Sebastian County ArArchives Biographies.....Kennedy, Allan 
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Robert Sanchez http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00027.html#0006574 July 8, 2009, 4:51 pm

Author: S. J. Clarke (Publisher, 1922)

HON. ALLAN KENNEDY.

    Hon. Allan Kennedy, who in business circles is well known by reason of the
extensive insurance agency which he has built up and who is leaving the impress
of his individuality and ability upon the political history of the state, now
represents his district in the general assembly. Fort Smith classes him with her
valued citizens, for his labors have brought about splendid results in
connection with the upbuilding and progress of the city. He was born in Memphis,
Tennessee, a son of Milton F. and Julia M. (Williams) Kennedy. The father was a
son of John Kennedy, who removed from Richmond, Kentucky, to Farmington,
Missouri, in the year 1820, taking his negro slaves with him. He was a nephew of
General Thomas Kennedy, the noted Indian fighter and one of the distinguished
Kentucky pioneers. The grandfather of Allan Kennedy in the maternal line was
Duke Williams of Nashville, Tennessee, and his wife was a granddaughter of
Colonel Nicholas Long, one of the Revolutionary war leaders of Halifax, North
Carolina. Her name was, prior to her marriage, Mary Long.

    Milton F. Kennedy, father of Allan Kennedy, was educated at Westminster
College, Fulton, Missouri, and after residing for a number of years in
Farmington, Missouri, he removed to Memphis, Tennessee, in the year 1865, there
becoming a cotton broker, in which business he attained a notable measure of
success. He continued his residence there until 1881 and then removed to Fort
Smith, where be again engaged in the cotton trade and became one of the
prominent cotton brokers of the southwest. He is now interested in oil
development in Franklin and Logan counties of Arkansas. Moreover, he has been
very prominent in the public life of Fort Smith, his activities being a direct
and beneficial force in bringing about the present-day welfare and prosperity of
the city. To him and his wife have been born three sons and a daughter: Owen,
who died in Denver, Colorado, in October, 1921; Allan, of this review; John J.,
who is located in New Orleans; and Lucy W, the wife of Harry K. Albers.

    Allan Kennedy was educated in the public schools of Fort Smith and following
the completion of his school days he secured a situation as teller in the
Merchants Bank, there remaining for three years. On the expiration of that
period he turned his attention to the insurance business, some years later
organizing the firm of Kennedy & Albers, his associate in the undertaking being
Harry K. Albers. For a number of years he represented as Special Agent for
Arkansas the Aetna Insurance Company of Hartford, Connecticut. They now
represent twenty-three different insurance companies, handling fire, life and
accident insurance. They have developed an agency of notahle proportions and Mr.
Kennedy ranks among the best known and most prominent insurance men of the
southwest.

    Moreover, he has figured very prominently in public affairs and in 1918 was
elected a member of the state legislature. He has promoted and fostered
progressive legislation, being tbe author of a bill which was passed creating a
municipal court at Fort Smith, also the b'll for the improvement of roads
leading to Fort Smith, a project involving the expenditure of eight hundred
thousand dollars. He is also the author of a bill to improve and convert the old
state capitol into a permanent war museum, that it may be used as a meeting
place for patriotic societies. Mr. Kennedy was chairman of the house committee
that was appointed to visit the State University, a visit that resulted in
raising the tax levy for the university from four-ninths of a mill to one mill
and thus greatly promoted the facilities and work of the institution. It was Mr.
Kennedy who proposed a joint resolution in the two houses advocating a change in
the United States constitution, enabling all treaties to be ratified by a
majority of congress. He also introduced into the general assembly a workmen's
compensation bill and proposed a measure for resubmittal of the new
constitution. He likewise introduced a bill creating a city manager for larger
cities and was the author of an act creating a new insurance code and
stipulating certain qualifications for agents that the standards of insurance
work might be maintained. His legislative work was of a most practical
character, looking to the benefit and upbuilding of the commonwealth, and his
labors brought excellent results.

    Mr. Kennedy served for several years as inspector general of the State Guard
with rank of brigadier, having previously acted as captain of a local militia
company. He was the first president and organizer of the Arkansas Association
of-Local Fire Insurance Agents. He is a member of various local civic bodies and
also of the Sons of the American Revolution. There is no good work instituted
for the benefit of community, commonwealth or country that does not receive his
endorsement and his labors have been an effective force for Arkansas
development. In Fort Smith he ranks not only as a capitalist hut as one of the
most honored and valued citizens. He has prospered in his undertakings and aside
from his insurance business is today the owner of the Kennedy building, a modern
office building erected in 1907. It is one of the attractive and substantial
structures of Fort Smith and stands as a monument to the enterprise and business
ability of the builder.

    During the war with Germany Mr. Kennedy was appointed by Herbert Hoover, a
member of the state executive committee of the Food Administration, and served
under Federal Food Administrator Hamp Williams as food administrator for
Sebastian county. It was he who initiated the movement for the saving and return
of flour by the people of the state, resulting in shipping the starving Belgians
one hundred and twenty-nine straight carloads, given up as a patriotic sacrifice
from the pantries of the people of Arkansas.


Additional Comments:
Citation:
Centennial History of Arkansas
Volume II
Chicago-Little Rock: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company
1922


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