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JAMES L. KENNEDY, M.D.
Vol. 3, p. 984-85
Book has photo

Doctor Kennedy merits special recognition in this publication, for
he was not only one of the pioneer physicians and surgeons in the
City of Tulsa, but he has also been a prominent factor in connection
with the civic and industrial development of this section of the
state. Since his retirement from the active practice of his
profession he has given the major part of his time and attention to
the supervision of his fine farm property, which is one of the model
landed estates of Osage County. In the early years of his service as
a physician at Tulsa, when the present thriving city was a mere
frontier village, Doctor Kennedy had his full share of arduous toil,
as he endured many discomforts and hardships in performing his humane
mission among those in affliction and distress throughout a wide
range of sparsely settled country. His unselfish devotion gained to
him inviolable place in the confidence and affectionate regard of all
classes of citizens and both he and his brother, Dr. Samuel G., with
whom he was associated in practice, have a host of appreciative and
valued friends throughout this section of Oklahoma. On other pages of
this work appears a brief review of the career of Dr. Samuel G.
Kennedy, and so close were the parallel lines of the service of the
two brothers that there is special consistency in reading
consecutively the sketches of their lives as presented in this volume.

Dr. James Lincoln Kennedy was born on the old homestead farm of his
father, near Stockton, Cedar County Missouri, on the 24th of October,
1862, and is a son of Allen B. and Matilda E. (GILMORE) Kennedy. The
father was a native of Tennessee, an early settler and successful
farmer in Missouri, and passed the gracious evening of his life in
Oklahoma, where he died in 1910, at the venerable age of eighty-four
years. The mother was born in Kentucky, in 1842, and she was summoned
to the life eternal in March, 1913. Of the twelve children the
subject of this review was the third in order of birth, and of the
number ten are still living.

Allen B. Kennedy was six years of age at the time of his parents'
immigration from Tennessee to Missouri, is 1830, and his father died
a short time after arriving in the latter state. In 1833 the family
made settlement near Sauk River in Cedar County, Missouri, and from
the original county were later formed two new counties. Allen B.
Kennedy was reared under the environment and influences of the
pioneer days and in later years frequently recalled in his
reminiscences that his schooling was mainly received in a primitive
log schoolhouse whose facilities were of meager order. He became one
of the substantial agriculturists of Cedar County and was called upon
to serve in various offices of local trust including that of county
assessor. In politics he was originally aligned with the whig party,
but he united with the republican party soon after its organization
his great admiration for President Lincoln and General Grant having
led him to name two of his sons in honor of these distinguished
Americans.

Doctor Kennedy continued his studies in the schools of his native
county until he had completed the curriculum of the high school at
Stockton, and thereafter he took a course in Spaulding Commercial
College in Kansas City, besides which he attended for some time the
Southwest Baptist College at Bolivar, Missouri. In 1888 he was
graduated in the Kansas City, Missouri College, and shortly after
receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine he established himself in
the practice of his profession at Caplinger, a village in his home
county. There he remained until 1891, when he and his younger
brother, Dr. Samuel Grant Kennedy, came to Oklahoma Territory, which
had shortly before been opened to settlement, and the two became the
pioneer physicians and surgeons in the Village of Tulsa, nucleus of
the fine city that is now the judicial center and metropolis of Tulsa
County. Concerning their early experiences further data are given in
the sketch of the career of Dr. Samuel G.Kennedy, on other pages of
this work, but incidentally it should be noted that both were
prominently and worthily concerned with the civic and material
development and upbulding of what is now one of the foremost cities
of this vigorous young commonwealth. The brothers continued to be
associated in the control of a large and representative practice
until 1901, and since that time Dr. James L. Kennedy has devoted his
attention principally to the developing of his fine landed estate of
620 acres, in Black Dog Township, Osage County, and about two miles
distant from Tulsa.

Upon this extensive farm he has made the best of modern
improvements, including the erection of a commodious stone house and
two large barns, one of which is of stone and the other of frame
construction. The doctor has shown much discrimination in
diversifying the agricultural products of his farm, has been one of
the successful growers of alfalfa in this section of the state, and
in the raising of live stock he has the
best grades of full-blood red Durham cattle and Duroc-Jersey swine.
As a lover of fine horses he has been prominently identified with the
raising of the best of thorough-bred and standard-bred types, his
farm having turned forth a number of splendid roadsters and turf
animals. The doctor bred and raised on his farm "Golden Rod," a horse
that made a record of 2:30 after having been in training only thirty
days. On his farm Dr. Kennedy has a vineyard of 1 1/2 acres and in
connection with the same has proved that the finest varieties of
grapes can here be raised with distinctive success. His well
developed apple orchard comprises four acres; two acres are devoted
to peaches; and 3/8 of an acre given to the propagation of
blackberries gave a splendid yield in 1914, as shown by the fact that
in addition to supplying fully the demands of the family the sale of
berries reached an aggregate return of fully $200. The doctor raises
also the blackcap raspberries, and devotes eight acres to the raising
of whitetop sweet clover. He finds both satisfaction and profit in
his experimentation and progressive activities as a farmer and
horticulturist, and he takes deep interest in all that tends to
conserve social and industrial advancement and well being of the
county and state of his adoption.

Though Black Dog Township is recognized as a democratic stronghold
and Doctor Kennedy is equally well known as a stalwart republican,
such is his status in popular esteem that in 1912, without his
knowledge, he was nominated for member of the board of township
trustees, his election following and showing a gratifying majority in
his favor. He served one term, of two years, and spared neither time
nor attention in discharging his official duties with characteristic
loyalty and judgment. In a fraternal way the doctor is affiliated
with Tulsa Lodge, No. 964, Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks, and
he is a valued member of the Oklahoma State Medical Association, as
is he also of the Tulsa County Medical Society. Though he has
virtually retired from the active practice of his profession he finds
it impossible to deny his services as physician to some of his many
friends whose importunities are based on confidence and high regard.

In the year 1892 Doctor Kennedy wedded Miss Minnie LOMBARD, who was
born in California, and who died about ten months after her marriage;
she is survived by a son, Albert A. On the 30th of October, 1903, was
solemnized the marriage of Doctor Kennedy to Miss Mabel LOMBARD, a
sister of his first wife, and they have two children, a daughter,
Beatrice, and a son, Edward Lombard.

Typed for OKGenWeb by: Earline Sparks Barger, December 16, 1998.

[NOTE: 07-1999 see Kennedy & Young pages at
http://millennium.fortunecity.com/sherwood/553/index.html
or contact Kesel - barb@aub.com ]