Kennedy Genealogy
"Captain Nicholas Kennedy sailed ships till they were either lost or worn out."
Captain Nicholas J. Kennedy (1877-1942) was
born in Carbonear , Newfoundland the son of
Captain Nicholas Kennedy (July 18, 1848- Jan. 3
1919) and Margaret Hamilton (1856-1899) married at St. Patrick's
Roman Catholic Church in 1875. NJ Kennedy was the grandson of Captain Nicholas Kennedy (1807-1881)
and Julia Kennedy (1808-1892) of Crocker's Cove and the paternal great grandson of Captain
Nicholas Kennedy and
Grace Young of Wexford, Ireland and maternal great grandson of
Terrance Kennedy and Mary Clarke
. He
married Ellen
O'Neil of Bay de Verde and they are buried at Belvidere Cemetery in St. John's,
Newfoundland.
He appears in St. John's in the
1921 Census with his wife Ellen and
their 6 children. Alongside are his 6 brothers. And his
sisters, Julia who married Tom
MALONE
in St. John's and sister
Mary who married Maurice Malone (Tom Malone's brother) and went to Chicago.
Captain NJK commanded the Terra Nova
as part of Newfoundland's sealing fleet in 1918 and then worked for the Bowring
Bros. and Captained the SS Prospero a passenger ship with the Red Cross
steamship line that ran from St. John's, Newfoundland, via
Halifax, Nova Scotia and into New York Harbor. Bowring's New York office was operating out
of 17 Battery Park Place. Captain Nicholas J. Kennedy was the first
cousin of my great grandfather, John Kennedy, and he was the one who helped to
bring John and his wife Sophia Mahaney (Mahoney) to Brooklyn in 1921. His
brother Captain William
R. Kennedy died
as a result of the tragic explosion on board the SS Viking
in 1931. It is said that
"Captain Nicholas Kennedy sailed ships till they were either lost or worn out."
He would be Captain Nicholas Kennedy IV (Nicholas III & Margaret Hamilton;
Nicholas II & Julia Kennedy, of Crocker's Cove; and Nicholas I & Grace Young,
of Wexford, Ireland)
Below is a quote from Frank Saunders regarding the Captain Kennedy bros. (Saunders is a cousin through Isabella Mahaney Saunders~ Isabella was sister or Sophie Mahaney who married John Kennedy; the parents of my grandmother Agatha Kennedy). He writes in the Sailing Vessels and Crews of Carbonear (see Sources) :
"Around 1900, Crosbies purchased the barquentine ICH DIEN. Capt. Nicholas Kennedy was appointed master and he sailed her for about four years, mostly in the Brazilian trade. The ship had returned from a voyage and was loading drum fish at Baird’s premises in St. John’s , While the captain was on shore for the night, the watchman on duty noticed smoke protruding from the ship. An alarm was rung in and in a matter of minutes the firemen were on the scene. A ship on fire is a different fire to fight than one on the land, especially when the fire is below the deck. However, this was the plight of the ICH DIEN, Capt. William, Capt. Nicholas’s brother was in port with the JESSIE L. SMITH and and they managed to manoever the barquentine clear of the wharf, where she burnt out. Capt. Nicholas Kennedy sailed ships until they were either lost or worn out. Around the early thirties, sailing ships had just about all disappeared as carriers of freight. Capt. Kennedy came ashore and retired from the sea."
Back to
Captain's Log for more Captain Kennedys and the ships
they sailed
To the Kennedy's Page
for more on Kennedy Genealogy
Atlantic Mariners:
The Irish Kennedy's of Newfoundland a page that may never have a beginning
or an end.
