Kennedy - Peter S.
Source: (The Political Graveyard)
Kennedy, Peter (1829-1903) Born in Bourbon County, Ky., July 10, 1829. Served in the Union Army during the Civil War; member of Indiana state house of representatives, 1875. Member, Freemasons; Odd Fellows. Died in Crawfordsville, Montgomery County, Ind., September 7, 1903. Burial location unknown.
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Source: Atlas of Montgomery County (Chicago: Beers, 1878) p. 54
P.S. Kennedy, Attorney. Native of Bourbon Co Ky; settled in this county in 1865.
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Source: The Solons of the State as Sketched by the Sentinel Indiana and Ohio the Nativity of the Great Majority of Our Legislators Date: Saturday, January 23, 1875 Paper: Indianapolis Sentinel (Indianapolis, IN) - thanks to Martha Crosley, Vigo County Genweb coordinator (2012) for this one. Greatly appreciated, Martha !
Peter S. Kennedy, representative from Montgomery County, was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky, July 10, 1829 of Irish< Dutch and Welsh descent. He came to this state in 1853, resided first at Danville until 1865 then he removed to Crawfordsville, where he now lives in luxurious ease, in the suburbs of the city. He began business in life as a blacksmith, but through his own exertions he acquired a good education and attained eminence in the practice of the profession of law. In 1856 he was elected Prosecuting Attorney of the Indianapolis Circuit, and proved a terror to evil doers in the district bounded by his official limits. Though he has never before been in the Legislature, he has influenced Legislation in a large degree. His friends claim that he is the real author of the law, permitting criminals to testify in their own behalf, and giving the prosecution the closing speech in the case and also the law revising the judicial system of this state, besides several others, in the interest of the public. Before 1856, he was a Whig in politics but a rank Anti-Slaver advocate. Since then he has been a Republican seeing the evils of the Slavery system in the South. He was an Abolitionist from his earliest boyhood.
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Source: Crawfordsville Weekly Journal Saturday, 29 August 1874
Peter S. Kennedy is about forty five years of age and a native of Kentucky. His boyhood days were spent in the hard school of the anvil and hammer, where he worked with his father, who was a blacksmith, until he was twenty years of age. He managed to obtain a good English education, mainly by his own efforts, notwithstanding the poor facilities afforded by Kentucky schools in those days. He came to this state in 1853 and settled in Danville. He had already commenced the study of law, which he continued while engaged in teaching school. Though yet a mere youth he soon acquired a prominent place in legal, political and literary circles. In 1856 he was elected Prosecuting Attorney in a circuit containing seven counties by a majority of fifteen hundred, although this circuit gave a considerable Democratic majority.