Noah Kennedy
Son of Pricie Blankenship
and Custer Kennedy
A Hill
Turn off by right clicking
Sequence by Allen Clapp
On May 19,1924 Noah Kennedy's world crashed
around him,his
mother died
as the result
of an accident
,while preparing
supper for
her husband
,Custer and
her children.
|
| Buried in the bucket of coal she threw into
the fireplace
was a dynamite cap,that exploded,she
was able to
drag herself into her bed ,where
she died soon
after. |
|
| Noah Kennedy was 8 years old at the time
,what a terrible lost for the young boy,his
fathers mother came to the home to care for
the 9 motherless children ,while their father
Custer Kennedy went to work in the coal mines. |
|
| We can only imagine the terrible inpack the
lost of their mother had on the 9 children
of Pricie Blankenship,Pricie had 8 children
with Custer Kennedy,the youngest being only
2 months old. |
|
| But the hand of fate was not finished,only
a month after losing their mother the 9 young
children again knew pain and lost ,when on
June 17,1924 death again paid a visit to
their home |
| and took with it the life of their father
Custer Kennedy. |
|
The story is told how Custer while working
in the coal
mines was pined
and crushed against
the wall by
one of the
mules that hauled
out the coal
cars filled
with coal,on the
following Documents
his death is
listed as
pendisites,this
could have
been the result
of being crushed.
|
|
| 8 of the children were placed in the Christian
Church Orphan's Home in Kentucky,the youngest
,Virgina only 2 months old at time was to
young the orphanage would not accept her
,she was raised by Pricie's sister Mary Blankenship. |
God gave Noah a mountain to climb,a mountain
so high that some would have found the obstacles
to hard to overcome,for you see Noah Kennedy
had polio and watched as each of his brothers
and sisters left for new homes and new family's
,while he was left behind,never to be adopted
.When I look at his picture I see a sad little
boy and wonder at the pain he experienced
at so young an age . |
But Noah was strong in heart ,he had his
strength in determination,and went on to
find and reunite with his brothers and sisters
,He found love and had a family.A family
of his own ,he was loved ...... |
The following was written to me by Judy Kennedy
Reiley ,daughter of Noah Kennedy and with
the help of her sister Linda Kennedy Adams,these
two daughters of Noah Kennedy trying to piece
together their family genealogy and history
have shared these wonderful documents and
pictures of their father .thank you
|
You ask about my dad and if he was ever adopted
...no , he
was never adopted
..which raised
a question for me and that
I ask Linda
..if the rest were
adopted ...why wasn't he? her answer was
because he had polio ..he sure didn't
use it as a
handicap and worked everyday
until he hurt
his back in 1979 ,..he
was in foster
care homes ,some in which he
spoke of not
being so pleasant
..so it ends in a sad story ? no it doesn't
, all the obstacles he faced in
life made him
the strong and wonderful person
that he was
.Do I sound like I
put him on
a pedestal? ...he earned that
honor ..lots
of people would have
just given up ..and had a pity party for
themselves ..he didn't ..he found and
reunited with Uncle John,Uncle Wilson,Aunt
Lois and Uncle David(whom my Dad
referred to as Troy) (one I never met, but
Linda remembers him even tho she
was small child)
I do remember Aunt Virginia
attending the
funeral of Uncle
John .I remember (barely) visiting Aunt Pity
and Uncle Dock and Linda does
have a few
pictures of them ..along with
some other
pictures .I also
remember visiting another another part of
WV ....Mina and Belle ...Mayhon??
one of them
marry a Cisco ?? Maybe you can
answer that
question , I was small
,and only remember
walking across a bridge
that went across
a creek (at
Mina's)..drove
thur the creek to get to the
other side
when in a car .Lots of
things I don't remember, I was just too young
.I ask Linda ..something she
remembers .
He (Noah) also
raised a son and 3 daughters
..with me being
the youngest and
had 6 grandchildren
.(4 granddaughters and
2 grandsons,one
of the grandson's
found your
site ) He would have been so proud
now to know
he now also has 4
great grand
daughters and a great grandson
and another
great grand daughter
on the way (due in Sept)So even tho he had
some high hurdles to jump at times
I think he
was the greatest :) My one wish
is that he
could see what a great
job you have
done on your site ..but cancer
is not picky
about who it chooses
and chose him
in June 1984 ..even that he
fought with
all he had , it was not
to be, he died
Sept 6 ,1984 ...I remember
Aunt Lois saying
she had lost 2
brothers and
a husband all in one year ,her
husband and
Uncle Wilson also
passed away
earlier that year .To my knowledge
,Aunt Lois
still lives in Troy
,Indiana.
|
Story of Pricie Blankenship and Custer Kennedy's
death Submitted by Bonnie Varney,Great Great
Granddaughter of Pricie Blankenship
 |
 |
|
