History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and biographical sketches, Part 165

Author: Futhey, John Smith, 1820-1888; Cope, Gilbert, 1840-1928
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1162

USA > Pennsylvania > Chester County > History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and biographical sketches > Part 165

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He left two children, James and Margaret. The latter married John Menough, and died at the age of eighty-six years.

James Kelton, Jr., born 1776, married Agnes Mackey, daughter of David Mackey, Esq., of Londongrove, Feb. 7, 1793 ; was sheriff three years, served ten years in Assem- bly and four in the Senate ; was the first postmaster at West Grove, serving about twenty years, and died in 1844 at the age of sixty-eight years, leaving eleven children : 1. David, b. Nov. 9, 1794; m. Margaret Turner. 2. John M., b. Feb. 1, 1795. 3. James, b. Aug. 1, 1796; m. Mary Fulton. 4. Mary, b. May 1, 1798 ; m. David Jack- SOD. 5. Robert, b. March 4, 1800 ; m. Margaretta Cun- ningham. 6. Joseph, b. March, 1802 ; m. Phebe Essinger. 7. Agnes, b. September, 1805 ; m. Thomas F. Lambson. 8. Margaretta, b. July 12, 1812, died young. 9. George, b. Jan. 24, 1810; m. Christiana Johnson. 10. Julia, died young. 11. Rachel, b. Dec. 1, 1814 ; m. Elijah McClen- achan. The mother died in 1823.

John M. Kelton was born in the same house as his father ; was justice of the peace forty years, director of the poor eleven, director and surveyor of the Chester County Mutual Fire Insurance Company eighteen years, and was one of the founders of Lincoln University. He married Eliza- beth Correy, Dec. 10, 1818, and has two children,-Robert C. (married to Martha E. Nelson) and Ellen (married to James Mackey). Robert is postmaster at Kelton post- office:

KENNEDY, DR. SAMUEL, son of David, was a gentle- man of culture and determined character, descended from the Kennedys of Ayrshire, Scotland. In the possession of a competence, he was patriotic from conviction, and was among the first to proffer services in the cause of liberty. Six months prior to the Declaration of Independence he addressed the Continental Congress as follows :

" To the Honourable the Continental Congress.

"The Petition of Samuel Kennedy mest respectfully showeth : That your petitioner has been in the practice of physic and surgery upwards ef twenty years with reputation, and would cheerfully serve his Country in the most acceptable manner his capacity and ability will admit of. Therefore prays that your Honors would be pleased to appoint him Surgeon to one of the Battallions new about te be raised. "SAML. KENNEDY.

"PHILADA, Jan. 3, 1776."

On Jan. 19, 1776, in Committee of Safety, George Clymer, President, it was " Resolved, That Doctor Samuel Kennedy be appointed Surgeon to the Fourth Battalion Pennsylvania Troops in the service of the United Colonies.". In May, 1777, he was appointed "Senior Surgeon in the Military Hospitals." In November, 1777, he was appointed " Senior Surgcon and Physician in the General Hospital of the Middle Department." These commissions are in pos- session of his grandson, Joseph C. G. Kennedy. The general hospital, under his charge at his death, had been erected on the property of Dr. Kennedy, at the Yellow Springs, a large structure, now occupied by the State for its wards, the orphan children of soldiers of the Rebellion, as is also the old mansion. The American army was for a time quartered on the Yellow Springs property, while the British occupied his homestead farm in the Great Valley, both equally destructive. Dr. Kennedy accompanied Wayne's army to Long Island, where he was retained with the main army as senior surgeon, at 'Ticonderoga, and in the battles fought on the borders of Canada. Returning with the army, he was at the battle of Brandywine, the Valley Forge, the affair at Paoli, and at the battle of Germantown, and super- intended the hospital at Bethlehem. For his services he neither asked nor received a dollar from the public treasury. His letters to his wife from Long Island, Ticonderoga, and other points, in possession of his grandson, are full of inter- est, and bespeak the character of a Christian patriot, fond husband, and affectionate parent. Dr. John Brown Cut- ting, of the Revolutionary army, in a letter to John Ken- ncdy, of Tennessee, a son of the doctor, then a lawyer of prominence, writes of his personal knowledge of the doctor's services in the army, and in conclusion says, "I am bound conscientiously to declare that a more useful, skillful, and humane public service has seldom been executed. While in the zcalous performance of his medical duties he imbibed a contagious hospital malady, which in two days carried him off, June 28,* 1778, to the unspeakable grief of family and friends. The melancholy duty devolved upon me of committing to paper and witnessing his last will, and of closing the eyes of one of the noblest surgeons and most meritorious patriots that benefited and adorned the late Revolutionary army." The wife of Dr. Kennedy was Sarah, daughter of Job Ruston, of Penn's Manor, and sister to Dr. Thomas Ruston, of Philadelphia.

