US Congressman. He was a United States Representative from the State of Indiana. Born one of four children to Stephen C. Kennedy and his wife Mary McMann Kennedy, he was a member of the famous Broderick-Kennedy political family. He also had nine half-siblings. He was educated locally and attended the common public schools. He moved with his parents to a farm on the Indian Reservation near Lafayette, Indiana, and later relocated to Connersville. While being a blacksmith's apprentice, he studied law, before being admitted to the bar in 1833. He commenced his practice of law in Connersville, before moving to Muncie, where he continued with his law practice. He entered politics and he was elected as a Member of the Indiana State House of Representatives in 1835. He also served as a Member of the Indiana State Senate from 1836 to 1840, and was a Candidate for Presidential Elector from Indiana in 1840. He decided to run for a seat in the United States Congress and was elected to succeed the outgoing United States Representative James Rariden on March 4, 1841. A Member of the Democratic Party, he served Indiana's 5th District and 10th District during the Twenty-Seventh Congress, Twenty-Eighth Congress, and Twenty-Ninth Congress in the United States House of Representatives from March 4, 1841, to March 3, 1847. After his term representing the 5th District in office expired, he was succeeded in office by the incoming United States Representative William John Brown. After his term representing the 10th District expired, he was succeeded in office by the incoming United States Representative William R. Rockhill. Lastly, he was the Democratic caucus nominee for United States Senator in 1847. After leaving politics, he returned to his practice of law until he was stricken with smallpox on the eve of the legislative joint convention in Indianapolis and suddenly died. One of the publications of the time, the "State Indiana Sentinel" of Indianapolis, said of him after his death, "He was emphatically one of "nature's noblemen," and, though born of poor parents, and his early youth deprived of even common advantages for the cultivation of his mind, he was so richly endowed in mental qualities, that he was able to overcome all obstacles, and ultimately to attain an elevated position among the most distinguished men of the State." Initially, he was buried in Greenlawn Cemetery in Indianapolis, but was later reinterred to Beech Grove Cemetery in Muncie. He was married to Miriam Weaver Kennedy on March 1, 1835. The couple had five children. Their son Evander Chalane Kennedy, who served in the Union Army during the American Civil War, was a Member of the Kansas State Legislature and a Member of the Indiana State House of Representatives after the war. He was also the cousin of the United States Congressman David Colbreth Broderick, and United States Congressman Case Broderick.