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Martin P. Kennard

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Martin Parry Kennard (July 24, 1818 – November 13, 1903) was a Boston businessman (by occupation a silversmith[1] and jeweler[2]), abolitionist, and U.S. federal government employee.

Biography

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Kennard was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.[3] He started his career as a jeweler with the Boston firm Jones, Low & Ball, and later became a principal at Bigelow Bros. & Kennard.[3] This company was later reorganized as Bigelow, Kennard & Co., with the partners at that time being Alanson Bigelow and William H. Kennard.[4][5] The company sold "high-quality domestic and imported silver, glass, and clocks."[6] The business operated under this name until 1971, and Harvard University holds some of the firm's records in their library special collections.[7]

In 1854, Kennard moved to Brookline, Massachusetts, and, along with figures such as Ellis Gray Loring and William I. Bowditch, was an the activist with the Boston Vigilance Committee, which was dedicated to protecting fugitive slaves.[8] Kennard is also a primary source on the visit of Mikhail Bakunin to the United States in 1861.[9] Kennard later became a customs house collector in Boston.[8] From 1868 (when he ceased to take an active interest in business)[10] until the 1890s, he held Treasury Department appointments in Boston.[11][12][3][4]

He was a member of the Boston Art Club, the Boston Union Club, the Boston Commercial Club, the Mercantile Library Association (committee on lectures),[13] the Merchants Club, and the Tuesday Club.[14][4] Kennard was described a "Republican of the most pronounced stripe,"[4] and as a "staunch Unitarian" who was a member of the First Unitarian Church of Brookline.[14] Kennard was survived by his wife Caroline Kennard, a naturalist and women's rights activist, and four children.[14][15][4] Their son, Frederic Hedge Kennard was a landscape architect and naturalist involved in birding and in the preservation of the American bison. Frederic's daughter, Dr. Margaret Kennard, was a notable 20th-century neuropsychologist.[15][16] His son Edward Parry Kennard also worked as a silversmith.[17][18] The Martin Parry Kennard house now houses Brookline Music School.[19]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Martin Parry Kennard". www.americansilversmiths.org. Archived from the original on 2023-03-28. Retrieved 2024-01-14.
  2. ^ "Obituary for Caroline A. Kennard". The Boston Globe. October 25, 1907. p. 10. Archived from the original on 2024-01-14. Retrieved 2024-01-14.
  3. ^ a b c "Martin P. Kennard - Death of a Formerly Well Known Boston Merchant". Biddeford-Saco Journal. November 13, 1903. p. 1. Archived from the original on 2024-01-14. Retrieved 2024-01-14.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Article clipped from The Boston Globe". The Boston Globe. November 14, 1903. p. 2. Retrieved 2024-01-14.
  5. ^ The Jewelers' Circular. Jewelers' Circular Company. 1919. p. 301.
  6. ^ "Bigelow Kennard & Co History ~ Antique Clocks Guy Reference Library". www.clockguy.com. Archived from the original on 2023-03-26. Retrieved 2024-01-14.
  7. ^ "COLLECTION Identifier: Mss:773 1830–1925 Bigelow, Kennard & Co. records". hollisarchives.lib.harvard.edu. Archived from the original on 2024-01-14. Retrieved 2024-01-14.
  8. ^ a b "History of the town of Brookline, Massachusetts / by John Gould Curtis; a memorial to Edward W. Baker; prepared under the direction of the Brookline historical ..." HathiTrust. pp. 261–263 (Vigilance). hdl:2027/uiug.30112049406942. Retrieved 2024-01-14.
  9. ^ Cutler, Robert M. (August 1988). "An Unpublished Letter of M.A. Bakunin to R.Solger". International Review of Social History. 33 (2): 212–217. doi:10.1017/S0020859000008749. ISSN 0020-8590. Archived from the original on 2024-01-16. Retrieved 2024-01-14.
  10. ^ General Theological Library (1899). Annual Report of the Directors of the General Theological Library. The Society. p. 48. Archived from the original on 2024-01-16. Retrieved 2024-01-14.
  11. ^ "Brookline Historical Society: People". brooklinehistoricalsociety.org. Archived from the original on 2021-10-28. Retrieved 2024-01-14.
  12. ^ "Martin P. Kennard Dead". The Journal. November 13, 1903. p. 2. Archived from the original on 2024-01-14. Retrieved 2024-01-14.
  13. ^ Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1939). The Letters of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Columbia University Press. p. 105. ISBN 978-0-231-07516-9. Archived from the original on 2024-01-16. Retrieved 2024-01-14.
  14. ^ a b c "M. P. Kennard Dead at 85". Boston Post. November 14, 1903. p. 4. Archived from the original on 2024-01-14. Retrieved 2024-01-14.
  15. ^ a b Bent, Arthur Cleveland (1937). "In Memoriam: Frederic Hedge Kennard 1865-1937". The Auk. 54 (3): 341–348. doi:10.2307/4078088. ISSN 0004-8038. JSTOR 4078088. Archived from the original on 2024-01-14. Retrieved 2024-01-14.
  16. ^ Dennis, Maureen (September 2010). "Margaret Kennard (1899–1975): Not a 'Principle' of brain plasticity but a founding mother of developmental neuropsychology". Cortex. 46 (8): 1043–1059. doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2009.10.008. PMC 2907425. PMID 20079891.
  17. ^ "Edward Parry Kennard". www.americansilversmiths.org. Archived from the original on 2022-11-29. Retrieved 2024-01-14.
  18. ^ Rainwater, Dorothy T. (1998). Encyclopedia of American Silver Manufacturers. Schiffer Pub. p. 177. ISBN 978-0-7643-0602-0. Archived from the original on 2024-01-16. Retrieved 2024-01-14.
  19. ^ "Brookline Historical Society: Photo Tour". brooklinehistoricalsociety.org. Archived from the original on 2024-01-14. Retrieved 2024-01-14.
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