Wayne County, North Carolina:  Articles

John Kennedy Among Leading Wayne Settlers

Reprinted with permission of the News-Argus and cannot be reproduced without permission.

Goldsboro News-Argus Sunday, Sept. 21, 1975 Bicentennial Series

Editor's Note: This is the 18th in a series of articles on Wayne County's history from 1700 to 1900. It is being presented as a part of the observance of the American Revolution Bicentennial.

By John Baxton Flowers

John Kennedy (1747-1823) was born on Lower Falling Creek (in what is today
Lenoir County). His father, Walter Kennedy, was a prominent planter in
that area. William Kennedy, grandfather to John, was a member of the
colonial Assembly & a very influencial planter who was granted land in
Johnston (now Lenoir) County in 1744. This William Kennedy had, among
other children, sons Walter & John. This last mentioned John Kennedy
was captain of the Dobbs County Militia during the Revolution & his nephew,
John Kennedy, Jr., served in his company.

John Kennedy, Jr. came to Wayne County by marriage. When in 1769 he married
Sarah Cox, daughter of Thomas Cox of Quaker Neck. Before his marriage
John Kennedy, Jr. was a member of the Church of England, but afterward he
was a member of the Society of Friends (Quakers).

John's only sister, Mary Kennedy, married Richard Cox in 1768 at the
home of Thomas Cox in Quaker neck. After his marriage he received large
amounts of land from his Cox relatives & by purchase. He also owned a
large number of slaves.

Sarah Cox Kennedy died in 1792, after she & John had been married 23 years.
They had never had any children. John Kennedy then married Elizabeth
Outland, daughter of Thomas & Elizabeth Outland of Rich Square, in what
is today Northampton County, NC. They had two sons, Thomas & John II.

When John Kennedy, Jr. died in 1823, he left a large estate in land, slaves
& personal property. At one time he had owned a riverfront lot in the town
of Wayesborough & may have had a store there. Before his death, he had
deeded land to his son, John in what is now the Rosewood section of Wayne.

John Kennedy, Jr. was one of the leading Quakers in the area. In his will,
dated August 24, 1823, he stated: "All the right, title or interest that
I have in my negroes I give & bequeath unto the Society of friends
(called Quakers) also the right in the African race that came to my wife
by virtue of the last will & testament of her father, I give in like
manner to the said society or to the agents by them appointed."

In this way, John Kennedy, Jr. left his slaves to the American Colonization
Society, which was established to resettle slaves in their native Africa.
Most of them were sent to Liberia when that country was founded. The
Quakers were active in that society & the movement to free slaves.

Thomas Kennedy, son of John Kennedy, Jr. lived at his father's house in
Quaker Neck on the south side of the Neuse River, approximately across
from the Carolina Power & Light Company plant. This house was at one time
a stop on the stage route to Smithfield. Thomas Cox followed his father in
his leadership among the Quakers.

During the Civil War Thomas received rough & arrogant treatment from local
citizens due to his peaceful beliefs & opposition to slavery. He finally
moved to Indiana where he died. Many Wayne County Quakers moved into Ohio
& Indiana from 1820-1860 where they hoped to live a more peaceful life.

John Kennedy III lived at Oak Hill plantation in central Wayne County. His
handsome house stood in a grove oak trees on the Raleigh highway where it
crosses the Rosewood Road, approximately where the Stackhouse Company is
located. John Kennedy married Sarah Everett, widow Becton. She was the
daughter of Joseph & Anne McKinne Everett & the widow of Frederick Becton.
Sarah & John Kennedy had 12 children, one of whom, Walter, moved with his
wife Martha Dees into Kansas where there were some of the earliest settlers.
Their great-grandson, John Anderson, Jr. was a recent governor of the state.

Another of their sons, Joseph Everett Kennedy lived on a large plantation
located on the present site of Cherry Hospital. Still another of their
sons, Colonel John Thomas Kennedy lived at The Meadows, which sat on the
present location of O'Berry Center. Colonel Kennedy with his brother Joseph
& half-brother John Becton, were early contractors & master builders in
Wayne & built part of the roadbed of the North Carolina Railroad, the first
Bank of New Hanover & the first courthouse at Goldsboro in 1848-50.

Colonel Kennedy married Elizabeth Anne Cox, but they were not active
Quakers. He was a large land & slave owner before the Civil War. His
achievements are numerous: founding trustee of the Wayne Institute & Normal
College in 1850; founding trustee of the Wayne Female College in 1850;
Commander of the 7th NC Calvary during the Civil War; delegate to the
NC Constitutional Convention in 1865; High Sheriff of Wayne after the Civil
War; first Steward (business manager) of the Eastern Hospital for the
Insane (Cherry Hospital); member of the state Senate from Wayne in 1885
& the first assistant curator of the North Carolina Museum of Natural
History at Raleigh. He died in 1913 at Pettigrew Hospital in Raleigh &
was buried in the Confederate section of historic Oakwood Cemetery,
Raleigh.

Contributed by Guy Potts of Raleigh, NC   August 2000     Return to History page

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