{{Short description|American politician}} {{Use American English|date=March 2018}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2018}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Duncan F. Kenner | image = Duncan-kenner-portrait.jpg | office = Deputy from [[Louisiana]]<br />to the [[Provisional Congress of the Confederate States|Provisional Congress<br />of the Confederate States]] | term_start = February 4, 1861 | term_end = February 17, 1862 | predecessor = New constituency | successor = Constituency abolished | birth_name = Duncan Farrar Kenner | birth_date = {{Birth date|1813|2|11}} | birth_place = [[New Orleans]], [[Louisiana]], U.S. | death_date ={{death date and age|1887|7|3|1813|2|11}} | death_place = New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. | resting_place = Ascension Catholic Cemetery,<br />{{Nowrap|[[Donaldsonville, Louisiana]], U.S.}} | spouse = Anne Guillelmine Nanine Bringier }} '''Duncan Farrar Kenner''' (February 11, 1813 – July 3, 1887) was an American politician who served as a Deputy from [[Louisiana]] to the [[Provisional Congress of the Confederate States]] from 1861 to 1862. In 1864, he served as the chief diplomat from the [[Confederate States of America]] to Europe.
==Biography== Douglas Farrar Kenner was born on February 11, 1813, in [[New Orleans]] to sugar planter and cotton factor [[William Kenner]], and Mary Minor Kenner, daughter of [[Stephen Minor]], the last governor of [[Natchez District|Spanish Natchez]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dictionary of Louisiana Biography - K |url=https://www.lahistory.org/resources/dictionary-louisiana-biography/dictionary-of-louisiana-biography-k/ |access-date=2025-03-21 |website=Louisiana Historical Association |language=en-US}}</ref> His father's people were from [[Virginia]].<ref name="nytimesobit">{{cite web|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1887/07/04/100920311.pdf|title=An Old Confederate Dead.: The Political Career of Duncan F. Kenner|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=July 4, 1887}}</ref> Kenner was married to the former Anne Guillelmine Nanine Bringier (August 24, 1822 – November 6, 1911). They resided at the [[Ashland Plantation]].
According to [[Ulrich B. Phillips|Ulrich Bonnell Phillips]], he was "long a slave trader with headquarters at New Orleans before he became a planter in [[Ascension Parish, Louisiana|Ascension Parish]] on a rapidly increasing scale."<ref>{{Cite web |title=American Negro slavery a survey of the supply, employment and control of Negro labor as determined by the plantation régime / by Ulrich Bonnell Phillips ... |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=yul.11350283_000_00&seq=260&q1=Kenner |access-date=2024-09-18 |website=HathiTrust |page=246 |language=en}}</ref> Kenner was the owner of sugar plantations in Louisiana. He used scientific techniques and was said to be the first man in Louisiana to use a railroad to bring [[sugar cane]] from the fields to the mill. He served as the President of the Louisiana Sugar Planters Association.<ref name="nytimesobit" /> He started his political career by working for [[John Slidell]].<ref name="nytimesobit" /> He served for several terms in the [[Louisiana House of Representatives]] and was a member of the state constitutional conventions of 1845 and 1852, having presided over the latter conclave.
According to the US census of 1860, Kenner owned in excess of 600 slaves on his sugar plantations.
During the [[American Civil War]] of 1861–1865, he was a member of the [[Confederate Congress]] and chairman of its Ways and Means Committee.<ref name="nytimesobit"/> In 1862, he proposed a national income tax of 20%, including a schedule of exemptions. His tax bill went nowhere; but in April 1863, the Confederate Congress passed another act calling for a tax "in kind," payable with goods and agricultural produce rather than money, and based not on property but on agricultural produce and income it generated. In July 1862, while visiting with his family at [[Ashland Plantation]] during a recess of the legislature, Kenner narrowly avoided capture by the [[Union Army]], making his escape after being warned by one of his slaves of the advance of [[Union Army|Union]] troops. By this time he had become convinced that the emancipation of slaves was the only way to gain independence for the Confederacy. In 1864, he was sent by [[Jefferson Davis]] as special commissioner to England and France to secure the recognition of the [[Confederate States of America|Confederate States]].<ref name="nytimesobit"/> Davis, through Kenner, offered the [[abolitionism in the United States|emancipation]] of the Confederate [[Slavery in the United States|slaves]] in exchange for [[diplomatic recognition]] of the Confederacy by Britain and France.<ref>{{cite book |last=Donald |first=David Herbert |authorlink=David Herbert Donald |year=1995 |title=Lincoln |url=https://archive.org/details/lincoln00dona |url-access=registration |chapter= Chapter Twenty: With Charity for All |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |page=[https://archive.org/details/lincoln00dona/page/547 547] |isbn=0-684-80846-3 |oclc=35914369 }}</ref> Following the [[capture of New Orleans]] in 1862, much of his property was confiscated and his slaves were freed.
