USA > Ohio > Adams County > A history of Adams County, Ohio, from its earliest settlement to the present time, including character sketches of the prominent persons identified with the first century of the country's growth > Part 95
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pressive. It dominated all other expressions of his features. It was a pleasure to hear him converse and he enjoyed the company of good con- versationalists and could carry his part among that kind of social com- panions. He was a great friend of the lawyers and physicians of West Union of his own age, and especially of E. P. Evans, J. R. Cockerill, J. M. Wells and Dr. David Coleman.
When the underground railroad was in operation, he was one of the directors and conductors. As his name indicates, he was of Scotch de- scent and by birthright a Presbyterian, and a believer in that faith, but never became a member of the church. This was largely due to the breach between his father and the Rev. Dyer Burgess on the subject of Masonry in 1830. In 1868, he united with the M. E. Church and died in that faith on October 10, 1887. His life was full of good deeds and acts of charity. He was a good citizen, a good neighbor, and undertook to and performed all his duties as man, citizen, husband and father as he under- stood them. He has gone to his reward and the world is better that he lived. He left the memory of an example of which his children, his township and county may be proud. 'His children were: George Law- rence, born May 15, 1835; John Williamson, born March 29, 1837; Wil- liam Nelson, born March 20, 1839, died December 3, 1852; Sarah Mar- garet, born May 16, 1842; Mary Anne, born January 27, 1847; Adaline Jane, born May 2, 1849; Martha Alice, born October 29, 1851 ; Thomas, born November 12, 1854; Quincy Adams, born December 15, 1858; Win- field Scott, born July 9, 1861.
Sarah M. married Joseph B. Matthews, and lives near Eckmansville, Ohio. They have two children. Adaline Jane married John G. Klein- knecht, and resides at Hills Fork, Ohio, and she has four children.
Captain George S. Kirker.
Captain George S. Kirker, the youngest son of Gov. Thomas Kirker, was born on the old Kirker homestead in Liberty Township, Adams County, Ohio, February 7, 1813. He was married in 1840 to Mary M. Cunningham, daughter of William and Ellen Doak Cunningham, of Vir- ginia descent. Their children living are Sarah Ellen, unmarried and re- siding at the old home; Charles E., Mary F., wife of A. P. McIntire; William C .. who resides on the old homestead; Ora, wife of Edwin Mor- rison, of Pawnee City, Neb., and India A., residing at Axtell, Kansas. Mr. and Mrs. Kirker lost six children in infancy. Mary M. Kirker was born March 17, 1817, and died at Manchester, Ohio, April 13, 1887. George S. Kirker lived his entire life on the farm in Liberty Township except the last four years, in which he made his residence in Manchester. He died September 15, 1879. He was highly respected wherever he was known. He was a man of great public spirit. If any measure was pro- posed or projected for the public benefit, he was always favorable to it and always supported. it with great enthusiasm. He was a manly man. Whatever was just, whatever was upright, whatever was for good, he was for. He was the means of having the pike from Cherry Fork to Ben- tonville built, and but for his influence, its construction would have been delayed for years.
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From 1863 to 1871, he, Crockett McGovney and Dr. D. M. McCon- augh engaged in the pork packing business at Manchester. It required a great deal of nerve and capital to go into that business and carry it on, but Kirker had both. It was the largest and most important business car- ried on in Adams County while it lasted, and its being carried on was a great public benefit to the county. True, the partners lost money, but the people who dealt with them did not.
George S. Kirker was a prosperous and successful farmer and stock raiser. No man in the county took more pride in fine stock than he did and those who knew him in his prime knew that he never was happier than when riding a fine horse. He was always fond of horseback riding and usually had a saddle horse with a fancy gait. At fifty years, he was a large man, with very black hair and a full black beard. He had a fine presence and impressed strangers as a man of importance. In his busi- ness dealings, he was direct and straight to the point and was the soul of integrity and fair dealing. His industry and energy were untiring.