* This should be the 17th.

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HISTORY OF CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Dr. Kennedy's children who survived him were Dr. Thomas Ruston Kennedy, John Kennedy, Mary (Kinnard), mother of George L. Kinnard, M.C. from Indiana, and Sarah (Robinson), who died without issue.

In his will Dr. Kennedy bequeathed a sum of money to be expended in building a stone wall around the graveyard of Charlestown meeting-house, where a neat monument indicates the place of his burial, with the following inscrip- tion :

" In memory of Doctor Samuel Kennedy, Physician of the General Hospital, who departed this life June 17, A.D. 1778, in the 48th year of his age.

" In him the Patriot, Scholar, Christian, Friend, Harmonious met 'till Death his life did end : The Church's Pupil, and the State his care,

A Physician skilful, and a Whig sincere, Beneath this Tomb now sleeps his precious dust, Till the last Trump reanimates the just."

DR. THOMAS RUSTON KENNEDY, born in Chester County in 1763, was son of Dr. Samuel Kennedy, graduated at the University of Pennsylvania, and studied medicine under Dr. Morgan, of Philadelphia. In a letter of Governor Mif- flin, Nov. 17, 1794, to Maj. Denny, who had charge of troops " to relieve the garrison at Le Benf" (near Lake Erie), he writes : " I have appointed Dr. Thomas Ruston Kennedy, a young man of excellent character, surgeon of your Bat- talion. You will be pleased to receive him, and- consider him as my friend." Dr. Kennedy was subsequently sur- geon to the troops under charge of Andrew Ellicott, who constructed a fort at Presque Isle, and passed his life in successive public posts of honor and responsibility, and one of whose daughters subsequently became the wife of Dr. Kennedy. On the organization of Crawford County, in 1800, Dr. Kennedy was by Governor Mckean appointed prothonotary and clerk of the courts, held by him until 1809. He was a man of great energy, and " affected more the early progress of Western Pennsylvania than any other man." He died at Meadville, March 24, 1813.

THOMAS KENNEDY, M.D., eldest son of Lieut. William Kennedy, who perished in the conflict for national inde- pendence, was born in Wallace, then a part of Nantmeal township, in 1766. He assisted his widowed mother in her struggle to rear her family of small children by laboring on a farm until near his majority, when he commenced the study of medicine under the direction of Dr. Harris, of In- diantown. Having received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Kennedy entered on the practice of his profession in his native township, and in 1796 or 1797 became the successor of his preceptor, Dr. Harris. Owing to his genial disposition and acknowledged ability, he was extensively employed, and his services were called for over a section of country which is now occupied by upwards of a dozen well-patronized physicians.

Dr. Kennedy was strongly opposed to a frequent and often too ready use of the scalpel. On one occasion, when physicians had been called for consultation, and among them Dr. Sturgis, of Downingtown, it was decided that the arm of the patient, which had been badly cut by a scythe, must be amputated. This Dr. Kennedy, as the family phy- sician, firmly resisted, and finally succeeded in saving the limb.

