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Collection Number: 04212

Collection Title: Richard McKinne Kennedy Papers, 1828-1906

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.


This collection was processed with support from the Randleigh Foundation Trust.

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Size 0.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 200 items)
Abstract Richard McKinne Kennedy was a farmer in Greene County, Ala. He served with the 11th Alabama Regiment during the Civil War. Bills of sale of slaves in Pickens County, Ala.; letters, chiefly 1861-1868, from Richard M. Kennedy to his wife, Martha Clayton Hughes Kennedy, about his Civil War experiences and other matters; essays written by Martha in the 1850s when she was a student at Salem Female Academy, Salem, N.C.; Kennedy family genealogical material; scattered family correspondence; and other items.
Creator Kennedy, Richard McKinne, 1830-1879.
Curatorial Unit University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
Language English
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Restrictions to Access
No restrictions. Open for research.
Copyright Notice
Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], in the Richard McKinne Kennedy papers #4212, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Alternate Form of Material
Typed transcriptions of some letters are available.
Acquisitions Information
Received from Mary Carmichael Pickel and Katherine K. Carmichael of Coral Gables, Fla., in December 1971.
Sensitive Materials Statement
Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.
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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Processing Information

Processed by: Suzanne Ruffing, August 1996

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

This collection was processed with support from the Randleigh Foundation Trust.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Subject Headings

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Biographical Information

Richard McKinne Kennedy, son of Robert William Boyd Kennedy and Angelina McKinne Simpson Kennedy, was born 6 November 1830 near Pleasant Ridge, Green County, Ala. During the Civil War, he fought with Company C, 11th Regiment (Army of Northern Virginia) and was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel at the surrender at Appomattox. He married Martha (Mattie) Clayton Hughes on 29 June 1865 at her parents' home, "Ingleside." They had eight children, two of whom died in infancy: R.K., H. B., A. B., Mary K. (Buckshaw), Irene K. (Reveley), and Ruby K. (Carmichael). Kennedy died 29 January 1879 in Green County, Ala.

Martha Clayton Hughes Kennedy, daughter of Benjamin Jolly Hughes and Jane Evelyn Going Hughes, was born in 1844 near Aliceville (Bridgeville), Ala. She attended Salem Female Academy in Salem, N.C., from 1858 to 1859 and, the following year, went to Columbus Female Institute in Columbus, Miss., and graduated 2 July 1861. She taught first grade in Bibb County, Ala., in 1882, three years after her husband's death, and later taught in Tuscaloosa and Jefferson counties, Ala. In 1896, she began teaching at Elyton Institute with her daughter Irene. She died in October 1906 in Birmingham, Ala.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Scope and Content

Bills of sale of slaves in Pickens County, Ala.; letters, chiefly 1861-1868, from Richard M. Kennedy to his wife, Martha Clayton Hughes Kennedy, about his Civil War experiences and other matters; essays written by Martha in the 1850s when she was a student at Salem Female Academy, Salem, N.C.; Kennedy family genealogical material; scattered family correspondence; and other items.

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Contents list

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 1. Correspondence and Related Material, 1828-1906.

150 items.

Arrangement: chronological.

Correspondence and financial documents, 1828-1845, of the Reverend Robert William Boyd Kennedy include his call to be pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Pleasant Ridge, Ala., and bills of sale for slaves.

Correspondence, printed material, and legal documents, 1857-1906 and undated, of Richard McKinne Kennedy and Martha (Mattie) Clayton Hughes Kennedy include letters from Mattie's school friends at Salem Female Academy, 1859-1864; letters from Richard McKinne Kennedy to Mattie and others, 1861-1866 and 1879; Mattie's teaching certificates, 1886-1894; and undated legal documents pertaining to the estate of Mattie Kennedy. There is family correspondence scattered throughout the series. Typescripts (of uncertain accuracy) of some of the correspondence were made by a family member and are filed separately.

Folder 1

Correspondence and financial documents, 1828-1859

Folder 2

Correspondence and printed material, 1860-1861

Folder 3

Correspondence, 1862-1866

Folder 4

Correspondence and legal documents, 1879-1906

Folder 5

Undated correspondence

Folder 6

Typescripts of selected correspondence

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 2. Writings and Related Material, 1858-1967.

50 items.

Writings include essays of Mattie Hughes Kennedy, written during her school days at Salem Female Academy and at Columbus Female Institute; poems written by Mattie during later years; and poems and speeches of A. B. Kennedy and other family members.

Also included are photocopies of Kennedy family genealogical material and a transcript of an interview, 1967, with Ruby McKinne Kennedy Carmichael by her daughter Katherine Kennedy Carmichael.

Folder 7

Writings: school essays of Mattie Hughes Kennedy

Folder 8

Writings: miscellaneous

Folder 9

Genealogical material of the Kennedy family

Folder 10

Transcript of interview of Ruby Kennedy Carmichael

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Oversize Paper Folder OPF-4212/1

Oversize papers

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Items Separated

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