Clark County Ohio Biographies

LEONARD KARG, farmer; P. O. Bowlusville; born in Germany Oct. 29, 1826. Emigrated with his parents, Leonard and Elizabeth Karg, to America in 1830 or 1831, landing at Baltimore, thence to York, Penn., where they resided till the fall of 1855, when they removed to Clark Co., Ohio, and purchased and located upon the farm where our subject still lives. Here the father lived till his death, which occurred Sept. 14, 1868. His wife died in April, 1881, in her 89th year. They were parents of four children, two now survive—Maria (now Mrs. Holstein) and Leonard. Our subject lived with his father until his death. Was married, May 20, 1852, to Elizabeth, daughter of Philip and Mary Benedict, natives of Pennsylvania, and who lived and died in their native State. By this marriage they have had thirteen children; ten now survive—Maria, Leah Jane, Sarah, Samuel, John Henry, Ellanora, Ulysses Grant, Leonard, Mary Elizabeth and Erastus Clyde. Mr. Karg commenced in life a poor boy. When young he learn the blacksmith’s trade, which he followed about nine years; then he gave his attention to farming, which business he has since followed. During the war of the rebellion, he enlisted in the 100-days service in the 134th O. V. I., and served out his time and was honorably discharged. He has been a very hard working, industrious man, and, with economy and good management, has become very comfortably and pleasantly situated; is owner of 195 acres of excellent land; has erected a fine brick house, and has a good barn and other buildings and conveniences, constituting a beautiful home and farmer’s residence, and is a good example of what industry, economy and close attention to business will accomplish.

Source: The History of Clark County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., 1881, page 990

JOSEPH N. KAUFFMAN, minister of the German Baptist Church, New Carlisle; was born in Mifflin Co., Penn., in 1818, and is a son of David and Francis Kauffman, who were both natives of Pennsylvania, where they resided until 1845, when they located in the northern part of Champaign Co., Ohio. Here Francis died in 1861, and David now survives at the age of fourscore and nine years. Their children were seven in number, of whom Joseph is the eldest. He grew to manhood in his native State, and married, in 1839, Magdaline Yoder, who was also born in Pennsylvania in 1818. To this union, ten children have been born, of whom eight are now living. All save the two oldest were born in Ohio, as Joseph located accordingly in 1843, in Logan County, afterward to Champaign County, but, in 1877, removed from the first settled county to his present location in Bethel Township, Clark Co., where he serves his church. His life throughout, until 1862, was devoted to farm labor, but for the last eighteen years his time has been spent in behalf of his church, and no doubt much good has grown out of his labors. He is now over threescore years of age, and an active worker in the cause of religion.

Source: The History of Clark County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., 1881, page 1030

LEVI KAUFFMAN was born in Lancaster Co., Penn., Sept. 5, 1833, and is the son of Christian and Anna (Erb) Kauffman, natives of the same county and State, where his great grandparents, who came from Germany, settled in 1717, and where Levi’s grandfather, Christian, was also born. To Christian and Anna Kauffman were born thirteen children—Emanuel, Jacob, Christian, John, Elizabeth, Mary, Levi, Benjamin, Reuben, Anna, Henry, Sarah, and Abraham, eleven of whom are living. In 1840, Christian Kauffman and family came to Bethel Township, and settled in Section 35, where his sons now live, and where he died Dec. 14, 1870, and his widow, Nov. 9, 1877, both being members of the Reformed Mennonite Church. Levi grew to manhood in Bethel Township, and was married March 7, 1861, to Anna Harnish, daughter of John and Esther Harnish, natives of Lancaster Co., Penn. Mrs. Kauffman was born in that county and State Oct. 28, 1838, and has had the following children: Laura, Benjamin, Hetty and Hattie, twins, Susan, Anna, Emma and Lizzie. Mr. Kauffman and wife are members of the Reformed Mennonite Church, and are among the most prosperous and respected people of their township.

Source: The History of Clark County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., 1881, page 1030

CHARLES S. KAY. The influence of an intellectual home and highminded parents has long been held to be of paramount importance in determining the life work of those who win a prominent place in the world, and the effects of such admirable surroundings can easily be seen in the work of Charles S. Kay, one of the most widely-known men of Clark County, a leading factor in the life of Springfield, and a purposeful statesman of unusual ability. He was born at Miamisburg, Montgomery County, Ohio, November 4, 1853, a son of Dr. Isaac and Clara M. (Deckert) Kay.

It is usual for the youth of this land to take some time, after reaching their majority, to find their true vocation in life, and such was the case with Mr. Kay. It is to be presumed that his boyhood was passed in a normal manner, attending the public schools, having his share of boyhood fights, and possibly playing “hookey,” but in the end he acquired a sound, practical education and laid the foundation of character long noted for its strength and reliability. He developed a predeliction for literature and early in life became a contributor to the newspapers of Springfield and Cincinnati. Later on he engaged in commercial lines, and for twenty years was treasurer for the Superior Drill Company. Since terminating that connection Mr. Kay has largely devoted his energies to literary pursuits, and his “column” in the Springfield Daily Sun is eagerly looked for by hundreds and is quoted from extensively. One of the originators of the Citizens National Bank of Springfield, he has continued as one of its directors ever since. In addition to this connection he is financially interested in several other of Springfield’s commercial institutions and civic organizations. In religious belief he is a Baptist. For some years he has maintained membership with the Commercial and Lagonda clubs, and has served as president of the latter. He is a Knight-Templar member of the Free and Accepted Masons.

In 1893 Mr. Kay wedded Miss Belle C. Gunn, a daughter of Capt. John C. Gunn, of Lexington, Kentucky, and the four children born to this union were named: Clarence M., Edith W., Claribel and Robert. While the business career of Mr. Kay necessitated his being much in public life, he has never aspired to prominence and his honors in this respect have come entirely unsolicited, and were accorded him by the republicans. As a public speaker his services are much in demand, and his addresses, covering a wide range of subjects, demonstrates his versatility. In 1916 Mr. Kay was elected to the Ohio State Assembly from Clark County, and he has since held the office by re-election. He has introduced bills of a constructive nature now on the statute books, and stands high among the legislators of Ohio. The legislative handbook issued by state authority in 1920, had the following to say of him:

“A citizen of the highest type and a gentleman of perfect poise and kindly human sympathies predominating his general character, the representative of Clark County in the Eighty-second and Eighty-third General Assemblies of Ohio, was in every respect well equipped for the duties of legislator. Although an effective speaker Mr. Kay exerted his influence in legislation more by his personal work and his writings than by oratory.”

Source: A Standard History of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio by Benjamin F. Prince, 1922, page 414

CLARENCE H. KAY, M. D., has been prominent in the medical profession at Springfield for many years. He was born in this city, October 28, 1856, and is a son of the late Dr. Isaac Kay. After completing his literary education he decided to study the science of medicine and so took a preparatory course under the supervision of his father. He entered Miami Medical College in 1880, and was graduated from that institution in 1882.

Until his father died Dr. Kay was associated with him in practice and since then has been alone. On many occasions since receiving his medical decree [sic] he has taken post-graduate courses, under Dr. William Taylor, in the Cincinnati City Hospital, and at other medical centers, has specialized in electro-therapy and thermo-therapy, and has long been a close student of psychology. He is a member of the Ohio State and the Clark County Medical societies.

Dr. Kay married in 1881 Miss Florence Wilson. They are members of the Covenant Presbyterian Church. At one time Dr. Kay was president of the Board of Education at Springfield, and for fourteen years he was physician in charge of the Clark County Infirmary. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity.

Source: A Standard History of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio by Benjamin F. Prince, 1922, page 117

ISAAC KAY, M.D., physician, Springfield; was born in Franklin Co., Penn., Dec. 8, 1828, where his parents resided until 1833, when they removed to Bedford Co., Penn. In 1836, they removed to Preble Co., Ohio, where the father soon after died; his widow still survives, being now in the 72d year of her age and resides with her son, Dr. James Kay, of Omaha, Neb. At the age of 18, the subject of this sketch began to read medicine with William Gray, M. D., of Lewisburg, Preble Co. After a three years’ course of study, including two full courses of lectures at Starling Medical College at Columbus, Ohio; he graduated in February, 1849, and commenced the practice of his profession in Lewisburg, where he remained and continued to practice until May, 1853, when he removed to Springfield, and has practiced here since. He married, Nov. 4, 1852, Miss Clara Deckert, of Miamisburg, Montgomery Co. From the children of this union two son are living. He is now Secretary, and has been for many years a member of the Clark County Medical Society, and also a member of the Ohio State Medical Society in each of which he has held important positions, and made valuable contributions to medical literature. He is a member of the First Baptist Church and a valuable citizen.

Source: The History of Clark County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., 1881, page 856

ISAAC KAY, M.D. During the earlier days of its history Clark County numbered among its honored, beloved and effective citizens Dr. Isaac Kay, who for many years ministered to the ills of his fellowmen as a physician, and won their veneration and respect because of his many enobling characteristics. He came of a long line of honorable ancestry of Quaker origin, and his wife came of the same sturdy stock. Their ancestors belonged to the original William Penn colony, having come to Penn’s grant of land from Yorkshire, England.

Doctor Kay was born near Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, December 8, 1828, which continued to be his home until 1836 when he was brought by his parents to Preble County, Ohio. When but eighteen years of age he began the study of medicine, having decided to become a physician, and had for his preceptor Dr. William Gray, of Lewisburg. Subsequently he pursued further his medical studies in the old Starling Medical College, at Columbus, Ohio, and was graduated therefrom, after four years, in 1849, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Until 1853 he was engaged in the practice of his chosen profession at Lewisburg, but in May of that year came to Springfield and entered upon a long and successful practice. Not only did he attain to prominence in this calling, but he also achieved distinction as an author and public speaker on medical subjects. As a physician he stood without a superior in his day, but he was equally prominent in the civic, economical and moral development of his community. To his marriage with Clara M. Deckert, solemnized November 27, 1852, two sons were born, Charles S., a sketch of whom apears on this page; and Clarence H. Doctor Kay’s work is completed, but the results accomplished by him live on and will have their effect upon posterity for many years to come.

Source: A Standard History of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio by Benjamin F. Prince, 1922, page 413

BENJAMIN W. KEIFER, of Mad River Township, represents one of the old families of Clark County and has devoted his active years largely in the management of farming interests in the community where he was born. His father, Benjamin F. Keifer, a brother of General J. Warren Keifer, was one of Clark County’s most substantial farmers, and developed a fine place in Mad River Township, still occupied by his children. He was born April 22, 1821, and died December 5, 1907. It was in the early sixties that he bought eighty acres included within the present Benjamin Keifer homestead. The old house on that land is still standing. In subsequent years he added to the place until he had a body of four hundred acres, and in the management of the farm and in the performance of his various community duties he found ample expressions for the energies and purpose that composed his character.

Benjamin F. Keifer married Amelia Henkle, of Clark County. She died in 1873, and six of their children reached mature years. The eldest, Silas H., lived at the old homestead and died at the age of sixty-nine. Mary C. is still living on the home farm. F. Erwin has never married, and is also identified with the homestead. The fourth child is Benjamin W. Keifer. Sarah A. is the widow of William M. Drake. A. Ione, the youngest, is with her brother and sister at home.

Benjamin W. Keifer was born and reared at the old homestead, and remained there with his brothers until he married, at the age of thirty-five, Ethel Crist, of Mad River Township. She died seven years later, leaving two children: Wilbur H., now living with his Uncle Erwin; and Ruth A., at home. The second wife of Mr. Keifer was Margaret Wolf, who died in 1914, and her son, J. Elmer, is now attending school.

At the time of his marriage Mr. Keifer moved to the old Shellabarger farm, which had been acquired by his father, and he has lived there ever since, superintending the cultivation of the 135 acres. He has served as a member of the local school board and is active in the republican party. He is a member of the Yellow Springs Methodist Episcopal Church, the church in which his parents worshiped. He is also a member of the Farm Bureau.

