USA > Indiana > Allen County > Fort Wayne > The pictorial history of Fort Wayne, Indiana : a review of two centuries of occupation of the region about the head of the Maumee River, Vol. II > Part 45
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Robert E. Kelly is one of the well-known and distinctively popular citizens of Fort Wayne, where he is now serving as chairman of the municipal board of public works. Further evidence of his secure place in popular esteem was given when he was elected county recorder of Allen county, an office in which he served four years and in which he gave a most efficient and uniformly satisfactory administration. In the old family homestead that stood on the same city lot as does his present attractive residence, Robert E. Kelly was born on October 27, 1864, and he is a son of Thomas F. and Margaret (Clark) Kelly, the former of whom was born in Ireland and the latter in the state of Ohio. Thomas F. Kelly was reared and educated in his native land and was a young man when he emigrated to America. In 1858 he came to Fort Wayne
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and for a time was employed on the old-time canal which was a medium of transportation in that pioneer period and was captain on the state boat. Later he was identified with other lines of enterprise, a sterling, industrious and unassuming man whose upright character gave to him strong vantage-place in the confidence and good will of his fellow men. He served in an Indiana regiment during the war between the states, and was honorably discharged at the close of the war. He was a member of Sion S. Bass Post, G. A. R. He continued his residence in Fort Wayne until his death, whic occurred in 1893, and his venerable widow passed to the life eternal in 1911, both having been devoted communicants of the Catholic church. Of their two children the subject of this review is the elder, and the second was Edward, who died in infancy. Robert E. Kelly gained his early education in the Catholic parochial schools of Fort Wayne and was not yet fifteen years old when he found employ- ment as a messenger boy for the Fort Wayne, Cincinnati and Louisville Railroad. He worked his way forward to the position of locomotive fireman and when twenty-one years of age attained to the dignity of locomotive engineer. He served for a term of years as engineer of passenger trains and was thus engaged until 1908, when he was elected county recorder of his native county, an office of which he continued the incumbent four years, as previously noted in this context. For about one year after his retirement from this office he was not actively engaged, but in 1914 was appointed a member of the Fort Wayne board of public works, of which he is serving as chairman at the time of this writing and in which he is giving specially loyal and circumspect service. Mr. Kelly gives his political allegiance to the Democratic party and both he and his wife are earnest communicants of the Catholic church, he being now a trustee of the parish of the Church of the Precious Blood. Mr. Kelly is affiliated with the Catholic Knights of America and the Knights of Columbus and is also a popular and influential member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, for which he served as treasurer of the Indiana state organization for two terms. He still maintains affiliation with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and has served as sec- retary of the local organization of the same. On May 15, 1888, was sol- emnized the marriage of Mr. Kelly to Miss Ellen Ryan, who was born at Rushville, Indiana, and concerning the children of this union the following brief data are given: Thomas J. was graduated in Purdue University as a mechanical engineer and in the work of his profession is now employed by the Northern Indiana Gas and Electric Company, with headquarters in Fort Wayne; Marie is the wife of Edward Disser, of Fort Wayne; Genevieve died in early childhood; and Josephine, Robert J., Laurence W., Anna and Katherine remain members of the parental home circle.
