THE KENNAMER FANIILY : ::• •... .... ·= .... .•••. .... • ... • •··•···: ••• ... •: :• •·····. :••. : • ·: • ······ .••.. :-..... .. •••• • •• • ..• •.. • •• • • ••• ..... •• •• ..... •• •• ••••••••• . • .•••• . • ••• . JOHN R.OBER.T KENNAJ\IER, B.S. Postn1aster, l\,I~rchant, and \Vriter \Voodville, Alabama :\~I) LORRIN GARFIELD K.EN~A?\IER, A.B., B.S., ?\I.A. Associate Professor of Social Science Abilene Christian College Abilene, Texas :\IcQU ID DY PRI NTJ ?\G CO:\lP .·\ :\ Y 1924 CorYRIGHT, 192-1-, HY J. R. K.l•:'.\:'.\:A~IER AND L. G. KENN:\~11-:R TO SARAH ELIZABETH KENNAMER, THE WIFE OF THE SENIOR EDITOR AND 1\1:0THER OF THE JUNIOR EDITOR, THIS BOOK IS AFFECTION­ ATELY DEDICATED. PREFACE. HY was this book written?" "What caused you to start it?" "Do you hope to dig up an old estate across the waters?" "Where did our ancestors come mfrom?" "How did you collect all the information?" These and many other questions have been asked the au­ thors since they first began locally to inquire about the past and the traditions of our family. Curiosity about his an­ cestors led the junior editor, on April 15, 1920, to write to the Department of Archives, State Capitol, Montgomery, Alabama, and ask a few vague questions concerning the sojourn of the Kennamer family in Alabama. Receiving a very indefinite answer, he referred and forwarded the reply to his father, who is the senior editor. Nothing further was done in this study till October 20, 1922, when the senior editor began the collecting of the data for a family history. Very soon afterwards agreement was reached between the father and son for the publishing of this history in book form. The interest in this genealogy has grown from the begin­ ning. It has been a great task to acquire this volume of facts and statistics, but the work has been fascinating. As the in­ quiries were made, new interests and new leads were opened, which brought a larger field and necessitated the extending of the limits or boundaries of our search. This work is en­ tirely gratuitous, and it has been the motive of the authors to collect the scattered bits of history and tradition of this great family before the whirlwind of time shall have swept them into oblivion. It is sincerely regretted that this work was not begun earlier, though we have been indeed fortu­ nate in securing valuable information from more than a half dozen persons who, though living to be more than eighty years old, have died since this work was started. The edi­ tors regret that their wish of seeing this work finished be­ fore their death could not be gratified. Every effort has been made to secure accuracy both in the spelling of the names and the correctness of the dates. Absolute accuracy is impossible, since written figures are sometimes illegible, since errors in transcription have been beyond detection, since records do not always agree, and since mistakes in copying and proofreading are liable to occur. The task has been at times a very discouraging one, due to the lack of enthusiasm and interest of those who are most affected. If any details are left out in the write-up 8 PREFACE. of any character or if there are some persons omitted in the book, it is because they refused or neglected to furni:--h the data. The authors have gone to much expense to secure the few details that have been acquired, with the hope of n1ak­ ing this book as complete and interesting as possible. ~eed­ less details and petty information have been omitted in the main, and impartiality of treatment of the indiYidual, as well as the group, has been our aim. A certain order has been observed in the arrangement. The names within a family group have been given in order of birth. The eldest married child has been follo,vecl through to the present generation. Returning then to the next eldest married child, that line has been traced to -~he end. Thus this arrangement groups into sections all ,vho claim common origin from the same child. The major ef­ forts of this book deal with Hans Kennamer and his de­ scendants, though it is our pleasure to include in this vol­ ume a chapter on the branches of Kennamers who reside in Georgia. The illustrations have been selected with a vie,v to pre­ serving pictures of representatives of the different branches of the family, though we were unable to secure some pic­ tures that were much desired. Family pride has warmed many hearts to generous as­ sistance in collecting the data for this history, and gratitude would suggest that we name all of them in this writing, but space forbids. We are indebted most to two aged men­ W. W. Derrick, deceased, and Thomas Sims. THE AUTHORS. WOODVILLE, ALABAMA, Septembet· 1, 1924. CONTENTS CH.