The Twenty - Five Things That Made Genesee County Famous
Number 24
John Kennedy
Educator
Visitors to Genesee County often think the elementary school on Vine Street in the City of Batavia is named after the 35th President of the United States, but even the kindergarteners attending the school will correct you and tell you its “JK” not JFK.
The school,
dedicated September 23, 1956, is named after John Kennedy, the Superintendent
of Batavia Schools.
John Kennedy was born in Birkenhead, England on September 2, 1846. His father, Cornelius B. Kennedy, came to the United States in 1853. His mother, Mary Ann (Lindsay) Kennedy, followed two years later with her five boys. The family settled with an uncle in Iowa. The elder Kennedy eventually purchased a farm in Greeley, Iowa. There were 14 children in the Kennedy family, of which ten lived to maturity and nine of them became educators.
John Kennedy served for 13 months in the 6th Iowa Calvary during the Civil War. He was educated at Lenox College in Hopkinton, Iowa and Cornell University. He then began his teaching career.
His first teaching assignment was in Colesburg, Iowa, a small village about 11 miles from his hometown. He was the school principal for three years before he moved to become Superintendent of Schools in Wayne County, Iowa for two years.
His first connection with the New York educational system occurred in 1878 when he conducted a teacher’s institute in East Durham, Green County, NY. He remained after the teachers asked him to stay and conduct a winter institute.
In 1890, he came to Batavia as the Superintendent. It was a position he held until his retirement in the fall of 1913. He also served as a trustee at the New York State School for the Blind from 1913 until he moved back to Greeley in 1922. While in Batavia, he lived at the Hotel Richmond on Main and Court Streets.
In 1894, the Holland Land Office faced destruction. Kennedy led the Batavia High Senior Class in an effort to save the building. Without their hard work, we would not be doing this countdown today. Kennedy formed committees to save the building, and was on hand for the grand opening of the Holland Land Office Museum on October 13, 1894. Also in attendance were six members of President Grover Cleveland’s cabinet.
He never married and did not have children. He died on June 19, 1927 at his sister’s home in Greeley after a lengthy illness. He is buried in Greeley.How did he Make Genesee County Famous?
In 1914, Kennedy authored an educational philosophy book called, The Batavia System of Individual Instruction. Under his supervision, the new instructional system was established in the Batavia schools and from there spread around the country. The system was a method of teaching that placed an extra teacher in the classroom. One teacher would float from student to student assisting them with their work while the other teacher taught the entire class.
The Batavia System was endorsed by the New York State Department of Education and from there it was used in classrooms and schools around the country.
Selected Books by John Kennedy |
||
|
||
Philosophy of School Discipline, 1877 |
||
The School and the Family, 1878 |
 |
|
| What Words Say: A Practical Analysis of Words, 1888 | ||
| Stem Dictionary, 1890 | ||
Must Greek Go?, 1894 |
 |
 |
Robert Morris and the Holland Purchase, 1894 |
 |
|
The Genesee Country, 1895 |
 |
|
| The Place of Individual Instruction, 1902 |  |
|
| The Batavia System of Individual Instruction, 1914 |  |
 |
Click on any of the book titles for a larger image |
Click Here to Listen to the Audio
Do you agree or disagree? Discuss it on our blog here
Forward to Number 23: Kutter's Cheese Factory
Back to Number 25: The New York State Thruway