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JAMES KENNEDY. engineer,
editor, author, poet, is from Aberlemno, Forfarshire, Scotland. The
Forfarshire Kennedys are descendants of the Lochaber clan, 300 of whom
fought at Culloden. On his mother’s side, Mr. Kennedy is descended from
the Mackintoshes of Glenshee. He learned the machinist ‘s trade in Dundee,
and came to America at an early age, and worked at locomotive construction
and repairs on some of the principal railroads in America. In 1875, he was
graduated with honours in the literary courses of the High School, West
13th Street, New York. He had charge of a department in the locomotive
shops of the New York Elevated railroad from 1879 to 1902. In 1883, the
first steam locomotive built at the company ‘s works, and from which the
succeeding locomotives were modelled, was constructed under Mr. Kennedy ‘s
superintendence. He was Chief Cashier in the Water Department of New Vork
City, 1902-3, and Deputy Superintendent of Elections in 1904. He became
associate editor of Railway and Locomotive Engineering in 1905, and
advanced to managing editor in 1910. He is a contributor to periodical
literature, and an author and writer on technical subjects. His
Collected Poems, Songs and
Lyrical Character Sketches were
published in 1883; The Deeside Lass and 0ther Poems, in 1888;
Scottish and American Poems, in 1899; and a revised and enlarged
edition was published in Edinburgh, 1910 (seventh thousand). His chief
engineering work is The Valve-Setter’s Guide, 1914 (tenth
thousand). Mr. Kennedy is
VicePresident of the Angus Sinclair Publishing Company, 114 Liberty
Street.
Such is a brief outline of the
career of one of the most unique and popular Scots of our time. In regard
to his merits as a writer in verse in the Scottish dialect, he is conceded
to be the chief of the modern Scottish poets, and has also shown an
admirable facility in English. He is no idle jangler of the lute strings.
A peculiar kind of worldly-wise humour gives point to his character
sketches. His ruling passion as exhibited in his more serious verses is an
intense love of Scotland, and all things Scottish, a faithful attachment
to his adopted country, and an abiding belief in the brotherhood of
humanity. His genius is essentially lyrical, and his mastery of
versification at once easy and complete, and all the characteristics of
true Scottish poetry—simplicity, tenderness, pathos and humour are found
in his work. Time has deepened and broadened his poetic faculty, an
excellent example being his nobly stirring verses on the occasion of the
six-hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn, which he delivered
on the battlefield, and where he met a most enthusiastic reception, not
only at Stirling, but at the Liberal Club, Edinburgh, and in the town
Council of Dundee, and at other places in Scotland.
Indeed, it must be said that the
Scottish people at home and abroad, as well as the Scottish press, have
not been slow in appreciating Mr. Kennedy’s surpassing abilities. In
America, he has been engaged in the national and state elections, and has
been prominently identified with the occasional reform movements in New
York City, and through all these phases of literary and social activity he
has never wandered far from his chosen vocation. As a skilled artisan, and
mechanical engineer, he has made a distinctive mark, while his home life
has been of the sweetest and best and he has had the good fortune to live
in his own house for many years where his fine family has grown up around
him.
It is also good to know that among
his engineering, political, literary and social acquaintances, he is held
in the highest esteem. In journalism, he is associated with Dr. Angus
Sinclair, the eminent author and publisher on railway engineering. In
politics he has held many places with honour. Among literary men he has
had the warmest encouragement from the highest and best. In the social
circles he has been President of nearly all of the Scottish and other
societies to which he has been attached. As a fluent and ready debater, as
a teller of stories, as a finished parliamentarian, he has the easy grace
of a man of the world, while the moral purity of his life has kept his
heart sweet and young, and withal a manly modesty that lends a charm to
his engaging personality.
Mr. Kennedy married Isabella, fourth
daughter of Francis Low, tenant of Easter Clune, Finzean, Aberdeenshire.
Mrs. Kennedy died in 1910. There are five surviving children: Isabella,
Jessie, Margaret, Robert and Jean. The only son, a staff surgeon, served
with the rank of captain surgeon on the Mexican border in 1916. |
