Amos Kendall

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Amos Kendall : biography

August 16, 1789 – November 12, 1869

Gallaudet persuaded Kendall that a children’s school was not enough, and that a degree-granting college should be formed. The idea took years to develop, but on April 8, 1864, Congress passed legislation transforming the Columbia Institution into the National Deaf-Mute College. The Kendall School remained a unit of the college, and in 1865 Congress appropriated money for the purchase of of Kendall Green to form the grounds of the new college and permit construction of new instructional buildings.Hoyt, p. 169.

Religious activities

In his later years, Kendall became increasingly pious and devoted himself to religious study. After a number of the members of the Third (E Street) Baptist Church were dismissed in May 1862 for being too theologically progressive, Accessed 2013-02-21. they founded Calvary (Sixth) Baptist Church on June 2, 1862. Although Kendall was not a member of the church, he had a high regard for its pastor and offered to donate $90,000 toward construction of a building. Accessed 2013-02-21. The congregation built a luxurious $115,000 house of worship. Kendall was welcomed as a member of Calvary Baptist Church on March 31, 1865. Accessed 2013-02-21. The church opened its doors in June 1866, around the time Kendall was made a senior deacon in the church. Accessed 2013-02-21. But within 18 months the building was consumed by fire. Insured for just $50,000, Kendall donated another $15,000 to rebuild the edifice. Accessed 2013-02-21. Accessed 2013-02-21.

Kendall also provided for the purchase of land and construction of a chapel at 13-1/2 and D Streets Southwest. It was dedicated on November 21, 1869, just nine days after Kendall’s death. It was named Kendall Chapel. Over time, the membership of this branch of Calvary Baptist Church grew large enough to constitute a separate church. The branch was spun off as a distinct congregation in November 1891, and the building renamed Kendall Baptist Church. Accessed 2013-02-21.

Early life and education

Early life

Amos Kendall was born in Dunstable, Massachusetts, on August 16, 1787. He was the sixth child Zebedee and Molly (Dakin) Kendall. Accessed 2013-02-21.Cole, p. 13. The Kendalls were English Americans who emigrated to Massachusetts from England in 1640. Accessed 2013-02-21. The Kendalls were prominent landowners in the town of Dunstable, and quite numerous. Members of his family owned the tavern where elections and town meetings were held, were elected town selectmen, and served on the committee of correspondence (the shadow-government which mobilized anti-British sentiment prior to the American Revolutionary War). Molly Kendall gave birth to six more children after Amos, but only two of them lived past the age of six.Cole, p. 15.

Two years after Amos was born, Zebedee Kendall was named a deacon of the local Congregational church.Cole, p. 9-12. The Kendalls were very religious, and family life was strict. Accessed 2013-02-21. Kendall’s early years were spent working on the family farm, an average-sized property which had of arable land. The farm primary raised sheep and dairy cattle and provided pasture for the family horses and oxen (which were used for plowing fields). The family farmed corn, flax, hay, potatoes, and rye. A small part of the land was devoted to growing tobacco. Amos also assisted in clearing rocks from the farmland (which was extremely rocky and full of clay), and mending stone and split-rail fences. Accessed 2013-02-21.Cole, p. 14. Amos was a sickly child, thin and prone to colds and severe headaches.

Amos Kendall attended free public elementary schools in Massachusetts and New Hampshire during two months each the summer, and was a heavy user of the subscription library in Dunstable, Massachusetts (where his father had the right to check out two books a month). Accessed 2013-02-21.

Kendall attended the New Ipswich Academy in New Ipswich, New Hampshire, for a few weeks in the fall of 1805, and a free public secondary school in New Ipswich for a month in the winter of 1806. In April 1806, he re-entered New Ipswich Academy, paying tuition by working at manual labor. He remained there until the fall, then studied a few weeks in December 1806 at a free public school in Dunstable. Accessed 2013-02-21. Although he was only 16 years old, Amos’ education was advanced enough that his father obtained a two-month teaching position for him at a school in Reading, Massachusetts, in summer 1806 and another in the fall at a public school in Dunstable, New Hampshire (now known as Nashua). Accessed 2013-02-21.Cole, p. 18. Amos Kendall entered the Lawrence Academy at Groton in Groton, Massachusetts, in April 1807. Despite poor health, he felt prepared enough to apply to Dartmouth College. He succeeded, and was admitted to Dartmouth on September 10, 1807. Accessed 2013-02-21.