Blast Furnace Manager

Parents: Thomas Walker Kennedy (1824–1896) and Margaret Truesdale (1824–1907). Married: Edith Hahn (1868–1946). Children: Edith Barbara Kennedy (1895–1974); John Harrison Kennedy Jr. (1899–1974); Helen K. Kennedy (1905–1997). Kinship: Great-granduncle of the post–World War II Smith generation.

Early Life and Education John Harrison Kennedy was born on the family farm in Poland, Ohio. He completed preparatory studies and entered Geneva College, from which he earned a degree in chemistry in 1886.

Industrial Career After college, he entered the iron and steel industry, managing blast furnaces in Steubenville, Ohio. On September 13, 1893, he married Edith Hahn in Allegheny City (now Pittsburgh’s North Side). By 1899 he was superintendent of the ironworks in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, a position confirmed by memorial records. (Find A Grave memorial notes this fact.) [turn0search0]

In 1912, John moved to Buffalo, New York, to manage the Susquehanna Furnaces of the Rogers & Brown Iron Company. His brother Hugh Kennedy was Vice President and General Manager of the same enterprise, making this a familial industrial alignment.

Later Years By 1925, John had retired from active furnace management and taken residence in East Aurora Village, near Buffalo. His years thereafter seem to have been spent in retirement; his gravesite memorial indicates death in 1945. [turn0search0]

Assessment John Harrison Kennedy’s professional life reflects the industrial mobility of late 19th / early 20th century American furnace men: chemical training, progression through superintendent roles, and eventual placement in a major metropolitan iron enterprise. His management of the Susquehanna Furnaces placed him at the heart of the Rogers & Brown expansion into western New York iron making.