Edward Barry Kenly

EDWARD BARRY KENLY, a Union veteran of the civil war, bookkeeper for the last eighteen years for Struble & Walthour, proprietors of the large Ludwick planing mill and lumber yard, also justice of the peace for sixth ward, Greensburg, formerly Ludwick borough, now serving his third term, was born near Harvey's Five Points, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, march 5, 1845. 

His great-grandfather, William Kenly, a native of Hartford county, Maryland, who later removed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, became very wealthy through investments in real estate. During the war of the revolution, by a colonial appointment, he assisted in raising funds to defray the expenses of the Continental army. In the archives of the revolutionary war are found notes, or scrip issued as Continental money bearing his signature. He was a brother-in-law of general Josiah Harmar, a resident of Philadelphia, of revolutionary war fame, and subsequently commander-in-chief of the United States army, and personally in command of troops defending settlements in the northwest territory. William Kenly was the father of one child, Dr. Charles Jenkins Kenly. 

Dr. Charles Jenkins Kenly was for many years a practicing physician of Philadelphia. he left that city and came to Bell township, Westmoreland county, where he invested quite largely in real estate, and being wealthy lived a retired life. Ten years after his removal to Bell township he died, June 23, 1828, from injuries received from being thrown from a horse , and his remains were interred in the churchyard at Murraysville, Pennsylvania. He married Theresa Barry, born in Philadelphia, 1784, and died in Greensburg, 1863. Dr. and Mrs. Kenly were the parents of five children--three daughters and two sons--who grew to manhood and womanhood. 

Richard Barry Kenly, one of the above named family, was born in Bell township, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, February 2, 1821. About the time of his majority he engaged in the drug business in Greensburg, but shortly afterward left the drug trade and operated a general merchandise store for several years at Weavers Old Stand. After disposing of his store he purchased the Kern farm, which was situated one mile southeast of Greensburg, in 1855 he sold this farm to Robert Lowry. On April 1, 1856, Mr. Kenly removed to Ludwick, established a grocery and provision store, and at the same time opened the first retail lumber-yard in Westmoreland county, in which business he was engaged at the time of his death, March 9, 1886. In May, 1843, he married Lucinda C. Turney, a daughter of Jacob and Margaret (Singer) Turney, of Greensburg, and a sister of Hon. Jacob Turney, Jr., member of congress for two terms from the Westmoreland, Fayette and Greene district. Mrs. Kenly was born September 15, 1819, died June 13, 1895. She was a noble woman, fond mother, a devout Christian, and a member of the Presbyterian church. Mr. and Mrs. Kenly had eleven children: Edward B., Margaret T., Lucy C., Nannie S., wife of Robert Hughan, of Parnassus, Pennsylvania; Carrie L., wife of William Orr; an Charles Harmar, a rural delivery mail carrier. Five children died from one to seven years of age. Richard B. Kenly, the father of the above named family, was a conscientious Christian; an ardent temperance man and Christian worker; an elder in the Presbyterian church; a public-spirited citizen, always alert and working to the best interests of the town; a school director for seven terms; a justice of the peace for five years, and frequently a member of the borough council. He assisted in the laying out of the borough of Ludwick, and was appointed by the court to give notice of the first municipal election, June 6, 1859. 

Edward Barry Kenly, eldest of the children of Richard B. and Lucinda (Turney) Kenly, was reared at the fount seat, attended the public schools in the winter and select schools in the summer. Early in 1861 he graduated from Iron City College, and was taking a special course in civil engineering at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, when the Civil war broke out, he being then sixteen years of age. He left his books an enlisted in the Federal Guards of Allegheny City under Captain J. C. Hull (who was killed in the Battle of the Wilderness, May, 1864,) which company was mustered into the United States service, July 4, 1861, as Company "A," Sixty-second Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, commanded by Colonel Samuel Black, who was killed at Gaines' Mill, Virginia, June 26, 1862. Before embarking for Fortress Monroe, in March, 1862, Mr. Kenly was detailed as clerk at headquarters of General Silas Casey, who commanded the Second Division of the Fourth Army Corps during the Peninsular Campaign, famous for its malaria, muddy marches and hard fought battles, and was retained in the same position by Major-General John J. Peck, who succeeded General Casey in command of the division after the Battle of Fair Oaks or Seven Pines, and was with General Peck during all of his services in Virginia and North Carolina. In April, 1864, after the battle of Plymouth, North Carolina, General Peck was transferred to the Department of New York city, and Mr. Kenly was directed to report to E. M. Stantion, secretary of war. Upon his arrival in Washington, D. C., he was assigned to duty as a clerk in room No. 54, war department, containing all the reports returns and papers belonging or relation to the volunteers from the states of Ohio and Michigan, where he served until July 27, 1864, when he was honorably discharged on account of the expiration of his three years' term of enlistment. Adjutant-General Thomas offered him a civil appointment, but he refused it in order to return home an continue his studies at school. Several weeks after his return, whilst on a visit to the surviving members of his old company in Allegheny City, Captain J. W. Kirker, provost marshal of the Twenty-third congressional district of Pennsylvania, with headquarters in the city, prevailed upon him to accept a clerkship in his office, where he remained until it was discontinued several months after the war had ended. Mr. Kenly then went into the oil business in Western Virginia, continuing for about one year, after which he entered Dartmouth College, but on account of sickness and the severity of climate in Hew Hampshire he returned home before graduating. The two following years he read law with his uncle, Hon. Jacob Turney, but the profession of law not suiting him, he assisted his father in the lumber business, and since the death of the latter has continued along the same line. In politics he was an active Democrat until President Cleveland's second term, when on account of well known differences he joined in the rush and stampede of thousands of tariff-protection and Union-soldier Democrats to the Republican party. He is a member of the U. V. L., G. A. R., and K. and L. of H. Mr. Kenly married, January 30, 1890, Eleanor L. Crock, daughter of Emanuel and Mary (Thomas) Crock. They have two sons: Edward B., born January 25, 1901; and William C. W. born February 19, 1902. Mr. and Mrs. Kenly are members of the Second Reformed Church of Greensburg, Pennsylvania. 

Source Pages 69, 70 & 71 History of Westmoreland County, Volume II, Pennsylvania by John N. Boucher. New York, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1906 
Transcribed April 24, 2000 by Marilynn Wienke for the Westmoreland County History Project 
Contributed for use by the Westmoreland County Genealogy Project (http://www.pa-roots.com/westmoreland/)

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