While still comparatively young, Dr. Kennedy, to the great regret of the many who had been benefited by his medical skill, sank under an attack of typhus fever, in April, 1814. He left a family consisting of a wife and two sons and a daughter, the last a posthumous child. His widow died within the last decade, at the advanced age of ninety. His eldest son, Thomas Jefferson, who has passed the al- lotted threescore and ten, and the daughter, now a widow, reside in the neighboring county of Berks.

Like most physicians of his day and too many of the present, Dr. Kennedy left no record of either the nature and treatment of many ailments and new types of disease which tested his professional knowledge and experience, or of the generally prevailing maladies for which he was often called to afford relief. This is to be regretted, as memo- randa by him and others of a period when climatic changes were less sudden, malarial fevers common, inoculation the only prevention of smallpox, and delirium tremens un- known, would have aided their medical successors and con- tributed to the history of a portion of the county of which many noteworthy incidents have sunk into oblivion.

DR. JOHN KENNEDY (son of Capt. John Kennedy, of Baltimore, Md., who served with distinction in the war of 1812), was born in the Monumental City, Feb. 13, 1800, and was liberally educated in its classical schools. He sub- sequently attended the University of Maryland (medical), in which he was graduated in 1820.

For two years he was resident physician of the Balti- more City Hospital. February, 1822, he settled in Oxford, this county. He there grew rapidly into an extensive prac- tice, and rose to eminence in his profession. He was mar- ried May 18, 1826, to Mary, eldest daughter of Col. David Dickey, of Hopewell, of this county. He was a charter member of the Chester County Medical Society, organized June 7, 1828, the first instituted in the State. He died. May 28, 1838, leaving two sons and five daughters. The eldest son, Dr. David D. Kennedy, resides at Oxford, and the other, John M., is a practicing attorney of note at Pittsburgh, Pa.

Dr. John Kennedy practiced medicine for sixteen years at Oxford, and no one was more successful in gaining the good will and respect of its people. He was a gentleman of high literary attainments. The College of Baltimore conferred upon him the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and at this institution he had graduated with the first honors and received his diploma at the early age of sixteen years.

KENT, DANIEL, a cutler by trade, was the son of Wil- liam and Annie Kent, of Limerick, Ireland. He was born in 1765. In the twentieth year of his age, as business was dull and he could not get constant employment, he de-, termined to try his fortune in America. While searching for work in Waterford, and failing to obtain any, he found a vessel, the brigantine " Asia," about to sail for Philadel- phia. He availed himself of this opportunity to come to this country, and bound himself by indenture to John Johnson, master, in the sum of ten pounds ten shillings, British sterling money, as payment for passage, and what- ever more money that might appear by receipts to be ad- vanced for necessaries. This indenture was entered into- May 21, 1785. He arrived in Philadelphia July 26th,

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being nine weeks and two days on the passage. On August 27th the said John Johnson, for the consideration of four- teen pounds and ten shillings, in hand paid, signed over the indenture to Joseph Hawley, he fulfilling the part therein mentioned. And on the same papers a certificate of Joseph Hawley, stating that the said Daniel Kent ful- filled the indenture honestly, and that his conduct and conversation has been orderly so far as came to his knowl- edge. Signed by his hand the 26th day of 8th month, 1788. In 1786, the next year after he arrived in this country, a certificate was sent to him signed by about thirty persons, stated to be men of consequence, certifying to his pious education and good conduct, and that he departed from his father without cause or compulsion, in a state of innocence, without vice or blemish, and they certify that from their knowledge of him while under his father's care he was worthy of notice.

He was brought up in the Methodist persuasion, but after living with Joseph Hawley a few years, who was a Friend, he became a member of the same meeting, and finally married his daughter Esther. He afterwards pur- chased a farm in East Fallowfield, where most of their children, seven in number, were born, viz .: 1. William, born 8, 3, 1792; married Ann Woodward, 10, 21, 1818; died 10, 15, 1860. 2. Joseph, b. 6, 30, 1794; d 7, 13, 1863; m. Maria Jane Cook, 4, 29, 1824. 3. Elizabeth, b. 4, 19, 1796 ; d. 8, 14, 1848; unmarried. 4. Anne, b. 6, 22, 1798 ; m. Oliver Furness, 3, 16, 1826. 5. Mary, b. 12, 29, 1800; m. Mahlon Brosius, 8, 17, 1820. 6. Daniel, b. 2, 22, 1803; m. Sarah Brosius, 9, 16, 1829. 7. Benjamin, b. 3, 23, 1805 ; m. Hannah Simmons, 12, 17, 1829.

