From Proud Heritage, Vol. 1 by DCPA, not currently in print
Mary Kennedy, a widow with two teenaged sons – James M. and Henry, came to Peters Colony in .May, 1845. There is no apparent reason for her coming to face the hardships of frontier life; there is no record of other family members of friends settling here.
Of German descent, she was born about 1799 in South Carolina, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Murf. She married Samuel Kennedy, whose father William and five brothers came from Ireland, all serving in the Revolutionary Army. Samuel and Mary Kennedy lived in Fairfield District, South Carolina, until around 1838 when they moved to Tallapoosa County, Alabama. Two years later Mr. Kennedy died leaving his widow and eight children, some of whom were already married. Though he left a sizable estate, much of it was dissipated in the settlement. Mrs. Kennedy, with two (and possibly three) young sons moved to Arkansas in 1843 and on to Texas in 1845. She received the typical Peters Colony land certificate for 640 acres, but sold it unlocated. She took a homestead claim for 320 acres; the oldest son later homesteaded 160 acres. The youngest son, Henry, went to California in the early 1850’s and never returned to this area.
Mrs. Kennedy died April 8, 1861.
James M. Kennedy remained in Carrollton throughout his life. He engaged in farming and ranching. One source indicates that he was a full partner of Wade Hampton Witt in the great mill and store at Trinity Mills prior to the Civil War.
He joined the Confederate Army and served in Witt’s Company, Darnell’s Regiment. Later his company became a part of Scantlan ‘s Squadron. When the company was reorganized, he was promoted to First Lieutenant under Captain William Jackson. He was mustered out at Hempstead, Texas.
In 1853 he married Prudence Rowe, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. B. Rowe, settlers who had come to Peters Colony from England in 1848. About a year after the birth of a son, William, Mrs. Kennedy died in 1855. On October 3, 1858, James M. Kennedy married Charlotte Drake, daughter of George and Rachel Drake, who had migrated from Marshall County, Illinois, in 1855. This couple had nine children, two of whom died in infancy. The others were George, who married Laura Marsh; James M. and Samuel M. (twins), the latter married Cora Perry; Emma and Mattie, who married two Jackson brothers – Charlie and Andrew; Marshall Croft, who married a school teacher, Pansy Pearce; and Ella Prudence, a school teacher who married George Franklin Myers, son of John Miller Myers. To this last couple were born three children-Amy Prudence, George William, and Jay Albert. George William was the father of Dallas County Pioneer Association Charter Member – Georgia Myers Ogle.
James M. Kennedy died December 14, 1900, and is interred at Webb Chapel Cemetery in Farmers Branch. His obituary in The Dallas Morning News stated that he was a charter subscriber of that paper. Charlotte Drake Kennedy lived until 1915.
Bibliography:
Brown, John Henry, History of Dallas County, Texas: From 1837 to 1887. Dallas: The Aldredge Book Store, 1966. Reprinted with John H. Cochran’s Dallas County history listed separately.
Cochran, John H. Dallas County: A Record of Its Pioneers and Progress. Dallas: The Aldredge Book Store, 1966. Reprinted with John Henry Brown’s Dallas County history listed separately.
Connor, Seymour V. The Peters Colony of Texas. Austin: The Texas State Historical Association, 1959.
Jackson, George. Sixty Years in Texas. Reprint by the Peters Colony Historical Society of Dallas County, Texas, of the Second Edition, originally published in 1908. Quannah, Texas: Nortex Press, September, 1975.
Lone Star State: Memorial and Biographical History of Dallas County, Texas. Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1892.
Ogle, Georgia Myers. Elm Fork Settlement. Wichita Falls, Texas: Nortex Press, 1977.
By Georgia Myers Ogle, Carrollton
