USA > Ohio > Putnam County > A Portrait and biographical record of Allen and Putnam counties, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of many prominent and representative citizens, together with biographies and portraits of all the presidents of the United States, and biographies of the governors of Ohio, pt 2 > Part 26
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John Kehres, the subject of this sketch, during his boyhood days lived on his father's farm and attended the common schools in his township. He was faithful and industrious in all his work, whether it was on the farm or in the school-house. On June 6, 1893, he mar- ried Anna, the accomplished daughter of Bar-
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OF PUTNAM COUNTY.
ney and Clara (Grewe) Helmkamp; this lady was born in Ottoville September 24, 1867, . where she was educated. Her father was a native of Ohio, and died December 26, 1875. Her mother was married a second time to B. Schlagbaum and became the mother of five children, named Dora, Louisa, Mary, Joseph and Rosa, and lives near Ottoville. After John Kehres had married he took his young wife to the old homestead, which is one of the best improved farms in the township. Here a beautiful and bright daughter, Hildegarde, was born to them May 25, 1894. Both hus- band and wife are members of the Catholic church at Ottoville, and in politics Mr. Kehres is a stanch democrat.
J ACOB KESSLER .- There has entered into our complex national fabric no ele- ment of more value and substantial worth than that supplied by the Ger- man empire, and to this source the subject of this review traces his lineage. His own life has been an eventful one, and many points of interest may be related concerning his career prior to the time when he settled down to the peaceful pastoral pursuits in Union township, Putnam county, Ohio. Mr. Kessler's parents were Joseph and Elizabeth (Rohr) Kessler, and he was born in Bishweiler, France, in July, 1828. The father was born in the same can- ton on the 19th of March, 1789, the son of Philip Kessler, a native of Germany. Philip Kessler's father was a merchant of great wealth and prominence in Germany, and had nummer- ous trading vessels plying on the Rhine. Philip learned the tailor's trade, after which he left home and made his way to France, this act entailing to him the loss of his inheritance. He had been admirably educated, and was sufficiently self-reliant to gain for himself snc- i
cess in the affairs of life. In France he married Eve Schaliger.
Joseph Kessler, father of our subject, was born near Strassburg, Germany, was reared to farm life, and in 1814 was united in marriage to Elizabeth Rohr, who was a native of the same canton. Of their children we make a record as follows: John, deceased; Mrs. Mag- dalene Horter, deceased; Elizabeth, deceased; Philip is a blacksmith of Carroll county, Ohio; Michael, deceased; Mrs. Elizabeth Bechtel, deceased; Jacob, deceased; Jacob (second), subject of this review; Charles, deceased; Louis, a farmer near Miller City, Putnam county; Mary, wife of Charles Brankle, a farmer and carpenter of Carroll county.
After his marriage the father of our subject resided in Bishweiler, France, until 1831, when he emigrated to America and located in Car- roll county, Ohio, where he purchased a farm and there passed the residue of his days, living to attain the patriarchal age of ninety-five years. In politics he was a democrat, and in religion he clung to the faith of his fathers, being a devoted member of the Catholic church.
Jacob Kessler, our subject, was about five years of age at the time that his parents left Havre, by sailing vessel, for America, and he was reared on the parental farmstead in Car- roll county, and here received his education. He continued his residence in Carroll county until 1848, having in the meantime learned the shoemaker's trade. In the year noted he went to Buffalo, N. Y., where he was engaged in work at his trade for a period of five years, when he turned his attention to a seafaring life, sailing the great lakes for a score of years, and encountering many vicissitudes and perils. He sailed on board a number of different vessels, and twice encountered shipwreck, escaping once on the ice and the second time in an open boat. The most of the time he served as stew- ard on the lakes, and in the centennial year,
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1876, he abandoned the lakes and came to Putnam county, where he effected the pur- chase of a farm of 140 acres, for which he paid the sum of $1, 100, representing his accu- mulations for his service on the lakes. On this place he has erected an attractive and commodious residence. His efforts have been attended with excellent success, and he is one of the intelligent and honored residents of the community. In politics he is a stanch demo- crat, and is an ardent member of the Roman Catholic church at Kalida, having been con- firmed by Bishop Purcell, of Cincinnati, at the age of seventeen years, said confirmation tak- ing place at Marseilles, Ohio.
