(MASSACHUSETTS) Kennedy John Barkley; artist Sketch book of

Sale 2517 - Lot 141

Price Realized: $ 344

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 300 - $ 400

(MASSACHUSETTS.) Kennedy, John Barkley; artist. Sketch book of local portraits by an amateur artist in Ware. [36] manuscript leaves featuring 117 pencil portraits and 2 full-page still lifes. Oblong 8vo, original 1/4 sheep, completely disbound with boards detached but present; minor wear and foxing to contents. Ware, MA and New Haven, CT, 1881-88 and undated

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John Barkley Kennedy (1863-1938) was born and raised in the town of Ware in western Massachusetts. He spent his early years working in a woolen mill alongside his Scottish-born father; by 1884 when he was accepted into the Freemasons, he was working in Ware as a book-keeper. By 1892 he had married a Connecticut woman and soon settled in New Haven, CT, where he worked as in insurance and as a railroad clerk. He returned to Ware before his 1938 death.
This charming sketchbook documents dozens of Kennedy's neighbors. He identifies a few by surname, and a few others by full name. Among those who can be traced in the 1880 census for Ware, John Yale (1820-1898) was a doctor, Maria Storrs (1817-1898) was a neighbor of the Kennedy family, William Coney (1834-1908) was a fish dealer, Dr. Daniel W. Ainsworth (1843-1907) was a dentist, William S. Hyde (1838-1899) was a banker, Frank Sibley (1854-1921) was a store clerk, Charles Blood (1825-1907) was a druggist, and David Billings (1810-1895) was a retired merchant. The book also includes an 1882 study of a pulpit in Ware's Congregational church. Two drawings are captioned from New Haven, CT: an unidentified woman writing at a table in 1888, and a mantel display titled "At Aunt Mellie's, Division St." in 1888.