Biography of Robert L. Kennedy

                                                                     (transcribed by: L. Johnson)

 

     To the person traveling by railway across Isabella county in this day it seems almost incredible that only a few decades ago almost every foot of land was covered with a dense forest through which even the light of day scarcely penetrated.  But such was the fact.  The tide of civilization swept westward and innumerable hands have removed the great woods, but not without toil and hardship.  This would never have been done had it not been for the fertile soil beneath and the comfortable homes that awaited the efforts of the settlers.  The task was a long one, but repaid the pioneer well for his trials and labor.  Robert L. Kennedy, one of the well known and progressive farmers of Isabella township, passed through just such experiences.  He has certainly played well his part in letting in the sunlight to the fertile acres and causing the wheat and corn to thrive on the site of the virgin forests, and because of his life of industry and honesty and his public spirit he is justly entitled to rank among the leading citizens of his locality and have a place in its history.

     Mr. Kennedy was born of a sterling old Canadian family, his birthplace being in Oxford county, Ontario, Canada, and the date April 10, 1842.  He grew to maturity in his native community and was educated there.  He has made farming his chief life work and has been very successful in this line of endeavor.  He left Canada when twenty-eight years of age and went to Kansas where he remained six years engaged I farming.  He then came to Washtenaw county, Michigan, where he lived three years.  He then came to Isabella county, and settled in section 7, Isabella township, on one hundred and twenty acres of timbered land.  There was not so much as a road through it or around it.  But he set to work with a will and cleared it  and soon had a very comfortable home and an excellent farm which he has kept improving from time to time until it ranks with the best in the township.  In 1900 he built an excellent barn, forty-four by eighty feet, with a basement beneath.  He has eight hundred yards of wire fence, and has a splendid and cozy dwelling, in fact, everything to make life desirable in the country.

     Mr. Kennedy is a well educated man and keeps well posted on current events and abreast  of the times in modern thought.  Besides a good common school education he attended the Bryant & Stratton Business College in Buffalo, New York.  He is a faithful member of the Baptist church and a liberal supporter of the same and is a deacon in the local congregation. He is also a Bible class teacher and superintendent of the Sunday school, having held these offices for several years, in fact, he is a pillar of the local church.  His wife is also a great church worker, is president of the Ladies Aid Society and teaches in the Sunday school.  Like her husband, she is influential in the community and has a host of warm personal friends. 

Politically, Mr. Kennedy is a Republican, but he has never figured prominently in political matters.

     Mr. Kennedy was married in Canada when twenty-six years of age to Alta M. Fitch, who was born of a fine old family, in 1848.  This union has been blessed by the birth of the following children:  James S., who married Elizabeth Lyon, is principal of the East Saginaw central school.  He was the first male graduate of the Central State Normal:  Frank, a printer, married Alice Cummings and lives in Los Angeles, California:  Hattie, the eldest, married Oren Culver And lives in Frankfort, Michigan:  Gertrude married George Robinson and lives in Seattle: Robert, a graduate of the Central State Normal, married Edna Wier and lives in Bay City; Howard, who has remained single, lives in the state of Washington;  Florence married R.F. Hughes and lives in Los Angeles.  These children were all given the advantages of a good education, were reared in a most wholesome home atmosphere and are well launched in the affairs of the world, all highly respected in the communities where they reside.