William Aden Kelsey, who for the last twenty years has ably served as secretary of the Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Association, was born in Rush county, Indiana, May 4, 1842, and is a son of Aden and Rebecca (Broadway) Kelsey. They were born in Montgomery county, Ohio, in the years 1803 and 1804, and there they were married February 9, 1826. They removed to Rush county, Indiana, in 1837, and there the father died in 1846. The mother died in Allen county, Indiana, June 2, 1888. They were the parents of seven children: Mary, Samuel B., James T., Sarah E., Caroline, William A. and Isaac H., all of whom are now deceased with the exception of the subject, William Aden Kelsey,
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whose education was secured in the common schools and at the old Methodist College in Fort Wayne. He left his books to enlist in the Union army in the Civil War, in 1861, and served as a private soldier in Company E, Forty-fourth Indiana, and as Captain of Company G, One Hundred and Fifty-second Indiana infantry. He was discharged from the service in August, 1865. Mr. Kelsey married Emma Richard, daughter of Mrs. Elizabeth Richard, October 15, 1868. Three children were born to them: Frank R., the eldest, died in November, 1913. Louis M. is engaged in the United States railway mail service, and Arthur is at home. Mrs. Kelsey died on the 14th day of February, 1915. Mr. Kelsey, who has lived in Allen county for the past sixty-three years, owns farming property in Aboite township, of which he served for several years as trustee. He has always been a warm advocate of public improvements, and many years ago was active in putting through the first gravel road in the county, which was the forerunner of the present splendid system of roads of which Allen county is justly proud. He had much to do with the establishment of free mail delivery in the rural districts. Many years before the United States government became interested in this matter, he formed a co-operative organization among his neighbors, who, at their own expense, delivered their mail at their own homes from Fort Wayne, a distance of twelve miles. This experiment proved so satis- factory that its results were presented to the government of the United States with the request that it select some suitable place to test the possibilities of a system of free rural mail delivery. This request was granted, the success of which was so gratifying that it resulted in the adoption of the present rural mail delivery service that extends through- out the land. Mr. Kelsey is a member of the West Jefferson Street Church of Christ. In politics he is a Republican and he is one of the oldest members of Harmony Lodge No. 19, I. O. O. F. He is a charter member and past commander of Lawton-Wayne Post No. 271, Depart- ment of Indiana, G. A. R., a member of the State encampment of the G. A. R. and, at its meeting held in Evansville in May, 1916, was elected Junior Vice Department Commander for the State of Indiana.
Alonzo G. Kendall is the owner of one of the extensive and specially valuable landed estates of Allen county and has been a man of large affairs during the major part of his active career. Prior to coming to Allen county he had become the owner of three hundred and twenty acres of excellent land in McClain county, Illinois, and he has also an appreciable tract of land in Missouri. In 1910, with characteristic pro- gressiveness and mature judgment, he came to Allen county, where he purchased from the Ellison estate three hundred and seventy-six acres of land in Aboite township, his homestead place, a veritable model, being situated nine miles distant from Fort Wayne on rural mail route No. 8. . For a time he here conducted the largest dairy farm in the county, but he now gives his attention principally to the raising of superior live stock and the propagation of sugar beets, in which latter department of his farm enterprise he had in the season of 1916 one hundred and one acres of sugar beets, which gave a substantial and profitable yield. He raises the best types of cattle and swine, and of the latter he makes a specialty of the spotted Poland-China type, with registration of all that he breeds. In addition to his other large interests Mr. Kendall is a stockholder of the Sterling Sales Company, at Auburn, DeKalb county, Indiana. While a resident of Illinois he was a stockholder and executive officer of a num-
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ber of important stock and grain companies. Mr. Kendall has shown his liberality and progressiveness, not only in connection with his private affairs but also as a loyal and public-spirited citizen, and he has proved a valuable acquisition to Allen county. His political allegiance is given to the Republican party and he and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Kendall was born in McLean county, Illinois, on July 20, 1860, and is a son of Thomas Jefferson Kendall and Margaret (Michael) Kendall. The father was born in the vicinity of Zanesville, Ohio, and was a boy at the time of the family removal to McLean county, Illinois, where he was reared and educated and where he eventually became a specially successful farmer and an honored and influential citizen of his community, his landed estate in that county at the time of his death having comprised two hundred acres. He was a stalwart Republican and was a lifelong member of the Methodist Epis- copal church, as was also his wife, she having survived him by several years. Of their children the subject of this review is the eldest; Mollie is the wife of George Welsh, a prosperous farmer in Missouri; Sadie is the wife of Guy Lawrence, of Danville, Illinois; and William remains on the old homestead farm in McLean county, Illinois. Alonzo G. Ken- dall found requisition for his services in connection with the work of the home farm while he was a boy and youth and in the meantime prof- ited by the advantages afforded in the public schools of his native county. In initiating his independent career as a farmer and stock-grower he rented land and under these conditions continued his energetic activities several years. He then purchased a farm of his own, in McClain county, Illinois, and in that state, as previously noted, eventually became the owner of three hundred and twenty acres of valuable land. In 1887 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Kendall to Miss Hattie M. Hall, who likewise was born and reared in Illinois, a daughter of the late Henry J. M. and Minerva (Gapin) Hall, both of whom were of Scotch lineage and continued their residence in Illinois until their death. Of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Kendall it is to be recorded that Minnie Minerva is the wife of C. R. Benjamin, of Logansport, Indiana, and Thomas Henry, Roy A. and Arthur William remain at the parental home.
