Multnomah-Yamhill County OR Archives Biographies.....Kennedy, Charles D. November 8, 1867 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/orfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ila Wakley iwakley@msn.com October 24, 2009, 12:18 pm Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 88-91 Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company CHARLES D. KENNEDY, northwestern manager of the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company at Portland, is a veteran in the coastwise steamship service, with which he has been identified for over forty years, and his record has been marked by a degree of loyalty and efficiency which has long since won for him the unqualified confidence and respect of all who have been associated with him. Mr. Kennedy was born in Boone county, Iowa, November 8, 1867, a son of Justin C. and Ellen (Morgan) Kennedy, both of whom are deceased. His father was in the railroad service for many years and was in the Union army during the Civil war, in which he rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. Charles D. Kennedy attended the public schools to the age of thirteen years, when he commenced work for the Western Union Telegraph Company as a messenger boy. Later he went to Chicago, where he was employed as office boy by that company, and later worked for a sewing machine company and also as messenger boy for the Board of Trade of Chicago. In September, 1887, he came to the Pacific coast, locating in Seattle, Washington, where he became connected with the railroad and steamship transportation service as night clerk, in which capacity, being the only man on night duty, he attended to all the ticket and clerical work in relation to the trains and boats coming into Seattle. In July, 1888, Mr. Kennedy entered the service of the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company as freight clerk, later serving as purser on several of that company's early boats, including the Hayward, Olympia, Alaska and others, under Captain J. W. Troup, one of the ablest and best known steamboat men of the day. Afterward Mr. Kennedy entered the employ of the Great Northern Railroad during the construction of its line through the Cascade mountains. He served in the supply department during 1889-90 and later was in California and British Columbia on railroad construction work. On the completion of that work he entered the employ of the Columbia & Kootenai Steam Navigation Company as purser on its boats, being again under Captain Troup until 1899, when he went to Lake Bennett as purser on the S. S. Bailey, and in the following year was purser on the Robert Dollar, the old and widely known steam schooner which did such excellent service between Seattle and Nome, Alaska. In 1901 Mr. Kennedy went to work for the Canadian Pacific Railroad, having charge of the steamship desk in the passenger department at Vancouver, British Columbia, in which capacity he served until 1903, when he entered the steamer service of that company, again under Captain Troup, in coastwise transportation to Alaska. In 1905 he joined C. W. Cook, of the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company, as purser on the steamship Ramona, plying between Seattle and Vancouver, and in the following year he was made agent for Cook & Company at Tacoma, Washington. In 1907 he was transferred to Portland as manager of Cook & Company's office, which in the following year was taken over by the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company, for which corporation he has served as agent and northwestern manager here continuously since, with the exception of the World war period, when he was with the United States Shipping Board, being employed in the operating department for a time. Afterward he was for one year resident manager at Portland for Norton & Lilly, and then became president of the Oregon & Ocean Corporation, which was engaged in doing stevedore work on the Columbia river, and with which concern he remained identified until 1923. He then returned to the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company as Portland agent, and was later appointed northwestern manager, having charge of its northwestern business. This company operates a fleet of twenty-three steam and motor ships, all cargo carriers, in the intercoastal trade. They are also managing agents for the oriental service for the Oceanic & Oriental Steamship Company. In every position which he has filled Mr. Kennedy has proven capable and painstaking in the performance of duty and has commanded the esteem of his superior officers and the respect of those under him. In 1900 Mr. Kennedy was united in marriage to Miss Nellie Weber, a native of Michigan. He has been a member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks since 1890 and belongs to the Rotary Club, the Chamber of Commerce and the Merchants Exchange, of which he is president. He is a republican in his political views and has shown a proper interest in everything relating to the well-being and prosperity of his city and county. He is the owner of a fine mountain ranch in Yamhill county, Oregon, and is very comfortably situated. He enjoys a wide acquaintance throughout this section of the northwest and has a large circle of warm friends, who esteem him for his genuine worth and his splendid record. Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/multnomah/photos/bios/kennedy894gbs.jpg file size 125 Kbs File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/or/multnomah/bios/kennedy894gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/orfiles/ File size: 5.7 Kb