Source: A Standard History of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio by Benjamin F. Prince, 1922, page 409

EDMUND H. KEIFER, farmer and stock-raiser; P. O. Springfield. This gentleman comes of German origin, his great-grandfather, George Keifer, being a native of Germany, who settled in Maryland, where was born, in Washington County, Oct. 27, 1769, George Keifer, the grandfather of Edmund H., who was married to Margaret Hivner, a native of the same county, born July 24, 1772; this marriage occurred March 24, 1799, and the following children were the fruits of the union: Mary, Sarah, John, Catherine and George. The father of Edmund H. was John Keifer, who was born in Washington Co., Md., May 17, 1802, and who came with his parents, in 1812, to Clark Co., Ohio, settling in Bethel Township, his father purchasing a large tract of land on which was born the noted Indian chief Tecumseh. On this farm was a cabin and a small clearing, and here John Keifer grew to manhood, his parents residing on this property until death. He was married May 6, 1824, to Miss Elizabeth Donnels, daughter of Jonathan and Sarah Donnels, who were pioneers of Bethel Township, where Mrs. Sarah Keifer was born, March 19, 1804. Shortly after marriage, John Keifer bought out Donnels’ heirs, and moved on to that farm, now known as the “Holcomb Limekiln Farm,” and there remained until his father’s death, when he sold it, and returned to the old homestead, which he purchased, and where he and his wife resided until death, he dying June 9, 1865, and his wife, June 29 of the same year. He was a Mason, a member of the I. O. O. F., and a Democrat all his life; was a General of militia, and a man of prominence in all the affairs of the county, and took an active interest in everything that he believed a benefit to the country at large. The subject of this sketch was born in Springfield Township, Feb. 19, 1838, and educated in the common schools of the county, following the vocation of a farmer all his life. He was married Jan. 11, 1859, to Miss Bethenia Miller, daughter of R. S. and Elizabeth (Shellabarger) Miller, of Mad River Township, where Mrs. Keifer was born, Jan. 1, 1842, of which union the following children are the issue: Anna M. (the wife of John T. Stewart), Lizzie D. and George S. Mrs. Keifer’s father is a native of Pickaway Co., Ohio, and her mother of Clark County, the latter being deceased, and both belonged to the Presbyterian Church. Mrs. Keifer was the fifth in a family of six children, the three youngest of whom are living, viz.: John D. (residing in Missouri), Mary J. (the wife of R. S. Cross, of Topeka, Kan.), and himself. In the fall of 1865, he purchased his present farm of 225 acres, and, in the autumn of 1870, he erected a large, handsome residence, and has otherwise greatly improved the farm. Politically, he is an unswerving Democrat, and is considered one of the leading farmers of his township, being a man who is respected for his honesty and integrity of character, as well as many other traits that go to make a good neighbor and a worthy citizen.

Source: The History of Clark County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., 1881, page 1050

J. WARREN KEIFER, lawyer and Congressman, Springfield. Considered in all the relations of life, Gen. Joseph Warren Keifer is to-day the foremost man of Clark County, having made a brilliant record and won a reputation reaching beyond his county and State, and, although yet comparatively a young man, he has been prominent in national affairs for nearly a score of years, and is still manifestly on the rear side of the zenith of his public career. The meager limits of this department of our history will not admit of our doing so illustrious a subject full justice; hence we will not attempt more than a chronological enumeration of the more important events of his life. Gen. Keifer is the son of Joseph and Mary (Smith) Keifer, his father being a native of Washington Co., Md., being an early pioneer (1811) of Clark County, where he was a civil engineer and farmer. His mother was of Hamilton Co., Ohio. He was born Jan. 30, 1836, in Bethel Township, this county; was reared on the paternal farm; his education was had in public schools and at Antioch College. In 1855, he commenced the study of law with Gen. Charles Anthony, in Springfield; was admitted to the bar Jan. 12, 1858, practicing his profession thereafter. Upon the inauguration of hostilities in 1861, he volunteered (April 19); was commissioned Major of the 3d O. V. I., and mustered into service on April 27. On the 12th of June the regiment re-enlisted for three years; was assigned to McClellan’s command, and participated in the battles of Rich Mountain, Cheat Mountain and Elk Water. In November, 1861, it was transferred to Buell’s command, in Kentucky. In February, 1862, Maj. Keifer was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, and as such was engaged in the campaign against Bowling Green, Nashville and Huntsville. On Sept. 30, 1862, he was appointed to the Colonelcy of the 110th O.V. I., joining Milroy’s command in Virginia, and, in the winter of 1862-63, commanded the post at Moorefield; was slightly wounded in the battle of Winchester in June, 1863, while commanding a brigade; he was severely wounded (having his left arm shattered) at the battle of the Wilderness May 5, 1864, and thus quite disabled, but was not thereby prevented from joining Sheridan’s army at Harper’s Ferry with his arm still in a sling. In this maimed condition he was engaged in the battles of Opequon, Fisher’s Hill, and Cedar Creek, receiving in the former engagement a shell wound in the thigh, which did not deter him from leading a brigade successfully in the battles occurring almost immediately thereafter. “For gallant and meritorious services” in these battles, he was brevetted Brigadier General, and, as such, assigned by President Lincoln Dec. 29, 1864, and joined the army in front of Petersburg, taking prominent part in the important engagements just preceding. In 1865, Gen. Keifer was brevetted Major General for “gallant and distinguished services,” and was mustered out of services on the 27th of June of that year, after a military service of four years and two months. Returning to Springfield, he resumed the practice of his profession in July, 1865. On Nov. 30, 1866, he was appointed Lieutenant Colonel of the 26th Regular United States Infantry, which he declined. In 1867, he was elected to the Ohio Senate. In 1868, while commander of the “Grand Army of the Republic,” he organized the “Board of Control” for the establishment of the “Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphans’ Home” at Xenia, of which the State assumed control in 1870, making Gen. Keifer one of its Trustees. In 1876, he was elected to the Forty-fifth Congress from the Eighth Congressional District of Ohio, by a handsome Republican majority of 3,716 votes; being two years later re-elected in the Fourth District over W. Vance Marquis by 5,090 votes, receiving three fifths of the whole vote cast. In the October State election of the year 1880, he received as representative of the Eighth District 5,918 majority, the largest ever polled by any candidate in this district. In the Forty-fifth Congress he served on the Committee on “War Claims,” and in the Forty-sixth on the “Elections” Committee. He has taken a very prominent and important part in the recent Presidential canvass, and much of the signal success of his Party in Ohio, being due to his well-directed and able efforts. Among the General’s notable speeches may be mentioned his oration of Jan. 22, 1878, at Newark, Ohio, before a “State Re-union of Soldiers and Sailors,” on the anniversary of the death of that gallant and noble chieftain Gen. James B. McPherson, its title being “Ohio’s Contribution, Sacrifice and Service in the War.” The law firm of which the General is senior partner (Keifer, White & Rabbitts), do a large and lucrative practice. On March 22, 1860, Gen. Keifer married Miss Eliza S. Stout, of Clark County, who has borne him four children—James W., Jr., William White, Horace Charles and Margaret E., all of whom are now at school, the two oldest being at Antioch College. The General is a member of Clark Lodge, No. 101, of F. & A. Masons; he is a man of the people, his career has been a splendid one and with his robust health, iron constitution, excellent habits and mental and physical vigor, he is doubtless destined to occupy yet more exalted places in the service of his admiring constituency. He is a man of great personal magnetism, a ponderous earnest, deliberate and pointed speaker, sincere and firm in his convictions, pronounced in his views, a devoted friend and generous enemy; a man of strong home and local attachments and loyal to his friends, and whose fullest confidence he enjoys.

Source: The History of Clark County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., 1881, page 856

GENERAL J. WARREN KEIFER. Among the many able men and women produced by Clark County, one whose life and service have kept up many vital points in the affairs of state and nation is Gen. J. Warren Keifer, one of the last remaining links to connect the modern present with the Clark County of sixty and more years ago. He was a young lawyer trying his first cases before the Civil war broke out and in that war he gained imperishable fame as a soldier and Union officer. General Keifer since the Civil war has practiced law, has been a banker for about half a century, and has a long and honorable record in public affairs, serving fourteen terms in Congress, one term in the Forty-seventh Congress (1881-1883) as Speaker of the House.

He was born on a farm on Mad River in Bethel Township, Clark County, January 30, 1836, a son of Joseph and Mary (Smith) Keifer. His father, who was born at Sharpsburg, Maryland, December 28, 1784, was a pioneer of what is now Clark County, settling here in 1812. He was a well qualified civil engineer, and though his main occupation was farming his professional knowledge was of use in developing a new country, particularly in establishing common schools and the construction of highways. He died in Clark County, April 13, 1850. His wife, Mary Smith, was born January 31, 1799, in Losantiville, now Cincinnati, and died at Yellow Springs, Clark County, March 23, 1879. Her family was of English ancestry, was early settled in New Jersey, and one branch of the name was established in Ohio in 1790.

General Keifer was educated in public schools and at Antioch College, and while working on the home farm took up the study of law. He also studied in the law offices of Anthony and Goode. He was admitted to the bar at Springfield, January 12, 1858, and then began his work as a practicing lawyer in that city. He had just three years in which to win for himself a measure of success and proficiency as a lawyer before the Civil war came on.

He was one of the first to offer his services in Clark County, enlisting April 19, 1861. April 27 of the same year he was commissioned major of the Third Ohio Infantry for a period of three months, and soon afterward was recommissioned for three years. His first important engagement was the battle of Rich Mountain, July 11, 1861—the first general field battle of the Civil war. He was at other points in the West Virginia campaign, being on the field of Cheat Mountain and Elk Water. February 12, 1862, he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the Third Ohio Infantry, and during the events of that year in Kentucky and Tennessee he was at the capture of Bowling Green, at Nashville, at Huntsville and Bridgeport, Alabama, and in April, 1862, led an expedition into Georgia and performed an important service by destroying the saltpetre works at Nickajack Cave. September 30, 1862, he was commissioned colonel of the One Hundred Tenth Ohio Infantry. He was assigned to General Milroy’s command in West Virginia, was in command of a brigade and the post at Moorefield. General Keifer was twice wounded during the battle of Winchester in June, 1863. July 9th of that year he was assigned to the Third Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, and took part in the pursuit of General Lee’s troops after the battle of Gettysburg. He fought at Wapping Heights and in August he was dispatched with his command to New York City to suppress the draft riots and to enforce the draft. After this service was accomplished he returned to the main theatre of war in September, and on November 27, 1863, was in the battle of Mine Run. March 24, 1864, he was transferred with his brigade to the Sixth Army Corps. At the battle of the Wilderness, May 5, 1864, he was seriously wounded, but in the following August, in spite of his disability, resumed command of his brigade. With his wounded arm in a sling he took his place at the head of his troops under Generals Sheridan and Wright in the battles of Opequan, Fisher’s Hill and Cedar Creek in the Shenandoah Valley campaign. At Opequan a horse was shot while under him. October 19, 1864, President Lincoln brevetted him brigadier-general of volunteers “for gallant and meritorious services in the battles of Opequan, Fisher’s Hill and Middletown, Virginia.”

In December, 1864, with his own corps, General Keifer rejoined the Army of the Potomac in front of Petersburg. March 25, 1865, he led a successful assault, commended in general orders, and on April 2, charged with his division in the final assault which carried the main works and resulted in the capture of Petersburg and Richmond. On April 5 his command aided in cutting off the retreat of Lee’s army and forced it to give battle on the sixth at Sailor’s Creek, during which movement General Keifer and General Frank Wheaton, each commanding a division of the Sixth Army Corps, with some cavalry and artillery, defeated Gen. F. S. Ewell’s wing of Lee’s retreating army and succeeded in effecting the capture of over ten thousand of the enemy, including General Ewell and many officers of high rank. Soon after this result General Keifer was given information that a body of the enemy lay concealed in a dense forest to the right. He rode in person to ascertain the correctness of the information, and coming suddenly upon the Confederate troops and taking advantage of the gathering darkness and the smoke of battle he shouted to the Confederates the command “forward,” and they followed after him, suspecting nothing. On reaching the edge of the wood they discovered that they were being led by a Union officer, and General Keifer’s troops soon surrounded the Confederate body and captured them all, including Commodore John Randolph Tucker, their commander. Following the conclusion of the scene leading up to Appomattox, where General Keifer was present at the surrender, he went with his corps to North Carolina to aid in the capture of Gen. Joe E. Johnston, and was present at the capitulation of that Southern leader.

General Keifer was wounded four times during the Civil war. He was honorably mustered out June 27, 1865. On November 30, 1866, he was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the Twenty-sixth United States Infantry, but declined this opportunity to continue a military career. General Keifer was one of a number of veteran officers of the Civil war from both sides who took up active duty again in arms at the time of the Spanish-American war. In April, 1898, though sixty-two years of age, he was appointed major-general by President McKinley and had command of the Seventh Army Corps at Miami and Jacksonville, Florida, and from Savannah embarked with sixteen thousand men for Cuba, establishing his headquarters at Buena Vista, just outside Havana. He was in command of the American military forces when they took possession of the city January 1, 1899. He was mustered out in May, 1899.

At the conclusion of the Civil war General Keifer resumed his law practice, and the law has always been his profession though many weighty matters and interests have come between him and his practice. In later years he took in as associates his sons, William W. and Horace C. Keifer. The latter is now deceased. The Keifer law firm, Keifer & Keifer, includes the General’s grandson, Horace S. Keifer, who was an officer overseas in the recent World war.

