Sara Beaumont Kennedy (1859 – March 12, 1920), born Sara Beaumont Cannon, was an American writer and newspaper editor.

Early life

Cannon was born in

Somerville, Tennessee Somerville is a town in Fayette County, Tennessee, United States. It is part of the Memphis metropolitan area. The population was 3,415 at the 2020 census, up from 3,094 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Fayette County. History The to ...

, the daughter of Robert Hines Cannon and Nora Devereux Cannon. Her parents were both from North Carolina; her father was a doctor, and her mother was a teacher. One of her aunts was writer

Mary Bayard Devereux Clarke Mary Bayard Devereux Clarke (May 13, 1827 – March 30, 1886) was a writer, poet, and photographer who resided in North Carolina. Described posthumously by the Raleigh '' News and Observer'' as "one of its most gifted daughters", Clarke set out ...

. She counted among her ancestors

Philip Livingston Philip Livingston (January 15, 1716 – June 12, 1778) was an American merchant and statesman from New York City. He represented New York at the October 1774 First Continental Congress, where he favored imposing economic sanctions upon Great Bri ...

and

William Samuel Johnson William Samuel Johnson (October 7, 1727 – November 14, 1819) was an American Founding Father and statesman. Before the Revolutionary War, he served as a militia lieutenant before being relieved following his rejection of his election to the Fir ...

. She attended St. Mary's Hall in

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the List of North Carolina county seats, seat of Wake County, North Carolina, Wake County in the United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most ...

Career

Kennedy wrote in various genres, publishing poems, children's books, and historical fiction. She also wrote newspaper articles and short stories. She worked as an editor at the ''

Memphis Commercial Appeal ''The Commercial Appeal'' (also known as the ''Memphis Commercial Appeal'') is a daily newspaper of Memphis, Tennessee, and its surrounding metropolitan area. It is owned by the Gannett Company; its former owner, the E. W. Scripps Company, also ...

'', a Tennessee newspaper. She was described as "the only woman paragrapher in the South". She lectured to women's organizations, and organized community groups. She was a member of the

Daughters of the American Revolution The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a person involved in the United States' efforts towards independence. A non-profit group, they promote ...

. She favored

prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...

and

woman's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

Selected publications by Sara Beaumont Kennedy

* "The Sign of the New Covenant" (1892) * "The Master of Brookfield" (1896) * ''The Assembly Ball'' (1897) * ''Redcoat and Continental'' (1897) * ''Doris: A Story of the Regulators'' (1898) * ''A Christmas Message from Ocracoke: A Legend of Colonial Days'' (1900) * "Colonial New Bern" (1901) * ''The Wooing of Judith'' (1902) * ''Joscelyn Cheshire: A Story of Revolutionary Days in the Carolinas'' (1902) * "How Earl Hargis Went A-shopping" (1904) * "When Tarleton Rode his Raid" (1904) * "At the Old Horse Sale" (1905) * ''Told in a Little Boy's Pocket'' (1908) * ''Cicely; a Tale of the Georgia March'' (1911) * ''One Wish, and other poems of love and life'' (1915) * ''Poems'' (1919)

Personal life

Cannon married fellow writer Walter Kennedy in 1888. Her husband died in 1909. She died in 1920. Nashville's Nineteenth Century Club held a "Friendship Day" in memory of Kennedy in December 1920. There is a collection of her papers in the collection of the Memphis Public Libraries.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Sara Beaumont 1859 births 1920 deaths People from Somerville, Tennessee St. Mary's School (North Carolina) alumni American women poets American women editors Daughters of the American Revolution people Historical fiction writers