Notes:

Alexander Kennedy was born in the home of his parents, John Kennedy and ? located in Ireland.
According the Family Bible of David Kennedy: "Alexander, my father was married in Philadelphia, where his wife died, when he married my mother, Mary Thomas in Maryland. She was born and raised in London and married to John Thomas and had two children: Thomas and Jane, all of which died. Her maiden name was Tanday. My father had by her: Nancy, John, David, Mary, and Alexander. She died when I was small. My father then married the Widow Lavin, and by her he had: George, Annie, Joseph, Robert, Nathan, and Esther."
According to the pamphlet entitled, "The Kennedy Family of Moore County," "John Alexander Kennedy -- soldier and gun-maker in Philadelphia for the American army. Drew a pension. He fled to North Carolina after Phildelphia fell to the British."
According to a book entitled, "Elise High School and Upper Moore County (1974) by Edwin Arthur West, p. 4, "On the Falls of Bear Creek, near where the Robbins Water Plant now stands, Alexander Kennedy established the first of the Moore County Gunworks, and continued to turn out guns for our soldiers to use against the British."
More about the Kennedy Rifle: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~lelandva/kennedygun.html
From http://www.sandhills.net/robbins.cfm: "During the latter days of the American Revolution, Alexander Kennedy left Philadelphia and headed south. He wound up establishing a gun factory on the falls of Bear Creek near present day Robbins. From this new location, Kennedy supplied General George Washington’s Continental forces with firearms. Kennedy’s son, David, expanded the operations of the gun factory to a level unequaled in the South; he also produced fine, silver-plated rifles and swords. The gunworks employed nearly 100 workers and supplied many of the guns used in the War of 1812. Large grindstones, operated by waterpower from Bear Creek, shaped the gun barrels. The Kennedy shop led to the establishment of other factories with products similar to that of the gunsmith. Around 1795 the community was labeled with the name "Mechanics Hill." Falling upon hard times in the 1830's David Kennedy moved to Alabama about 1835. He donated the land for the first Mechanics Hill Baptist Church and played a key role in the construction of a store and one of the area’s first schoolhouses. After his departure, the community slowly took shape. Its growth was attributed largely to the Plank Road and a mini gold rush. "
Kennedy was "settled in Orange County, North Carolina, as shown in North Carolina Colonial Records, Vol. VII, pp 733-737; by 1793 he had moved across the Deep River into Moore County. By profession he made guns and swords of a high quality; his service to the colonies have been recognized by the Sons of the American Revolution; further, an Alexander Kennedy of North Carolina is recorded as drawing a pension and it may have been this same Alexander Kennedy. In addition to making the Kennedy rifle, he operated a merchant-mill and saw-mill where the Salem Road crossed Bear Creek near Robbins (formerly Hemp) in the upper part of Moore County."
Of his children by his second marriage, we know nothing of Nancy, John and Mary, but it seems likely they stayed in North Carolina. However, the youngest child of this marriage, Alexander, settled in Alabama; he had a son Josiah who settled in Centerville, Alabama and there married Eliza or Elizabeth Ann McNeill.
Of his children by his third wife: George came to Lauderdale County, Alabama, with his brother David, and the latter's son Hiram; he was not married; he built a church that still stands just south of Green Hill in this county. The other children of the third marriage probably went on to Mississippi to settle."
North Carolina, Department of the Secretary of State Land Grant office.
Book 84 page 242
100 acres, Moore County, North Carolina
Entered 3 January 1783
Issued 6 December 1794
Book 133 Page 79
250 acres
Entered 12 June 1813. Moore County, North Side
Issued 5 December 1818, Bear Creek between 1793 and 1818 Moore County, NC.

Alexander married Mary TANDAY before 1764 in Maryland. Mary (daughter of Samuel TANDY and Elizabeth TANDY) was born in 1742 in London, England; died before 16 Nov 1780 in Cumberland County, North Carolina. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Widow of John Thomas of Maryland.

Notes:

He was raised in Ireland, and married there; when he sailed for Philadelphia, he had three sons and four daughters, "whose names are forgotten."
According to David Kennedy's Bible: "There [Philadelphia] John Kennedy, my grandfather, was raised and married and had three sons and four daughters; the daughters names are forgotten but the sons were Robert, John and Alexander. Robert was drowned at sea. John died near Philadelphia and left a son by the name John."

John married Margaret ROWAN in 1733 in Antrim, Down, Ireland. Margaret was born in 1719 in Ireland; died in 1796 in Tennessee, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Samuel married Elizabeth TANDY in 1736 in Worcester, Worcestershire, England. Elizabeth was born in 1715 in Worcester, Worcestershire, England; died in 1790 in England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

David Kennedy's small sketch of the history of the family he sprang from, with that of his wife, Joanna:
"My great grandfather was from Scotland by the name of Alexander. He fled from that country in the time of the great rebellion (that would be the rebellion of 1715 in protest over bringing George I to the throne rather than the Stuart Pretender) to Ireland."
Note: This short sketch of my David Kennedy and the data on births, marriages and deaths which follow have been a great help establishing the Kennedy lineage. Alexander Kennedy, son of Alexander of Craigoch and Kilhenzie was probably the Alexander who left Scotland, great-grandfather of David. The genealogical authorities in Edinburgh know nothing about what happened to Alexander Kennedy; but in Scotland, they lose interest in a man when he departs for Ireland !