In 1873 General Keifer became president of the Lagonda National Bank, and he has been head of that institution now for practically half a century. Soon after the Civil war he was drawn into politics, was elected and served in 1868-69 as a member of the Ohio Senate, was a delegate at large to the Republican National Convention of 1876, and thirty-two years later a delegate to the convention of 1908. In 1876 he was elected to his first term in Congress, the Forty-fifth Congress, and served continuously in that body as representative of the Seventh Ohio District from 1877 to 1885. General Keifer had the distinction of being the first Ohio man ever chosen to the speakership of the House of Representatives. He was elected to that honor in December, 1881, and served in that capacity until March 4, 1883. After an interval of just twenty years General Keifer again consented to represent the Seventh District in Congress, being elected in 1904 and serving in the Fifty-ninth to the Sixty-first Congresses, from 1905 to 1911.

General Keifer was organizer of the Board of Control in 1868 for the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphans’ Home at Xenia, and was one of the trustees of this institution from 1870 to 1878. He has long been prominent in Grand Army circles and was department commander in 1868-70 and vice-commander-in-chief in 1871-72. In 1903-04 he was commander of the Ohio Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion. General Keifer helped organize and was the first commander-in-chief during 1900-01 of the Spanish War Veterans. General Keifer is a well known Ohio orator and in political campaigns has delivered many formal addresses on various occasions. He is a life member of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, and during 1895-96 he devoted much of his time to the writing of an important historical work known as “Slavery and Four Years of War,” which was published in 1900.

March 22, 1860, General Keifer married Miss Eliza Stout, of Springfield. She died March 12, 1899. To their marriage was born three sons and one daughter: Joseph Warren, Jr., who moved to Nebraska and became a member of the Legislature of that state; William W. and Major Horace C., both of whom took up the law and became partners with their father; and Margaret E., deceased.

Source: A Standard History of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio by Benjamin F. Prince, 1922, page 3

CHARLES MARTIN FREDERICK KELLER. The late Charles Martin Frederick Keller, of Springfield, was one of the solid business men and good citizens of Clark County, who, although of foreign birth, became thoroughly Americanized and identified with the development of the city in which his interests were centered. He was born in Germany, June 26, 1834, a son of Godfried Keller, who died in Germany many years ago.

At the age of eighteen years young Keller left his native land for the United States, and spent a year in New York City, and then came on westward to Indiana, where he attended school for a year so as to gain a working knowledge of the language. He was naturalized October 8, 1856. Coming then to Springfield, he began working at his trade of baker and confectioner, which he had learned in Germany, and acquired a business of his own. This he sold in 1870 and bought twenty-five acres of land, and 1408 Clifton Avenue is now a part of this tract. Here he was engaged in farming. In 1862 he made an excellent investment when he purchased a three-story brick block of three stores, 21 to 23 West Main Street, that is now very valuable. During the years he lived at Springfield he did his full part in civic matters, and among other things served as a member of the Rover Volunteer Fire Department. A member of Goethe Lodge, I. O. O. F., he passed all its chairs, and was also a member of the Encampment. This most excellent man died December 29, 1909, and in his passing Springfield lost one of its most representative citizens.

On December 31, 1857, Mr. Keller married Catherine Koepge, born in Prussia, Germany, October 5, 1834, a daughter of Peter and Catherine (Herr) Koepge, the former of whom was a highly educated man and a schoolmaster. Mrs. Keller died August 24, 1898, having borne her husband the following children: Charles William, who died at Dennison, Texas, aged thirty-three years; Sophia Catherine, who died at the age of five and one-half years; Elizabeth Helen Gene, who died at the age of three and one-half years; Caroline, who is Mrs. William Seybold, of Cincinnati, Ohio; Katherine Marie and Augusta Emily, who reside at the old homestead, 1408 Clifton Avenue; Bertha Sarah, who is the widow of John Rolfes, lives at Merced, California; and Rosa Rebecca lives in Springfield.

The beautiful residence, a ten-room house, heated by both a coal and gas furnace, affords a delightful home for the two daughters, Katherine Marie and Augusta Emily. They own this property and also the business block on West Main Street. The children all attended the grade and high schools of Springfield. Mr. Keller and his wife were charter members of Saint John’s Lutheran Church of Springfield, and the daughters belong to the First Lutheran Church of this city and are members of its various societies. Miss Augusta E. Keller has been president of the Book Club, and both ladies are popular in the congenial circle they have gathered about them.

Source: A Standard History of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio by Benjamin F. Prince, 1922, page 200

THE KELLY FAMILY has been one whose name has been written large upon the history of Springfield and Clark County, where its representatives have stood exponent of constructive enterprise and high civic ideals. The family was founded in Clark County more than a century ago, its original American representatives, of Scotch-Irish lineage, having come to this country in the early Colonial period and having settled in Virginia. James Kelly grandfather of Oliver S. Kelly, who became a citizen of prominence and influence in Clark County, went forth from Virginia as a patriot soldier in the War of the Revolution. John Kelly, son of this Revolutionary soldier, accompanied his father to Ohio when a youth, and the family home was established in Clark County in the year 1808. John Kelly, as a soldier in the War of 1812, well upheld the military honors of the family name and he was in the prime of life at the time of his death, in 1825. His wife, Margaret, was a daughter of Alexander McBeth.

Source: A Standard History of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio by Benjamin F. Prince, 1922, page 5

EDWIN S. KELLY was born at Springfield on the 17th of April, 1857, and here has well upheld the high industrial and civic prestige of the family name. In 1878 he graduated from Wooster University, with the degree of Bachelor of Science. He has been virtually self-sustaining since he was a lad of twelve years, and he depended upon his own financial resources in completing his education. After leaving college, with $400 of borrowed capital, he bought an interest in the commission coal business, with William Pimlott as his partner. This enterprise proved successful and was continued sixteen years. Mr. Kelly then organized the now widely known Kelly-Springfield Tire Company, his interest in which he sold five years later, at a handsome profit. He then organized the Home Lighting Heating & Power Company, and his fine administrative ability made this concern likewise a distinctive success. Mr. Kelly likewise organized the Kelly-Springfield Motor Truck Company, and developed the same into one of the foremost industrial concerns of its kind in the United States. He has disposed of the major part of his stock in this company, but is still interested in the large and prosperous enterprise. He is now president of the Kelly-Springfield Printing Company, and aside from his executive service with this corporation he gives his personal supervision also to his extensive farming interests near Yellow Springs, Ohio. He is liberal and public-spirited as a citizen and takes lively interest in all that touches the welfare of his native city and county. His political allegiance is given to the republican party.

In 1881 Mr. Kelly was united in marriage with Miss Patti C. Linn, and they have four children: Ruth (Mrs. Stanley J. Fay), Leah (Mrs. George M. Foos), Oliver S. and Martha. In the World war the son, Oliver S., enlisted under the English flag, but was later granted a transfer to an American command and was assigned to the army truck service in France, he having been assigned to special duty after the signing of the historic armistice and after his return home having received his honorable discharge, with the rank of second lieutenant. He is now on a plantation in Santo Domingo (1922). Miss Martha Kelly, who is now actively engaged in social-service work at Springfield, took a special course of training for nurses at the time of the World war, and was in active service at the Wilbur Wright aviation field during the influenza epidemic, after which she served seven months in the Walter Reed Hospital, Washington, District of Columbia.

Source: A Standard History of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio by Benjamin F. Prince, 1922, page 8

O. S. KELLY, Champion Works, Springfield; is a native of Clark County; son of John Kelly, who was a native of Kentucky, and came with his father’s family to Ohio in 1806. They settled in Green Township, then a part of Champaign County, where John grew to manhood and took part in the war of 1812; his father, James Kelly, was a soldier of the Revolution from the colony of Virginia, and raised a large family—eight sons and four daughters—most of whom have descendants now residing in this county. The subject of this sketch was born on a farm adjoining the old homestead, which his father purchased after his marriage with Margaret, daughter of Alexander McBeth, who was also an early resident of that part of the county. His father died Dec. 23, 1824, when he was but 10 years old, but his mother remained on the farm, and was married a second time about four years later. Oliver S. remained at home until 14 years of age, when circumstances compelled him to leave home and take care of himself, but fortunately he found a home with W. F. McIntire, familiarly known as “Uncle Billy,” with whom he remained assisting on the farm until the spring of 1842, when he came to Springfield and began a carpenter apprenticeship with Joseph McIntire, a brother of his foster parent, serving three years, for which he received $168, in addition to his instruction in the trade and board. After which he worked as journeyman about one year, when he entered into partnership with J. A. Anderson, and the firm of Anderson & Kelly were leading builders and contractors until the spring of 1852, when the partnership was dissolved and Mr. Kelly went to California, leaving his wife and one child here. After a stay of nearly four years having accumulated enough money for a start, he returned to Springfield in 1856, and for a short time was connected with a wholesale grocery house. Jan. 1, he became a member of the firm of Whiteley, Fassler & Kelly; he being taken in partly because he was a wood mechanic, but more particularly because he had a few thousand dollars in ready money, an article which was very scarce in the infant days of this firm, which has since developed into one of the most important agricultural manufactories of the world. Mr. Kelly was married, Dec. 23, 1847, to Ruth Ann, daughter of B. W. Peck, an old resident of Springfield, having removed here from Bridgeton, N. J., coming from Baltimore to Pittsburgh by wagon, and then on a “flat” down the Ohio to Cincinnati, where he left his family and came on foot to Springfield, and, having determined to locate here, secured a team and brought his family. Mrs. Kelly is also a native of Clark County; was born in Springfield Dec. 24, 1822. They have two children living—O. W. and E. S. Mr. Kelly, it will be seen, commenced the battle of life at the age of 14 without means or friends, though he soon found the latter in Mr. and Mrs. McIntire, whom he will ever gratefully remember, and by his own industry, frugality and energy, steadily, though at first slowly, gained his way to the position he now occupies as a manufacturer and citizen of this city. Mr. Kelly, while belonging to no sect or society, gives liberally his sympathy and support to all methods for the general good of the city. His residence, southwest corner of South Market and Mulberry streets, compares favorably with the elegant homes with which this part of the city abounds.

Source: The History of Clark County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., 1881, page 858

OLIVER S. KELLY, son of John and Margaret (McBeth) Kelly, was born in a pioneer log cabin which is still standing, about four miles south of Springfield, and the date of his nativity was December 23, 1824, his father having been a native of Kentucky and having died when Oliver S. was an infant. The widowed mother later contracted a second marriage, and the stepfather proved austere and unkind in the treatment of the boy. A quarrel between the two led to Oliver S. leaving home when a lad of fourteen years, his devoted mother having grieved at the parting and having prepared his little package of personal effects when he started away from home one Sunday morning, with determination not to submit to further abuse on the part of his stepfather. He proceeded to the home of William (“Uncle Billy”) McIntire, a mile or two distant. Of his reception at this pioneer home the following brief record has been given: “When he arrived he found Aunt Polly, the wife of William McIntire, and to her he told his story. In her great-hearted way, she said, ‘Oliver, stay right here, and you don’t need to go any farther for a home.’ He remained with the McIntire’s four years, and worked on the farm for fifty dollars a year. At that time the McIntire children were small, and Aunt Polly used to say in after years that Oliver Kelly did more to rear them than she did. In later years, when Mr. Kelly had succeeded in life and accumulated a competency, and when his stepfather and Uncle Billy McIntire had fallen into hard lines financially, it was a source of pleasure to Mr. Kelly to sooth the declining years and smooth the pathways of these folk—the one having been his early friend and the other having had the proverbial coals of fire placed upon his head when the stepson came to his rescue.”

At the age of eighteen years Oliver S. Kelly entered upon a practical apprenticeship to the carpenter’s trade, in the learning of which he worked four years at a wage of $75 a year. A number of the barns which he erected in Clark County in those early days are still standing. In those days a carpenter had to possess skill as an architect also, and Mr. Kelly was able to build as perfect a winding staircase as can be produced today, few of the average working carpenters of the present time having equal skill. As a young man Mr. Kelly wedded Miss Ruth Ann Peck who was born at Springfield, this county. When the gold excitment was at its height in California Mrs. Kelly bravely responded when her husband expressed a desire to go to that land of promise, and she assured him that she would care for the home and children during his absence. He made the journey to California by way of the Isthmus of Panama in 1852, and upon his return, four years later, he brought back $5,000 in gold. With this capital he engaged in the wholesale grocery business at Springfield, and was the founder of one of the very first wholesale houses in the progressive town. After the lapse of one year Mr. Kelly sold this business and formed a partnership with William Whitely and Jerome Fassler. Mr. Whitely having been an inventor and Mr. Fassler a machinist. Mr. Kelly had available his capital of $5,000, and his partners being able to invest only $1,000 each, he loaned to them the other $4,000, for which they gave a joint note, Mr. Kelly having held this note twenty years before it was settled. The history of the Whitely, Fassler & Kelly Company has become a well known part of the industrial and commercial history of Springfield, and needs no rehearsal in this connection. In the first few years of the partnership Mr. Kelly, with the aid of one assistant, did all of the carpenter work of the firm; Mr. Fassler, with one of two assistants, did all the machine work; and Mr. Whitely carried on the experimenting and research that brought increasing success to this pioneer manufacturing enterprise. Mr. Kelly continued his connection with the business until 1881, when he sold his interest to Mr. Whitely. He played a large part in the civic and industrial development and progress of Springfield, and his name merits a place of enduring honor in the history of his native county.

