The subject of this history was born in Eaton Tp., Lorain Co., Ohio, May 13, 1830. His father, Edward Kennedy, was a native of Edmeston, Otsego Co., N. Y., of which his father, Andrew Kennedy, was a resident for many years and where he spent the last years of his life. Edward Kennedy grew to manhood in his native town, where he married, and thence removed, in 1829, to Ohio, being among the earliest settlers of Eaton Township. He erected a log cabin amidst the timber and cleared a farm, which he occupied, however, only until 1845. From there he removed to Wisconsin, spending two years in Walworth County, and thence removed, in 1847, to Northern Illinois, where he purchased the tract of land which now constitutes the homestead of our subject. It lies on section 31 and includes 148 acres, which the elder Kennedy converted from the wild prairie into a valuable and fertile farm. The lumber with which the first house was built was transported from Milwaukee and Chicago, and the house when erected was one of the attractive features in that part of the country. The nearest market then for the farmers of Stephenson County was at Galena, where wheat sold at from thirty-seven to forty cents per bushel, and dressed pork at from one and one-half cents to two cents per pound. The elder Kennedy possessed all the elements of the true pioneer and battled with the difficulties incident to building up a home in a new country, until he had obtained a competency, when he retired from the more active labors of life. He was not permitted to become an old man, however, but died in April, 1856.

The mother of our subject, who in her girlhood was Miss Ruth B. Packer, was born in Londonderry, N. H., whence her parents removed while she was a little child to Otsego County, N. Y. She became the mother of ten children by her marriage with Edward Kennedy, whom she survived over twenty years, her death taking place on the old homestead in Winslow Township, in 1879.

George N. Kennedy was the second child and eldest son of his parents, and was a youth of seventeen years when they came to this county. When his father finally, on account of failing health, was obliged to abandon active labor, much of the care of the homestead devolved upon the son George. He plowed, sowed, harvested and transported the products of his labors to the Chicago market, bringing back each time a load of lumber or merchandise, the trip usually consuming eleven days. There were then no Pullman cars, and no fashionable hotels, so he settled himself comfortably in his wagon at night, after having eaten of the provisions he had taken with him and cooked by the wayside. He performed his filial duties most nobly, and has always resided upon the old homestead.

The marriage of our subject with Miss Emily Barnes, was celebrated at the home of the bride's parents, in West Point Township, Oct. 1, 1855. Mrs. K. was born in Geauga County, Ohio, March 29, 1836, and remained the companion of her husband but a few months, her death taking place on the 9th of March, 1856. Of this marriage there was born one child, a son, Edward J., who is now in McPherson, Kan.

The marriage of Mr. Kennedy with his present wife, formerly Miss Elizabeth Wright, took place Oct. 15, 1857, in Stockton Township, Jo Daviess County. She was born in Munson, Geauga Co., Ohio, March 7, 1834, and is the daughter of Ransom and Elizabeth (Thompson) Wright, natives of New York, whence they removed to Ohio after their marriage, being among the pioneer settlers of Geauga County. Mr. Wright cleared a farm from the wilderness, but only lived to establish a comfortable home for his family, his death taking place in 1839, when he was but thirty-seven years of age. Mrs. Wright came to Illinois in 1853, and took up her abode in Jo Daviess County, where her death occurred in 1868. George N. and Elizabeth Kennedy became the parents of six children, of whom the record is as follows: Emily E. is the wife of Truman Wheeler and lives in Geneva, Fillmore Co., Neb.; Willie Elmer died when three years of age; George W. lives in Fillmore County, Neb.; Luella F., Arthur E. and William Stewart are at home with their parents. Mrs. Kennedy is a worthy member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. K. affiliates with the Republican party and has served as Highway Commissioner and School Director twenty-one years. He was Pathmaster and Commissioner of the township for over thirty years. In 1847 he commenced breaking prairie and followed this for about six years, working frequently with from four to seven yoke of oxen at one time. He was always wide-awake and ambitious, and in addition to his other employments frequently took the contract for building sod fences, utilizing for this purpose the surface of the ground, filled with prairie grass roots, which he laboriously turned up from the soil with his long string of oxen. Although the pioneers perhaps were not skilled in book learning, they resorted to many ingenious devices to overcome the forests and prepare the soil for cultivation, of which the people of this later day know but little. Nothing was allowed to be wasted and one of the great secrets of their success was the rigid economy practiced at every turn, and which later scientists have declared to be the prime principle of Nature herself as exhibited in the unfolding blade of grass and especially in the soil which gives it sustenance.

Contributed by Carol Parrish from Portrait and Biographical Album of Stephenson County, Ill. (1888), p. 430