P. J. Kennedy
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Template:Otherpeople Patrick Joseph Kennedy (January 14, 1858 – May 18, 1929) was an American politician. He was the father of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., and grandfather to Robert F. Kennedy, and to former United States President John F. Kennedy.
P.J. was the youngest of five children born to Patrick Kennedy, a poor Irish Roman Catholic immigrant to the United States, and Bridget Murphy. Penal laws, preventing Catholics from owning property or being educated, and the threat of famine had led his parents to emigrate, crossing the Atlantic in a "coffin ship" and settling in Boston, Massachusetts. The couple's first son, John, died of cholera in infancy. Months after P.J.'s birth, his father, also succumbed to the infectious cholera epidemic that infested the family's East Boston neighborhood. As the only surviving male, P.J. was the first Kennedy to receive a formal education. He attended Boston College on scholarship and became a prominent businessman before entering politics. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as both a member of Massachusetts House of Representatives and the Massachusetts Senate.
In November 23, 1887 he married Mary Augusta Hickey, the daughter of a prosperous businessman in the city. His son Joseph married Rose Fitzgerald. Together they had many children. Of them, Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., World War II veteren, John F. Kennedy 35th President of the United States, Robert Kennedy, Presidential cadidate, and Edward Kennedy, U.S. Senator. This created the base for the Kennedy family to build their future political power.
Patrick Joseph Kennedy is also the name of Edward Kennedy's son, and thus a great-grandson of the elder P. J. Kennedy.nl:Patrick J. Kennedy sr:П. Џ. Кенеди