This article contains a little info on how / where some locks were obtained…
David Kennedy(1768 - 1837)
David Kennedy
Born
20 Jan 1768 in
Orange, North Carolina
ANCESTORS
Son of
John Alexander Kennedy Sr. and
Mary (Tanday) Kennedy
Brother of
Nancy Kennedy,
Alexander Kennedy,
Mary (Kennedy) Craven and
John Kennedy
Husband of
Joanna (Moore) Kennedy — married [date unknown] [location unknown]
[children unknown]
Died
2 May 1837 at age 69 in
Green Hill, Lauderdale, Alabama, United States
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Profile last modified 24 Apr 2021 | Created 24 Feb 2021
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Biography
David Kennedy, gunsmith and Revolutionary War soldier, was the son of John Alexander and Mary Tandy Thomas Kennedy.
[1] The most important industry conducted in Moore County in antebellum days was the Kennedy gun factory, located in the northeastern part at a place then appropriately called Mechanic’s Hill, later changed to Hemp, and now called Robbins. Its founder, David Kennedy, had followed in the footsteps of his father, Alexander Kennedy, a Revolutionary soldier who made the "Kennedy rifle," used by Revolutionary soldiers. David Kennedy was a local entrepreneur of no mean proportions in his day and was also a mill owner and a fiddler. Settling on Bear Creek about the year 1795, he soon built a sawmill where the Salem-Fayetteville road crossed the creek. The nearby bluff at the head of the millpond is still known as the "Log Yard."
Kennedy also established what was reputed to have been "the largest gun factory in this part of the south" in which he worked as many as seventy-five hands. According to tradition, Kennedy bought part interest in a small gun shop owned and operated by William Williamson after which they ran the concern jointly as Williamson and Kennedy. A few old guns in the section bear the initials "W. W. and D. K." Later, Kennedy bought out sole interest in the business.
Various types of guns and swords were made in this factory. The finer rifles were said to have been ornamented with silver melted from sixteen silver dollars and sold for proportionately higher prices. Large grindstones, which were operated by water power, shaped the barrels into octagonal shape and the metal was drawn out and molded by large trip hammers, also operated by water power. Finally, the task of truing the sights on the rifles was accomplished by shooting across the millpond to a target on the other side, near which stood a man to mark the deviation from the bull’s eye. The sights were then patiently varied until they were found true. Many of these guns are said to have been used in the War of 1812. So important did this business become that a post office was established there and names Mechanics Hill.
There is a local legend to the effect that Kennedy, weary of paying such a high price for his gunlocks which he "imported" from a New York factory, made a trip on horseback to the latter factory, where he found that the secret method used in making the locks was carefully guarded. Undaunted, he finally wormed his way into the good graces of the workers and operators by his violin music, which they greatly admired. Once inside the shop, he soon discovered the secret involved and returned to Mechanics Hill where he began to make his own.
A contemporary writer described the business in 1810:
We have no manufactories unless the efforts of a couple of Riffle Makers deserve that name – these Men are Self Taught and believed to excell any Gun Smiths in the State for neatness and elegence of Work. The profits of David Kennedy are worth about $15,00 [$1,500?] and that of his Brother about $1000 per annum.
Little else is known of the sylvan operator other than the fact that he is said to have given the land and borne the expense for the construction of the old Mechanics Hill Baptist Church, the first Baptist Church in that section of the county. Described as "a substantial frame building 40 x 60 ft." The building is still standing at Flint Hill between Carthage and Robbins. Inside one may still see the narrow, uncomfortable wooden seats, typical of earlier days. Planked wood railings divided the pews from each other.
Kennedy served as the first deacon of this church and represented it at various meeting of the Sandy Creek Baptist Association. There is a local tradition to the effect that he built the church and took such and active part in its development because of a narrow escape from death when he was almost killed by a rolling timber in his log yard. He was said to have declared that since the Lord had let him live he would use his logs for a better purpose.
His interest in religion is further attested to by a Bible, which he gave to the church. On the flyleaf of the book, still in the possession of the Flint Hill congregation, is the following inscription, which he wrote:
David Kennedy his Book he may read good but God knows when. Dated September 22nd, 1823.
Despite his devotion to religion and his business success, misfortune overtook him when he stood surety for his brother for a large stock of merchandise. When his brother’s mercantile business failed, Kennedy was forced to sell out for a song. One tract of 300 acres was said to have sold for four dollars. In later years, placer mines on this tract yielded thousands of dollars of gold.
After the sale of all his possessions, he and his family moved to Alabama. His old homestead was bought by Cornelius Shields, the grandfather of the late Dr. H. B. Shields of Carthage. The latter, though his memory was hazy as to his grandfather, who died when he was very young, had a vivid recollection of the Kennedy house, which he described as "a splendid house for its day and age; not equaled by any in the county unless it were the House on the Horseshoe [a county landmark today], which it resembled." Especially impressive was its long covered passageway, with banisters on each side, which connected the one hundred-foot distance between the house and the kitchen. In the "parlor" there was a mantelpiece "intricately carved, in bas-relief, in grape-vine design, with the leafy vine running up both sides and across the top of the mantel." The house, now gone, was located on the present road that leads from Robbins to the Standard Mineral Company’s talc mine.
[2]
