Display Patriot - P-228656

John KENNEDY

SAR Patriot #: P-228656

The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.

State of Service: VA Qualifying Service: Patriotic Service / Civil Service

DAR #: A064751

Birth: abt 1720
Death: aft 1810 / Madison / KY

Qualifying Service Description:

TOWN TRUSTEE, BOONESBOROUGH, 1779
SIGNED OATH OF ALLEGIANCE TO ENTER PREEMPTION CLAIM, 1779

Additional References:

RANCK, BOONESBOROUGH, pg 111
KENTUCKY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, CERTIFICATE BOOK OF THE VIRGINIA LAND COMMISSION, 1779-1780, pg 63-64

Spouse: Elizabeth King
Children: Joseph; Mary; Margaret;

Members Who Share This Ancestor

Date Approved	Society	ACN	SAR Member Info	Lineage via Child	View Application Detail
2013-02-27	AZ	51876	Loring Gerald Davis (177007)	Margaret

Burial:

UNKNOWN_(Unindexed)

Location:

Find A Grave Cemetery #:

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Grave Plot #:

Grave GPS Coordinates:

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Marker Type:

SAR Grave Dedication Date:

Comments:

No Find-a-Grave record found as of May 2020

Directions to Cemetery / Gravesite:

Author: D Homer Wright

John Kennedy Sr. was born in 1720 at Orange District, North Carolina. He married Elizabeth King in 1783. They had the following children, as documented in the Kennedy Family Bible: John Jr., Margaret, Thomas, Joseph, Andrew, Elizabeth, David and Mary.⁶

John Kennedy and Elizabeth were living at Kentucky as early as 1775. John Kennedy Sr. appears in the Kentucky Land Claim Certificate Book, stating he improved his land in 1775. In 1776, he grew a crop of corn at the District of Kentucky on both sides of Silver Creek. The Court approved his 400 acres and made available an adjacent 1000 acres, in a Preemption Claim.¹

John Kennedy also purchased land from Richard Henderson and the Transylvania Company. This was un-surveyed land Henderson obtained from the Cherokee. The land composed an area including North Carolina, Virginia, and Kentucky. At the time, it was unclear to which state the land belonged. The Kennedy land was believed to be in Virginia, but after the state lines were surveyed and determined, the Kennedy parcel was found to be located at North Carolina.

Kennedy lost his land when the Transylvania Company was dissolved by Virginia and North Carolina, and firm boundaries were established. As an alternative to those losing land at Virginia, North Carolina offered 200,000 acres of land to Henderson and his associates. Also affected in this land reapportionment were Daniel Boone and others.^2,3

As expected, a number of grievances developed from property owners. To help facilitate the complaints, John Kennedy Sr. was appointed by the Court to serve on a Commission addressing these disputes. John provided civil service during the Revolutionary War by becoming a Trustee of Boonesborough in 1779.^4,5

John Kennedy died after 1810. It has been reported he died in 1813, at the home of his daughter, Mary Kennedy Gordon, at Giles County, Tennessee.⁸ Elizabeth King Kennedy died after 1783 at Garrard County, Kentucky. Her final resting place is not known.

References:

1. Register of Kentucky State Historical Society, Vol. 21, No. 61. Certificate Book of the Land Commission 1779-1780, (January 1923), Pg. 63-64.

2. Andrew R. L. Clayton. The Frontier Republic: Ideology and Politics in the Ohio Country, 1780-1825. (Kent State University Press: Kent Ohio: 1986).

3. Gregory H. Nobels. Breaking in to the Back Country: New Approaches to the Early American Frontier, 1750-1800. (The William and Mary Quarterly 46 October 1989) Pg. 641-670.

4. George Washington Rank. Boonesborough; Its Founding. Pioneer Struggles, Indian Experiences, Transylvania Days, and Revolutionary Annals. (John P. Morton & Company: Louisville, 1901) Pg. 111.

5. Kennedy Family, Genealogies of Kentucky Families. From the Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, A-M, Vol. 1, (Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc.: Baltimore, 1981). Pg. 607.

6. Ibid, Pg. 606-623.

7. Ibid, Pg. 607-623.

8. Ibid, Pg. 607.

Author: Lt Col Gary Owen Green

John Kennedy is recorded in the pamphlet, "The 1787 Census of Virginia, Madison County," published by Genealogical Books in Print, Springfield, VA, (C) 1987 and Madison County, Kentucky, Personal Property Tax 1787 - List "A" pg. 383 and 389.

He married Elizabeth King after 1783 at Garrard County, Kentucky. Their daughter, Margaret Kennedy, was born 19 March 1755, likely at North Carolina. She married Thomas Faulkner. She died in 1830 at Garrard County.

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