EORGE D. KINDER occupies a po- sition of distinctive precedence as one of the representative men of Putnam county and editor of the Putnam County Sentinel, published in Ottawa. The son of Capt. George and Eliza ( Schnorf ) Kinder, our subject, was born November 6, 1836, at Franklin, Warren county, Ohio. His father was one of the first of those inland mariners, who, early in the 'thirties, navi- gated the Miami canal, that great water way of the state, which aided so largely in develop- ing the resources and advancing the rapid. set- tlement of that portion of the state through which it passed. His mother was of Pennsyl- vania-German extraction. Our subject had three brothers, the eldest of whom, William R. Kinder, was with the party which ran the boundary line between the United States and Mexico after the close of the Mexican war. He was afterward editor and proprietor of the Hamilton Telegraph, which, under his direc- tion, was one of the most influential newspa- pers in the southern part of Ohio. Upon his election to the office of probate judge of Butler county, however, he disposed of the paper,
and died before the expiration of the term of office for which he was elected. The next brother, John E., was for a long time con- nected with the revenue department of the government service and his death occurred at his home in Miamisburg, where his son Charles is now postmaster and the owner and editor of the Miamisburg News. The third brother, Clinton B., is the editor and proprie- tor of the Rockford Free Press, at Rockford, Ohio. From the above it is clearly to be seen that the family has been well represented in journalistic ranks.
George D. Kinder, the immediate subject of this sketch, entered, at the age of fifteen, the office of the Hamilton Telegraph, which was then under the administration of his brother, and there familiarized himself with the "art preservative of all arts," and, with the exception of about two years spent at col- lege, has ever since devoted his time to the printing business. In 1862 he established the Erie News at Sandusky city, this being one of the democratic newspapers which were pub- lished on the Western Reserve during the years 1862 and 1863. In the latter year he removed the material of the News office to Port Clinton, Ottawa county, and there estab- lished the Ottawa News. In 1865 he dis- posed of this property to George R. Clark, and forthwith effected the purchase of the Green- ville Democrat, continuing its publication for somewhat over a year, after which he sold it to the present owner. He afterward became business manager of the Bucyrus Forum, and while acting in that capacity purchased the Putnam County Sentinel, of which he has ever since remained proprietor, conducting it very successfully, building up an extensive and profitable business, and making the office one of the finest and most complete newspaper and job offices in the state.
Mr. Kinder was married in February, 1869,
Seo. D. Kinder
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at Ottawa, to Miss Zella Gordon, daughter of Hon. John Gordon, a distinguished resident of the place. The offspring of this union was three children: Zella, Gordon, and George- the last named having died at the age of one year.
The push and energy of his eastern-born father, coupled with the thrifty Pennsylvania German strain through his mother, have com- bined in Mr. Kinder the elements of a success- ful man, not only as regards financial ability; but also in the influence which he has been able to wield as an editor, a citizen, and bus- iness man; while his inflexible integrity and in- dependence of thought have made him a valu- able counselor in party action, and his paper a recognized power in northwestern Ohio.
Always ready to do his part in the furnish- ing of of means, as well as in the advocacy of every enterprise proposed for the benefit of his town and county, his work and influence have aided largely in the construction of the admir- able graveled roads with which Putnam county is so liberally provided; in the con- struction of the railroads through which its development has been so rapidly effected, and in those town improvements which have made Ottawa one of the best, if not the best, of the municipalities in the state, as touching con- veniences and public accessories.
PILLIAM W. KELLY, one of the re- liable business men of Ottawa, Put- nam county, Ohio, was born De- cember 29, 1839, near Lewisburg, Pa., and is a son of David H. and Mary (Baker) Kelly, natives of the same state. The family to which Mr Kelly belongs had its origin in county Donegal, Ireland, where John Kelly, the subject's paternal ancestor, was born and reared. John Kelly came to America in the time of the colonies, and settled in Lan- 15
caster county, Pa., where he married Mrs. Elizabeth (Allison) Buchanan, by whom he had four children, John, William, Andrew and Elizabeth. Andrew died at the age of twenty- one; William married and died in the county of Lancaster, leaving several daughters; Eliza- beth married Gen. Robert Hannah, and John located in Union county, Pa., where he mar- ried Sarah Pollock. John and Sarah Kelly had a family of eight sons and two daughters, viz: John, James, William, Samuel, Elizabeth, Mary, David, Joseph, Andrew, and Robert, all of whom reared families, except the two. last named.
