Home County: Holt
Term of Service at the Supreme Court of Missouri: October 1910 – December 1912
Judge John Kennish was born November 11, 1857, on the Isle of Man. In 1870, at the age of 13, he came with his family to the United States. They settled in Holt County, Missouri. Growing up, he attended the local schools in Holt County, then graduated in 1884 from the University of Missouri with two bachelor’s degree, an L.B. (bachelor of letters) and Pe.B. (bachelor of pedagogy).
Kennish studied law in Kansas City in the office of John S. Crosby. He was admitted the Missouri bar in August 1885 in Oregon Missouri. He then established a law practice in Mound City, Missouri, where he also served as city attorney. In 1888, voters elected Kennish as prosecuting attorney for Holt County; he served in that capacity until 1891. He was also a member of the Holt County bar.
In December 1904, then-Attorney General Herbert Hadley appointed Kennish to a four-year term as assistant attorney general. He served as an assistant attorney general until 1908.
On October 10, 1910, Hadley – then the state’s governor – appointed Kennish to the Supreme Court of Missouri after the death of Judge James David Fox. He was sworn in the next day. On November 8, 1910, voters elected Kennish to fulfill the rest of Fox’s unexpired term, ending December 31, 1912.
After serving on the Supreme Court of Missouri, Kennish returned to Kansas City and continued in private practice with Alexander New and Edwin A. Krauthoff with the firm, New, Kennish & Krauthoff. In January 1921, he served as the special master in the Kansas City Railways Company receivership.
Judge John Kennish died September 14, 1921, in Kansas City, Missouri. He was 63 years old.
Biographical information by Dylan Powers-Cody, 2024, Truman State University.
Sources used (a copy of each is on file at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library):
A.J.D. Stewart, editor, “John Kennish,” The History of the Bench and Bar of Missouri, with Reminiscences of the Prominent Lawyers of the Past, and A Record of the Law’s Leaders of the Present, (St. Louis, Missouri), 1898), 529, information courtesy of Google Books, accessed April 5, 2024.
“All Holt County Mourns, Death of Hon. John Kennish Brings Deep Sorrow to Every Home in the County,” The Holt County Sentinel, (Oregon, MO), September 23, 1921, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project, information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri website, accessed April 5, 2024.
American Legal News, vol. xxiv, no. (January 1913), Detroit, Michigan, 41, information courtesy of Google Books, accessed April 5, 2024.
Cornelius Roach, compiler, Cornelius Roach, Secretary of State, Official Manual of the State of Missouri, 1911-1912, (Jefferson City, MO: The Hugh Stephens Printing Company), 68.
“For Judge of Supreme Court (Unexpired Term),” Plattsburg Leader, (Plattsburg, Missouri), November 4, 1910, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project, information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri website, accessed April 5, 2024.
H. H. Kinyon, Alumni Secretary, “Alumni Directory, 1843-1917,” The University of Missouri Bulletin, vol. 18, no. 33, General Series 1917, no. 14, (Columbia, MO: The University of Missouri Press, December 1917), 2 and 147, available from Google Books, accessed April 5, 2024.
“Holt County Bar Will Honor Memory of John Kennish,” The Holt County Sentinel, (Oregon, Missouri), October 28, 1921, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project, information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri website, accessed April 5, 2024.
“Hon. John Kennish Assistant Attorney General of Republican Missouri,” The Holt County Sentinel, (Oregon, Missouri), January 6, 1905, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project, information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri website, accessed April 5, 2024.
“John Kennish,” Missouri State Board of Health, Certificate of Death, filed September 15, 1921, Missouri Death Certificates Database, 1910-1973, information courtesy of Missouri Death Certificates Database, Missouri Digital Heritage website, Missouri State Archives, accessed April 5, 2024.
John E. Swanger, compiler, John E. Swanger, Secretary of State, Official Manual of the State of Missouri For the Years 1905-1906, (Jefferson City, MO: The Hugh Stephens Printing Company, 1906), 76.
John E. Swanger, compiler, John E. Swanger, Secretary of State, Official Manual of the State of Missouri For the Years 1907-1908, (Jefferson City, MO: The Hugh Stephens Printing Company, 1908), 80.
“Kennish Collects Salary from Railways Company,” Kansas City Journal, (Kansas City, Missouri), January 1, 1921, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project, information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri website, accessed April 5, 2024.
“Kennish Succeeds Fox,” The Butler Weekly Times, (Butler, Missouri), October 13, 1910, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project, information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri website, accessed April 5, 2024.
“Kennish To Be Assistant Attorney General,” The West Plains Journal, (West Plains, Missouri), January 5, 1905, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project, information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri website, accessed April 5, 2024.
Perry Rader, reporter, Reports of Cases Determine in the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, Between June 30, and November 29, 1910, vol. 230, (E.W. Stephens, Publisher, 1911), iii.