Hi Michelle,
I have Kennedy ancestors and their surname was sometimes spelled as Cannady. When you have someone researching for information or when you research the records yourself, make sure you check all spelling variations of the name to find your ancestors. There's no telling how people spelled it. Mines were spelled as Kennedy, Canady, Kenady, Cannady, Kenida, etc. Some of them even have different soundex codes...like Kennedy and Canady. If you stay stuck on one spelling, you are bound to miss some people.

Ironically, my great-grandfather was named Albert Kennedy, born about 1853 in Mississippi. His mother, Lucy, had a brother named Ben Canady, who had a son named Archie Canady. Lucy had come from Alabama. This was consistently reported in the census records. Although for some reason, an elderly relative claims that Lucy and her people had come from North Carolina. Not sure why he believes that because everything I've found (census records, info on the Kennedy enslavers, etc.) points back to Monroe County, Alabama. Hmmm......

Melvin