When there was any business to be done, Mr. Kirker never rested until it was done. He was a most jovial, agreeable companion. He was full of humor and liked to give it play. He was fond of a good story. He was one of those whom others like to ask to take the lead and when his judgment approved, he never hesitated to take it. When he did take it, the business went forward to a conclusion and usually to a successful one. He was always in good spirits and his presence and manner put those about him in good spirits. He was always inclined to take a cheer- ful view of things and to believe that a poor or bad condition of affairs could be bettered. He was plain in his dress, in his speech and in his manners, but he believed in getting at the substance of things. He was a man of strong will power and great tenacity of purpose. He would not undertake any matter or enterprise unless it was within reason that it could be carried through and that he could tring it to a successful issue. He had excellent judgment, and if it ever failed him, it was because of the influence of matters upon which he had not calculated.
In the period of his business activity, he was a most valuable element in the community. If any one was to lead in any project, he was usually selected as the one, and he never failed, when called upon, either to under- take the work placed upon him or to bring it to a fortunate conclusion. He was a natural leader in the circle of his acquaintances. It was this fact which made him a Captain in the 14Ist O. V. I. He was a strong Republican in his political views and could not have been anything else. He, however, unlike his distinguished father, had no taste for political office, and he never held any but that of Infirmary Director from 1863 to 1866. He accepted this because his name added strength to the ticket on which he was and because he lived in the same township in which the in- firmary was located. His known sympathy for the poor and needy urged his candidacy and induced him to accept the office. Then again, his con- test was made in the middle of the war when patriots were discouraged and when strong men needed to come forward and encourage the war. There is no man risen up in Mr. Kirker's place with all his sterling qual- ities. He set the world an example of life and character which ought to
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be remembered and perpetuated, and an example which, if followed, would increase the sum total of pleasure and contentment here, and hap- piness and hope for the future.
Philip Kratzer,
of Blue Creek, was born near Arnheim, Brown County, Ohio, October 7, 1839. His father was Simon Kratzer, whose ancestors came from Pennsylvania, and his mother was Elizabeth Lindsey, a descendant of an old and respectable family of Brown County. Our subject was reared on a farm and had the advantages of the country schools. He enlisted from Georgetown, Ohio, August 18, 1862, and was mustered into the service of the United States at Camp Dennison as a Private, Company D, Captain Higgins, 59th Regiment, O. V. I., Colonel Fyffe, for three years. Joined regiment at Cave City, Ky., and there promoted to Corporal. Served in Nelson's Brigade, Wood's Division, Fourth Corps, Army of the Cumber- land, and took part in all the battles in which his regiment participated, including Stone River, Lookout Mountain, Resaca, Kenesaw Mountain, Siege of Atlanta, and was wounded at Mission Ridge. He was trans- ferred to Company K, October 24, 1864, and served balance of time, and was honorably discharged June 28, 1865.
Our subject was first married January 18, 1865, to Miss Mahala Stayton, of Brown County, by whom he had four sons and four daughters: Robert, Rosetta, Jesse Lee, Stella, John F., George E., Emma and Nellie. Mr. Kratzer's second wife was Matilda J., daughter of Levi and Cynthia Lafara.
Philip Kratzer is one of the substantial citizens of Churn Creek Val- ley. He is a faithful member of the Christian Union Church, and in politics an old-fashioned Democrat, and is an ardent admirer of that leader of Democracy, William J. Bryan.
Frederick Knauff,
of Blue Creek, was born May 14, 1848. His ancestors were among the first of the pioneers in Blue Creek Valley, settling there when the region abounded with bear and deer, and when bands of marauding Indians paid occasional visits to the settlements along Scioto Brush Creek. The parents of Mr. Knauff, Michael and Mary Wolfe Knauff, came from Germany to Butler County, Pa., where Frederick was born, and thence to Adams County. Mary Knauff died April 7, 1892, and is buried at Liberty cem- etery. Michael Knauff is yet living at the age of eighty-three years.
