A One-Name Study for the BARNUM/BARNHAM Surname
From The Past and present of Rock Island County, Ill. Chicago: H.F. Kett & Co., 1877- Page 200: Mr. Sampson Kennedy came from Alabama, where he was born in Green County in 1839, to Chicago in 1846, where he commenced setting type with Scripps & Bros, and has followed it most of the time since; was three years in the artillery service during the late war, resuming the printing business in the office of the Monmouth Review from 1867 to 1869, when he went to Chicago, and returned to Monmouth in January, 1871. In September, in company with W. M. Crichton, he purchased the Moline Review of F. R. Gilson; bought Crichton's interest May 10, 1872, and sold it to B. F. Tillinghast July 1, 1872, and sold his entire interest in the Review to B. F. Tillinghast, March 23, 1874, and opened a job printing office in Moline, in which business he is still engaged.
From the Portrait and Biographical Album of Rock Island County, Illinois Chicago Biographical Publishing Co. 1885 - Page 663: Samson [sic] Kennedy, one of the leading newspaper men of Western, Illinois, residing at Moline, was born of Scotch-Irish Presbyterian parents, on the banks of the Tombigbee River, in Green County, Ala., Feb. 22, 1839. Though located in the heart of the South, his parents were strongly opposed to slavery, and soon after determined to remove to the North, where they might raise their children away from the corrupting influences of the "peculiar institution." In 1847, therefore, the family moved to Chicago, then a city of 12,000 to 14,000 people.
In 1853 Mr. Kennedy entered the office of the Democratic Press, published by John L. Scripps and William Bross, as an apprentice. In 1857 he went to Red Wing, Minn., with young L. F. Hubbard (now Gov. Hubbard), and assisted him in getting his newspaper started. In the following year he went South, and spent two years in Memphis, where he cast his first vote in 1860, for Stephen A. Douglas. A week after the election he went to West Point and Searcy, Ark., where the outbreak of the Rebellion found him. For six weeks he remained in that hot-bed, utterly unable to devise any way of getting home without, perhaps, getting into worse trouble. Finally a vigilance committee solved the difficulty, and sent him to Memphis, where another vigilance committee advised him to leave for home, which he was glad to do. He says, though, that from first to last he was treated courteously and kindly. On reaching Cairo he was surprised to learn that he had been hung by a mob ten days before, and a day or so later had the rare privilege of reading his own obituary in the Times and Tribune of Chicago.
Six weeks later he enlisted in Bat. A, 1st Ill. Art., and served three years, participating in 11 engagements, including Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Arkansas Post, Champion Hills, siege of Vicksburg, siege of Jackson, and Mission Ridge (Chattanooga). For three years after his discharge he traveled for a Chicago grocery house, and then got married and drifted back into the printing business. His marriage occurred in Monmouth, Ill., Nov. 6, 1866, to Miss Addie Whitney [sic]. In September, 1871, he located in Moline, since which time he has been connected successively with the Review (weekly), the Dispatch (daily), the Review-Dispatch (weekly), and the Republican (daily and weekly), besides managing an extensive job printing business until the fall of 1882. In May 1883, the firm Kennedy & Co. was incorporated, and began the publication of the Republican, of which Mr. Kennedy is the active manager. He is both an able business and newspaper man, and the publications in which he has been interested bear the impress of the stirring, enterprising and efficient Samson (sic) Kennedy.
According to an article in the Janesville (Wisconsin) Weekly Gazette and Free Press, dated 24 May 1861, "Sampson Kennedy, son of the late Alderman Kennedy, and a printer by trade, was also hung by the rebels at memphis, for expressing his sentiments." He was either hung and later cut down still living, or the story is apocryphal, since his obituary dated 1917 appears below.
Obituary of Sampson Kennedy from the Moline Daily Dispatch Monday evening July 23, 1917 provided by Ann & Dick Shallberg: Funeral services for Sampson Kennedy, who died Friday night in the National Soldiers' home in Milwaukee, will be held at 2:30 tomorrow afternoon in the Knox chapel. Burial will be in the Riverside cemetery. The Rev. P. C. Ladd will officiate. Services at the grave will be held under auspices of Graham post, No. 312, G.A.R. Members of Graham post are asked to meet at the Knox chapel at 2:15. The processions will be by automobile.
A Research Guide to the Genealogy of the Barnum/Barnam/Barnham Family Worldwide
AncientFaces - Family History Photos
©1998, 2022. The format of this website and all original statements and narrative included on it are copyrighted and all rights are reserved. Factual information may be freely quoted for use in private genealogical research when accompanied by a full source citation, including the date of acquisition. Click here to view the format of a citation for an Internet resource. The publication of large extracts from this site in any form requires prior written consent.
Page built by Gedpage Version 2.21 ©2009 on 21 November 2024