In politics Mr. Kelly was originally a whig and thereafter a republican. In 1887 he was elected mayor of Springfield, in which office he served one term, with characteristic ability and loyalty. In 1863, as a young man, he was elected a member of the City Council, in which position he served six consecutive years. In this and other ways he had much to do in shaping the destiny of the future city. He was one of the trustees that had charge of the installing of the original waterworks system of Springfield, and while he was mayor the City Hall and the City Hospital were built and equipped. His life as a whole was a fine exemplification of the “Golden Rule.” Mr. Kelly had exceptional musical talent, and in the earlier period of his residence at Springfield his fine voice was heard regularly in the choir of the old Baptist Church that stood at the northeast corner of High and Limestone streets. After many years a dissention in this church so disgusted him that he severed his connection therewith, never afterward to become actively identified with any church organization. The death of Mr. Kelly occurred April 9, 1904, and that of his wife occurred in the following year. Of their five children only two are now living, Oliver W. and Edwin S. of whom specific mention is made in following paragraphs.

Source: A Standard History of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio by Benjamin F. Prince, 1922, page 6

OLIVER WARREN KELLY, elder of the two surviving sons of the late Oliver S. Kelly, was born in the family home on South Center Street, Springfield, December 11, 1851. In 1869 he was sent to Weinheim, Germany, to learn the German language and also to attend a leading preparatory school. When the Franco-Prussian war was precipitated he pursued his studies in the polytechnic school at Zurich, Switzerland, and at the close of the Franco-Prussian war he was a student in a similar institution in Aix la Chapelle, Prussia. He returned home in 1873, and at once entered the employ of Whitely, Fassler & Kelly, his experience having eventually covered every department of the business, including field work. In the fall of 1877 Mr. Kelly became superintendent of the Champion Malleable Iron Works at Springfield, and he thus continued his service until the fall of 1880. After passing two years in Colorado, where he was associated with mining enterprise, he returned to Springfield and became general superintendent of the Springfield Engine & Thresher Company, which in March, 1890, was reorganized as the O. S. Kelly Company. Upon the death of his father, in 1904, Mr. Kelly succeeded to the presidency of this company, of which he has since continued the executive head, with secure status as one of the influential factors in the industrial and commercial circles of his native city.

Mr. Kelly is a republican, and has completed the circle of both the York and Scottish Rites of the Masonic fraternity, in the latter of which he has received the thirty-second degree besides, being affiliated with the Mystic Shrine.

Mr. Kelly wedded Miss Kate Fassler, daughter of Jerome Fassler, and of their four children three are living: Armin Lee, Louise (Mrs. Carl Ultes) and Katherine. Bessie died in infancy.

Source: A Standard History of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio by Benjamin F. Prince, 1922, page 7

G. F. KENNEDY, physician and farmer; P. O. New Moorefield; born in Baltimore, Md., Sept. 11, 1827. Is son of Thomas and Ellen F. (Barker) Kennedy natives of Baltimore, Md. Thomas Kennedy, the grandfather, was a sea Captain and followed the seas all his life, and by the wrecking of his vessel he lost his life. Thomas, the father, also followed the seas as Captain of a vessel for twenty-six years; then he emigrated to Ohio, locating in Clark Co., upon the farm where his sons now reside, in 1835. Here he lived until his death, which occurred Nov. 23, 1868, aged 76 years. His wife died Aug. 10, 1856. Of an issue a seven children, four now survive—George F., Thomas, Julia Ann and Emma. Mr. Kennedy in early life, while following the seas, partook in character, to a great extent, the general roughness of seafaring men; but after his locating on his farm, he joined the M. E. Church Jan. 3, 1842, and from this time to the close of his life was a very active and zealous worker in the cause of Christianity, and was a class-leader in the church during the last year of his life. Our subject was brought up to farm labor, and followed that occupation until 1845, when he attended the Ohio Wesleyan University, at Delaware, Ohio, two and one-half years; then commenced reading medicine under Dr. Rodgers, in Springfield. In the fall of 1849, he attended lectures at the Ohio Medical College, also in the winter of 1851, graduating at the close of the latter term. Then he located upon the old home farm, where he continued the practice of his profession nearly thirty years; and in connection with his practice has, since his father’s death, superintended the farm, which consists of 103 acres of fine land, mostly in cultivation. Dr. Kennedy has been an active member of the M. E. Church since 1843, having been a steward in the church twelve years. On Sept. 14, 1851, he was married to Miss Emma, daughter of Rowland and Lydia Swain, natives of Nantucket, and a niece of Judge Swain, of Dayton, Ohio. Issue, nine children; eight now survive—Walter W., Sarah W., Franklin, Emma, Thomas, Edward, Charles and James J.

Source: The History of Clark County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., 1881, page 990

ELAM KENNEY, deceased. This deceased pioneer was born in Paris, Ky., Nov. 1, 1803, and was the son of David and Martha Kenney, natives of that State. His father having died, his mother with seven children came to Springfield, Ohio, in 1807, where Elam, who was the youngest in the family, grew to manhood. He learned the blacksmith trade, which he followed until about fifteen years previous to his death, when he retired from active business. He was married, July 20, 1843, to Charlotte Maskill, daughter of Robert and Isabel Maskill, natives of England, who came to Clark Co., Ohio, in 1820, and settled in Harmony Township; afterward moving to Union Co., Ohio, where both died. Mrs. Kenney was born in Yorkshire, England, May 3, 1814, and had four children by this union, viz., David C. (deceased), Mary (the wife of H. J. Creighton, of Springfield), Elam W. (deceased), and Robert M., who is one of the leading coal dealers of this city. Mr. Kenney died Nov. 18, 1872, and his widow is residing in a handsome residence on Jefferson street. He began life a poor, penniless boy, but by hard, constant industry, and steady, saving habits, he amassed a comfortable estate. He was an upright, honest man, whom all respected.

Source: The History of Clark County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., 1881, page 859

ROBERT M. KENNEY, miller and coal dealer, Springfield; is a son of Elam Kenney, who was a native of Kentucky, born at the present site of Paris in 1804. His father removed from Kentucky in the year 1808. On account of his objections to slavery, he desired to raise his family in the atmosphere of freedom, and accordingly came to Ohio and settled in the vicinity of Springfield, on the now Clifton Pike. Here Elam grew to manhood, learned the blacksmith’s trade, and first commenced business for himself on the lot on Main Street now occupied by Humphreys & Carter’s tin store. After his marriage with Charlotte Maskill, this same site became his residence. Mrs. Kenney’s parents were among the early settlers of Harmony Township, but subsequently sold out and removed to Union County. About the time of his marriage, Mr. Kenney engaged in the livery business, which he soon after sold out, and having invested his means in real estate retired from active labor, and devoted his attention to his property interests until his decease, which occurred in November, 1872. His wife and two children survived him. Mrs. H. J. Creighton is a daughter. Robert M., who had come to look after the property to a large extent previous to his father’s death, now took charge, and, in 1876, opened a coal yard on Washington street, between Factory and Mechanic streets, and has established a desirable trade. In 1878, he purchased the necessary machinery and fitted up a custom flour-mill, which he now operates, and is also a member of the firm of Kenney & Minnich, manufacturers of novelties. He resides with his mother at 80 West Jefferson street. She is now in her 70th year, and has moved but once since she began domestic life in 1840.

Source: The History of Clark County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., 1881, page 859

JOHN KERSHNER, brick-mason and contractor, Springfield. His residence is No. 266 East street. Since 1860, he has been engaged quite extensively in contracting buildings. The firm is Kershner & Trimmer. They have done the mason work—being the contractors—of quite a number of the large brick buildings in Springfield, such as “Mast, Foos & Cos.’ West End Shops,” the “Commercial Block,” Thomas & Son’s shops, etc. Mr. K. was born in what is now Springfield Township, this county, Oct. 4, 1829, on the farm which was entered by his grandfather in 1804. He lived at home working on the farm until 19 years old, when he began his present trade, at which he has worked ever since. He was married, March 30, 1853, to Adaline Knaub (sister of George S. Knaub). Six children have blessed their home, viz., Jacob A. (who died in infancy), Amand F., Mary A., Sarah C., George E. and Alice A. Mary was married, Feb. 8, 1876, to C. A. Schuster. Mrs. K. was born in Pennsylvania April 2, 1834. John’s father, Jacob Kershner, was a native of Hagerstown, Md., and came to Ohio and to this county with his parents in 1825. He was married the same year, Feb. 14, to Sarah Worbie. He died in 1866, and she is still living at the advanced age of 74 years. In 1804, Jacob’s father came to this, now Clark County, for the purpose of entering land. Mr. Baum, the Government Surveyor, was at the time surveying this part of Ohio, and Mr. Kershner—being a relative of Mr. Baum’s—traveled with him some four months. This gave him an excellent opportunity of viewing the land. He therefore entered the farm (now owned by Isaac Jacobs), which lies about two miles south of Springfield, and, in the fall, returned to Maryland, where he remained until 1825, when he with his sons Jacob, Isaac and William, and Jacob’s wife, moved here, and erected a house and began clearing the farm. In the spring of 1825, went back to Maryland for the rest of the family. John, the subject of this sketch, was a member of the City Council of Springfield for the years 1876 and 1877. His father was the leader of the Democratic Party in this county for twenty years.

Source: The History of Clark County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., 1881, page 860

PHILIP KERSHNER was born at Springfield, Ohio, June 28, 1832; where, after completing his education, he learned the carpenter’s trade, and became a practical builder; he was also connected with the early development of the manufacture of agricultural implements here, which with various other experiences, has given him a large fund of business knowledge. In 1856, he was chosen Lieutenant of a local militia organization, and remained actively interested in this service until the outbreak of the civil war, when he raised and commanded Co. E, in the 16th O. V. I. (three months), and was one of the active spirits in the re-organization of that corps for the three years’ service; he was made Major in August, 1861; Lieutenant Colonel in September, 1862; Acting Colonel in 1864; served as special instructor of military tactics in the Seventh Division, Army of the Ohio; was placed in command of the 3d Brigade, 1st Division, Thirteenth Army Corps, Acting Brigadier General. Col. Kershner was engaged in twelve general battles besides many skirmishes; he was severely wounded in the left arm, at Chickasaw Bluffs, and, at the close of the war, he again entered civil life, having made one of the most brilliant records of any of our local volunteers. He was married to Miss Rebecca A. Ramsey and now resides in Detroit, Mich.

Source: The History of Clark County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., 1881, page 859

JOHN KIBLINGER, farmer; P. O. Eagle City; born on the farm where he now resides, Sept. 11, 1816; is a son of Jacob and Mary (Pence) Kiblinger, natives of Virginia. Jacob first visited this county in 1801, and between this date and the year 1805, made four trips from Virginia to this county, assisting in moving several of the Kiblinger and Pence families to this their new home. On the last trip, which was in 1805, he brought his father, Jacob and family, and all now became permanent residents of this county, being truly pioneers of the county. Jacob Kiblinger, Sr., built the first saw-mill and hemp-mill in this township, located on Mad River, near the place where the Eagle City Mills now stand. Jacob Kiblinger, Jr., on one of his first trips to this county, between 1801 and 1805, entered 80 acres of land, which is embraced in the farm of our subject. From the year 1805, when they made their permanent settlement, they commenced to open out and clear up the land and make a home. After some years of labor and toil, the grandparents died, and the work was continued by the father. He lived till Feb. 18, 1860, when death released him from all earthly cares. His wife died Dec. 30, 1870. They were parents of eleven children, four now survive—John, Eli, Jemima and Lemuel. Our subject lived with his father till his marriage, to Mary Jane, daughter of Henry and Eva (Snyder) Pence, natives of Virginia. Issue, four children, two now survive—Eva Ann and Mary Catharine. His wife died June 24, 1847. His second marriage was Dec. 12, 1847, to Elizabeth, daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth Grube, natives of Pennsylvania. Issue, four children, three now survive—Lucinda, Sylvanus and Joanna. Mr. Kiblinger, after his first marriage, located in Champaign Co., near Westville, and resided eight years; thence back to the old home place, where he bought out the heirs and took care of his parents till their death, and has always remained here till the present time; has cleared up and brought into cultivation, right from the woods, 100 acres since he purchased the farm. His farm now embraces 185 acres in good cultivation, with good improvements, and constitutes one of the best corn and stock farms in German Township. Mr. Kiblinger refuses all offices of the township, but is an active member of the Agricultural Board of Clark Co.; was one of its organizers, and has been actively engaged in its work and welfare for several years. Mr. Kiblinger is one of the active and progressive farmers of Clark Co.