-\PTER l. Introduction _ ____ _ _ ___ __ __ ______ ___ _ ____ __ __ __ __ _______ __ __ ________ 11 CHAPTER 11. Jacob Kl'nnamer of Sugar Creek _______ ----------------------------- 17 CHAPTER 11L Sam lll' l Kl'n namer ___ __ ____ ___ __ ___ __ __ __ _____ _____ _ ____ __ __ _______ _ SJ CHAPTER I\r. Daughters of Hans Kennamer------------------------------------- 91 CHAPTER V. Stephen Kennamer 105 CHAPTER \"I. David Kennamer of Red Hill_ _____________________________________ 153 CHAP'IER VII. Ahran1 Kenna mer 191 CHAPTER \'UL John Kenna mer ____________________________________________________ 211 CHAPTER IX. Levi Kennamer _____________________________________________________ 217 CHAPTER X. Zach eus Ken 11 am er ____________________________________________ .. ___ 27 3 CHAPTER XI. Jacob Kl·nnamer of Kennamer Cove ________________________________ 287 c·H..--\PTER XII. Early Days Ill ~orth .\lahama _____________________________________ _ CH.-\PTER XIII. Georgia Branche:'\ ot l,l·nnarnl·rs ____________________________________ 3-l-7 LIST OF ILLUSTRATlONS Chapter John Robert Ken namer ____________________________________ Frontispiece Lorrin Garfield Ken na1ner ---------------------------------Frontispiece Hillary Kennemer -------------------------------------------------- 2 Zachcus C. Kennamer-------------------·----------__________________ 4 Robert S. Kennamer ________________________________ ..:.________________ 5 Sarah Elizabeth (Kennemer) :Manning of Missouri_________________ 6 Joseph Henry Kennemer and Three Generations of Descendants___ 7 Joseph Kennemer _ ------------------------------------------------- 7 Zachary Taylor Kennamer------------------------------------------ 9 Levi (Bye) Kennamer-----------------------------------------______ 9 Stephen D. Kenna1ner_______________________________________________ 9 Prof. Pleasant D. Kenna1ner ________________________________________ 9 Damaris (Aunt Love) Kennamer ____________________________________ 11 David Kennamer and Wife __________________________________________ 11 Kennamer Brother~ ------------------------------------------------ 11 Seaborn F. Kennamer----------------------------------------------- 11 J udgc F. E. Ke1111a1ner ---------------------------------------------- 11 J acoh L. I,cnna mer------------------------------------------------- 11 :Michael Terre11 Kenimer _________________ --------------------------- 13 John Robert Kennetnu r --------------------------------------- ______ 13 David Lowery Kennemer and \Vife _________________________________ 13 CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. THE KENNAMER NAME. N our search for information concerning this large family we have s.een the name "Kennamer" spelled twelve different ways. They are as follows : "Cana­ more," "Cannimore," "Keniman," "Kenmore," "Ken- nemore," "Kennemere," "Kennamore," "Kennemer," "Ken­ nemur," "Kenimer," "Kenemer," and "Kennamer." Before the year 1812 the name was often spelled with a "C," but it was nearly always signed with "his mark." The other spell­ ing was "Kenmore" or "Keniman." A little later the name was spelled "Kennemore" or "Kennemer." The latter form is now used by nearly one-third of the family. Often brothers spell their names differently. The Georgia branches of the family spell the name "Kennemur," "Kenemer," "Kenne­ mer," and "Kenimer," while some claim that the original was "Kenmore." Several years before the Civil War broke out there came a teacher from Tennessee into Kennamer Cove, Alabama, by the name of Professor Vaughan. He told the people that the name would be more euphonious if it were spelled with an "a," as "Kennamer." All the fam­ ily in and near there have since spelled their names "Kenna­ mer," and this spelling predominates in a decided majority of this great family. TRADITIONS AS TO FAMILY ORIGIN. Just what particular locality of Northwestern Europe this family came from has not been definitely found by the writers. Tradition has given us quite a few theories, but we have been unable to substantiate any particular one as authentic and definite. We have it by tradition that there were two brothers-some say three--who came from North Germany to America about the middle of the eighteenth century. Their names were said to be "Will" and "Hans." Tradition further states that they sailed from Hamburg, Germany, in 1769 or 1770 and landed in the Carolinas. At the period of their coming they were thought to be young men, unmarried. From another source it is claimed that Levi, the father of these two boys, also emigrated to Amer­ ica. Still others claim that they came from Holland, and that the Kennamers were of High Dutch descent, but that 12 they went to Hamburg, Germany, to take the boat to the New World. From the United States Congressional Li­ brary it is learned that a "Stephen Kennemer took passage on the ship Mary from Rotterdam, Holland, in 1732, and