Joseph Camp Griffith Kennedy

biography

KENNEDY, Joseph Camp Griffith, statistician, was born in Meadville, Pa., April 1, 1813; son of Dr. Samuel Kennedy. His maternal grandfather, Andrew Ellicott, surveyed and planned the national capital in 1791. His father was a surgeon in the Revolutionary war, on the staff of General Washington. Joseph was educated at Allegheny college, studied law and was admitted to the bar. He established and was editor of the Crawford, Pa., Messenger and the Venango, Pa., Intelligencer. His public career began in 1849, when he was appointed by President Taylor secretary of the U.S. census board. He drafted the bill that created the census bureau, and was its superintendent in 1850 and 1860. He visited Europe in 1851, with a view of securing a uniform cheap postage, and also on business connected with the census. He was active in organizing the first statistical congress, which met in Brussels in 1853; was secretary of the International exhibition at London in 1851; a member of the statistical congresses of 1855 and 1860; commissioner to the world's fair held at London in 1862, and examiner of national banks, 1865-66. During the latter part of his life he practiced law and was a real estate agent in Washington, D.C. A gold medal was presented to him by King Christian IX. of Denmark in recognition of his valuable services as a statistician. Mr. Kennedy was a member of numerous American, French, Belgian and German scientific societies. Allegheny college conferred on him the honorary degree of A.M. in 1852 and that of LL.D. in 1867, and he endowed that institution with four perpetual scholarships for the benefit of disabled young soldiers and orphans of soldiers. He is the author of books and reports on national statistics and other subjects, published both by the government and privately. He died in Washington, D.C., July 13, 1887.

The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans: Volume VI, pages 209-210