Daniel, the elder, held the office of justice of the peace by appointment of the Governor for about twenty years. In 1790 he was received into the membership of Caln Meeting .* He married Esther, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Hawley, 4, 28, 1791, at Bradford Meeting. She was born 2, 18, 1763, and died 10, 28, 1816.

WILLIAM KENT, of East Fallowfield, son of Daniel and Esther, married Ann Woodward, daughter of Thomas and Mary, of East Marlborough, 10, 21, 1818,-the first marriage in the new meeting-house. Ann, his wife, was born 4, 9, 1795, and died in Upper Oxford, 6, 4, 1844; she and her husband both interred at Penn's Grove. Their children were,-1. Esther H., b. 8, 26, 1819; d. 5, 19, 1843. 2. Thomas W., b. 5, 19, 1821. 3. Mary Ann, b. 6, 20, 1823 ; m. Charles Plumley, 3, 12, 1851. 4. Eliz- abeth, b. 1, 20, 1826; d. 3, 2, 1863; unmarried. 5. Daniel, b. 7, 29, 1828 ; m. Margaret Broomer, 12, 8, 1853. 6. William, b. 9, 24, 1832; m. Mary F. Kinsey, 11, 27, 1863. 7. Lewis P., b. 9, 13, 1836; d. 9, 4, 1843.

JOSEPH KENT, second son of Daniel and Esther, at the time of his marriage (1824) was a resident of Deer Creek, county of Harford, Md., and his wife's home before marriage had been with her parents (Samuel and Jane Cook), in York Co., Pa. Children of Joseph and Maria J. Kent : 1. Esther Jane, b. 3, 10, 1826 ; m. James Cloud, 3, 13, 1850. 2. Mary Ann, b. 4, 21, 1828 ; m. John Barnard, 3, 15, 1849.

3. Susanna H., b. 12, 15, 1829; m. William C. Worth- ington, 2, 16, 1854. 4. Samuel, b. 6, 8, 1836. 5. Jesse Warner, b. 8, 26, 1838 ; d. 3, 7, 1843. 6. Hadley, b. 2, 19, 1842. 7. Jesse Mira, b. 5, 3, 1844. 8. Margaret H., b. 1, 24, 1850.

Maria Jane, wife of Joseph, born 11, 24, 1803 ; died 4, 25, 1881.

DANIEL KENT, of East Fallowfield, son of Daniel and Esther, married at Doe Run Meeting, 1829, Sarah, daughter of Henry and Mary Brosius, of Upper Oxford. She was born 10, 22, 1808. Their children were,-1. Mary B., b. 7, 28, 1830. 2. Ann E., b. 1, 7, 1832 ; m. Isaac B. Shoemaker. 3. Agnes J., b. 12, 25, 1832. 4. Henry B., b. 10, 23, 1834. 5. Ruthanna, b. 3, 12, 1837. 6. Wm. L. Garrison, b. 3, 31, 1839 ; m. Elizabeth Shoemaker. 7. Mahlon B., b. 11, 14, 1841. 8. Thos. Elwood, b. 10, 30, 1848; d. 11, 14, 1853. 9. Sallie Ann, b. 10, 30, 1852 ; d. 4, 6, 1855, and buried at Penn's Grove.

Mahlon was appointed, 1873, Indian agent at Great Ne- hama agency, a position he yet holds.

