12 JoHN Kennedy was born in Ireland, in 1769. He emigrated to America, and married
Nancy Clayton Pendleton, of Virginia. (See Pendleton Family, No. 18.) He resided in Baltimore, Maryland.
"Some of the most successful merchants of Baltimore were of Scotch descent, although they came directly from the north of Ireland; and by their exertions and wealth the city became originally famed as a commercial port.
Among these emigrants was John Kennedy, the father of John P. Kennedy, who, after some years of prosperous activity, was unfortunate, but being generously aided by
his elder brothers who resided in Philadelphia, was enabled to maintain his family in comfort and give his children a good education. He married a daughter of Philip Pendleton of Berkeley County, Virginia. A miniature of this lady, taken two years after the period of her marriage, which occurred at the age of sixteen, exhibits
a face of singular beauty, wherein gentleness and dignity combined to give the impression of rare womanly charm with unusual intelligence and force of character.
She was evidently one of the recognized beauties of her day, and the announcement of her wedding in the old county paper is accompanied with a quaint but glowing
tribute to her attractions, after the chivalric style of the times. It is from the Potomac Guardian and Berkeley Advertiser, of Alonday, October 6th, 1794:
Martinsburg, October 6th, 1794,
'Married last Thursday evening by Rev. Mr. Boyd,
Mr. John Kennedy of Baltimore, Merchant, to the elegant
and equally accomplished Miss Nancy Pendleton of this town, a young lady
John Kennedy died on February 17, 1836. His wife, Nancy Clayton (Pendleton) Kennedy, died on September 13, 1854, in her seventy-sixth year.
