My Genealogy Hound

John Kennan. Among the families who hold a prominent place in the annals of Madison County, Ark., may be mentioned the Kennans, who first became residents of Madison County, Ark., in 1838. The gentleman whose name heads this sketch was born in Boone County, Mo., September 25, 1823, and is a son of John and Elizabeth (Evans) Kennan, who were born respectively in Kentucky and Virginia, in 1795. The former died when in his ninetieth year, and the latter when in her eighty-seventh year. They were married in the “Blue Grass” State, and about 1818 moved to Boone County, Mo., thence to Greene County, and finally moved to Madison County, Ark. John Kennan was a tanner, which trade he learned in Louisville, Ky. His father, William Kennan, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. John Kennan, the subject of this sketch, was the third of eleven children, only three of whom are living at the present time: John, Alexander M. and George F. All of the children were born in Boone County, Mo. John, the eldest, was born September 25, 1823, and at the age of twenty-one years left his father’s roof, and went to Carroll County, Ark., and engaged in the tanning business, which he had learned of his father. At the end of six years he located on his present farm of 250 acres, but continued to tanning business until 1876. He is now engaged in farming, stock raising and merchandising. He engaged in the latter business about 1867, in Huntsville, Ark., in partnership with James Wilson, and has been engaged in the business, off and on, up to the present time. He has been very successful in all his business ventures, and, owing to his many good qualities, holds a high place in the estimation of his fellow men. October 26, 1848, he was married to Mildred, a daughter of Balus Shumate. She is a Tennesseean, born near Cumberland Gap, November 13, 1831, and died February 25, 1873, while on a visit to her daughter Mary, who resides near Huntsville. She was the adopted daughter of Mr. Shumate, her own name being Fulkerson. Six of her nine children are living: Mary E., wife of S. R. Reeves; Sarah F., wife P. R. Philips; Martha J., wife of W. H. Roberts; Walter A., William A. and Cora I. Those deceased are James F., who died when quite young; John M., who died at the age of twenty years, and Harriet, who was the wife of J. B. Wilson, and died at the age of nineteen. Mr. Kennan took for his second wife Mrs. Tabitha (Gardiner) Stewart, who was born in Virginia August 25, 1828. They are worthy members of the Baptist Church.