Butte County
Biographies
MRS. CORA W. KENNEDY
MRS. CORA W. KENNEDY.--A prominent place among the women who have left their impress on the development of Butte County must be accorded Mrs. Cora W. Kennedy, who has spent many years in educational work in the schools of Chico, in which city she is highly esteemed and loved by all who know her. She was born in St. Francisville, Clark County, Mo., a daughter of Dr. Joseph Wayland. He was born in Rockbridge County, Va., a son of Dr. Abraham Wayland, also a Virginian, and a prominent physician and surgeon, as well as a planter in that state. He later moved to Clark County, Mo., where he became a pioneer and a large landowner, and where he practiced his profession until he turned it over to his son, Dr. Joseph F. Wayland. He then retired to his farm and died at a ripe old age. His good wife was Eveline Van Lear, and was a descendant of a prominent Virginian family. She also died in Missouri.
Dr. Joseph Wayland graduated from the Louisville Medical College at Louisville, Ky., with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He practiced medicine in Missouri, and in that state he married Emma S. R. McCullough, a native of North Carolina and a daughter of Michael Murray McCullough, who was born in Ireland, of Scotch descent. The latter was a Presbyterian in religious belief. He came to North Carolina and was engaged in mercantile pursuits at Salisbury, and afterwards at Camden, S. C., where he died. In 1866, Dr. Wayland moved from Missouri to Keokuk, Iowa, and while there he met a gentleman named Wesley Lee, who was the leading druggist and a prominent man in Chico, Cal., and they became very warm friends. In 1868, Dr. Wayland, with his wife and four children, migrated to California. On account of his close acquaintance with Mr. Lee, the doctor went at once to Chico. While in Iowa, the Doctor had lectured at the Keokuk Medical College, and after locating in California, his abilities as an instructor having become known, he was offered a position as a lecturer at Lane Medical College in San Francisco, but declined the honor. He began to build up a practice at Chico and it was but a short time until he had a practice that extended over a wide area of Butte County, and he was considered a leader in his profession. He continued in active work until he died, in December, 1881, aged fifty-two years. His widow survived him and was tenderly cared for by her daughter, Mrs. Kennedy, until the mother’s death, in 1906, aged eighty-two. She was the mother of four children: Emma, who married Gen. H.B. Davidson, and died in Chico; John A., who was a prominent businessman of Chico until his death; Cora Wayland, who is the subject of this narrative; and Frank G., who became one of the well-known ranchers of Butte County, and is now deceased.
Cora Wayland received her education in private schools in Missouri and Iowa, and attended the Pacific Female College in Oakland, until her marriage to John Reynolds Kennedy, the ceremony being performed at the home of the bride in Chico, January 12, 1871. Mr. Kennedy was born in Pennsylvania and had become prominent in business circles in Chico. He is mentioned in the preceding sketch in this history. After his death, Mrs. Kennedy looked after her interests, and being well educated, chose teaching as an occupation. For years she taught in the Chico schools, also two years were spent in the schools at Berkeley and one year in Hawaii. During twenty-eight years of teaching she carefully reared and educated her two sons, Guy Reynolds and Joseph J. The former is a prominent attorney at Chico and the latter is a successful stockman of Butte County.
Since
Mrs. Kennedy retired from teaching she has lived quietly in her comfortable
home in Chico, where she is surrounded by her many friends. She is an active
worker in the Red Cross, and is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and active
in the ladies’ societies of that organization. She earnestly supports all
movements for the betterment of her city, county and state.
Transcribed by Vicky
Walker, 3/13/08.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 820-821, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2008 Vicky
Walker.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County Biographies