by Kevin Cummings, Special to the Messenger

Joel Kennerly, now a free man, decided to begin a new life on the Mountain, leaving behind the plantation in Prairie Chapel with Gum Creek sidling softly through the land.

Samuel J. Kennerly owned the plantation. Two of his slaves, William and Clarissa Kennerly, wed while enslaved and had six boys and 10 girls, which included Joel, William Hurnition, Tennessee, Ava Anna, Jim, Dicey Ann, Sidney P., Thomas Jefferson, Ellen, Elizabeth, Benjamin Franklin, Laura, Clarissa, Odessa, Susan, and Willa Kennerly.

Researchers have no evidence that African-Americans called Sewanee home prior to 1866, according to the local historical documentary “Can I Get a Witness?” Kennerly family members were among the earliest African-Americans to live here. Following the abolishment of slavery, Joel was the first of several family members to move to the Mountain from Prairie Chapel in the 1870s and 1880s, per family records.

LaNetra McLemore, along with her cousin, Antoine Smith, both natives of Chicago, are part of the Kennerly lineage and serve as the unofficial historians of the family. Their work has drawn the extended family closer and strengthened their roots.

“A lot of times we were coming down to Tennessee (from Chicago) and we probably had nothing, but we had a desire. We were driven,” McLemore said of their research.

Of course, the Kennerly story reaches back beyond the Prairie Chapel and Gum Creek areas near Decherd, but the plantation is a touchstone for not only the descendants still calling Sewanee home but also those spread across the country. William and Clarissa leased land at Prairie Chapel after slavery, McLemore said, and many of their children stayed on the property.

Today, a descendant of Samuel J. Kennerly owns part of the former plantation site and descendants of the African-American side of the family still live nearby. During the first-ever all-Kennerly family reunion in 2018, more than 300 people came from places across the country to Franklin County.

Greg Vaughn and Jeanne Robertson Vaughn, the present-day plantation site owners, welcomed Kennerly family members.

“The plantation visit was an awesome experience,” McLemore said. “People were telling stories, not just to the elders but to the kids. We read about plantations and slaves in history books but to literally walk one that your ancestors walked on and to be able to embrace the slave owner’s family knowing that we are family…

“Even when Mrs. Vaughn hugged and I hugged, I didn’t want to let her go and I felt like she didn’t want to let me go. I felt connected to her. In that moment it was a very powerful thing,” she said.

Slaves inheriting the last name of the plantation owner was common practice during slavery and McLemore said she hopes to learn more about the white Kennerlys and continue to build a bridge to all family members.

“We just share the same bloodline; I don’t want to say white or black, it’s just our family,” she said.

Kennerly Road, connecting U.S. Hwy. 41A and Georgia Avenue, serves as an everyday reminder of the family’s past in Sewanee. Many Kennerlys worked for the University of the South and an African-American elementary school bore the Kennerly name.

According to “Can I Get a Witness?”, the John M. Kennerly School opened in 1951 in the St. Mark’s Community of Sewanee. The school had better facilities than some white schools, including water-toilets, showers, hot air heat, and a lunchroom, according to a 2017 Sewanee Mountain Messenger article.

John Kennerly Jr., nephew of John M. Kennerly, served as the assistant athletic trainer at the University from 1935 to 1947, working under Willie Six. John became the head athletic trainer in 1948 and served for 21 years. He was also superintendent of the school’s athletic facility, said his granddaughter, Sandra Kennerly.

“He was just trying to make a living and take care of my father and all his children, but I think if he had an opportunity he could have been a doctor,” Sandra said, “because of the work he did with the boys. He worked with the University of the South football boys. He repaired them and fixed them up without any formal training.”

The University inducted John Kennerly Jr. into the Sewanee Athletic Hall of Fame posthumously in 2005.

Sandra, who is the great-great granddaughter of Joel, was introduced to her present-day extended Kennerly family after she met McLemore’s mom, Hazel Cannon-McLemore, in 2016 at a social gathering in Nashville. During introductions, the two women discovered they were kin.

Sandra, who is heavily involved in the promotion of African-American heritage, said learning about her roots has been a wonderful experience. An only child, new-found cousins have endearingly told her, “You’ve got family now.”

McLemore said many Kennerly descendants have bonded because of the family’s research and reunion efforts.

“A lot people lived around each other and they didn’t even know they were family,” McLemore said. “They were going to church together and school together and did not even know they were family. This is so important because now you don’t have to reach out to somebody way across the country because you got a cousin next door, a cousin down the street.”

The research has revealed more than 5,000 descendants of William and Clarissa Kennerly, including many accomplished professionals. The Kennerly journey has yielded even more wonderful stories. Both Sandra and McLemore said from the tragedy of slavery, their ancestors made something beautiful possible.

“We are because they were,” Sandra said.

An old family photo inspired McLemore to start researching the bloodlines of her ancestors about 10 years ago. The picture, taken in the early 1900s, depicts six of the Kennerly sisters, children of William and Clarissa.

“It looks they were coming from a funeral. I’m assuming it was another sister or brother’s funeral, so they just took this picture. When I saw that picture, I just felt like they took that picture just for me until I started talking to other family and they had the same picture,” she said.

Another source of inspiration was McLemore realizing that slaveowners were being honored with plaques for their contributions during the Civil War era, but not the slaves who gave so much.

“I feel like the communities that African-Americans built after slavery, some of them are still going strong to this day so we need to honor and recognize them,” McLemore said.

McLemore noted that Janice Smith-Kittrell, J.C. Cannon, and Rev. George and Ophelia Smith were instrumental in the family’s research efforts.

“The discovery of William and Clarissa Kennerly and their children and all the Kennerly descendants is a true testimony of what family is all abou. And the journey still continues to unravel for the Kennerly family,” Sandra said.

The family is planning another all-Kennerly reunion in 2020.