Manuscripts Department
Library of the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill
SOUTHERN HISTORICAL COLLECTION
#4212
RICHARD MCKINNE KENNEDY PAPERS
Inventory
Abstract: Richard McKinne Kennedy (1830-1879) was a farmer
in Greene County, Ala. He served with the 11th
Alabama Regiment during the Civil War.
Early materials, 1828-1845, include bills of sale
for slaves in Pickens County, Ala. 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 recording his experiences during the Civil
War; 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. Also included are
writings, chiefly essays of Mattie Hughes Kennedy,
written during her school days; poems written by
Mattie during later years; and poems and speeches of
A. B. Kennedy and other family members. Also included
is Kennedy family genealogical material and a
transcript of an interview, 1967, with Ruby McKinne
Kennedy Carmichael by her daughter Katherine Kennedy
Carmichael.
Online Catalog Terms:
Carmichael family.
Confederate States of America. Army--Military life.
Confederate States of America. Army. Alabama Regiment, 11th.
Family--Alabama--Social life and customs.
Kennedy family.
Kennedy, Martha Clayton Hughes, 1844-1906.
Kennedy, Richard McKinne, 1830-1879.
Salem Academy--Students--History--19th century.
School prose, American--North Carolina.
Slave bills of sale--Alabama.
Soldiers--Confederate States of America--Correspondence.
Women--Education--History--North Carolina.
Women poets, American.
Women teachers--Alabama.
Size: About 200 items (0.5 linear feet).
Provenance: Received from Mary Carmichael Pickel and Katherine
K. Carmichael of Coral Gables, Fla., in December
1971.
Access: No restrictions.
Processing Note: This collection was processed with support
from the Randleigh Foundation Trust.
Copyright: Retained by the authors of items in these papers,
or their descendants, as stipulated by United
States copyright law.
Table of Contents:
Biographical Note
Series Descriptions
Series 1. Correspondence and Related Material
Series 2. Writings and Related Material
Shelf List
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
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.
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
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
2 Correspondence and printed material, 1860-1861
3 Correspondence, 1862-1866
4 Correspondence and legal documents, 1879-1906
5 Undated correspondence
6 Typescripts of selected correspondence
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
8 Writings: miscellaneous
9 Genealogical material of the Kennedy family
10 Transcript of interview of Ruby Kennedy Carmichael
SHELF LIST
Box 1 (only)
Item separated:
OP-4212/1