Source: The History of Clark County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., 1881, page 1002

JOSEPH L. KIDDER, Springfield. Mr. Kidder is a native of Ohio, born in Madison County in 1827. His youth was principally spent in Akron, where he learned the business of tobacconist, and has since been employed in that trade until within the past three years. He came to Springfield in 1853, and has since resided here, with the exception of about two years’ absence in Iowa. He was for a number of years engaged here in the manufacture of cigars, and as wholesale and retail dealer in tobacco; he built the Western engine house, and used it for a tobacco-factory several years. In 1877, being out of business, he leased ground and erected a building with a view of experimenting on the practicability of keeping an eating house, which should furnish meals and lunch at popular rates. A look at his rooms will convince the most skeptical that he has satisfactorily solved the problem and secured a large custom; he is located on Market street, near the market square; there is a double front with separate entrances—one leading to the lunch counter, in the rear of which is the general dining-hall; the other ushers you into the ladies dining-hall, which has a ladies’ dressing-room and other conveniences, while a large space in the rear of the dining-halls is devoted to the culinary department. Mr. Kidder served the public as member of Council several years; is a member of the I. O. O. F., and a respected citizen; has a family of two children—Mrs. C. P. Stauffer, of Dayton, and William S. Mrs. Kidder, nee Miss Matilda Steele, is a daughter of Marshfield S. Steele, deceased, who was formerly actively and successfully engaged in business here, and one of the substantial and respected citizens of Springfield; her mother, now in her 81st year, still resides here.

Source: The History of Clark County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., 1881, page 860

A. P. KIDWELL, agent and operator C., C., C. & I. R. R., Enon. Mr. Kidwell is the son of Amos and Rachel Kidwell, who were natives of Virginia and emigrated to Ohio (Nov. 15) in the year 1839, locating in Franklin County. Our subject was born in Franklin Co., Ohio, Jan 12, 1845, and received a common-school education in his native county. At the age of 19 he went to Louis Center and learned telegraphing, in which business he has since been engaged. He was sent to Enon to take charge of the first office on the short line, and has remained there ever since; he married Miss Augusta Sherman, of Delaware Co., Ohio, and they have two children—Vernon, born Jan. 21, 1879; and Henry Stanley, born April 16, 1880.

Source: The History of Clark County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., 1881, page 1044

WILLIAM A. KILLS, SR.; a resident of Springfield. On the 15th day of October, 1824, Jacob W. Kills (the father of our subject) and family came into Clark County. The father just mentioned was a native of Hunnelstown, Penn., born Dec. 22, 1788. He was married to Mrs. Rebecca S. Davis (whose maiden name was Carter, Aug. 11, 1807, who was also a native of Pennsylvania, born in the year 1777. To this union were born William A., Mary, Jacob, Rebecca S., and Susan O. The father was a paper manufacturer, which business he immediately connected himself with on his arrival in this county, as aforesaid. He joined David James and Lowry under the firmname of James Lowry & Co., in the manufacturing of that article in mills located in the vicinity of Donnelsville. In 1828, there was a change in the firm, it becoming J. W. Kills., Dr. A. Blunt & James Lowry, which firm left the old mill and built a mill in Springfield the same year (1828) continuing in the same business. Our subject was born at Ingham’s Mill, Pennsylvania, Sept. 11, 1808. His youth was passed in and about the mill with his father. He received a fair common-school education which was obtained mostly in the school of Clark County, in the vicinity of the old mill. In the year 1837 he was taken into the firm, which finally become “Jacob W. Kills & Son.” The mill was operated by them until the outbreak of the late civil war in 1861, when they succumbed to the pressure thereby brought about. The father died in the spring of 1868, one of Springfield’s early enterprising manufacturers. The mother died the summer previous. Our subject in 1861 after “the downfall” entered the Lagonda Agricultural shops, where he has ever since been employed. He was united in marriage with Miss Charlotte Hawkins, a native of Yorkshire, England, daughter of James Hawkins, Oct. 29, 1836, by the Rev. Saul Henkle. The union was blessed with the following children: Sarah A., John, William, James, Jacob (the latter fell in defense of his country in the war of the rebellion). In politics Mr. Kills is a staunch Republican, having been identified with that party since its organization. He is a man of very fine physique, being scant six feet in height, and weighing 180 pounds, masculine in the extreme, well developed and fine proportioned, and of a very jovial nature.

Source: The History of Clark County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., 1881, page 953

ROBERT L. KILPATRICK, retired officer of United States Army, Springfield. Among the many prominent men who adorn history, none are more worthy of mention than those who fought, and suffered for their country’s rights. During the late rebellion, when the question was whether this glorious Union should be preserved or destroyed, thousands answered their country’s first call, pledging themselves to die, if need be, in maintaining the Union; and among that number was our subject, Col. Robert L. Kilpatrick was born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, April 20, 1825; he joined the British army as volunteer, April 21, 1841, and served in said army until March 3, 1851; was in foreign service all that time, except one year; left the regiment at Bermuda Islands and came to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he learned ornamental painting and imitation of woods and marbles. In 1861, April 21, in the first call for troops, Mr. Kilpatrick raised a company of 101 men, and was assigned as Co. B, 5th O. V. I.; served as Captain in said regiment until April 17, 1863, when he was mustered in as Lieutenant Colonel, and commanded the regiment in several engagements; he lost his right arm in the battle of Chancellorsville, on the 3d day of May, 1863, while in command of the regiment; he received two other wounds in the same battle; joined the regiment again in January, 1864; was mustered out of the regiment Aug. 7, and, in October of the same year, was appointed Captain of a company of cavalry of the Veteran Reserve Corps, and was Assistant Provost Marshal of the Military District of Washington; he was mustered out of the Reserve Corps June 30, 1866, and appointed Captain in the regular army July 28, same year; he received brevet rank of Major and Lieutenant Colonel of the regular army, and was retired with full rank of Colonel Dec.15, 1870. He was taken prisoner on the retreat from the battle of Ft. Republic, Va., June 9, 1862, and was held in Salsbury and Libby Prisons about three months. He was married, in October, 1855, to Margaret Lang, also a native of Paisley, Scotland. In 1871, they came to Springfield, and have permanently located here; their residence is on the southeast corner of Yellow Springs and Washington streets. Should any one who reads this sketch call on the Colonel, they will find him a very pleasant and affable gentleman.

Source: The History of Clark County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., 1881, page 861

ENOCH KING, farmer; P. O. Vienna X Roads. The subject of this sketch is the son of the late Enoch King; his father was born in the State of Pennsylvania, and came to Ohio and settled in Harmony Township, Clark Co., about 1800, having walked from near Pittsburgh, Penn., with his “knapsack” on his back and his cane in his hand. He was married to Miss Martha Gaston in January, 1826, she being his second wife, his first wife being a sister to his second. Martha was born Jan. 20, 1804, in Washington Co., Penn.; in 1825, she came to Clark Co., Ohio, from the State of Pennsylvania, having rode on horseback all the way; as a result of his marriage to Martha, thirteen children was born to them, six only are now living—the subject of this sketch being one of them. At the time of his death, which occurred May 17, 1865, Enoch King, Sr., was the owner of a large farm of 350 acres of land in Harmony Township. Enoch and his wife, Martha, were very industrious and used great economy, and as a result of this had accumulated a considerable amount of this “world’s” goods. Martha King is still living near Plattsburg, Clark Co., Ohio, in her 76th year, surrounded with the comforts of life. Enoch, the subject of this sketch, was born in Harmony Township, Clark Co., Ohio, July 28, 1840, on the “old homestead;” he has always been a farmer; he remained at home with his parents on the farm until the death of his father, in 1865; in the winter of 1865-66, he went to Missouri; in the spring, he returned to his old home; he and his brother Daniel purchased one of the farms owned by his father at his death; they lived on the farm for some eight years, when they sold it. Mr. King was united in marriage to Miss Mary Funston, a daughter of W. S. Funston, of Vienna, a very old and honored citizen; the marriage ceremony was performed by Elder Overturf, March 1, 1874; this marriage has been blessed by the birth of three children, two of whom are still living, viz., Walter S. was born Feb. 23, 1877, and Olive M. was born Sept. 23, 1880. Mr. K. is a past Grand in Vienna Lodge No. 345, I. O. O. F., and also a member of the Encampment branch of the order at Springfield. Mr. King is residing on a farm now near Vienna; he has an interest in the old homestead of 188 acres.

Source: The History of Clark County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., 1881, page 960

ROBERT LEFFLER KING, only surviving son of the late Robert Q. King, to whom the preceding memoir is dedicated, was born August 24, 1863, and reared at Springfield, where his early educational advantages included those of Wittenberg College. He has been prominently concerned in the promotion of agricultural and live-stock industry in Hancock County, Ohio, where he is the owner of valuable farm property, and has also been a successful dealer in real estate. He was associated with his brother, the late D. Ward King, in the erection of the Arcue Building, one of the modem business structures of Springfield, and given its name from the initials of their father, R. Q. In this building he maintains his business office.

Mr. King as a citizen and business man has fully upheld the honors of the family name, which has been connected with the history of Springfield for more than eighty years, and he takes deep interest in all that touches the welfare of his native city and county. He and his wife are members of the Covenant Presbyterian Church.

June 4, 1891, recorded the marriage of Mr. King and Miss Lola Askam, of Vanlue, Hancock County, and they have three children: Edwin A., Hamlin C. and Jessie. Edwin A. married Miss Helen Wetmore, and they have two daughters, Marguerite and Ruth. Hamlin C. married Miss Edith Cole, and they have two children, Donald L. and Ethel Jessie.

Source: A Standard History of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio by Benjamin F. Prince, 1922, page 194

ROBERT QUIGLEY KING was a lad of about nine years at the time when his parents established their home at Springfield, in 1841, and with the passing years he played a large and worthy part in the civic and business development and progress of the city in which he passed virtually his entire life. He was widely and familiarly known by his personal initials, “R. Q.,” which are most pleasingly perpetuated in the name of the fine Arcue Building which was erected by his sons D. Ward and Robert L. at the northwest corner of High Street and Fountain Avenue.

Robert Q. King was born at Tarlton, Pickaway County, this state, August 13, 1832, and was a brother of Colonel David King, a venerable citizen and still active business man of whom specific mention is made on other pages of this work. Mr. King was a son of David and Almena (Caldwell) King, who came to Springfield in 1841, the father here engaging in mercantile and later in the real estate business and having contributed much to the early upbuilding of the future city. His death occurred in 1849, and his wife survived him by several years. Both were earnest members of the First Presbyterian Church. Of their nine children six attained to mature years: Robert Q., Mary E. K. (Mrs. Luther A. Gotwald), David, Sarah J., S. Noble and Minnie.

Robert Q. King became a student in Wittenberg College at the time when its sessions were held in the First Lutheran Church at Springfield, and he was one of the early graduates of this now important educational institution which lends prestige to Springfield. As a young man he engaged in the retail hardware business, in which his associate was Alexander Runyon. The business was conducted under the firm name of Runyon & King until he sold his interest and turned his attention to the real estate business, of which he became one of the leading representatives in the city and county. He was an able business man, and in his real estate operations he did much to advance the material upbuilding of his home city.

Mr. King organized the first hook-and-ladder company in Springfield, and was one of the valued members of the old volunteer fire department. In the department of the later years he continued to maintain a deep interest, even to the time of his death. After the paid fire department was established he was the second to serve as its chief, a position which he retained about ten years. He was a republican in political adherency, and he and his wife were zealous members of the First (now Covenant) Presbyterian Church, of which he served many years as treasurer.

As a young man Mr. King wedded Miss Harriet A. Danforth, of New Albany, Indiana, who had come to Springfield as a teacher in the old Female Seminary on College Avenue, where now stands the Northern Public School of the city. The death of Robert Q. King occurred November 26, 1917, his wife having preceded him to eternal rest. They became the parents of five children: D. Ward and Thomas Danforth are deceased; Robert L., the one surviving son, is individually mentioned in a sketch immediately following this memoir; Almena K. is the wife of Harvey J. Warrick; and Madge C. is deceased.

