David C. Penn
ABSTRACT
In the seminal classic entitled Sociology: A Guide to Problems and Literature, T. B. Bottomore the renowned sociologist has stated: “The family transmits values which are vastly determined elsewhere; it is an agent, not a principal” (Bottomore, 2010). This truth can be clearly seen in the historical legacy of the George-Kennedy-Anderson-Cathey family of Maury and Hickman County, Tennessee. This research revisits the lineage of the George-Kennedy-Anderson-Cathey “Collective Family” of African descent which began in the early decades of the nineteenth century. It is the belief of this researcher that we must “look back” to recapture our past and then “go forward” to reaffirm our future, with a blessed assurance, a radiant hope, and a most of all with a confident expectation.
This narrative essay pertains to the inter-related “George-Kennedy-Anderson-Cathey” families of Maury and Hickman County, Tennessee. The researcher spent ten (10) years gathering historical information from 1820 to 1920 regarding this “Collective Family” of whom he is a direct descendant. The Kennedy-Cathey family of African descent can be traced back to Levi (b. 1810) and Sarah Cathey (b. 1810). They were both slaves and the maternal great-great grandparents of this researcher. Levi and Sarah were owned by George Alexander Kennedy and Elizabeth Cathey Kennedy in Maury County, Tennessee.
Levi and Sarah Cathey became the parents of twin daughters born in 1830 who they named “Emmaline” and “Caroline” Cathey. In the process of time, Caroline Cathey the great-grandmother of this researcher married Isham Kennedy (1826-1888) and they became the parents of Levi Albert Kennedy (1846-1911) who was the grandfather of this researcher. Isham Kennedy was also Union soldier in the Civil War. Levi Albert Kennedy subsequently married Sarah Alice Anderson (1872-1946) the maternal grandmother of this researcher. Sarah Alice Anderson was the third oldest daughter of fourteen children that were born to George W. Anderson, Sr. (1842-1932) and Mary Ann George Anderson (1846-1919).
Sarah Alice Anderson was just eighteen years old when she married Levi Albert Kennedy my grandfather who was forty-four years old. To this union eleven children were born, one of whom was my mother Alice Edmonia Kennedy (Penn). The European Kennedys, Catheys, and Anderson families had close relationships with the Kennedys, Catheys, and Anderson families of African American descent. After the Civil War, the grandfather of this researcher relocated to Hickman County, Tennessee, and the European Kennedys, provided him with everything he needed. Before his untimely death on March 29, 1911, he purchased several farms in Hickman County, Tennessee, and brought two of his aunts along with his first cousin and her daughter back from Mississippi where they had been “sold.” These two aunts remained on his acquired farms until their deaths.
A great deal more can be said of my maternal family that space will not allow. But even today, the names of Kennedy, Cathey, and Anderson are respected in the Maury and Hickman County, Tennessee area. Lastly, my grandfather Levi Albert Kennedy was an ordained gospel preacher in the Church of Christ. This researcher has in his possession the “original copy” of his ministerial license signed in 1879 by Nathan Cathey and Jefferson Bennett who were elders of the Pleasant Union Church of Christ in Hampshire, Maury County, Tennessee.
https://outskirtspress.com/DrDavidPenn
References
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Patterson, C. (1922). The Negro in Tennessee, 1780-1865. Austin, TX: The University of Texas.
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