John Kennedy Lacock was born on November 16, 1871, at Ten Mile, Pennsylvania. He was graduated from Washington and Jefferson College in 1901 and he received his Master of Arts degree from Harvard in 1906. He taught public school in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, and later history at Harvard.
Lacock's passion was the study of military roads, in particular the Forbes Road and Braddock's Road. In 1908 and 1909 he engaged in two detailed expeditions of Braddock's Road with friends, fellow teachers and photographer Ernest K. Weller. The end result was a collection of photographs that were released as postcards. Lacock created a similar set of postcards for the Cumberland Road in Maryland and Pennsylvania.
Lacock died doing what he loved most. On March 8, 1933, while exploring the road at Jumonville Glen, he suffered a fatal fall from the rocky heights. He is buried in Pleasant Hill Cemetery, Amwell Township in Washington County, Pennsylvania.
When Lacock's brother was reviewing his brother's estate, he discarded most of the remaining inventory of Lacock and Weller's postcards. Fortunately, some of the inventory survived and the postcards are in high demand. Some of Lacock's work was donated to the Library of Congress.
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John Kennedy Lacock at Half King's Rocks, Jumonville, Pennsylvania. This is the location where Lacock fell from the rocks and died.
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