Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens
Lawrence County Pennsylvania 1897
[p. 616] one of the representative farmers of Shenango township, was born in Slippery Rock township, Jan. 1, 1824, coming of good Scotch-Irish ancestry, that sturdy class of citizens that has contributed so much to the development and enrichment of Western Pennsylvania. His parents were William and Elizabeth (Stickle) Kennedy. Our subject's mother was born in Slippery Rock township in 1800, and died at the age of eighty-six; she was a daughter of Samuel and Katherine Stickle, the former a farmer, who lived to a good old age.
William Kennedy was born in Eastern Pennsylvania about the year 1800, and attained the age of seventy-seven years; he came to Lawrence County with his parents when two years old, and lived the remainder of his life in Slippery Rock township, where he engaged successfully and with profit in agricultural pursuits.
Our subject attended school till the age of nineteen years, and lived with his parents until he had attained his majority, when he went to Allegheny County, where he worked on a farm for one year. At McKeesport he learned the carpenter's trade, and worked at it for three years. He then returned to Slippery Rock township, and worked at his trade in connection with farming for some six or seven years, since which time he has devoted his entire time and attention to agrictilture and its varied pursuits. At the outbreak of the war, before enlisting, he purchased a ten-acre tract with a cottage on it, and put it in order for his family, in order that they might have a comfortable home when he was away to the war, fighting for his country, and with a slender chance of seeing the loved ones again. He enlisted Feb. 22, 1864, in Co. B, 14th Reg. Pa. Vol. Cav., and was engaged in the battles of Winchester, Fisher's Hill, Cedar Creek, Swickle's Gap, and was in Sheridan's command when the cavalry made the famous raid of the beautiful Shenandoah Valley. Hostilities having ceased at the South, he was sent with other soldiers to Ft. Leavenworth, Kan., to quell the Indian troubles on the border, and was on duty there some two months, receiving his discharge in the month of August, 1865. On his return from the army he worked at his trade some seven years in Slippery Rock township, as before mentioned, and has since interested himself in farming, living the most of the past twenty-five years in Shenango township.
He was first married in November, 1854, to Lizzie Jane McMasters, daughter of William and Annie McMasters, and of this union two children resulted—William H. who is living with his father, and Mary Louise, the wife of Sol. Wimer. His second marriage took place in October, 1859, the bride being Sarah A. Warnock, daughter of Hugh and Elizabeth (Manning) Warnock, and a member of one of the oldest-established families in the county. The father of Elizabeth Manning served seven years in the Revolutionary War, and lived to attain the very unusual age of one hundred and fourteen years, a fact that is on record and as authentic as one could wish. Six children, whose names are given below, were the fruit of the second marriage: Jesse B., who is living with his father; John H., who is engaged in the coal business in New Castle; Thomas, who owns and operates a saw-mill and thresher; Hugh, who makes his home with his father; Mamie Elizabeth, who is attending school; and Robert Stockman, who is in the employ of the Telephone Company. The family are members of the M. E. Church. In politics Mr. Kennedy is a Republican. In the sunset of life he is enjoying the fruits of his early labors at the home which he has established by the work of his own hands and a life of unremitting industry. That he stands well in the community as a man of strict integrity and good judgment is evident from the fact that he has at different times been called upon to fill the offices of constable and collector, serving four years in that capacity, and of supervisor, an office he satisfactorily filled for a period of three years. He has also been a member of the election board a number of times. As an old soldier he has for years taken an active interest in G. A. R. affairs, and is a member of the Post, No. 318, at Wampum, this county.
Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens Lawrence County Pennsylvania
Biographical Publishing Company, Buffalo, N.Y., 1897
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Updated: 23 Jul 2001