History of Dunstable, (Middlesex County) Massachusetts United States of America

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Amos Kendall, cabinet officer, was born in Dunstable, Mass., Aug. 16, 1787; son of Zebedee, grandson of John, great grandson of Jacob, great2 grandson of Jacob and great3 grandson of Francis Kendall, the progenitor of the family in America, who emigrated from England about 1640, and settled in Woburn, Mass. Amos spent his boyhood on his father's farm; attended the academy at New Ipswich, 1805-06; was a teacher in the public schools at Reading and Dunstable, Mass.; prepared for college at Groton academy, Mass., under Caleb Butler, and was graduated with honors from Dartmouth in 1811. He studied law in the office of William M. Richardson in Groton, Mass., 1811-14; removed to Washington, D.C., in 1814, and thence to Kentucky, where he was a tutor in the family of Henry Clay, 1814-15, and was admitted to the bar at Frankfort, Ky., Oct. 17, 1814. He removed to Georgetown, Ky., in 1815, was appointed postmaster, and was editor of the Georgetown Patriot, 1815-16. He was part owner and co-editor of the Argus of Western America, at Frankfort, Ky., 1816-29. He supported the Democratic party and secured the passage by the legislature of an act to appropriate fines and forfeitures to the purpose of promoting education. He was twice married: first, in October, 1818, to Mary B. Woolfolk, of Jefferson county, Ky., who died Oct. 18, 1823; and secondly, Jan. 5, 1826, to Jane Kyle, of Georgetown, Ky. He was appointed fourth auditor of the U.S. treasury by President Jackson in March, 1829, and removed to Washington, D.C. He aided in forming the anti-bank policy; was appointed special treasury agent to negotiate the state bank, and was instrumental in having the Globe newspaper supersede the Telegraph as the official organ of the administration. He was appointed postmaster-general by President Jackson in June, 1835; was retained by President Van Buren, and resigned, May 9, 1840, on account of ill-health. During his term of office he introduced many reforms in the department, freed it from debt, and urged the passage of a law forbidding the passage through the mail of any matter touching the subject of slavery. In carrying out his plans of postoffice reform he incurred the enmity of certain powerful naval contractors, and for several years was embarrassed by a suit that was brought against him for alleged holding back of moneys belonging to them. This suit he defended at his own expense, and it was finally decided in his favor. He establisbed Kendall's Expositor in 1841 and the Union Democrat in 1842, both of which were soon discontinued. He was offered a foreign mission by President Polk, but declined the appointment. He was associated with Samuel F, B. Morse in the ownership and management of the Morse telegraph patents, 1845-60, the success of which brought him a fortune. The remainder of his life be spent in Washington, D.C., and at his country home, "Kendall Green," near that city. He gave $100,000 toward the erection of the Calvary Baptist church at Washington, D.C., in 1864, and after its destruction by fire in 1867 contributed largely toward rebuilding it; was the founder and first president of the Columbian Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, and contributed $20,000 toward its support. He also gave $25,000 to two mission schools in Washington, D.C. He published in the Washington Evening Star a series of protests against the secession of the southern etatee in 1860, and April 17, 1861, placed his two houses and grounds at Washington at the disposal of the government for the quartering of troops in case they should be needed, retiring to Trenton, N.J., that the premises could be so occupied. He travelled in Europe, 1866-67. He was a trustee of the corporation of the Columbian university, Washington, D.C., 1865-69, and president of the board of trustees, 1867-69. He is the author of an incomplete Life of Andrew Jackson (1843), and a pamphlet entitled Full Exposure of Dr. Charles T. Jackson's Pretensions to the Invention of the Electro-Magnetic Telegraph (1867). See his autobiograpby, edited by his son-in-law,William Stickney (1872). He died in Washington, D.C., Nov. 12, 1869.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Dunstable, (Middlesex County) Massachusetts

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