John F. Kent (1853-1934) was born in Newton, Massachusetts, and died in Concord, New Hampshire. He graduated from Harvard University, where he was captain of the varsity baseball team, in 1875. He worked as a schoolteacher in Newton for the following seven years, teaching Latin and Greek. In 1877 he married Anna M. Kent (b. Collins) in Newton. She died in 1881, and in 1882 he married her sister Cornelia Kent (b. Collins). The same year the couple moved to Concord, where Kent served as the principal of Concord High School from then until 1902. He subsequently worked as a private tutor and private school teacher for the remainder of his career.
In Concord the Kents lived across the street from Mary Baker Eddy's Pleasant View home throughout the time Eddy resided there. Kent interacted cordially with Eddy during that time, both in person and by correspondence. In 1906 reporters from the New York World, on assignment by its owner, Joseph Pulitzer, 1847-1911, traveled to Concord attempting to verify rumors that Eddy was either incapacitated or dead. Eddy met with the reporters personally in her office, and Kent was brought in as an objective and respected local witness to vouch for the fact that the woman the reporters were in the presence of was, indeed, Eddy, who was alive and well.
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John F. Kent (1853-1934) was born in Newton, Massachusetts, and died in Concord, New Hampshire. He graduated from Harvard University, where he was captain of the varsity baseball team, in 1875. He worked as a schoolteacher in Newton for the following seven years, teaching Latin and Greek. In 1877 he married Anna M. Kent (b. Collins) in Newton. She died in 1881, and in 1882 he married her sister Cornelia Kent (b. Collins). The same year the couple moved to Concord, where Kent served as the principal of Concord High School from then until 1902. He subsequently worked as a private tutor and private school teacher for the remainder of his career.
In Concord the Kents lived across the street from Mary Baker Eddy's Pleasant View home throughout the time Eddy resided there. Kent interacted cordially with Eddy during that time, both in person and by correspondence. In 1906 reporters from the New York World, on assignment by its owner, Joseph Pulitzer, 1847-1911, traveled to Concord attempting to verify rumors that Eddy was either incapacitated or dead. Eddy met with the reporters personally in her office, and Kent was brought in as an objective and respected local witness to vouch for the fact that the woman the reporters were in the presence of was, indeed, Eddy, who was alive and well.
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