Thomas Kennevan and his daughter Mary Carr 
 

Thomas Kennevan (1848 - 1930) was Alexander Kennevan's younger brother and Catherine Sherry Kennevan's brother-in-law.  He left New York City around 1871, moving to Philadelphia.  He married in 1972, and fathered at least three children: Mary Kennevan (1874 - 1973) who became the actress Mary Carr;  Danny Kennevan who moved to Pittsburgh; and Robert Kennevan, whereabouts unknown.

Thomas separated from his wife, and became a wanderer for at least 24 years, moving from Pennsylvania to Texas and back once or twice a year.  He was an engaging person, telling interesting stories, including having traveled to Europe on several occasions and his fatherhood of Mary Carr.   He was always neat despite having only the clothes on his back.  He seemed to have a great many homes which welcomed him on his travels, and none of the hosts ever had anything negative to say about him.

He died in a host's home in Carterville at the southern tip of Illinois in December 1930.  The body lay unclaimed until someone was able to get in touch with Mary Carr.  She was too ill to journey to Illinois, but arranged for a simple burial in Carterville.  Further details can be found in the website by Steve Kenneven titled www.thomaskennevan.50megs.com

Before finally settling on Mary Carr, the actress was billed as Mary Kennevan, Mary Kennevean, Mrs. William Carr and Mrs. Carr. On stage since the early 1890s, Mary entered films in 1916, spending the next four decades portraying kindly, self-sacrificing mothers and grandmothers. Her best-known roles of this ilk were the title character in Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (1919) and the careworn matriarch in Over the Hill to the Poorhouse (1920). Offscreen, Mrs. Carr was described as a "brisk young matron" who lived and dressed fashionably and approached each role with girlish enthusiasm. Her lampoonish performance as the tremulous victim of villainous mortgage-holder Jimmy Finlayson in the 1931 Laurel and Hardy 2-reeler One Good Turn revealed a hitherto untapped sense of sly humor. After turning sixty, Mrs. Carr appeared in only a handful of films, usually in fleeting bits (her name appears in the "list of casualties" scene in Gone With the Wind [1939]). Her last performance was a one-scene cameo in the 1956 historical drama Friendly Persuasion. Mary Carr was the mother of prolific film and TV director Thomas Carr. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

American character actress famed for roles as mothers. Born in a Philadelphia suburb as Mary Kennevan, she became a schoolteacher, but soon gave it up for work as an actress in touring companies. She married actor William Carr and toured extensively with his company. After the turn of the century, he became involved in film production as both an actor and director, and he brought Mary and their six children into the film business with him. Mary made her film debut in 1916, but it was her appearance in Over the Hill to the Poorhouse (1920) which made her a success in movies. It was a tremendous success due in large part to her touching portrayal of a poverty-stricken mother. She followed it with similar roles in scores of films throughout the silent period. A fallow period arrived with the talkies, and Carr found herself nearly destitute, but publicity about her status rallied help to her cause and she found help and occasional work. She spent her later years appearing infrequently, often in films directed by her son Thomas Carr. She died at the age of 99 in November 1973.

Information supplied by Steve Kennevan and Internet sources 

Most recent revision:  13 July 2004