BENJAMIN KENT, seventh and youngest child of Daniel and Esther, married Hannah Simmons, 1829. She was born 2, 18, 1806, and was the daughter of Rachel Sharp- less, wife of Nathan Sharpless by second marriage, of Henry Simmons by first marriage, formerly a Preston, from Bucks County, but removed and settled in Chester County. She was a preacher of the Society of Friends for more than sixty years, and her son John started and conducted for thirty years the Locust Street, Philadelphia, Female Insti- tute. The children of Benjamin and Hannah : 1. Rachel S., b. 12, 4, 1830; d. 5, 28, 1854, buried at West Grove. 2. Henry S., b. 3, 8, 1833; m. Patience Webster, 3, 17, 1859. 3. Esther, b. 10, 22, 1835 ; d. 5, 13, 1873 ; m. Dr. R. C. Smedley, 1862. She commenced the Children's Friend, in West Chester, in 1866, and edited it until her death, after which it was conducted for some time by her sister, Annie F. 4. Daniel H., b. 10, 22, 1835. 5. Anne F., b. 8, 19, 1838; m. Caleb H. Bradley ; d. 7, 26, 1879. 6. Benjamin Lundy, b. 2, 20, 1841; m. Sarah Aitkins. 7. Lindley Coates, b. 3, 25, 1844. 8. John Simmons, b. 8, 7, 1847.

KERSEY, WILLIAM, of York, in the county of York, Pa., late from North Carolina, son of William and Elizabeth Kersey, deceased, was married at the former place, 9, 8, 1767, to Hannah Bennett. Her parents, Joseph and Rebecca Bennett, were natives of Chester County. Wil- liam Kersey became a prominent member of York Meet- ing, was appointed an elder in 1775, and clerk of the Monthly Meeting in 1776. In 1787 he was clerk of Warrington Quarterly Meeting. Several years afterwards, being somewhat unsettled in his prospects, he received a certificate from York Monthly Meeting for himself and family, addressed to Friends wherever he might come. This, in 1805, he produced to Uwchlan Monthly Meeting, Chester County. The time and place of his decease have not been noticed.

JESSE KERSEY, an eminent minister in the Society of Friends, was born at York, Pa., 8th mo. 5, 1768. His parents, William and Hannah Kersey, were members of the society, and endeavored to rear their son according to

* Certificate from Bradford to Kennet, 1795; from Kennet to Brad- ford, 1797; from Bradford to Londongrove, 4, 13; 1798:

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the principles which they professed. This was a somewhat difficult task, as he was much exposed to the corrupting in- fluence of vicious company, but by their watchful care he was in a great measure preserved from the evils which were common among the children of the place.

In the spring of 1784 he went to Philadelphia, and en- gaged himself as an apprentice to learn the trade of a pot- ter. When about the age of seventeen he appeared in public as a minister, having some time previous received a clear impression that his duty in life was not to be confined to a private sphere, and, having submitted to the call, "the serene and quiet state" that be experienced upon taking his seat after his first appearance was, to his mind, conclu- sive evidence that he had not mistaken his duty. After his first appearing in the ministry, he remained in the city about four years. In 1789, having completed his appren- ticeship, he left Philadelphia and opened a school in East Caln township, Chester Co., in the fall of that year.

On the 26th of 5th month, 1790, he was united in mar- riage with Elizabeth, daughter of Moses Coates, and re- moved to York, his native place, and engaged in his trade of a potter. In this business he continued until 1794, when, not succeeding very well, he again took up his resi- dence in East Caln township, Chester Co. Here he carried on his trade for a time, but finding his health injured by it, he relinquished the business and opened a school.

He soon afterwards felt himself called on a religious visit from home, and spent about four weeks among Friends in Northern Pennsylvania. He next visited Friends in Mary- land, Virginia, and North Carolina, and attended the Yearly Meeting in this latter State. In this tour he spent three months, and traveled about seventeen hundred miles. This journey was performed in the fall of 1795. He next visited Friends in New Jersey, where he spent about six weeks.

In the spring of 1797 he purchased a farm in the neigh- borhood of Downingtown, to which he removed, and became a member of Uwchlan Monthly Meeting. Between the years 1797 and 1804 he made religious visits to several different places, and was received with great notice and at- tention. In the latter year he felt a concern to go on a re- ligious visit to Friends in England and Ireland, and, it being united with by the Yearly Meeting, he embarked in the 8th month, 1804. In this journey, which occupied one year, he visited and preached extensively in England and Ireland, and returned home in the 9th month, 1805.