D. Ward King, the eldest son, was born October 27, 1857, was reared in Springfield and was educated in Wittenberg College. When a young man he went to Missouri and engaged in farm enterprise. He became known throughout the entire Union as a stalwart advocate of the good-roads movement, and was the inventor of the King Road Drag, which became widely used in the improving of roads. He married Mary Burbank, of Springfield, and they had four children. Mr. King died February 9, 1919, and is survived by his wife and children, namely: Lettia Reed, Robert Q., Jr., Miriam Caywood and David Bryant.

Source: A Standard History of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio by Benjamin F. Prince, 1922, page 192

JOHN A. KINGORE; is a resident of Springfield, and is familiarly known as “Uncle John.” He was born in Frederick County, Va., June 22, 1822. His parents, Amos Kingore and Hannah Buckley, were natives of the same county and State, the former being by trade a shoemaker. Our subject, with his parents, came to Clark County in the year 1831, and settled at Donnelsville, where he resided until 1858, then went to Springfield, where he has ever since resided. By an accident which befell him in early life, Mr. Kingore was incapacitated for farming or manual labor, so turned his attention to books, and received, probably, a fuller education than he otherwise would have done. This he did with a view of teaching, which occupation he followed for at least twenty-five years. He was united in marriage with Miss Lydia Smith, Sept. 5, 1855, and to them were born five children, namely: William, Amy, Charles, Azer and Eddie, the latter being the only one now living. Mrs. Kingore died May 13, 1869. Both were members of the First Baptist Church of Springfield, to which Mr. Kingore still belongs, and is a consistent member. He is the present Weighmaster and Market Clerk of the city, having held such position for the past decade. He has also served the people of Springfield Township as Clerk for many years. Mr. Kingore is an esteemed and highly respected citizen. The father of our subject died in 1859, in the 71st year of his age, and the mother died in 1854, in her 69th year.

Source: The History of Clark County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., 1881, page 953

JOSEPH C. KIPLINGER, farmer; P. O. Eagle City; born on the farm where he now resides, Feb. 11, 1842; is a son of Philip and Mahala (Shockey) Kiplinger, he a native of Virginia and she of Kentucky. The grandfather, Daniel Kiplinger, also a native of Virginia, became a resident of Ohio, locating in German Township, in 1806, being one of the pioneers of the county, settling here when this section was nearly all in its primeval forests, and the Indians their principal neighbors. Here he lived till his death, which occurred about 1852. Philip was about 2 years of age when brought here by his parents, and was raised and brought up in this county, and lived and died here, living his entire married life in the same neighborhood of his father. He died April 8, 1867. His wife is still living, now 74 years of age. They were parents of fifteen children, ten now survive—William, Daniel, James, Elizabeth Ann and Mary Jane (twins), Joseph and Philip (twins), A. Philander, Lucetta, Caroline and B. Franklin. Our subject lived with his father, brought up to farm labor till his majority. Was married, April 23, 1868, to Emma J., daughter of Noah and Louisa Ernst, natives of Virginia. Issue, two children—Viola and Philip Wilbur. Mr. Kiplinger has always resided upon the old home place, with the exception of four years spent in Moorefield Township, moving back again in the spring of 1874. The home place consists of 96 acres, mostly in cultivation, with good improvements. Mr. Kiplinger and wife are members of the M. E. Church. Grandfathers of our subject will receive due mention in the history of German Township, in the body of this work, as its pioneers. And we would add further in justice to the patriotism of this family, that four our subject’s brothers were enlisted in the defense of our country in the late rebellion, one of whom died while in the army.

Source: The History of Clark County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., 1881, page 1003

MRS. ANN KIRKHAM, Springfield. The subject of this sketch is the widow of the late John Kirkham, of Clark Co., Ohio; she was born in England Jan. 4, 1815; she was united in marriage to John Kirkham May 3, 1837 (her maiden name was Slee); they came to American in 1837, and settled near South Charleston, Clark Co., Ohio; as a result of their marriage there were born to them six children, all of whom are now living in Harmony Township, viz., John J. was born March 2, 1838, in Harmony Township, was married Jan. 24, 1876 to Miss A. J. Raddy; they have four children, viz., John M., George C., James W. and Jesse G.; he is the owner of the farm on which he resides—191 acres of land; Ann is the owner of a farm of 127 acres of land; Anthony (for his life, see sketch on Anthony Kirkham); Ellen was born Sept. 2, 1842, in Green Township, Clark Co., Ohio; she is the owner of a farm of 145 acres of land; Stephen was born in Green Township, Clark Co., Ohio, April 14, 1844; his is the owner of a farm of 207 acres of land; and William was born in Clark Co. Nov. 2, 1845; he attended Wittenburg College; he taught school a short time; he was married Sept. 18, 1873, to Miss Elizabeth Oates, of Clark Co.; they have three children, viz., Harland R., Anna M., Nora; he is the owner of a farm of 160 acres of land.

Source: The History of Clark County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., 1881, page 960

ANTHONY KIRKHAM, farmer; P. O. Plattsburg. The subject of this sketch was born Dec. 28, 1840, in Harmony Township, Clark Co., Ohio; he has been a farmer during life. He was united in marriage Feb. 9, 1867, to Miss Lavina Henry, a daughter of Johnson Henry, an old pioneer of Clark Co.; as a result of this marriage, there have been three children born to them, viz., Frank H., born Sept. 26, 1868; Charles H., born June 7, 1871, and Glanora, born Dec. 18, 1873. Mr. K. is the owner of a farm of 241 acres of land near the town of Lisbon, where he resides.

Source: The History of Clark County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., 1881, page 960

THOMAS J. KIRKPATRICK editor Farm and Fireside, Springfield. Thomas J. Kirkpatrick was born in Dayton, Ohio, on the 23d of September, 1855, being the second of three children, all boys—the oldest dead and the youngest living. When 4 years of age, his father left for the Pacific Coast to engage in mining, being a mining expert; for many years he was believed to be dead; though the first years of absence he contributed to the family support, yet to his mother was due not only the greater part of his sustenance during boyhood, but the guidance and formation of his business habits and moral character; the labor of her hands secured to him the benefits of education. About June 1, 1870, feeling unwilling to longer burden his mother, he entered the United Brethren Publishing House to learn the printing business, being then 15; after remaining a year, his uncle, P. P. Mast offered him a situation in his office, in which he was installed on Jan. 1, 1871; his experience in the printing business secured him the control of P. P. Mast & Co.’s private printing office, which they put in the following spring; in the subsequent fall, Mr. Mast announced, in Mr. Kirkpatrick’s presence, his intention to employ a stenographic amanuensis, which position, at Mr. Kirkpatrick’s request he held for him, and, acquiring the art in three months, Mr. Kirkpatrick occupied and held the position until the summer of 1874, when, expressing to Mr. Mast his desire to pursue a legal course, his benefactor again came to his aid, defraying his expenses at the Ohio Wesleyan University, at Delaware, Ohio, for two years, at the end of which time Mr. Kirkpatrick discovered that his natural bent was not in the direction of legal attainments, and he returned to Springfield in June, 1876, and occupied the position of Mr. Mast’s private secretary. On May 8, 1877, he married Miss S. Corinna Reid, of Jackson, Mich., who is but two months his junior; Mr. and Mrs. Kirkpatrick’s parents are living. In August, 1877, to Mr. Kirkpatrick was awarded the editorial chair of the Farm and Fireside, a new agricultural and home journal started by P. P. Mast & Co., since which time he has filled with admirable success this position, and in June, 1879, he and his co-laborateur, Mr. J. S. Crowell, the young and enterprising manager, and, to a great extent, creator, of the establishment, were constituted equal partners with P. P. Mast in the Farm and Fireside office, and the business of the paper is now assuming stupendous proportions. Mr. Kirkpatrick is one of Springfield’s rising young men, and is in the avocation for which nature has best fitted him; he is quiet, genuine, clear-headed and industrious, with an unblemished character and splendid prospects. Mr. Kirkpatrick is a man of earnest convictions and fixed principles, to which he lives fully up and adheres undeviatingly; he is a strong and wholesome moral element in the community, and eminently fitted by nature and culture for his position.

Source: The History of Clark County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., 1881, page 861

HARRY S. KISSELL is one of the leading exponents of the real estate business in his native city of Springfield, where he has to his distinction the platting and placing on the market of Ridgewood, the most important and attractive suburb of the city. He is president of the Fairbanks Building Company, of which he was one of the organizers, as was he also of the American Trust & Savings Bank, of which he has been a director from the time of its incorporation, besides which he is a director also of the First National Bank of Springfield. In the World war period Mr. Kissell was chairman of the War Savings Committee of Clark County, which raised $1,700,000, and he served also as a director of the Clark County Chapter of the Red Cross, as well as chairman of the publicity committee of the Clark County War Chest. He takes deep interest in all that touches the civic and material prosperity and advancement of his native city and county, and is distinctly a loyal and public-spirited citizen and representative business man of Springfield. Mr. Kissell is a republican, he and his wife hold membership in the Presbyterian Church, and he is prominently affiliated with the time-honored Masonic fraternity, in which he has received the maximum and honorary thirty-third degree of the Scottish Rite. He is a past master of Anthony Lodge No. 455, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and has passed the various official chairs in the Masonic Grand Lodge of Ohio, of which he was grand master in 1910-11. In 1921 H. S. Kissell Lodge No. 674, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, was organized and instituted at Springfield, and the same was named in his honor. His maximum York Rite affiliation is with the local Commandery of Knights Templars. He is a member of the Beta Theta Pi college fraternity.

October 17, 1901, recorded the marriage of Mr. Kissell and Miss Olive Troupe, daughter of Theodore Troupe, of Springfield, and the two children of this union are Roger Troupe and Mary Lucretia.

Harry S. Kissell was born at Springfield on the 24th of September, 1875, and is a son of Cyrus B. and Lucretia C. (McEwen) Kissell, the former of whom was bom at Litersburg, Maryland, and the latter at Hillsboro, Illinois. Cyrus B. Kissell established his residence in Springfield about the year 1855, and here he was long and actively engaged in the real estate business, through the medium of which he did much to further the development and progress of both the city and the county. The Kissell family has been established in America since 1732, the original progenitor in this country having been Nicholas Kissell, who came here as a member of a Moravian mission and settled in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Emanuel M. Kissell, grandfather of the subject of this review, was the inventor of important improvements in Agricultural machinery, and was a son of George Kissell, the family having early settled in Maryland. Cyrus B. Kissell and his wife became earnest members of the Presbyterian Church in Springfield, where Mrs. Kissell still maintains her home, the honored husband and father having passed away on the 29th of October, 1903. Of the three children, one died in infancy; Blanche is the wife of Ralph C. Busbey; and Harry S., of this sketch, is the oldest of the children.

Source: A Standard History of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio by Benjamin F. Prince, 1922, page 31

ABRAHAM KITCHEN, retired farmer. Few men are better known or more universally respected by the community in which they reside than the old pioneer whose name stands at the head of this sketch. He was born in Warren Co., Ohio, Nov. 19, 1808, and was the son of Stephen and Annie (Bercau) Kitchen. His mother dying when he was but 4 years old, he was cast among strangers to care and provide for him. In a country where means were limited, his lot was a hard one, and his early life full of vicissitudes and privations. He, however, had the good fortune to attend school in early boyhood, where he obtained fragments of an elementary education. In 1818, he came with his father to Clark Co., and they settled on the farm where he now lives, where they remained about two years, when, the household being again broken up, Abraham’s lot was again cast among strangers. At the age of 16, he went to learn the blacksmith trade, at which he worked two years, when, finding the business uncongenial with his tastes, he abandoned it for the life of a farmer. During this time he attended school thirteen days at a subscription school—those places of instruction being presided over by broken business men of intemperate habits from the East—when he quit the school-room in disgust and relied upon observation and the experience of life to fit him for its duties. In 1829, he located on his present farm, and on the 19th day of November, in the same year, he was united in marriage, by the Rev. Thomas J. Price, to Miss Matilda Jones, daughter of Erasmus Jones, of Greene Co., Ohio. Mrs. Kitchen was born in Ross Co., Ohio, June 21, 1809, and about 1818 her parents moved to Greene Co., Ohio, where they resided until death, both living to a good old age, her mother being 79 and her father 84 when they died. Mrs. Kitchen has had the following children: Margaret Ann, the wife of John McCullough, of Green Township; Jonathan S., one of the County Commissioners, residing in Springfield; I.N., a leading farmer of Green Township; F. J. and M. J. (twins), the former a farmer of Green Township and the latter the wife of John Rife, of Greene Co., Ohio; Sarah, the deceased wife of George Elder, of Green Township; Jane V. and Stephen H. (deceased). In 1838 Mr. Kitchen joined the Harmony Township Free-Will Baptist Church, and, the organization afterward removing its location to his neighborhood, he donated a lot on which a church was built, and which stands as a monument of his zeal in the good cause. His wife united with the church about the same time, and both have ever since remained true and consistent members of the Free-Will Baptist organization. As to works of benevolence, temperance and reform, he is positive and aggressive, and prides himself on the position he held and advocated long before the war on the question of freeing the slaves, and in being one of the operators on the “Underground Railroad.” Politically, Mr. Kitchen was a Whig, and afterward one of the first Free-soilers of his township, and, this finally merging into the Republican party, he has since voted and worked with that organization, and was always a dyed-in-the-wool Abolitionist, sending one of his sons (F. J. Kitchen) to fight in defense of freedom. He has given his children a good education, and has helped them liberally with his means; and, although beginning in life a poor man, he has, by determined energy, succeeded far beyond his most sanguine expectations; and besides the help given his children, has yet the old homestead of 250 acres of land, and a handsome bank account—all the legitimate result of industry and true economy. Mr. and Mrs. Kitchen have been man and wife for fifty-two years, and have always lived on the home farm. On the 28th day of November, 1879, they celebrated their golden jubilee—an event seldom occurring in the annals of married life, and on that happy day were each presented by their children with a handsome gold watch as a mark of love and reverence. Mr. Kitchen is honest and upright in all the relations of life, and is trusted and respected throughout the county.