John Kelly, the father of the above chil- dren, was born in Lancaster county, Pa., in February, 1747. After the purchase of the land from the Indians in 1767, and before the opening of the land office in 1769, he located in Buffalo Valley, a part of what was North- umberland county, where he suffered all the hardships and privations of life in a new and undeveloped country. He was almost a giant in stature, being over six feet in height, vigor- ous and muscular, and his labors, though arduous, had but little effect on him, he being almost insensible to fatigue. In early life he took a commanding position among his fellows and was made a captain in the army and be- came major of a regiment before his twenty- seventh year. He served in the war of the Revolution, and in the fall of 1776, when hope was almost buried in despair, he took part in Washington's campaign in New Jersey. He was present at Trenton when the Hessians surrendered, and assisted in the masterly movement on Princeton, by which the chain of communication of the enemy was broken.
In the course of one of their retreats, the commander-in-chief, through one Col. Potter, sent an order to Major Kelly to have a certain bridge destroyed, in order to prevent the ad- vance of the British, who were then in sight.
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The major sent for an ax, but saw that the enterprise would be attended with great dan- ger. He said he could not order another to do what some might say he was afraid to do himself, accordingly he began cutting down the bridge, but before the task was accom- plished, the enemy were within range, and sev- eral balls struck the log upon which he was standing. He proceeded, however, with the work, and succeeded so well that at last the only support of the bridge, upon which he was standing, broke and fell into the swollen stream, the major going down with it. His comrades moved on, believing it impossible for him to escape, and he floated a considerable distance with the current before reaching the shore. He followed the troops, encumbered with wet frozen clothing, and while in this sad plight encountered a British scout, whom he captured, and led a prisoner to the American camp. History mentions that the American army was preserved from utter defeat by the destruction of that bridge. After leaving the army Major Kelly returned to his family, and during the three years following assisted in protecting the settlement from the encroachinents of the Indians. He became colonel of a home regi- ment, and his duty was to keep watch and guard against the hostiles and prevent their incursions into the settlements. So dangerous were the savages that at one time the country was abandoned and left to their mercy. Col. Kelly was the first to return, others following him later, and for at least two years the peo- ple were obliged to carry their rifles to the fields in order to protect themselves while at work. The Indians seemed to have a special hatred toward Col. Kelly and resolved upon his death, but were afraid to meet him openly. One night he had reason to apprehend that they were near his house. Accordingly, he arose in the early morning, and looking through the crevices of his log cabin, discov-
ered two warriors lying with their rifles so presented as to shoot him when he opened the door. He fixed his own rifle, took position, and with a string swung the door open, upon which two bullets were fired into the room. The Indians sprang up to advance for the scalp of their supposed victim, which gave him an opportunity of firing, which he did, wound- ing one, and causing the other to beat a hasty retreat. For many years Col. Kelly served as magistrate of his county, and would at any time give up his own fees, and if the parties were too poor to pay the constable's cost, would settle those also, in order to effect a compromise. He was an affectionate father and husband, a friendly and hospitable neigh- bor, and his death occurred in 1832, at the age of eighty-eight years.
David Kelley, son of the above, and father of the subject of this biography, was born in November, 1798, and departed this life in February, 1875, near Lewisburg, Pa. By oc- cupation he was a farmer, and was a leading man of the community in which he lived. He served as county commissioner, and held other local offices as a democrat of the old school. In addition to farming. he also carried on the manufacture of flour for some years, owning and operating one of the best mills in his county. He married, in 1831, Mary Baker, who was born in Pennsylvania in February, 1811, and who is still living. David and Mary Kelly reared a large family of children, whose names are as follows: John A., who lives on the old home farm in Pennsylvania; Catherine R., wife of Dr. Lewis Myers, of Fremont, Ohio; Jacob B., died in 1890; Sarah E .. wife of Joseph Kleckner of Union county. Pa .; Robert H., died in 1860; William W., subject of this biography; Mary Ann, wife of James S. McCreight, of Lewisburg, Pa. ; James B., died in 1888; Emna C., wife of David Frederick, of Northumberland county, Pa .; David S.,
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OF PUTNAM COUNTY.
died in 1887; Jane E., wife of John Frederick, of Pennsylvania; Clara M., who died in child- hood, and Hugh Brady Kelly.
