(1858-8 Dec. 1947), railway contractor, lumberman, political figure. (Angus J. Kennedy, A.J. Kennedy) Born in Maxville area, GC. Parents (who lived on Lot 36, in the 6th of Kenyon): John D. Kennedy and his wife Elizabeth (Betsy) Kippen. The subject of this biography, Angus J. Kennedy, operated a hotel in Maxville, one of its earliest buildings as the town sprang to life around the Canada Atlantic Railway station. A newspaper, early enough or far enough away to give the name of the still unfamiliar new town as “Maxwell,” recorded that “Mr. Kennedy has built a commodious Hotel near the station, and having obtained a license intends running his house in good style. “ (Cornwall Freeholder 5 May 1882) Among his activities, Kennedy was a railway contractor, though on a modest level compared with some of his GC-born contemporaries, and evidently while keeping Maxville as his base. In 1887, A. J. Kennedy had the contract to build 8 miles of railway near Magog, Que. (Cornwall Freeholder 26 Aug. 1887, in DTL Standard Freeholder 25 Aug. 1945) Again, he had a railway contract at St. Jerome, Que., in 1903. (Glengarry News 3 July 1903) In 1905, Angus J. Kennedy, of Maxville, shipped horses to Cap-Rouge, Que., in connection with a railway contract in which was involved. (GN 14 July 1905) He also had a contract at some stage for work on the roadbed of the railway or other road between Ottawa and Hawkesbury. He was reeve of Maxville in 1908 and 1909.
Kennedy left Maxville about 1910 for Northern Ontario. In Hudson Township, near New Liskeard, Ont., he operated a sawmill in partnership with Peter J. Grant (see life of John Grant 1837-1916). In 1919, when the local timber supplies were running out, Kennedy and Grant dissolved the partnership and closed down the sawmill. (Peter Grant re-established his sawmilling activities at Latchford, Ont.) Kennedy and Grant continued, however, to be friends, and to have occasional business associations, through the rest of their lives. Angus J. Kennedy owned the Glengarry Stock Farm five miles from New Liskeard. When this model farm got into financial difficulties, it was taken over by Grant “in order to satisfy debts incurred.” (Lois Grant, Days into Decades, 101, 123) Kennedy was mayor of New Liskeard for 1912 and 1913. Also, he was the MLA for the Temiskaming (Timiskaming) constituency from 1923 to 1934. A Conservative, he won in three Ontario general elections, 1923, 1926 and 1929, but was defeated by the Liberal candidate in the Ontario general election of 1934. (Kennedy’s career as an MLA was late in his life, being from his mid-60s to his mid-70s)
Angus J. Kennedy was married (1) to Margaret Helen Grant, of Maxville, who died in 1923 (her obituary Glengarry News 13 July 1923) and (2) in July 1929 to Mrs Edith Mona Mossop Gould (née Mossop), who died in 1944 (her obituary, Standard Freeholder 29 March 1944. By the first Kennedy marriage there were two children, both born at Maxville. Angus J. Kennedy died in Bedford, N. S., at the home of his daughter. (children surviving him: 1) Presbyterian. He is buried in Maxville Cemetery.
Glengarry News 19 Dec. 1947, Temiskaming Speaker (weekly newspaper, New Liskeard), [–] Dec. 1947 * Campbell & McDermid, Kennedys, 44, 61, 62, 72 (portrait), 73 * Lois Grant, Days into Decades (1995) 101, 115, 118, 123, 142, 150, 156 * Maxville (1991) , 105, 295 * Munro GN 19 Aug. 1938: hotel * Roderick Lewis, 368 * Forman, II, III * obituary of his brother Duncan John Kennedy, GN 10 July 1936 * Angus J. Kennedy elected mayor of New Liskeard, GN 5 Jan. 1912