Harry F. Kennerk, of the representative Fort Wayne law firm of Kennerk and Somers, has by his character and achievement gained a secure vantage-place that gives him precedence as one of the able and successful members of the bar of his native county, and further interest attaches to his career by reason of his being a scion of one of the sterling pioneer families of Allen county, his father, Timothy Kennerk, having been the first white child born in Pleasant township, this county, and being now one of the venerable and honored citizens of Marion township, where he still resides on the old homestead farm that was the birthplace of all of his children, of whom seven are living. The devoted wife and mother, whose maiden name was Mary Harrigan, was born in County Limerick, Ireland, and she was summoned to the life eternal on February 20, 1914, her memory being revered by all who came within the compass of her gracious influence. She was a devout communicant of the Catholic church, as is also her husband. Timothy Kennerk was reared under the conditions of the pioneer epoch in the history of Allen county, where he continued his association with farm enterprise until February 19, 1863, when he became a member of a company that on that date set forth from Fort Wayne with ox teams and wagons and initiated the long and
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perilous journey across the plains to Montana, which was then the center of a genuine stampede of gold-seekers. The Fort Wayne company made the trip by a new route, covered a distance of seven hundred miles and arrived in Montana on August 14, 1863. Mr. Kennerk was successful in his quest for gold, as a pioneer in the historic placer mines of Mon- tana, and on his return to Indiana, in 1865, he brought with him gold dust to the value of six thousand five hundred dollars, which he took to Philadelphia and sold to the great capitalist, Jay Gould. He then returned to Allen county and purchased the fine old homestead farm on which he still resides, as one of the venerable and influential pioneer citizens of the county. Harry F. Kennerk was born on the homestead above mentioned, in Marion township, and the date of his nativity was June 12, 1873. After having profited by the advantages of the public schools he attended for two terms the Tri-State Normal School at Angola, Steuben county, later was for two terms a student in what is now Val- paraiso University, and for one year he attended DePauw University, in which he completed his academic or literary education. In preparation for his chosen profession he was matriculated in the Indiana Law School, at Indianapolis, in which he was a member of the class of 1900. He was admitted to the bar in that year and in September formed a law partner- ship with Herbert L. Somers, with whom he has since been successfully associated in practice in Fort Wayne, where they control a substantial and important law business and where he gives special attention to commercial law. Mr. Kennerk is an active member of the Allen County Bar Association, is a Democrat in his political allegiance, and both he and his wife are communicants of the Catholic church. On September 11, 1904, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Kennerk to Miss Nora Wickens, who was born at North Vernon, Indiana, a daughter of Patrick and Hannah Wickens, the former of whom is now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Kennerk have six sons and one daughter, namely: Gregory T., H. Hugh, Owen J., Mary Helen, Terrence Daniel, and David Wickens and Perry Anthony, who are twins.
Edgar H. Kilbourne .- Even a cursory review of the career of this representative young business man of Fort Wayne reveals conclusively the fact that from his boyhood he has shown remarkable self-reliance and resourcefulness. He has been virtually dependent upon his own resources since he was a lad of nine years, and long before he had attained to his legal majority he had held in connection with business enterprises a number of responsible positions usually assigned to persons of greater age and experience. This signifies that his alert mind and definite ambi- tion had enabled him to rise above the average plane and to profit more fully from experience than the average person. There is lesson and incentive in the story of his progress, and even this brief sketch offers data of adequate order to reveal this. Edgar Hamilton Kilbourne, now a prominent and successful exponent of the real estate business in Fort Wayne, was born in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, on April 12, 1885, and is a son of Lawrence W. and Amelia Ellsworth (Burton) Kilbourne, both of whom are now deceased, the father likewise having been a native of Baltimore. Of the seven' children three are living. Edgar H. Kil- bourne attended the public schools of his native city until he had entered upon the first year of study in the grammar school. At the age of nine years he left the parental home and made provision for his own support by serving as a newsboy in his native city. He followed this vocation
