Behind the Monument
by Debbie Oliver
Thomas Kennedy, Jr. and Dinah Davis Piersol
Thomas Kennedy’s father, Thomas, Sr., emigrated to America from Northern Ireland. Once here, he accumulated wealth in Chester, Pennsylvania.
Thomas Sr. had plans for his son to be a Presbyterian minister, a plan Thomas rebelled against. Then Thomas proposed to Dinah. She was the widow of John Piersol, mother of three children, and very attractive to Thomas, six years her junior. His father opposed the marriage and arranged to send Thomas to Ireland. Thomas and Dinah foiled this plan by sneaking away from Chester County, Pennsylvania, to elope in Philadelphia. They married October 28, 1767.
Dinah is my 5th great grandmother, and this story intrigued me.
I found death records for Dinah and Thomas and images of their headstones on the Find A Grave website. It surprised me to find the burial sites listed as Linden Grove Cemetery in Covington, Kentucky. Linden Grove adjoins Southside Baptist Church on Holman Street, a church my family attended in the 1950s when I was a child.
Dinah’s headstone 2009²
Thomas’ headstone 2009¹
What happened to Thomas and Dinah between the time they eloped and their burial in Linden Grove Cemetery?
There is little information about them until 1790. By 1783 the Colonists won the Revolutionary War. Before the war, Thomas’s father extended loans in gold and creditors repaid him with worthless Continental money. Thomas and Dinah added three children to Dinah’s three. In 1789, Thomas, Sr. died.
That year, Thomas purchased 200 acres in Kentucky, known as The Point, for 150 pounds ($5300). The land lay where the Licking River joins the Ohio. There are several versions of how he acquired the land. One is that Stephen Trigg surveyed and patented the land and sold it to James Welch. Welch landed in jail in Pennsylvania. Thomas wanted to buy the land, so he went to the jail and Welsh agreed to the terms. At the same time, John Bartle was trying to locate Welsh to buy the land. Prepared to pay four times what Thomas paid, Bartle was too late. Thomas owned the land.
In 1790, Thomas, Dinah, six adult children and one son-in-law journeyed by flatboat down the Ohio river to start a new life. Thomas was 49 and Dinah, 55, and they had a full life ahead. They landed on The Point, the first permanent settlers.
Losantiville (Cincinnati) lays across the river from The Point. In 1789, Francis Kennedy* arrived in Losantiville. He became the first Cincinnati ferryman. When Thomas arrived, he established a ferry business on the Kentucky side. Then he and Francis operated ferries across the Ohio and Licking Rivers.
The family labored, clearing the land. Thomas and Dinah built a large stone house at The Point. Their house included a tavern and inn called Kennedy’s Inn. The Inn had a reputation as a good stopping place for newcomers to replenish supplies and learn about the area. The settled population was sparse. In the area that is now Kenton County, an 1804-5 census shows only 75 people.
The Old Stone House. It was torn down in 1909.
Thomas’s original 200 acres plat extended from the Ohio River to Sixth Street and from the Licking River to the west side of Johnson Street. In 1814, he sold 150 acres to John and Richard Gano and Thomas Carneal for $50,000. They laid out this land into village lots, and in 1815, established Covington. Thomas kept the river front acres for his ferry business.
In 1816, Thomas built a house at the corner of Sixth and Greenup Street, known as the Cooper House, where he and Dinah lived until their deaths. She died first—May 21, 1821. She was 85. Thomas followed on August 1, age 80.
Now I knew their story; it was time to visit Linden Grove Cemetery. It was September 2020. I live near Somerset, Kentucky, and my sister and brother-in-law live in Brookville, Indiana. We planned a trip to reminisce about childhood days in Covington and to visit Dinah and Thomas. When we got to the cemetery, we saw the plaque acknowledging Thomas as the first landowner of Covington.
We entered and found a section with Kennedys and started searching. My brother-in-law spotted Dinah’s headstone, but not Thomas’s. Her headstone was no longer upright. I took a picture, and we went home.
During the next year, I wondered if we could have the headstone restored. This September 2021, my sister, brother-in-law, and I returned to Linden Grove Cemetery. Once again, we located Dinah’s headstone. It had degraded since September 2020.
I contacted Linden Grove, and I am so glad I did. Cemetery superintendent, Rick Ludlum, and the board embraced the project of restoring Dinah’s headstone.
Rick told me that Thomas and Dinah originally laid in the city’s pioneer Craig Street burying grounds. ** Later they were moved to Linden Grove Cemetery. Rick found Thomas’s headstone next to Dinah’s, and he worked on both. Within a couple of months, he completed the restoration, built bases, and poured concrete footers at the burial sites. My sister and I purchased a bronze plaque for each headstone. Next spring, Rick will attach the plaques to the headstones.
The dates on Thomas and Dinah’s headstones are the oldest in Linden Grove and are now restored, 200 years after they died. Thomas and Dinah represent a significant part of the histories of Covington and of Linden Grove Cemetery.
These pictures show the restoration progress:
Next the headstones will be joined to the concrete footers poured at their burial sites. Next spring Rick will attach these bronze plaques:
*Sources refer to Francis as Thomas’s brother. I find no evidence supporting this relationship.
**Craig Street Cemetery fell into disrepair by the 1850s. In the 1870s, the city bought a lot at the new Highland Cemetery dedicated to the Pioneers of Covington. They moved most of the bodies from Craig Street Cemetery to Highland Cemetery and some to Linden Grove Cemetery.
¹Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/43800509/thomas-kennedy : accessed 22 November 2021), memorial page for Thomas Kennedy Jr. (1741–1 Aug 1821), Find a Grave Memorial ID 43800509, citing Linden Grove Cemetery, Covington, Kenton County, Kentucky, USA; Maintained by T. Morgan (contributor 47082858)
²Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/43800665/dinah-kennedy : accessed 22 November 2021), memorial page for Dinah Davis Kennedy (12 Oct 1735–21 May 1821), Find a Grave Memorial ID 43800665, citing Linden Grove Cemetery, Covington, Kenton County, Kentucky, USA ; Maintained by T. Morgan (contributor 47082858)
Sources:
A Gist Historical Society Paper, Thomas Kennedy, Founder of Covington, Kentucky, Robert C. Dorsey, August 24, 1954, www.nkyviews
History of Kentucky and Kentuckians, pp. 908-909
Encyclopedia of Northern Kentucky, Chapter K, Thomas Kennedy