After the war, Kenner regained his wealth. In 1877 he created the Louisiana Sugar Producer's Association, representing the largest planters in the state. He served as the president of the [[World Cotton Centennial]]. He also served on the Boards of Directors of several banks.<ref name="nytimesobit"/> Kenner died on July 3, 1887.<ref name="nytimesobit"/> He was buried in a tomb in the Ascension of our Lord Catholic Church Cemetery in [[Donaldsonville]], [[Ascension Parish]], Louisiana.
==Thoroughbred racing== Kenner was fond of horses and established a breeding operation for Thoroughbred horses at his Ashland Plantation. For his contribution to [[Thoroughbred racing]], following its formation in 1971 he was inducted into the [[Fair Grounds Racing Hall of Fame]]. In 1880 he was a founding member of the New Louisiana Jockey Club and would serve as its president from 1886 until his death in 1887.<ref>[http://www.fairgroundsracecourse.com/sites/fairgroundsracecourse.com/files/110621 Hall of Fame Members FINAL.pdf ''www.fairgroundsracecourse.com'' Fair Grounds Hall of Fame (120 members)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304072327/http://www.fairgroundsracecourse.com/sites/fairgroundsracecourse.com/files/110621%20Hall%20of%20Fame%20Members%20FINAL.pdf|date=March 4, 2016}}</ref>
==See also== * [[Kenner and Henderson]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== <!-- =============================================================================== WIKIPEDIA IS NOT A COLLECTION OF LINKS. Only a limited number of new links should be added to this article. PLEASE DO NOT ADD external links to sites with information already in the article or in its sources.
See [[Wikipedia:External links]] and [[Wikipedia:Spam]] for further details =============================================================================== --> * {{Find a Grave|6954241}} * [https://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/kennedy-kensey.html#978.49.05 Duncan F. Kenner] at [[The Political Graveyard]] * [https://www.lib.lsu.edu/special/manuscripts/guides/kenner-duncan-farrar-1813-1887-papers Duncan Farrar Kenner Papers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180312083522/https://www.lib.lsu.edu/special/manuscripts/guides/kenner-duncan-farrar-1813-1887-papers |date=March 12, 2018 }} at [[Louisiana State University]] <!--Please: Follow the [[WP:EL]] guideline where possible and consider discussing on the talk page-->
{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{succession box|title=Deputy from [[Louisiana]] to the<br />[[Provisional Congress of the Confederate States]]|years=1861–1862|before=New constituency|after=Constituency abolished}} {{s-end}} {{Navboxes |title=Articles related to Duncan F. Kenner |list1= {{CSProvisionalConstitutionSig}} {{Confederate States Constitution signatories}} }} {{Portal bar|American Civil War|Biography|United States|Politics}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kenner, Duncan F.}} [[Category:1813 births]] [[Category:1887 deaths]] [[Category:19th-century American lawyers]] [[Category:19th-century owners of plantations in the United States]] [[Category:19th-century American slave traders]] [[Category:19th-century members of the Louisiana State Legislature]] [[Category:American businesspeople in the sugar industry]] [[Category:American lawyers admitted to the practice of law by reading law]] [[Category:American racehorse owners and breeders]] [[Category:Burials at Ascension of our Lord Catholic Church Cemetery (Donaldsonville)]] [[Category:Confederate States of America diplomats]] [[Category:Deputies and delegates to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States]] [[Category:Lawyers from New Orleans]] [[Category:Members of the Confederate House of Representatives from Louisiana]] [[Category:Members of the Louisiana House of Representatives]] [[Category:Politicians from New Orleans]] [[Category:People of Louisiana in the American Civil War]] [[Category:People pardoned by Andrew Johnson]] [[Category:Owners of plantations in Louisiana]] [[Category:Signatories of the Constitution of the Confederate States]] [[Category:Signatories of the Provisional Constitution of the Confederate States]] [[Category:Slave owners from Louisiana]] [[Category:Sugar plantation owners]] [[Category:U.S. state legislators who owned slaves]]