Kenan, Owen Hill [1]
Kenan, Owen Hill
23 May 1872–2 July 1963
[2]Owen Hill Kenan, physician, was born in Kenansville, the oldest child of James Graham and Anne Elizabeth Hill Kenan. After graduation from The University of North Carolina [3] in 1894, he received a medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania [4]. He practiced medicine first in Kenansville and later in New York City and Palm Beach, Fla.
A world traveler, Kenan was one of the few survivors of the Lusitania [5] disaster when the vessel was torpedoed by a German submarine off the Irish coast in 1915. He joined the French Army and was awarded the French Medal of Honor. When the United States entered World War I [6], he joined an American unit and attained the rank of colonel. In later years he lived and maintained homes in Paris, France; Palm Beach, Fla.; and Wilmington [7], N.C. He was an art collector and an authority on eighteenth-century French art.
Kenan was a member of St. James Episcopal Church, Wilmington, and of Bethesda By the Sea Episcopal Church, Palm Beach; he was buried in Arlington National Cemetery [8]. He never married.
References:
Kenan family records in the author's possession.
Alvaretta Kenan Register, ed., The Kenan Family (1967).
Additional Resources:
Kenan Family in World Cat: http://orlabs.oclc.org/identities/lccn-sh95-9452 [9]
Kenan Family Papers, 1748-1996 (collection no. 04225). The Southern Historical Collection. Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/k/Kenan_Family.html [10] (accessed February 15, 2013).
A Wilmingtonian Abroad; the Remarkable Life of Owen Hill Kenan; UNCW: http://digitalcollections.uncw.edu/utils/getfile/collection/camdoc/id/7/filename/4.pdf%3E4.pdf%3C/a%3E%3Cembed%20src= [11]
The Lusitania Resource: http://www.rmslusitania.info/people/saloon/owen-kenan/ [12]
Owen Hill Kenan in WorldCat: http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=su%3AKenan%2C+Owen+Hill%2C+1872-1963.&qt=hot_subject [13]
"Uniform, Hat". Accession: H.1918.14.12 [14]." 1916-1918. North Carolina Museum of History.
"Helmet, Military, Accession #: H.1918.14.15 [15]." 1916-1918. North Carolina Museum of History.
"Pot, Accession #: H.1918.14.8 [16]." . North Carolina Museum of History.
"Dispatch Bag, Accession #: H.1918.14.6 [17]." 1916. North Carolina Museum of History.
Image Credits:
Register, Alvaretta Kenan. The Kenan family and some allied families of the compiler and publisher. Statesboro, Ga., J. S. Kenan II. 1967. http://archive.org/details/kenanfamilysomea00regi [2] (accessed February 15, 2013).
1 January 1988 | Kenan, Thomas S., III