William W. Kelly was reared on the old home farm in Pennsylvania, attended such schools as the country afforded, and acquired a knowledge of the higher branches at an academy in the town of New Berlin. In 1861 he came to Ohio, joining his brother-in-law. Dr. L. B. Myers, at the town of Elmore, Ottawa county, where the latter was conduct- ing the drug business and practicing his pro- fession. Mr. Kelly entered the employ of Dr. Myers as clerk, in which capacity he continued about five years; acquiring a thorough knowl- edge of the drug business during this time. He then effected a co-partnership in the drug business at Ottawa, Putnam county, Ohio, with Mr. Hauck, and has since been promi- nently identified with the business interests of the city. The firm of Kelly & Hauck lasted twenty-one years, at the end of which time Mr. Kelly purchased his partner's interest, and has since conducted the business alone. He carries a full line of goods, such as are found in first-class establishments of the kind, and in 1890 opened a branch store, where he keeps for sale books, stationery, wall-paper, etc., one room being insufficient for the business which he does. Mr. Kelly was one of the or- ganizers of a gate and fence manufacturing company of Ottawa, and has been identified with a number of other enterprises of a busi- ness nature. He was the first president of the Home & Savings association of Ottawa and is one of the stockholders of the same. He be- longs to Ottawa lodge, No. 325, F. & A. M., Ottawa chapter, No. 115, and Putnam coun- cil, No. 65. He has served the city as a mem- ber of the common council, and has been ac- tive in promoting the educational interests of Ottawa, by serving on the school board. Politi- cally, he is a democrat, and the Presbyterian
church represents his religious creed. He is one of the oldest business men of Ottawa, and one of Putnam county's representative citizens. Mr. Kelly was married October 20, 1864, to Sarah E. Hauck, daughter of Andrew and Mary (Beaver) Hauck. Mrs. Kelly was born near Lewisburg, Pa., March 1, 1841, and is the mother of four children: Emma I., wife of C. P. Godfrey; William A .; Annie, deceased, and Mary Z.
a HRISTIAN A. KING, one of the most prosperous farmers of Jennings town- ship, Putnam county, Ohio, is a son of John Arnold King, a native of Oldenburg, Germany, who married Agnes Von Lehmden, and by her became the father of six children, viz: Agnes, Ferdinand J., Mary A., Christian A., Benedena and Lyzetta-all born in Germany. The family came to Amer- ica in September, 1837, and settled in Fort Jennings, Ohio, where the father died a year later at the age of sixty-nine years.
Christian A. King, our subject, was born at Oldenburg, Sternfeldt, Germany, September 1, 8831, was abont eight years of age when his father died, and was reared in the woods of Jennings township among the pioneers and aborigines. His mother was married to her second husband, Francis Werris, when our sub- ject was still a mere lad, and with them the latter continued to reside until 1852, when he went to California, with his brother Ferdinand, and in company of twenty-four adventurers from Ohio, and other states, to the west there- of. The trip was made with mule team across the plains, and eighty-five days were occupied in traveling from St. Joseph, Mo., to Hang- town (Now Placerville), 176 miles from Sacra- mento, Cal. The two brothers remained at Placerville about six weeks, and further on met an old friend, Charles Newman, and were
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
employed by him on his ranch, thirty-five miles above Sacramento, for three months, then went up the river, worked a ranch of their own for two years or longer, and then returned home, via the isthmus and the city of New York, having been absent four years and twenty-one days, and having secured sufficient means for a good start in life. His mother, now quite aged, was the owner of 146 acres of land, and this farm our subject conducted for the next four years.
The marriage of Mr. King took place at Delphos, Ohio, January 14, 1860, to Miss Gertrude Herminghuysen, daughter of Ernest and Mary (Roberstien) Herminghuysen. The parents were natives of Holland and settled in Delphos in 1843; they had a family of eight children, named Ernest, Frank, Gertrude, Andy, Adrian, Mary, Henrietta, and Theodosia -all born in Holland with the exception of Theodosia, who is a native of Putnam county, Ohio. The father had been a druggist in the old country, was well to do, and on coming to Putnam county bought a farm of eighty acres one-half mile southwest of Fort Jennings, on which he died in 1859, at the age of about . forty-one years, a member of the German Re- form church. After his marriage, Mr. King settled on his portion of the homestead, which comprised twenty-eight acres only, but this he has now increased to 129 acres-all nicely cleared and partly located in the village of Fort Jennings. The children born to Mr. King by this, his first marriage, are three in number and are named Antone, Arnold B. and Ferdinand H. The death of Mrs. King took place January 14, 1865, aged twenty-five years and ten days-a sincere Catholic in her relig- ious belief. The second marriage of Mr. King was solemnized September 3, 1867, with Miss Mary Herminghuysen, sister of his deceased wife, and this union has been blessed with six children, named Ernest, Louie, Frank, John,
Eddie and Gertrude. Mr. King is himself a Catholic and is rearing his children in the same faith, while Mrs. King adheres to the faith of her parents, the Lutheran or German Reform. In politics Mr. King is a stanch democrat and has held the office of supervisor, and is justly esteemed as one of the most respectable resi- dents of Jennings township, and his well reared family enjoy an equally large share of their neighbors' regard.
