CONFEDERATE BIOGRAPHY: MARTIN McHENRY KENNEY

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Submitted by Doris Peirce - ginlu@home.com 
26 October 2001 
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TEXANS WHO WORE THE GRAY by Sid S. Johnson

MARTIN McHENRY KENNEY.

This excellent write up is from the pen of Charles W. Ramsdell in 
"The Quarterly Texas Historical Association" published at Austin, 
Texas.

The grandfather of Captain Kenny emigrated from Ireland to 
Pennsylvania about the end of the eighteenth century.  One of his 
sons, John Wesley Kenney, removed to Kentucky and married there.  
Later he moved to Illinois and settled on the bank of the Mississippi 
about fifteen miles above Rock Island, at that time a very thinly 
settled region.  Here was born his son, Martin McHenry Kenney, on 
December 11, 1831.

When the Black Hawk war broke out the family took refuge in a 
frontier fort, while the father served in the army until the struggle 
was over.  The home having been destroyed in the meantime, they now 
went back to Kentucky.  Here in the late summer of 1833 the cholera 
broke out.  The family fled to the mountains, and in October began 
the long journey to Texas.

On December 17, 1833, they landed on the west bank of the Brazox 
where the elder Kenney built the first cabin in what was later the 
town of Washington.  The next year he was granted a headright 
league as a member of Austin's colony and removed to Austin county, 
ten miles south of Brenham.  Here young Kenney grew to manhood.  He 
attended such schools as the country afforded, the earliest being 
the first public school in Texas, but received the greater part of 
his instruction from his mother, who was a well educated woman.  
In 1848 he attended for a short time the McKenzie College at 
Clarksville until an attack of typhoid fever forced him to withdraw.

Two years later he began his wanderings with a trip to Mexico "to 
see the world."  For a few months he was county clerk at Laredo, 
and then in 1851 he set out with a party of adventurous gold seekers 
for California.  After several years of futile search for a fortune 
in the mining regions, he returned to Texas in 1856, and settled in 
Goliad, where he became county surveyor.  When the Civil War broke 
out he volunteered and was made captain of Company I, 21st Texas 
Cavalry, and served in that capacity until he was honorably 
discharged at its close.  Immediately thereafter he went to Mexico 
and thence to Central America, where he engaged in the shipping of 
mahogany timber.  Moving on again, he went to South America, whee 
he traveled about for a couple of years, chiefly in the Argentine 
Republic.  In 1879 he returned to his mother's home in Texas.  
Shortly afterwards he joined the force of the Texas Rangers and 
served with them for some time.

In February, 1877, he married Miss Annie Matthews of Chappell Hill, 
Texas.  They removed to Bellville, where they lived for fourteen 
years.  Here Captain Kenney took up his old business of surveyor, 
and practiced law.  In 1892 he was elected to the legislature from 
Austin county, and served for two terms.

In July, 1895, he was appointed Spanish translator in the General 
Land Office at Austin.  His long acquaintance with the land system 
of Texas and his proficiency in the Spanish language enabled him to 
perform his duties in a highly creditable manner, while his energy, 
punctuality, and conscientious attention to all details inspired the 
fullest confidence of the officials of the State.  Because of the 
intricacies and confusion of the Texas land system and the consequent 
necessity of obtaining accurate translations of the Spanish and 
Mexican documents, land grants, deeds, etc., Captain Kenney's work 
here was of the greatest importance to the State.  It proved to be 
his final labor, for with the exception of a little more than a year, 
1899 to 1900, he filled this position until shortly before his death.  
In 1901 he was stricken with paralysis, losing the use of his right 
hand.  With indomitable will he remained at his post, but his strength 
gradually failed, and he died, February 8, 1907.

Throughout his life Captain Kenney exhibited those stalwart qualities 
of mind and character that enabled his fellow pioneers to conquer the 
wilderness.  He had seen the little band of colonists under Austin 
grow into a nation and then into a mighty State of the Union; he had 
attended the first log cabin school in the wild frontier, and had 
lived to see his own children attending a University in the same land; 
and he was interested in all that pertained to the development of the 
State.  One of the earliest members of the Texas State Historical 
Association, he maintained an active interest in its affairs until 
his death.

Charles W. Ramsdell.