Duncan Farrar Kenner

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duncan_Farrar_Kenner

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mysouthernfamily/...

BIO.

Old Louisiana plantation homes and family trees Vol. II. Chapter XV. The Bringier--Kenner--Du Bourg--Brent Trist--Wood--Stauffer families, pages 87-88; photos are found thereafter.

TITLE: Hon. OCCUPATION: C.S.A. Confederate States Congress RESIDENCE: Ashland Plantation, Ascension Parish, LA BIRTH: 1813 DEATH: 3 Jul 1887, New Orleans, Louisiana

Duncan F. Kenner (1813-1887) built Ashland for his wife, Anne Guillemine Nanine Bringier, a member of an old and influential French family of Louisiana. Ashland-Belle Helene is representative of the massiveness, simplicity, and dignity which are generally held to epitomize the Classical Revival style of architecture. Free of service attachments and with a loggia on all four facades, it is a more complete classical statement than the vast majority of Louisiana plantation houses. With its broad spread of eight giant pillars across each facade and its heavy entablature, Ashland-Belle Helene is among the grandest and largest plantation houses ever built in the state. Ashland-Belle Helene is also important for its association with Duncan F. Kenner, a sugar planter, horse breeder, lawyer and political figure during the antebellum period. The walls of Ashland (as the Kenner plantation was then known) were adorned with paintings of horses, and the grounds included a racetrack. Kenner himself was a keen advocate of scientific methods of farming and experimented with innovations in the sugar production industry. Kenner is said to have been the first in the state to use the portable railroad to carry cane from fields to mill. In addition to serving in the Louisiana House of Representatives, and as a member of the Confederate Congress, Kenner was appointed in 1865 as minister plenipotentiary by President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, to gain the support of England and France for the Confederacy. When Kenner returned to Ashland at the end of the Civil War, he found his plantation in ruins and his slaves freed, the place having been raided by Union troops in 1862. At the age of 52 he had to start over again, but by persistence and great business skill, and by re-employing as laborers the slaves that had been freed, he built up an estate. When Duncan Kenner died, his plantation was even larger and more valuable than it had been before the war. In 1889, Ashland was purchased by John B. Reuss, a German immigrant who became a prosperous sugar planter. Reuss re-named the plantation "Belle Helene" in honor of his granddaughter, Helene Reuss. Source: http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/louisiana/ash.htm

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6954241

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From The New York Tribune, of Monday, July 4, 1887

Obituary - Duncan F. Kenner

New Orleans, July 3 (Special) - Duncan F. Kenner died in this city today of heart disease, age 74. Mr. Kenner was one of the most successful and extensive sugar planters in this state. He was a public spirited and enterprising citizen and had various times held positions of honor and trust within the gift of the people of Louisiana, including that of a member of Congress. Mr. Kenner was selected by Jefferson Davis in November 1864 as Special Commissioner to England and France to convey to thos countries information of Mr. Davis’ emancipation policy and secure the recognition by those countries of the Confederacy. Mr. Kenner reached Europe by way of New York, but failed in his mission. He was the Napoleon of the turf in this state, and before the war had perhaps the largest and finest stables in the South. Although of late years he has entered no horses in races, he was a patron and strong supporter of the sport. He was a member of the Tariff Commission appointed by the late President Arthur. He leaves a valuable estate.

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From Der Deutsche Correspondent (Baltimore MD) of Tuesday, July 5, 1887

Gestorben ist in New Orleans Duncan F. Kenner, einer der engesehensten Gelchafstleuter im Staate Louisiana. Der selbe pehorte fruher dem Congresse an, war Commisar der Confoderation in Paris und unter der Arturischen Administration Ritglied der Tarrif Commission.

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From the Weekly Thibodaux Sentinel and Journal of the 9th Senatorial District, of Saturday, July 9, 1887

On last Sunday morning, Hon. Duncan F. Kenner died at his residence in New Orleans. For 50 years Mr. Kenner has occupied a prominent position in this state. As a politician, he has ever been a leader, filling prominent Legislative positions; as a planter he has had no superior, and at one time he had one of the finest stables of racehorses in the South. He was possessed of undoubted talent and entered into every enterprise with energy.

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From The Lake Charles (LA) Echo, of Saturday, July 9, 1887:

Hon. Duncan F. kenner died suddenly of heart disease at his residence in the city of New Orleans, aged 74 years, last Sunday morning. There were few men in this State more prominent with its public affairs or more closely identified with its political, agricultural, social, and financial history for the past 50 years than Duncan F. Kenner. He was a native of the city of New Orleans and one of its most prominent and prosperous merchants. Mr. Kenner was one of the oldest, largest, and most successful sugar planters in the State, and at the time of his death was president of the Sugar Planters Association. Mr. Kenner held many prominent political positions during his life, the most important of which was as financial agent of the Confederacy to England and France during the latter part of the late war. He was also appointed by President Arthur a member of the tariff commission, as a representative of the sugar interests, and did good service in that capacity. He was repeatedly elected to the Legislature, and as late as 1867 represented the parish of Ascension in the State Senate. The remains were taken to Donaldsonville for interment, where they were laid away to rest last Monday evening.

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From The Opelousas (LA) Courier, of Saturday, July 9, 1887

Hon. Duncan F. Kenner, a wealthy sugar planter and well known public man, died in New Orleans last Sunday, aged 74. His estate is valued at over a million of dollars.

As his granddaughter married a Sloo, his business interests may have included the ill-fated Tehuantepec Railroad venture which was spear-headed by a member of his contemporary by the name of Sloo. see: Thomas Sloo