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until he had attained to the age of eleven years, and for the ensuing two months he was employed in a grocery store, his compensation being one and one-half dollars a week. He was supposed also to have been provided with his board, but his employer failed to make good this important item of expense. The ensuing two months found the vigorous and ambitious boy employed in a dairy-lunch room, and for the next three weeks he applied himself to the operation of a foot-power press used in dieing yeast-powder boxes in a Baltimore tin factory. He next found employment in a cigar store, where he worked two weeks, and for two months thereafter was employed in a toy store. By way of change and determination to advance, he thereafter worked two months in a pretzel factory. His next occupation was with Wells Brothers' Butter and Egg Store as bundle boy and doing other work in connection with a butter and egg store, and this service continued about two months. All this time he was striving to find a position that would yield him sufficient income so that he might make progress toward the goal of independence, and finally he was attracted by a sign indicating that boys were wanted to learn the trade of harnessmaking in the establish- ment of O'Connor and Startzman. He promptly made application at the factory, was accepted, and within the following two and one-half years he had learned the trade thoroughly-an apprenticeship of less duration than that usually required to attain to this result. At this juncture the firm dissolved partnership and the heads of the various departments in the factory went with Mr. Startzman, Jr., a member of the original firm. Mr. Kilbourne was selected to take charge of the packing and shipping department under the new regime and also was made assistant buyer. Six months later the factory was virtually de- stroyed by fire and business was not resumed. Under these conditions Mr. Kilbourne obtained a similar position with the firm of O. F. Day, Son and Company, engaged in the same line of business in Baltimore. Shortly afterward, when but fifteen years of age, he decided to come to the west, and, with him decision and action have ever gone hand in hand. He wrote and dispatched eighteen letters, addressed to different business concerns at various points-from Pittsburgh to San Francisco. That he presented his case effectively is shown by the fact that he received replies from all except one of the letters and was definitely tendered in the connection five different jobs. Of these five he accepted that which offered the lowest salary but apparently the best prospects for the future. Thus it was that he made his way to the city of Detroit, Michigan, and entered the employ of the firm of Pierson and Hough, engaged in the manufacture of harness, horse collars and saddlery. The ambitious youth proved his value and within a few months was earning and receiving a salary of one hundred and twenty-five dollars a month as assistant buyer for the concern, under H. L. Pierson, the senior member thereof. He had the supervision of the work of the city and suburban salesmen, and when commercial expedience brought about the incorporation of the business five of the department heads were admitted as members of the new company, including Mr. Kilbourne. With the Pierson-Hough Company Mr. Kilbourne continued his alliance until he was twenty years of age and he then became associated with three other men who were at the head of departments in the business and they engaged in the same line of business in an independent way, Ed O'Neill, of Birmingham, Michigan, likewise becoming a principal and the enter-
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prise being incorporated under the title of the Oakland Harness Company. Before the new business had been definitely established Mr. Kilbourne received from Fort Wayne a proposition to come to this city and effect a reorganization of the Johns-Thompson Saddlery Company, which was accomplished. At this juncture Mr. Pierson, of the Pierson-Hough Com- pany, of Detroit, also made to Mr. Kilbourne and F. B. Thompson an offer to represent his concern in Fort Wayne. This offer was accepted and an office duly opened in Fort Wayne, where Mr. Pierson consented to the local representatives likewise establishing for themselves a merchan- dise brokerage business. Under these conditions Mr. Kilbourne applied himself with characteristic energy and progressiveness from October 1, 1907, until 1913, when Mr. Thompson returned to Detroit to enter the real estate business. For the ensuing year Mr. Kilbourne conducted an independent real estate business in Fort Wayne, and he then formed a partnership with C. E. Perry, under the firm name of Kilbourne and Perry. The office of the new firm was originally established in the Old National Bank building, from which removal was later made to the present eligible quarters in the modern Shoaff building, from which well- appointed offices the firm now conducts a substantial, well-ordered and very successful general real estate and financial business. Mr. Kilbourne is one of the vigorous and representative young business men and popular citizens of Fort Wayne and his loyalty to the city of his adoption is one of appreciation and of unwavering confidence in the still greater future of the Allen county metropolis. His political allegiance is given to the Republican party, and he has held various official chairs in the different bodies of both the York and Scottish Rites of the Masonic fraternity, in the latter of which he has received the thirty-second degree. He is also serving, in 1917, as captain of Mizpah Arab Patrol connected with Mizpah Temple of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of which he is Chief Rabban. He is affiliated also with the local lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, is one of the vital and influential members of the Fort Wayne Commercial Club, in which he has been elected on the Board of Directors, and he holds membership in the Fort Wayne Country Club, the Rotary Club and the local organization of the Anti-Tuberculosis League. He is also Chairman of the Board of Examiners of the Officers' Reserve Corps Military Training Camps Asso- ciation. In 1909 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Kilbourne to Miss Bertha A. Deininger, of Decatur, Indiana, she being a daughter of Ulrich Deininger, a well-known citizen of that place. Mr. and Mrs. Kilbourne have no children, but the attractive home circle is amplified by the pres- ence of Mrs. Lavinia Garnet, a sister of Mr. Kilbourne.
