Biographical / Historical
Robert Eaker Kennedy (July 28, 1886-April 24, 1966), a civil engineer, was born to Reverend Frederic Dickinson Kennedy (May 15, 1853-September 17, 1917) and Ida Jane Eaker (March 2, 1857-November 8, 1899) in Ludden, North Dakota. Kennedy received a degree from the Grand Island College in Nebraska in 1910. On August 28th that same year he married Amanda "Addie" Miranda Pritchard (September 3, 1881-June 6, 1947) in Big Horn, Wyoming. To the union two children were born a daughter Marguerite A. Kennedy (March 27, 1912-January 27, 2008) in West Lafayette, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, and a son Robert Evan Kennedy (March 31, 1916- February 17, 2008) in Worland, Washakie County, Wyoming. In 1916, Kennedy graduated from Purdue University with a degree in civil engineering. After graduation he taught for a short time in Hyattville, Wyoming before working as a county surveyor for Washakie County, Wyoming. Kennedy's work moved the family to different cities in the state including Powell, Riverton, and Pavillion. In 1925 the family moved to Tucumcari, New Mexico and then to Bismarck, North Dakota where Kennedy worked as the North Dakota state engineer. The family moved once again for Kennedy's work to Denver, Colorado in 1935. Kennedy photographed much of his work in Wyoming, New Mexico, South and North Dakota documenting the conditions in which surveying was done, workers, natural landscapes, and machinery used for the work. Kennedy died in Denver, Colorado at the age of eighty.
