Frank E. Kennedy

KENNEDY, MURRAY POLLARD, CAJOCOB

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 3/5/2007 at 22:15:05

Biographies from the 1914 "Past and Present of O'Brien and Osceola Counties of Iowa"

FRANK E. KENNEDY.

The county seat of Osceola County boasts of many progressive and enterprising citizens who are engaged in a great variety of different occupations. Among these business men who have taken their share in making Sibley the prosperous town which it is today there is no one who is more deserving of mention in this volume than Frank E. Kennedy, a real estate man and a prominent stock buyer and shipper. With few opportunities except what his own efforts were capable of mastering, and many discouragements to overcome in his younger years, he has made an exceptional success in life and now has the gratification of knowing that he has a competency to insure against future wants, and that it has been won by honest effort.

Frank E. Kennedy, the son of Michael and Mary (Murray) Kennedy, was born in Illinois in March, 1864. The parental home at that time was on a farm in LaSalle County, where his parents had previously settled. Michael and Mary Kennedy came to Connecticut before they were married and were subsequently married in that state. In the early fifties they came to Illinois and bought a farm in LaSalle County where they lived until 1878. They then moved to Tama County, Iowa, and bought a farm, remaining there until the death of Michael in the fall of 1909 at the age of eighty-four. The mother now lives in Chicago with one of her daughters. Michael Kennedy and wife were the parents of five children, who are still living: Michael, of Traer, Iowa: Julia, Mary and Mrs. Ella Pollard, who are living in Chicago, and Frank E., whose history is here briefly sketched

Frank E. Kennedy was educated in the country schools of LaSalle county, Illinois, and later attended an academy in his home county for a short time All of his spare time in his boyhood was spent upon the farm and he was able to attend school for only a few months each year, during the winter months. When he was twenty-two years of age he left home and began to work for himself and in the spring of 1889 he came to Osceola County and purchased one hundred and sixty acres in Viola township, which he farmed for five years. He then sold it and bought another farm in Viola Township, where he lived until 1897, after which he bought a farm of two hundred and ten acres east of Sibley, in East Holman Township, on which he resided for fourteen years. For the past three years he has lived in Sibley, where he has a fine modern residence in the eastern part of the city. Since coming to Sibley he has been engaged in the buying and shipping of live stock, handling about one hundred and twenty-five car loads of live stock annually. He has his home farm of two hundred and ten acres in East Holman Township. In addition to his other interests he is a stockholder in the Sibley State Bank and is a director and vice-president of that financial institution at the present time.

Mr. Kennedy was married in 1891 to Mary Cajacob, the daughter of P. A. Cajacob and wife, pioneer settlers of Osceola County. The reader is referred to the sketch of P. A. Cajacob, elsewhere in this work, for further details as to the family history. Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy are the parents of seven children, Edward, Ruth, Winifred, Martin, Helen, Lucille and Lorinda. All of these children except Lorinda are now in school, and Lorinda is now a teacher in the schools of Harris, in this county. She studied at St. Mary's Academy, South Bend, Indiana, while Lucille is a student in Winona College at Winona, Indiana. The other children are attending the schools of their home city. Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy are firm believers in the value of a good education and are anxious that their children be given the best attainable.

Mr. Kennedy is a stanch Democrat in politics and has been one of the leaders in his party for many years. He has held various city offices since moving to Sibley and in all of them has performed faithful and efficient service. He and his family are earnest members of the Catholic Church and give it their support at all times. Fraternally, he is a member of the Knights of Columbus at Sheldon and Sac County, Iowa. Mr. Kennedy has been a useful citizen of his county and has at all times done his full share in developing and improving the community in which he has lived. His strenuous life has been rewarded with a large measure of success. Since he has always conducted his business in strict accordance with the highest business ethics he is highly esteemed by everyone with whom he has been associated.

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