He was afterwards extensively engaged in the ministry within the Philadelphia and other Yearly Meetings, and in 1814 again visited the South, under a concern in especial relation to the system of American slavery, and the mode of deliverance from its evil consequences. He called on President Madison, and conversed with him on the subject. The President informed him that the only probable method which he could see to remedy the evil would be for the dif- ferent States to be willing to receive the slaves, and thus they would be spread among the industrious and practical farmers, and their habits, education, and condition would be improved. He traveled extensively in Virginia, held meet- ings, and conversed with the people on the subject, and found that among intelligent men slavery was regarded as

an oppressive evil, and that if any plan could be devised that would promise a freedom from its cumber, it would, provided it were safe in its operation and could be effected without loss to the owners, be joyfully embraced. That although the subject was viewed as being well-nigh hope- less, the remedy which seemed the least objectionable was for the general government to provide funds to remunerate the owners, and let the slaves be spread over the United States. He was received with kindness, and the subject freely discussed with him.

In 1824, finding himself becoming too much involved in debt, he sold the farm whereon he had resided for twenty- seven years. He some time after removed to West Chester, where he engaged in the business of conveyancing, and ob- tained the office of postmaster. His wife died 9th mo. 9, 1829. He afterwards removed to Philadelphia, and com- menced a small tea-store, but finding that he could not stand on anything like a reasonably independent footing, he left the city and returned to Chester County.

In the separation which took place in the Society of Friends in 1827 he adhered to what is known in common parlance as the " Hicksite" branch, but the unhappy di- vision was a source of great grief to him, and he took but little part in the disputes to which it gave rise.

He continued to perform religious visits among Friends, often of considerable extent, and preached to crowded houses wherever he went. In the fall of 1845 he pro- ceeded under a concern to visit the families of Friends of Kennet Monthly Meeting, of which he was then a member. His strength failing him before its completion, he returned to his home, and died on the 26th of 10th month, 1845, in the seventy-eighth year of his age. He was interred in Friends' burying-ground in West Chester, in the presence of a very large assemblage.

Jesse Kersey was a man of extraordinary endowments. As a minister, he was remarkably qualified to enlist the at- tention of his hearers, to fix their minds upon the glorious and sublime truths of the Christian religion, and often was he followed and admired by crowds of gratified auditors not of his own persuasion. The enunciation that Jesse Kersey would be present was sure to attract a crowded congrega- tion. In the morning of his promise and the meridian of his day of usefulness his society was courted by the wise and the learned; his affability of manners, his grave and dignified deportment, the soundness of his principles, the beauty and simplicity of his style of address, heightened in their effect by the depth of his devotional feelings, gave an interest and a charm which gained him many admirers. The moralist and the philosopher, the learned and the un- lettered, the man of books and the man of business, as well as the religious devotee of his own sect, charmed by his pleasing manner and intelligent exposition, heard and loved to listen. Those who heard bim at this period of his life will never forget the power of his eloquence. It has been acknowledged by competent persons that within or without the Society of Friends in England or America, no more gratified and impressive powers of sacred eloquence have been heard than those that proceeded from the lips of Jesse Kersey.

On his visit to England his path was, for some time after

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his arrival in that country, overshadowed by a cloud, and his efforts failed. Fame had sounded her clarion before him, heralding his approach. But as he visited the differ- ent meetings throughout the land disappointment sat on every brow, and cold civility chilled his heart. Eventually, however, the cloud dispersed, the occultation was over, the eclipse was past, delighted and deeply-affected crowds gath- ered around him, and he made the tour of proud and pol- ished England in all the triumph of victorious eloquence.

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History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and biographical sketches, Part 165

Author: Futhey, John Smith, 1820-1888; Cope, Gilbert, 1840-1928 Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts Number of Pages: 1162

Author: Futhey, John Smith, 1820-1888; Cope, Gilbert, 1840-1928
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1162