Amos Kendall’s life happened alongside the antebellum communications revolution, which led him to become deeply involved in his own personal growth from a struggling jack-of-all-trades to a wealthy Washingtonian. He was a goodhearted and generous philanthropist and contributed to the nation-spanning telegraph network. Kendall helped establish the Kendall School six years before Gallaudet University, the first higher education institution for deaf students, was founded.

•   Born: August 16, 1789
•   Birthplace: Dunstable, Massachusetts
•   Died: November 12, 1869
•   Best Known As: American Journalist, Statesman, and Kendall School Founder

Amos Kendall worked long hours on his father’s farm until the age of 16, when he realized that he disliked farm work and decided to attend school. He finally completed his high school studies at Lawrence Academy in Groton, Massachusetts, and graduated with the class of 1807 at the age of 18. After graduating, he enrolled at Dartmouth College. He was frequently absent while he worked to support himself and taught in local academics. He eventually graduated at the top of his class at the age of 22 in 1811.

Kendall then studied and practiced law in Lexington, Kentucky, but he did not feel content with his career. His true desire was the pursuit of fortune, so he left New England for the first time in 1814. He hitched a ride on a flatboat down the Ohio River from Pittsburgh until he ran out of money in Ashland, Kentucky. Fortunately, Henry Clay, who was an arch political enemy of Andrew Jackson and his wife Lucretia, hired him to tutor their children in Lexington, Kentucky, where he spent one year with their family.  

Always looking for something better, Kendall eventually got a job as editor of a local newspaper in Georgetown, Kentucky, and two years later (1816) he became co-editor and part owner of the state journal (1816-1829) in Frankfort, Kentucky.

In 1824, Kendall became involved with the Democratic Party. He devoted much of his time to the Democrats as a very active American activist who supported Henry Clay and the son of the second President John Adams  John Quincy Adams  against Jackson. Clay’s financial pressures on Kendall resulted in shifting his political commitment to Andrew Jackson in 1827.

Kendall became a famous editor of the “Angus of Western America,” one of the most influential Western newspapers during the presidential elections of 1824 and 1828. During those 15 years (1814-1829), he increased his journalistic experience that led him to become one of the most read and most powerful political writers in the capital. After his editorial and political efforts helped Andrew Jackson strengthen Jackson’s political campaign and win the election of 1828, he became the president’s chief advisor, speechwriter, and author of the famous veto of the bill to recharter the Bank of the U.S.

In 1829, Kendall moved to Washington, DC, with Jackson’s administration for the political period of his life as the fourth auditor 1828-1834 to the Treasury Department and then the U.S. Postmaster General, 1835-1840. He joined a group of close presidential advisors that soon became known as Jackson’s “Kitchen Cabinet,” and continued working as a powerful presidential speechwriter during Jackson’s presidential administration from 1832 through 1835. He helped write many of Jackson’s major state papers while he was chief counselor to Jackson in the argument over the 1832 Bank of the U.S. recharter veto, and powerfully defended administration policies in the newspapers against the charter renewal of this second bank.

After Kendall returned to journalism, he became an agent for the collection of claims against the U.S. in 1843, founded Kendall’s Expositor in 1841 and Union Democrat in 1842, and authored several publications, including The Life of Andrew Jackson in 1843.

Kendall married twice, first in 1818 to Mary B. Woolfolk who gave him four sons before passing away five years later (1823). Sorrowfully, all of his sons also passed away due to hardship, disease, and early mortality. His second marriage to Jane Kyle in 1826 resulted in 10 more children.

Following the death of Jackson in 1845, Kendall retired from the political cabinet and as a result, he encountered personal hard times dealing with feuds, politics, and debt. He was never financially secure until 1845, when he became a business agent and manager working with Samuel F. B. Morse in the ownership of the booming telegraph business. He was responsible for the patent rights. The telegraph enterprise brought great success and assisted Kendall in becoming very wealthy. He then became interested in hearing loss when he became acquainted with Samuel’s wife, Sarah, who had hearing problem.

Near the end of his life during the years of 1857 - 1869, Kendall spent his days devoted to the church and philanthropic projects, including the Kendall Green schools in Washington, DC and staying at his country home, Kendall Green, until his death. He is buried at the Glenwood Cemetery in Washington, DC.