He was studying at Yale University when the American Civil War broke out.

Upon the end of the war and his resignation from the volunteer army, Kennedy returned to Bellefontaine.

He was appointed by President Rutherford B. Hayes as collector of internal revenue for the fourth district of Ohio, serving from 1878 to 1883.

[3] He was married on December 29, 1862 at Bellefontaine to Maria Lewis Gardner of that city.

[3] He married at Wabash, Indiana to Emma (Cowgill) Mendenhall of that city on September 4, 1894.