The Life of GENERAL JAMES KENNEDY MOORHEAD
James Kennedy Moorhead was born in Halifax, Dauphin County, PA, in 1806. His father, William, came to America from Ireland in 1798, settled in Lancaster County, and by the time James was born in 1806, his farm on the Susquehanna River was known as Moorhead's Ferry. William passed away when James was 11 years of age. At age 14, James found himself in charge of the farm and did quite well with that responsibility. He apprenticed himself to a tanner, and worked at that trade for a time until he became a canal contractor. He was superintendent and supervisor on the Juniata Canal in 1828, and projected and established the first passenger packet line on the Pennsylvania Canal in 1835.
In 1838 he was appointed Adjutant General of Pennsylvania. He constructed the Monongahela Navigation Canal and was President of the company for twenty-one years. He was also President of the Atlantic & Ohio Telegraph Co., which later became the Western Union Telegraph Company.
He was elected as a Republican to the Thirty-sixth and to the four succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1859-March 3, 1869). In Congress he served as Chairman of the Committee on Manufactures (Thirty-eighth and Thirty-ninth Congresses). He declined to be a candidate for re-nomination in 1868 and resumed his former business activities.
He was President of Allegheny Cemetery from 1878 until 1883. When he died he was President of the Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce, the Monongahela Navigation Company and the Ohio River Commission; Chairman of the Executive Committee of Western Pennsylvania Hospital, Trustee of the Western Theological Seminary, Trustee of the Western University (now University of Pittsburgh) and Trustee of Pennsylvania Institute for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb.
The University of Pittsburgh Cathedral site, part of a 14-acre parcel of land known as Frick Acres, was donated to the University by Andrew W. Mellon and his brother, Richard B. Mellon. The site previously was the location of the mansion of James Kennedy Moorhead.
