Revolutionary Kennons, Part 2: Richard Kennon (1752-1792)

This is the second part in the four-part series of Kennon’s who served or played a role in our late War of Independence.  In this part, we will examine the role played by Richard Kennon, a great-grandson of Richard Kennon and Elizabeth Worsham.  Yes, another Richard, it feels like the fiftieth Richard I’ve encountered.  You know how it was (or maybe you don’t) in colonial days, they just kept reusing the same names through the generations.  It makes doing genealogy research fun and interesting.

Born about 1752 at Old Brick House in Conjurer’s Neck, Henrico County, Virginia, Richard Kennon was the son of William and Elizabeth Lewis Kennon.  In 1771, Chatham County, North Carolina was founded and not long after that, Richard moved there.  He married Celia Ragland on January 5, 1775.  The couple settled on Rocky River in Chatham County.  They would go on to have eight children: (1) Elizabeth Lewis Kennon, born January 26, 1776; (2) Mary Kennon, born January 15, 1778; (3) William Kennon, born March 26, 1780; (4) Richard Kennon, born February 15, 1782; (5) John Kennon, born August 18, 1784; (6) Charles Kennon, born January 14, 1787; (7) Celia Ragland Kennon, born April 29, 1790; and (8) Thomas Kennon, born July 8, 1792.

Richard Kennon, like his other Kennon cousins, became wrapped up in the revolutionary fervor that enveloped the English colonies in America.  As events progressed towards armed rebellion in Massachusetts, many of the colonial legislatures were dissolved by royal governors of most of the colonies.  As a result, many colonies set up provincial congresses and committees of safety and correspondence to administer the governing of their colony.  Richard had built himself enough of a reputation that he was selected as a delegate to the Third North Carolina Provincial Congress which met from August 20, 1775, until September 10, 1775.  This congress met in Hillsborough, North Carolina.  Richard was also joined in the congress by his first cousin, William Kennon, who was a delegate for Rowan County.

As a member of this congress, Richard was named to a committee that was formed to investigate the activities of a man named John Coulson who was “charged with dangerous practices against the Liberties of America.”  The result of this inquiry was that Coulson admitted to his transgressions and made an oath to support the revolutionary movement.  It is likely that Coulson was exhibiting Loyalist tendencies.  In an area that was largely Patriot in its sentiments, it could be dangerous for a person to exhibit Loyalist sympathies.  They could be jailed, lose their property, and possibly their life.

After the end of the Third Provincial Congress, Richard Kennon was not chosen again as a delegate to any of the succeeding congresses.  Aside from being part of the Third Provincial Congress, Richard also served as the first Public Register for Chatham County.  A Public Register was a public official who recorded and registered public and judicial proceedings and drafted wills, deeds, and contracts, kind of like a notary public today.  In his lifetime, he would become the wealthiest man in his county.  Much of that wealth came from the backs, hard work, and toil of others.

There is a contradiction with Richard Kennon, as with many men of the Revolutionary Era.  He, like many of his time, felt that England was infringing upon the liberties and rights of the people of the colonies.  In the 1790 United States Census, he is listed as having 25 slaves.  This is a topic that has been debated much among historians.  How could those who professed to fighting for their rights, liberties, and freedom on one hand, deny the same to their fellow man and woman whom they held in bondage?  This is a tough subject, but one with a clear answer.  Slavery was a wrong that should have been eradicated during the revolutionary generation.  But in this era, the revolutionaries were more worried about achieving independence for the colonies and kicked the can down the road on the issue of slavery.  And many of us know what the result of kicking that can was when 1861 came around.

Richard Kennon died in 1792 at his home in Chatham County.

References

Gillentine, Flora Myers.  Lineage Book:  National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution.  Washington D.C., NSDAR, 1930.

Horton, Doris, Nell Strowd, and Wade Hadley, editors.  Chatham County: 1771-1971.  Durham, NC:  Chatham County Historical Society, 1971.

Minutes of the Provincial Congress of North Carolina: August 20, 1775-September 10, 1775, Documenting the American South, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, accessed 2 November 2024.  https://docsouth.unc.edu/csr/index.php/document/csr10-0089.

White, Woodson T.  Kennon Family.  Genealogies of Virginia Families From the William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, Vol III.  Baltimore:  Genealogical Publishing Co., 1982.