Researching William Kennedy

Many of his novels feature the interactions of members of the fictional Irish-American Phelan family in Albany, New York. The novels make use of incidents from the city's history as well as the supernatural. Kennedy's works include The Ink Truck (1969), Legs (1975), Billy Phelan's Greatest Game (1978), Ironweed (1983), Roscoe (2002) and Changó's Beads and Two-Tone Shoes (2011). One reviewer said of Changó's Beads and Two-Tone Shoes that it was "written with such brio and encompassing humanity that it may well deserve to be called the best of the bunch".

Kennedy also published a nonfiction book entitled O Albany!: Improbable City of Political Wizards, Fearless Ethnics, Spectacular Aristocrats, Splendid Nobodies, and Underrated Scoundrels (1983).

Kennedy was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Eighth United States Congress in 1802, serving from 1803 to 1805.

He was again elected to Congress in 1808, serving in the Eleventh United States Congress. Kennedy's re-election bid was defeated by Thomas Blount in 1810, though Kennedy was subsequently elected in a special election to fill the vacancy caused by Blount's death. He served the remainder of the term in the Twelfth United States Congress, and in 1812 won re-election for the Thirteenth United States Congress.

Kennedy died in Washington, North Carolina in 1834. He is interred in Kennedy Cemetery, near Washington, NC.

Born in Naugatuck, Connecticut, Kennedy attended the public schools, and later studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1879 and commenced practice in Naugatuck, Connecticut, handling criminal cases, in particular.

Kennedy was the Chairman of the Naugatuck Democratic Town Committee and Clerk of the Borough Court. In 1895, he was appointed Borough Attorney, staying in this position until 1918. Kennedy also served as member on Naugatuck's Board of Education from 1901-1918.

Kennedy served as Member of the State Senate from 1899–1901, and a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1896, 1900, 1908, and 1912. He was the Chairman of the Democratic State Committee. He was elected as a Democrat to the 63rd United States Congress in 1912 and represented Connecticut's 5th Congressional District from March 4, 1913, to March 3, 1915. Kennedy was an unsuccessful candidate for re-election in 1914 and resumed his law practice. He is known to have corresponded with Woodrow Wilson on policy matters, particularly during Wilson's presidential election campaign and during World War I.

Kennedy died on June 19, 1918, and was interred in St. James' Cemetery in Naugatuck, Connecticut. His obituary was published in the New York Times.

He was born in Leeds County, Ontario and educated at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. He moved to Manitoba in 1904 where he worked as a journalist for two years before entering the University of Manitoba's law school. After earning his law degree he was called to the bar in 1909.

Kennedy joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force in November 1915, and went to France with the 46th Battalion in May 1917. He was wounded and awarded the Military Cross for his service at the Battle of Passchendaele and was decorated for the Battle of Valenciennes. He was given field promotions to captain and then major before being discharged in 1919.

He was elected to the House of Commons of Canada as the MP for Winnipeg South Centre as a Conservative in the 1925 federal election but defeated the next year in the 1926 federal election.

Kennedy was returned to Parliament again in the 1930 federal election and served as Chairman of the Royal Commission on Price Spreads and Mass Buying which was commissioned by Prime Minister R.B. Bennett to investigate complaints made by one of his cabinet members H.H. Stevens.

Kennedy lost his seat in the 1940 federal election and was defeated a final time in the 1945 election.

He served with the Australian Army in the Syrian Campaign and North Africa and later in the Pacific during World War II, and was awarded the Australian Service Medal and the English Defence Medal for this service.

In 2003 he was named Male Elder of the Year at the National Aborigines' Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC) Week Awards.

In the historic determination of native title in the Wimmera handed down on 13 December 2005, just 3 months after Kennedy's death, Justice Ron Merkel said of Kennedy, as reported by The Age newspaper:

In his reasons for judgement Merkel directly quoted Kennedy twice:

and

Kennedy is excluded from many official listings, in spite of the fact that he acted as governor for about four months.

Born in County Limerick, Ireland, Kennedy moved to Whitewater, Wisconsin and then Janesville, Wisconsin. In 1871, he settled in Appleton, Wisconsin. He served as District Attorney of Outagamie County, Wisconsin. Then from 1885 until 1894, Kennedy served in the Wisconsin State Senate as a Democrat. He was committed to Northern State Hospital for the Insane on Asylum Bay north of Oshkosh in 1907, where he died in 1910.