A Good Trade: Three Generations of Life and Trading Around the Indian Capital Gallup, New Mexico

"A GOOD TRADE
In 1899 G E Kennedy came west to a lumber company in the mountains near Gallup, New Mexico. Many employees were Navajos Indians from whom he learned their language and customs. That experience and opportunity led him to the Navajo reservation in 1912. He built a trading post in a territory the size of West Virginia with few other traders. His legacy carried forth two generations. This is a story of three generations of Kennedy traders spanning one of the greatest periods of Southwestern US history as times changed from horseback and wagons to computers and planes.
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A New Mexico native, John grew up in the Indian trading business beginning in the early 40s when his Dad was a trader in Zuni Pueblo. He first became active in the business at the age of nine under the guidance of his dad, John W Kennedy who also grew up as a trader's son on the Navajo reservation. Through three generations the family worked with American Indian people as they sought to provide, promote and protect the livelihood of many people. John lived and worked during a great period of southwestern trading and walked the trading talk.