Milton G. Kimmel comes of a family that has been established in Indiana since 1837, and from then down to the present time has been creditably identified with its agricultural industry. His maternal grand- father, John Ogden, of whom more extended mention is made in the per- sonal sketch devoted to Robert Kimmel, brother of the subject, was one of the substantial farming men of Wells county to the end of his days, after his advent there in 1837, and he passed away in 1891, one of the best known and most highly esteemed men of his county. Milton G. Kimmel is the son of David T. and Sarah A. (Ogden) Kimmel. He was born on the old family homestead, July 17, 1851, and was reared to farm life, de- voting himself to that vocation until about twenty-three years of age. He then removed to Fort Wayne, where he became identified with the
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Packard Piano Company, with which he has since been associated in the capacity of engineer. Mr. Kimmel was married, November 5, 1874, to Maria Hoke, a daughter of John A. and Elizabeth (Weaver) Hoke, na- tives of Pennsylvania and pioneers of Allen county, having removed here in 1860. To Mr. and Mrs. Kimmel were born eleven children, five of whom died in infancy. Those who grew to maturity are Anna J., who became the wife of Frederick Trevey, and is now deceased; Charles A. is also deceased; Harriet E. is the widow of the late Albert Hartsein, of Fort Wayne; Cora M. is the wife of Henry Mills, of Fort Wayne; Harman G. is a butcher in the United States navy, and Frederick I. is also in the United States navy, in the capacity of baker. Mr. and Mrs. Kimmel also have four grand-children : William G., George R. and Sarah C. Trevy, and Velma H. Mills. Mr. Kimmel is numbered with the progressive and enterprising citizens of Fort Wayne and is identified in many ways with matters which have to do with the progress and betterment of the city. He maintains a pleasant home at 3232 Indiana avenue, where he and his wife are surrounded by a host of warm friends, and have sufficient means to keep the wolf from their door.
Robert Kimmel was reared on a farm and since he was twenty-one years old has operated his own land. He has been successful and pros- perous and takes his proper place among the leading agricultural men of Pleasant township. He was born on December 22, 1865, and is a son of David T. and Sarah A. (Ogden) Kimmel, who came from Stark county, Ohio, to Allen county, Indiana, in 1840. They located first in Wayne township, spending about a year there, and then moved to Pleasant township, where the family has since been represented creditably. David Kimmel knew many hardships and privations in the early years of his residence in Allen county, and his prosperity was the result of his own well-directed efforts and his unfailing energy and continued toil. The gentleman farmer was unknown in those pioneer days, and the methods that won success then are obsolete in the farming world today for the most part. Robert I. Kimmel was the seventh child in a family of eight born to his parents. Milton G., the first born, is found mentioned else- where in the pages of this work. He is located in Fort Wayne and is connected prominently with the Packard Piano Company. John M. is located in Des Moines, Iowa. Martha married Amos Lawrence of Fort Wayne and is deceased. Mary Jane is the wife of Jacob Fieghman and lives in Huntington county, Indiana. Lucy R. is deceased. Jacob C. lives in Fort Wayne, and Harriet E. lives in Bensen, Nebraska, and is the wife of LeRoy Herndeen. Robert Kimmel as a boy attended the schools of Pleasant township, and under his father's able instruction on the farm learned much on the home place that fitted him for his career as a farmer in later years. He comes of sturdy stock, and it should be said here that his maternal grandfather, John Ogden, came to Indiana as early as the year 1837. He was a native Pennsylvanian, born on October 9, 1807, and was of English ancestry. His education was meagre, so far as books were concerned, but he was a man of splendid mentality and was self taught along many lines, and all his life held a prominent place in his community. He married young, the date of that event being May 27, 1828, and Martha Swavanger became his wife. They were courageous and ambitious and, in 1837, set out for Indiana, in the hope of finding greater advantages than their own state afforded. The trip across the country in that early day was a matter of considerable moment, and it
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