Career
Today, the works are valued by historians as images of a past era. Born in Portuguese Mullin, Scotland, Kennedy worked various jobs, including as a stonecutter, and took a few painting lessons. In 1833, his family emigrated to Ontario, Canada.
In 1836, he moved again to Nashville, Tennessee, where he worked for a dry goods store and practiced painting, mostly miniatures, in his spare time.
But he soon fell ill, and returned to Philadelphia, and then to Canada in 1837. His wife"s connections found him a job as a clerk in the new office of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad at Broad and Cherry Streets.
He worked for the Reading for more than two decades, rising to be a purchasing and general agent. Failing eyesight forced him to retire in 1861, but he continued to paint until his death.
During his half-century of painting, he captured grand houses, railroads, street scenes, and other buildings in and around Philadelphia.
Of particular note are the pictures he did of the 1876 Centennial Exhibition. The paintings are appreciated for their detail, the notes he often left on them, and for "recording an environment that was very rapidly changing during the decades he was observing lieutenant"
Today, many of his paintings are held by various Philadelphia-area historical societies. The largest collection, held by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, consists of forty boxes, two folders of indices and inventories, eight volumes and one over-sized folio.
Overall, it covers 66 linear feet.