ENRY KISSEL, one of the oldest and most experienced farmers of Van Buren township, Putnam county, Ohio, was born in Dauphin county, Pa., April 30, 1827. At the age of three years, or in 1830, he came to Ohio with his parents, who settled in Crawford county, where. a short time afterward, the father died, leav- ing a widow and three children, with no means on which to live. She was, however, a brave woman and a loving mother, and would fre- quently work at spinning all night in order to earn a trifle with which to help in supporting her family. Henry being the only son was early set to work at anything he could find to do, to increase the family's income. He was quite a stout lad, and willingly worked at farming, and later in a factory at making screens for fanning mills, such articles being then made by hand. As he worked by the piece, and was ambitious and anxious to earn money, he wore his fingers almost bare at the ends, and was really what is known at the present day as a " hustler." Some time later his employer decided to change his location and to take our subject as an apprentice, the terms being that the latter was to serve three years for his board and lodging, and at the end of his apprenticeship was to have a new suit of clothes and a set of planes, and in the meantime receive nine months' schooling. The
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OF PUTNAM COUNTY.
terms were faithfully carried out by our subject, but the employer was remiss on his part, as he gave his apprentice but six months' schooling. On his return home he found his mother alone and sick and dependent on her neighbors, his two sisters having married during the interval. As our subject had no money, he found a job at cutting corn, and earned enough to pay for the supplies needed by his mother during the coming winter, and the next spring he was em- ployed in a wheat-fan factory, in which he worked all the season. The following two years he worked by the month at carpentering, and by this time he had earned enough to build a small house for his mother and himself. About this time a sister came from Fort Wayne, Ind., and assisted for a short time in caring for the aged parent, and then returned to her own home. Mr. Kissel then engaged in the manufacture of bedsteads, prospered, and in 1856 married, took his bride home and for a year lived with his mother. He also continued to work at carpentering, and at the end of the year all three went to live with the father-in-law for a year, Mr. Kissel, in the in- terval, selling his house and buying a six-acre tract, on which was a cheap house, and to this, subject, mother and wife moved. He had gone partly in debt for this place, but he was industrious and continued at work as a carpenter and soon had the place clear of debt. He then built onother house, in which they all lived until 1869, when he sold and came to Putnam county, where he bought his pres- ent place of eighty acres in Van Buren town- ship. Of this farm ten acres had been cleared, and there was upon it a small house. Mr. Kissel has now sixty acres cleared, ditched, tiled and well cultivated; has a good house and barn, and an orchard, the trees of which he brought on his back from Leipsic.
Mr. Kissel married Miss Barbara Wert, a daughter of David Wert, a fariner of Craw-
ford county, and this union has been blessed by the birth of six children-all boys, viz: David H., a farmer; George, who farms the home place; Martin L., who died at seven years of age; John, on the home farm; Joseph F., a railroad employee in Colorado, and Charles R., at home. The mother of Mr. Kissel, for a few years after he settled in Put- nam county, lived with a daughter in Craw- ford county, and then joined her son, with whom she lived five or six years, when she re- turned to Crawford county, where she died a year or two later, at the advanced age of eighty-two years. Of her three children, Delilah married Joseph Bolinger, and resides in Brazil, Ind .; the second in order of birth is our subject, and the third, Maria, married George Noblet, of Crawford county. Mr. and Mrs. Noblet are both now deceased, and have left a family of eight children, all residing in Crawford county. Mr. Kissel, besides being a good and faithful son, has been an equally good and faithful citizen. He and wife are devout members of the Lutheran church, and he has filled some of the school offices. He has witnessed the inany stupendous changes that have taken place in Putnam county since 1869, and has been instrumental in bringing about many of them, and can indeed look back on a well spent life, the fruits of which he is now enjoying-honored by a respected family and a large circle of devoted friends.
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