Source: The History of Clark County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., 1881, page 1050

ISAAC N. KITCHEN, farmer and stock-raiser; P. O. Selma. This gentleman belongs to one of the pioneer families of Clark Co., being the son of Abraham and Matilda Kitchen, whose sketch will be found in this work. Isaac N. was born in Green Township, May 5, 1834, and grew to maturity on the old homestead, attending the district school as much as circumstances would permit, and, at the age of 21, with scarcely any capital but his own natural business capacity, he started in life for himself, by buying the old Concord saw-mill, giving in part payment his individual promissory note. In six months, he disposed of this mill, taking in exchange part land in Darke Co., Ohio, and the balance in notes, on which, with some difficulty, he realized; and in 1858, located upon the “Littler Farm,” in his present neighborhood, where he lived ten years, then purchased the “William Marshall farm,” of 110 acres, a portion of which he has ever since resided upon. He was married, Jan. 21, 1858, to Miss Hannah H. Ridge, daughter of Simpson and Jemima Ridge, of Warren Co., Ohio, where Mrs. Kitchen was born June 6, 1832, and to this union have been given six children, viz., Ida (the wife of T. J. Wires), Lenella J. (the wife of Dr. M. P. Hunt), Warren A. and Emma (twins), Wm. B. and Anna (twins) and Mary H. Mr. Kitchen’s entire acreage is close on to 600 acres, and in 1878, he completed a fine frame residence, finished and furnished throughout with a taste that is well up with his means and prosperity, it being one of the most commodious and best-finished residences in the township. In farming, he consumes the principle products of the farm by feeding stock, having now 500 head of sheep on hand, and his principle success has been attained by raising and feeding hogs, sheep and cattle for the market. Politically, Mr. Kitchen is a Republican; has been Township Trustee two years and School Director twelve. During the rebellion, sent a substitute for three years, one for the 100-day service, one for the “Morgan raid,” and was one of those who responded to the Governor’s call the time of the “Kirby Smith raid,” and who are known as the “Squirrel Hunters.” For twenty-seven years Mr. and Mrs. Kitchen have been consistent members of the Free-Will Baptist Church, and in every public measure he has been on the side of progress, helping to build up the county by every means in his power; and as a business man, he has few superiors, being energetic, of keen perceptions, honest and upright in all things; as a neighbor, kind and obliging, he has attained a leading position in the township of which he is an honored citizen.

Source: The History of Clark County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., 1881, page 1051

STEPHEN KITCHEN. One of the fine old farms of Clark County, now under the capable supervision of the grandson of its pioneer owner, is the Kitchen homestead in Greene Township, five miles west of South Charleston.

The pioneer ancestor of the Kitchen family in Clark County was Stephen Kitchen, who came here from Warren County, Ohio. Subsequently he went to Illinois. The old farm just mentioned was the home of his son Abraham L. Kitchen, who married Mathilda Jones, daughter of Erasmus Jones. They were married November 19, 1829, and all their eight children are now deceased.

One of their sons was Erasmus J. Kitchen, who was born at the old hometead, August 11, 1836. He died in February 1905. He attended the schools of his day, and as a young man he enlisted in Company F of the Forty-fourth Ohio Infantry in August, 1861, and was in service until the close of the war. He participated in a number of battles, including Lynchburg and Knoxville, but was never wounded. After the war he worked on the farm, married and settled on another place near Pleasant Grove. He was an active member of the G. A. R., the Baptist Church and was a republican. Erasmus Kitchen married Lavina M. Hatfield, and they were the parents of six sons, four of whom are living: Joseph L., a farmer in Greene Township; Abraham L., who died at the age of twenty-one; James H., a farmer in Greene Township; Stephen; E. J., a farmer in Greene Township; and Wayne, who died at the age of ten years.

Stephen Kitchen, who now occupies and manages the old homestead, was born on a nearby farm June 12, 1877. He had a common school education while growing up in Greene Township, and for many years has been a successful farmer and stockman. He owns 136 acres in his home place. He is also a stockholder in the Farmers National Bank at Springfield.

March 11, 1902, he married Josie Stewart, daughter of C. F. Stewart. Mr. and Mrs. Kitchen’s children are: Rhoda A., wife of William Bussey; E. J., and Frances, both attending high school; Margaret, Stewart and Wayne, school children; Margaret, deceased; and Stephen. The family are members of the Presbyterian Church of South Charleston. Mr. Kitchen is affiliated with Fielding Lodge No. 192, F. and A. M., and is a republican.

Source: A Standard History of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio by Benjamin F. Prince, 1922, page 361

THOMAS KIZER, civil engineer and surveyor, Springfield, Ohio; was born Dec. 18, 1812, about one hundred and fifty yards in a southeasterly direction from the northwest corner of fractional Sec. 7, Town 4, Range 10, M. R. S., and about three and three-fourths miles northwest of the city of Springfield. This event transpired within the walls of a log cabin, which was the home of David Kizer, the father of the subject of this sketch, and first Recorder of Clark County. Thomas was the fourth child, and received only such advantages as the rude facilities of that day afforded; he acquired a knowledge of the rudiments of a simple English education by study at home, “before the fire-place,” with a short course in the high school, or academy, of which Isaac H. Lancy was Principal. He then learned the trade of a millwright, during the practice of which he decided to become a surveyor, and, in 1836, made his debut as such by running out 50 acres of land for John and Emanuel Tirkle; he afterward became connected with the surveys of the United States public lands at various places. In 1841, Col. Kizer was chosen County Surveyor, to which office he was many times re-elected, and served twenty-six years in all. Having been bred to the profession, and on constant duty in connection with it, he has acquired a knowledge of all the obscure corners, “original errors,” and other peculiarities of the first surveys, and is a “mine of facts” pertaining to the later subdivisions of the lands of this county; he was one of the party who surveyed the first railroad in this county, and has had more to do with the turnpike and other road surveys than all other surveyors together. During the old militia period, he was chosen to fill various offices, and attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel; his long and constant intercourse with the people has given him a large fund of anecdotes and occurrences, which fund is disbursed freely when the time is opportune. In 1844, he was married to Miss Mary A. Pattison, of German Township (who was also a native of this county), which union has resulted in a family of eight children, four of whom are living.

Source: The History of Clark County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., 1881, page 862

GEORGE S. KNAUB, farmer; P. O. Springfield. Mr. Knaub lives about three miles southeast of Springfield, on the old Clifton road. He was born in Little York, Penn., Sept. 26, 1827; he is the son of George and Mary A. (Jacobs) Knaub. When George S. was 7 years old, he came to Ohio with his parents; he has followed farming all his life, excepting four years that he was engaged in the manufacture of plows. He was married, Dec. 26, 1852, to Rebecca, daughter of Jacob and Sarah (Varvel) Kershner; they have had thirteen children—Jacob E., Laura B., Sarah C., Mary E., George H., Philip, John F., Annie, James W., Gertrude R., Bennie, Wilbur and Francis M.—all of whom are living except Sarah, who died at the age of 17. Mr. Knaub has been one of the Directors of his school for eleven successive years; he is a member of the Lutheran Church, and conforms to the teachings of that church. His father was a native of Pennsylvania, and his mother of Maryland; they came to Ohio in 1837 and settled on the farm where George S. now lives. Mrs. Knaub’s parents were both natives of Maryland, and came to Ohio and settled in this county in 1826.

Source: The History of Clark County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., 1881, page 865 - Transcribed by Sharon Wick

JONAH KNIGHT, minister; P. O. Enon. The father of Rev. Knight was born in Connecticut, and in early life emigrated to Vermont, where he spent his life, which ended in 1830; his wife being a native of the last-named State, in which she lived, and died in 1848. The subject of this sketch was born in Vermont June 8, 1803, remaining at home until the age of 20, and acquired his education in the common schools. When starting in life, he possessed good physical powers, engaged as farm laborer, and made his way by his own exertions. He followed this pursuit for six or eight years, and in the meantime applied himself, at every opportunity to divine thoughts, and commenced preaching in behalf of the Christian Church, to which he had belonged for eleven years. To this profession he has ever since applied himself, and deeply interested in the welfare of the church. In 1832, he married Miss Caroline Fay of New Hampshire, to whom eight children were born; one died in infancy, seven grew to maturity, of whom only one survives, and now resides in Nebraska. Caroline died April 11, 1847, and was interred at Mechanicsburg, Ohio. Rev. Knight remained a widower over five years, then married Mrs. D. Robinson of Cincinnati, Ohio. He was an active worker in the Church in his native State about eleven years; thence located in the city of Lynn, Mass. Two years later he emigrated to Ohio and located at Woodstock; there spent over five years in the cause of Christianity, where good was accomplished; he then located in Warren Co., Ohio, and two years later, removed to his farm of 102 acres, near Louisburg, Ohio, remaining all the time in the ministry; he then became prominently identified in the erection of the Antioch College, at Yellow Springs, of which institution he was Secretary of Board of Trustees for over six years; acted as agent to secure funds for the college, and defended it in a suit brought in by the builder, A. M. Merryfield, in the year 1865, he being the only trustee of the college at the time. He employed an able attorney, who, after a suit of seven years, came out victorious. He is an active agent in the Christian Biblical Institute, established at New York, for young men preparatory for the ministry. He is now located at Enon, Ohio, and has spent a useful life, which has now been over three-fourths of a century.

Source: The History of Clark County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., 1881, page 1044

J. M. KNOTE, merchant, Springfield; dealer in ready-made clothing and gents’ furnishing goods, No. 5 East Main street. He was born in Franklin Co., Ind., Aug. 22, 1846; is the son of Samuel and Margaret Knote; he remained in Franklin County until the fall of 1852, when he came to Clark Co., Ohio, with his mother, his father having died Jan. 23 of that year; after remaining in Clark County one year, he removed to Preble Co., Ohio, where he remained three years, working on a farm; he then returned to Clark County and continued farm labor until the spring of 1860, when his mother moved to Springfield; he continued to labor on a farm during the summer season, and attended school in the winter, acquiring the rudiments of an education. In 1862, he began work in the shops of Springfield, and in 1864 accepted a clerkship in the clothing house of B. & W. Frankle, with whom he remained eight years; afterward, he served with Straus & Bro., and at the end of one year this firm gave him an interest in the store; he continued in this partnership until 1878, when he opened business on his own account, and has so continued. His integrity and business tact have won for him an enviable reputation wherever he is known; his boyhood had been an index of his character in after years, for diligence and frugality had characterized his early life, helping to support his widowed mother from his meager earnings. He is a Past Grand and one of the Trustees of Ephraim Lodge, No. 146; a Patriarch of Mad River Encampment, No. 16, I. O. O. F.; he is also a Past Scribe of Lagonda Tribe, No. 61, I. O. R. M. In 1877, he was elected a member of the City Council from Second Ward; this position he filled with great acceptability, and he was accordingly re-elected 1879. He was Secretary of the English Lutheran Sunday School of this city for eighteen months, and has been Librarian of said Sunday school for the past four years. He married, in June, 1879, Miss Lillie V. McBride, daughter of Jacob C. and Matilda McBride; they have one child, Mrs. J. M. Knote was born in Logan Co., Ohio.

