa, and there in 1856 he married Miss Maria Williams, who was born in Dublin, Ireland, December 13, 1837, and on the death of her parents accompanied an aunt to the United States, living for a number of years in the State of New York and later removing to Keokuk, where she met Mr. Kennedy. William Kennedy, who learned in his native land the trade of shoemaking. worked in a shoe shop for a time in Keokuk, but in 1860 removed to Montrose, where he worked as a shoemaker until his death, which occurred June 22. 1885. faithful member of the Episcopal church and fraternally was connected with the Masonic order and with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, while his political allegiance was given to the Republican party, through which he took an active part in public affairs, being elected to membership in the municipal council and board of education. Air. and Mrs. Kennedy were the parents of eight sons and daughters, as follows: John, now postmaster of Montrose, who married Miss Marjoie Ballou and has two children, Katherine and Margaret; William, who is engaged in the lumber business at Doty, Washington; Eva, who died in December, 1902, was the wife of N. J. Chapman, of Everett, Washington, and is survived by three children, George, Fred and Helen; Jennie, wife of F. D. Butzer, of Bucoda, Washington; C. A., the subject of this review; George, who is superintendent of the public schools of Montrose; Anna and Lilly.

For his formal education Hon. C. A. Kennedy is indebted to the public schools, but as the death of his father occurred when he was but fourteen years of age, and as this event necessitated his leaving school, he owes the extraordinary development of his mental powers to intelligent observation and the reading of good literature, combined with a constant interest in current affairs, as to which he keeps himself thoroughly informed. Since his fourteenth year he has been successfully engaged in the nursery business in association with his brother, John Kennedy, the firm being Kennedy Brothers, and they are proprietors of the Eagle Nursery, which they purchased in 1885 of H. M. Grouse, who had established the enterprise fifteen years previous to that date. Twenty-five to seventy-five men are employed during the spring and autumn, and Mr. Kennedy travels extensively in order to keep in touch with the work of similar establishments in other states, introducing all modern ideas as rapidly as it is possible to demonstrate their utility and availability. By these energetic and progressive methods a very large and constantly growing business has been built up. covering a very wide extent of territory and supplying dealers who are located at very great distances, even as far, in some cases, as the State of South Dakota, where the products of the Eagle Nursery are well known and highly appreciated. In addition, Mr. Kennedy personally owns the twelveacre tract on which is located the old family home, where he resides with his invalid mother, and he occupies the position of assistant postmaster of Montrose, giving his attention to the office in the absence of his brother John, whose profession, that of the law, frequently requires his presence at other points.

Mr. Kennedy has always been active in local politics, serving the Republican party as chairman of its county committee at one time and also in various other capacities in which his energy and unwavering loyalty have been important factors in its success, for he is possessed of practical ability of an unusual order. He enjoys vast popularity in his own community and throughout Lee county, and is known to all the leading statesmen of Iowa as a man whose honorable record makes him a power in the state's affairs. He served as mayor of Montrose before he w'as twenty-one years of age. being then probably the youngest man to hold that office in the history of the United States, and a fact no less remarkable, his administration was equal in efficiency to that of many a more experienced man. and he was re-elected. He was elected city recorder and to many minor offices, and was treasurer of the hoard of education for many years. In the year 1903 he became a candidate for the Iowa legislature, and such is the esteem in which he is universally held hv his fellow citizens that although his party in Lee county is normally in the minority. he overcame the usual large majority of his opponents, and was triumphantly elected, thus securing entrance into what his friends freely predict will prox'e new and still greater fields of honor and usefulness. Mr. Kennetly has fraternal connections with the order of the Knights of Pythias and with the Modern Woodmen of America, while his mother and four sisters are members of the order of the Eastern Star, of which Mrs. Kennedy has been Worthy Matron in the Montrose lodge. The career of Hon. C. A. Kennedy is one that should 1)e full of inspiration for all young men. especially for those who depend for advancement upon their own efforts and devotion to dutv.

As printed in Biographical review of Lee County, Iowa; (1905). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.