Martin P. Kennard

Martin Parry Kennard (July 24, 1818 – November 13, 1903) was a Boston businessman (by occupation a silversmith and jeweler ), abolitionist, and U.S. federal government employee.

Biography Kennard was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He started his career as a jeweler with the Boston firm Jones, Low & Ball, and later became a principal at Bigelow Bros. & Kennard. The company sold "high-quality domestic and imported silver, glass, and clocks." The business operated under this name until 1971, and Harvard University holds some of the firm's records in their library special collections.

In 1854, Kennard moved to Brookline, Massachusetts, and, along with figures such as Ellis Gray Loring and William I. Bowditch, was an activist with the Boston Vigilance Committee, which was dedicated to protecting fugitive slaves. Kennard is also a primary source on the visit of Mikhail Bakunin to the United States in 1861. Kennard later became a customs house collector in Boston. until the 1890s, he held Treasury Department appointments in Boston. the Merchants Club, and the Tuesday Club. His son Edward Parry Kennard also worked as a silversmith. The Martin Parry Kennard house now houses Brookline Music School.