Dekalb County, Illinois
Births & Marriages
Source: Church of the Latter Day Saints' Index of Surnames

Biographies

HON. ARCHIE G. KENNEDY. For many years an honored member of the bench and bar of DeKalb County, Judge Archie G. Kennedy has been engaged in the practice of his profession continuously at DeKalb since 1894. During this long period he has been identified with much of the important litigation that has come before the courts, and it has been his fortune to win success and position with honor and without animosity. Judge Kennedy was born August 24, 1866, in Washington County, Pennsylvania, and is a son of Rev. David S. and Nancy W. (Kelly) Kennedy, and a grandson of natives of Ohio who spent their lives as farming people in the Buckeye State. Rev. David S. Kennedy was born in Ohio, where he was reared in Mahoning County, and was given good educational advantages, graduating from Westminster College, Wilmington, Pennsylvania, where he met his future wife, a native of Indiana County, Pennsylvania, and a graduate of the same institution. Reverend Kennedy was for many years a preacher of the United Presbyterian faith and during the war between the states went to the front with the Union army and engaged in religious work with the fighting forces. In 1878 he came to Illinois and settled in Somonauk Township, DeKalb County, where he passed the remainder of his life as a farmer and a minister. Mrs. Kennedy, who is also deceased, was a daughter of John Kelly, a native of Pennsylvania, who passed his entire life in farming in that state. They were the parents of five sons and five daughters, of whom three sons and three daughters survive. Reverend Kennedy was a Republican in politics, but took only a good citizen's part in public affairs. He passed away in May, 1898 and Mrs. Kennedy in January, 1921.
The fifth in order of birth of his parents' children, Archie G. Kennedy attended public schools in Pennsylvania and Illinois, including the high school at Sandwich and the State Normal University at Normal, Illinois. Subsequently he pursued a course at Monmouth (Illinois) College and then began to read law under the preceptorship of Judge Carens, at DeKalb, was admitted to the bar and in the same year commenced practice at DeKalb, which town has since been his home and the scene of his professional success, he having attracted to himself a large and representative clientage. After admission he continued his legal studies in the Chicago Law School and graduated as a member of the class of 1899. A Republican in his political attachment, Judge Kennedy served as a city attorney of DeKalb and as a state's attorney for DeKalb County from 1900 to 1904. Under appointment of Governor Deenan he served as judge of the Court of Claims, and for ten or twelve years was president of the high school board. He belongs to the DeKalb County Bar Association, the Illinois State Bar Association and the American Bar Association, and at this time devotes himself to his practice. He is a member of the Benevolent and rotective Order of Elks and the Chamber of Commerce, and has always been a constructive supporter of movements for the benefit of the community and its people.
On January 16, 1899, Judge Kennedy was united in marriage with Miss Katherine Fuller, who was born in DeKalb County, Illinois, a daughter of Willkaim Fuller, who was for years a prominent farmer of this locality, but is now deceased. No children have been born to this union. By a former marriage, to Bert Lindsey, Mrs. Kennedy had one daughter, who married J. B. Abernathy and has one son and two daughters: Elizabeth Kennedy and Janet. Mr. and Mrs. Abernathy now make their home in Springfield, Vermont, where Mr. Abernathy is successfully engaged in the drug business and is also active in Republican politics. Prior to her marriage Mrs. Abernathy made her home with Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy, by whom she was the most carefully reared and educated. [Source: "ILLINOIS, The Heart of the Nation" by Hon. Edward F. Dunne, Volume IV, 1933]

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