John Albert Kennicott was born in Montgomery County, New York around 1802. He early developed scientific and literary interests and went on to study medicine. As a young man he practiced medicine along the Welland Canal in Canada, delivered lectures on botany and anatomy in Buffalo, New York and contributed to newspapers in western New York state and elsewhere. In 1836 John Kennicott moved to the Chicago area and established his homestead at The Grove, a prairie grove eighteen miles northwest of Chicago. There he also established the Grove Nursery and, gradually withdrawing from the practice of medicine, he became known as the foremost horticulturist of the West. He died on June 4, 1863.
Robert Kennicott, son of John A. Kennicott, was born in 1835. Inspired to the study of natural history by his father and the environment of The Grove, he eventually became associated with the Smithsonian Institution. Beginning in 1859 Kennicott undertook a three year study of the Hudson Bay Company territories in northwestern Canada. He was founder and director of the Chicago Academy of Sciences. At the time of his death in 1866 he was leading an expedition on the Yukon River. The results of this expedition are credited with having assured the purchase of Alaska by the United States.
From the description of Kennicott Family Papers 1830-1913. (Oakton Community College). WorldCat record id: 58801982