Source: The History of Clark County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., 1881, page 865

PETER KNOTT, who resides on his excellent farm in section 22, Greene Township, is a native of Clark County and a representative of a family whose name has been worthily linked with the history of this county since the pioneer days. Peter and Nancy Knott, grandparents of him whose name initiates this paragraph, came to Ohio from New Jersey and settled near Clifton, Greene County, the grandfather having not only developed a farm but having also operated a tannery at Clifton. His son Peter, father of the subject of this sketch, was born near Clifton on the 2d of February, 1843, and in this locality he was reared and educated. When the Civil war was precipitated on the nation, he manifested his youthful patriotism by enlisting in the Forty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he saw hard service at the front. After the close of his term he re-enlisted, this time in a regiment of cavalry, and with this latter command he served until the close of the war. He was nineteen years old at the time of his first enlistment, and his active service covered the last three years of the great conflict between the North and the South. At the age of twenty-nine years he married Miss Martha McKeehan, and soon afterward they established their home on the farm now owned by their son Peter, of this review. Here the father continued as one of the substantial farmers and loyal and honored citizens of Clark County until his death, in January, 1906, and his widow passed to the life eternal in the year 1920, both having been zealous members of the Presbyterian Church in the neighboring village of Clifton and he having long served as an elder in the same. His political allegiance was originally given to the republican party and later to the prohibition party. Of the eight children, seven are living at the time of this writing, in 1922: Mabel E. is a popular teacher in the public schools of the City of Cleveland; Ella remains at the old homestead, as does also Mary, who graduated from Cedarville College; Bertha L., a graduate of the same college, is a successful teacher in the public schools at Clifton; Laura died at the age of three years; Paul M., a graduate of the Clifton High School, is now a prosperous farmer in South Dakota; Peter, of this review, was the next in order of birth, and Martha, who graduated from Cedarville College, is the wife of Leo Anderson, of Cedarville.

Peter Knott III, whose name introduces this review, was born on the farm which is his present place of residence, and the date of his nativity was March 29, 1886. In the public schools he continued his studies until his graduation from the Clifton High School, and he then entered Cedarville College, in which he was eventually graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He then went to South Dakota, where for twenty months he taught in graded schools. He remained in the West for some time, and after returning to his native county he assumed the active management of the old homestead farm, which has been in the possession of the family nearly eighty years and which comprises 185 acres of most fertile and valuable land, the ownership of the property being now vested in six of the children of the third generation. Mr. Knott is independent in politics and as a citizen is progressive and public-spirited, with deep interest in all that concerns the welfare of his native county. His name is still enrolled on the list of eligible bachelors in Clark County.

Source: A Standard History of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio by Benjamin F. Prince, 1922, page 51

FREDERICK KOBELANZ, deceased. The gentleman whose name heads sketch was born in Enckedorf, North Prussia, Oct. 18, 1798, of Polish origin; was educated in his native place, and there married to Mary M. Hackman, to whom was born Anna Mary, now the wife of Herman L. Riesau, of Springfield Township. His wife died in the spring of 1834, and in the fall of the year he married Margaretta M. Duhme, and soon after his wedding they embarked for America. Frederick and family lived one winter in Buffalo, and, in May, 1835, came to Springfield, Ohio, where he engaged in the stone and lime business, remaining two years; then moved to St. Louis, Mo., where they lived one winter, and returned to Springfield. He began dealing in stone and lime, in which he was very successful, and which he followed some six years. In 1846, he purchased a farm of 96 acres, north of the city of Springfield, upon which he settled and continued to follow farming the balance of his life. His second wife, Margaretta M. (Duhme) Kobelanz, was born Jan. 2, 1800, and had born to her seven children, four sons growing to manhood, viz., Frederick W., Christian F., John H. and Herman L.—the second of whom since died at the old homestead. To his first purchase of 96 acres, Mr. Kobelanz added, year by year, until he was the owner of nearly 500 acres of the finest land of the county. Politically, he was a Democrat, yet he was a man conservative in most things, and his life was marked by fairness and upright dealing with all men. In early life, he belonged to the Lutheran Church, and, for about thirty years previous to his death, was a member of Clark Lodge, No. 104, A., F. & A. M. He began business in Springfield on a capital of $2.12½, but, through industry and strict economy, he attained financial success; he was a man of vigorous, determined character, prompt, shrewd and observing throughout his business career, and left to his family at his death—which occurred Nov. 24, 1880, his wife having died ten years previously—a handsome estate, as well as a name and character above reproach.

Source: The History of Clark County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., 1881, page 865

HERMAN L. KOBELANZ, farmer; P. O. Springfield; is the son of Frederick and Margaretta M. Kobelanz, and was born on the old homestead, near Springfield, March 4, 1844; grew up on the farm where he now lives and received a common-school education. He was married, July 29, 1874, to Anna M. Gram, daughter of Cornelius and Martha Gram, of which union three children have been born, viz., Clara Belle, Edwin and Blanche. Mr. Kobelanz is engaged largely in farming and raising stock, and is one of the stirring, intelligent and enterprising young men of the county; he is an unassuming, retiring man, yet fully alive to the spirit of the nineteenth century, and keeps well apace with the events of the day.

Source: The History of Clark County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., 1881, page 866

JOHN H. KOBELANZ, farmer; P. O. Springfield. He was born in Springfield, Clark Co., Ohio, March 15, 1839; he has always lived at home, and now occupies the old homestead, which is located in the northwestern part of Springfield Township; he is a son of Frederick arid Margaretta M. Kobelanz. He was married Dec. 21, 1871, to Annie M. Snyder, daughter of Abraham and Mary (Kunkle) Snyder; their children are Elva May, Charles E. (deceased at the age of 2 years), John H., Daisy A. and Anna M. Mrs. Kobelanz was born in Pennsylvania July 11, 1841; she came to Clark Co., Ohio, in 1861, on a visit, and was so well pleased with the country and people that she concluded to make this county her future home.

Source: The History of Clark County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., 1881, page 866

JOHN HENRY KOBELANZ. The Kobelanz family has been one of the sturdiest and most highly respected in Clark County. Three generations of the name have lived here. As a family they have been distinguished by business initiative and enterprise, by public spirit, by helpful support to educational and religious institutions, and frequently by constructive leadership in local affairs.

The founder of the family was Frederick Kobelanz, who was born in Hanover, Germany. He married Margaret Duhme. In 1830 he came to America, spent one winter at Buffalo, New York, and then by boat and overland arrived in Springfield. A year later he went on to St. Louis, but remained only a year or so and then settled permanently in Clark County. While in the West he was on a Mississippi River steamboat. His principal business in Springfield for a number of years was the operation of stone quarries, and he was a leading contractor in stone and lime. He also assisted as a foreman of construction during the building of the National Pike. He was one of the organizers of the Lutheran Church, now St. John’s Lutheran Church, and he and a Mr. Ward furnished the first stones for the building of Wittenberg College. He helped clear the logs and brush from what is now the College Campus, and was an intimate friend of Ezra Keller, founder of the college. He was affiliated with Clark Lodge No. 101, Free and Accepted Masons and was a Royal Arch Mason. He was also a staunch friend and gave financial assistance to James Leffel, aiding him in completing his invention of the water wheel. Two other permanent Springfield manufacturers, John H. Thomas and P. P. Mast, soon after starting in business went to Frederick Kobelanz and secured his financial backing. He was recognized as the leading German born citizen of Springfield. About 1844 he removed to his farm of 325 acres situated in sections twelve, six and five in Springfield Township. He lived there, looking after his farm and other interests, until his death on November 24, 1880. His wife died in 1864.

Their son, John Henry Kobelanz, Sr., was born on North Fountain Avenue in Springfield, March 15, 1839, and was five years of age when his parents removed to the farm. After the death of his father he came into the possession of 111 acres, including the homestead, and was successfully identified with agricultural operations there until his death on December 11, 1918. John Henry Kobelanz, Sr., married Anna M. Snyder, who was born near York, Pennsylvania, July 11, 1841, daughter of Abraham and May (Kunkel) Snyder, natives of York County. Anna Snyder was induced to come to Clark County to take care of an aged uncle and aunt, and she remained here until her marriage. She died March 29, 1920. She was the mother of five children: Elva K., wife of Dr. P. A. Dillahunt, of West McCreight Avenue; Charles E., who died at the age of three years; John Henry, Jr.; Daisy L., Mrs. Glenn Russell, living on West McCreight Avenue, and Anna M., wife of Henry G. Miller, of Springfield Township.

John Henry Kobelanz, Jr., was born in Springfield Township, June 20, 1875, and he acquired a good education in the public schools and had four years in Wittenberg College. He has busied himself with the tasks and responsibilities of a farmer and a citizen alert to the welfare of the community. After the death of his father he came into the possession of fifty-three acres of the old farm, and still occupies that place on McCreight Avenue, on Rural Route No. 7. He is a republican, while his father was a democrat and served one term as township trustee. Mr. Kobelanz is affiliated with Ingomar Lodge No. 610, Knights of Pythias, and is a member of the First English Lutheran Church.

February 15, 1922, he married Mrs. Mary (Burkhart) Gaier, a native of the City of Springfield and widow of Anton Gaier. By her first marriage she has three children, John, Louise and Emily.

Source: A Standard History of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio by Benjamin F. Prince, 1922, page 87

JACOB L. KOHL came to Springfield thirty-four years ago, and after continuing work at his mechanical trade for a number of years turned his attention to the coal business, and has built up and directed two successful enterprises in that line, and is still owner of one, though he has turned over practically all the responsibilities of management to his children.

Mr. Kohl, who is one of the highly respected citizens of Springfield, was born in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, December 31, 1863, son of Frederick and Christiana (Light) Kohl, who were also natives of Lebanon County. His grandfather, Frederick Kohl, was born in France, came to Pennsylvania at the age of sixteen and lived in that state all his life. The father of Jacob L. Kohl was a Pennsylvania farmer.

Mr. Kohl was educated in the public schools of Pennsylvania, and in 1886 he married Katie H. Holenbach, who was born in Burks County, Pennsylvania, daughter of Joshua Holenbach. As a young man Mr. Kohl learned the molder’s trade, and in 1888 moved to Springfield, and was employed in some of the local industries of the city until 1906. In that year he opened his first establishment as a dealer in hard and soft coal, at 1300 Lagonda Avenue. Ten years later he sold this business, and after two years it was acquired by his daughter Mabel, Mrs. Charles Magaw, and is still conducted under that proprietorship. In 1914 Mr. Kohl started his second coal yard, at 2868 East High Street. This is a business handling coal both retail and wholesale and also gasoline and automobile accessories. On October 1, 1920, Mr. Kohl retired from the active management of the business.

In the meantime, in 1916, he had a modern brick home constructed close to his business plant, at 2862 East High Street. Mr. Kohl is a member of the Church of God and a republican in politics. Of his children, the son Charles is employed at the coal office, and by his marriage to Carrie Cutler, has five children, Dora, Charles, Genevieve, Ruth and Margaret. Leroy, also a resident of Springfield, married Fanny Yoder, and their six children are: Eleanor, Martha, Selma, Robert, Mabel and Bettie. Ralph, of Springfield, married Anna Rehm, and is the father of five children, John Jacob, Richard, Lewis, Donald and Jean. The daughter Mabel has already been named as the wife of Charles Magaw. The youngest child, Lewis H., is at home.

Source: A Standard History of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio by Benjamin F. Prince, 1922, page 131

ALBERT HENRY KUNKLE, of Springfield, is now the presiding judge of the Court of Appeals of this, the Second Appellate District of Ohio. He has been an honored and representative member of the bar of this county for about thirty-five years, and his influence has been beneficial in public affairs in this section of the state.

Judge Kunkle was born at Vandalia, Montgomery County, Ohio, on the 15th day of February, 1860, and is a son of the late David and Susanna (Stouffer) Kunkle, both natives of that county and representatives of sterling pioneer families in that section of the Buckeye State. In 1878 his parents moved to Springfield, where they resided until their deaths.

Judge Kunkle secured his early education in the public schools of Vandalia. He graduated from Wittenberg College in the class of 1882, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. His alma mater later conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts. After his graduation he applied himself with diligence to the study of law, and was admitted to the bar of this state in 1885. He engaged in the practice of his profession in Springfield and served for a number of years as city solicitor of that city. He was judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Clark County from 1905 to 1913, where he made a splendid record. He resigned as common pleas judge to assume his duties as a member of the Court of Appeals of this district, to which he had been elected. The judge is an active member of the Clark County Bar Association and of the Ohio State Bar Association. He is prominently affiliated with different fraternal organizations and in 1922 was elected grand prelate of the Ohio Grand Lodge, Knights of Pythias. He and his wife are communicants of the Fourth Lutheran Church of Springfield. Mrs. Kunkle, whose maiden name was Margaret P. McCulloch, is a daughter of the late William McCulloch, of Springfield.

Judge and Mrs. Kunkle have three children: Albert is a member of the Class of 1922 of Wittenberg College; Virginia is a member of the Class of 1925 in that institution; and Susanna is attending the Ridgewood Private School.

Source: A Standard History of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio by Benjamin F. Prince, 1922, page 16