Our subject was educated in the country schools in which he has al- ways taken much interest, being at present a member of the Board of Edu- cation of Jefferson Township.
He was married March 30, 1869, to Elizabeth Lamb, a daughter of John and Elizabeth Boehm Lamb, by whom he has had eight children: John H., Luella A., William D., Wylie C., Anna R., Mary A., Harry J., and Roy A. He is a Republican in his political opinions, but very tolerant in his views. He was raised in the Lutheran Church, but is not a member of any denomination at present.
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Albert De Witt Kirk,
of Cherry Fork, is a son of Alexander Kirk, who was born in Clarion County, Pennsylvania, in 1808, and Mary Reighle, of German descent, from the same State. Alexander Kirk was a son of John Kirk and Jane Mckinney, natives of Scotland. In 1845, Alexander Kirk came from Cincinnati to Youngsville, Adams County, where he followed the trade of tailor. In 1850, he removed his shop to Cherry Fork, where he resided until his death. He was a jovial, lighthearted man, a fine performer on the violin, and was loved and respected by all who knew him. Albert D. Kirk, the subject of this sketch, was born in Youngsville, in 1848, and was brought up to be a tailor in his father's shop. He was educated in the common schools, and in the old academy at Cherry Fork, under Profs. McClung and Chase. When a lad, he was a member of the old militia, and in 1864 was called in the service of the United States, Company G, 172d O. V. I. In 1865, he again volunteered as a member of Company D, 19Ist Regiment, O. V. I., and was honorably discharged at the close of the war.
April 13, 1869, he was married to Phobe McIntire, a daughter of General William McIntire, who bore him four children : William O., Luna E., Blanche and Grace. March 23, 1884, she died, and December 25, 1890, he married Minnie Wickerham, a daughter of Jacob Wickerham, of Peebles, Ohio, a most estimable woman, by whom he has had born to him three children : Albert DeWitt, Kathleen and James. Besides his repu- tation as a fashionable tailor, Mr. Kirk is a fine musician and was the or- ganizer of "Kirk's Band," in 1870, a reed and cornet organization, the old- est in the county, and one of the most excellent.
William Franklin Kenyon
was born October 23, 1841, in Greene Township, Adams County. His maternal great-grandfather, Aaron Stratton, was a native of New Jersey, where he grew to manhood and married. About 1790, he removed to Lewis County, Kentucky, and settled near Vanceburg. He was a man of enterprise and engaged in the manufacture of salt, which he followed for a number of years, and by which he made a considerable fortune. He owned many slaves. He bought Steele's Survey, a body of some seven hundred acres of land on the Ohio side of the river, known then and now as Irish Bottoms. He reared a family of ten children, one son and nine daughters. He made it a rule, upon the marriage of each child, to present him or her, among other things, two negro slaves, a man and a woman. His second daughter, Sarah, married Jonathan Kenyon, a native of Vermont. This daughter declined any present of slaves, and her father gave her instead one hundred and thirty acres of Irish Bottom land, now known as Sandy Springs. She and her husband settled on it, cleared it, and lived and died there. Mr. Kenyon was a regularly admit- ted lawyer, though he did not practice his profession. He was able to properly draw instruments of writing and discouraged litigation. He reared a family of seven children, all sons, namely, Aaron, Samuel, Thompson, Daniel, James, William and Benjamin. These sons all grew to manhood, married and reared families. James and Benjamin went to California, where they engaged in farming, and now reside there. Wil-
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liam lived and died near Ironton, Lawrence County, Ohio. Samuel and Thompson removed to Andrew County, Missouri, where they died. Daniel, the fourth son, was born October 11, 1811, and departed this life November 5, 1885. He became the owner of the old homestead in 1834, to which he added one hundred acres, part of the Carrington Survey ad- joining.
In 1832, he married Miss Rebecca Zorns, born August 18, 1811, in Lewis County, Kentucky, and who departed this life January 4, 1895. They reared a family of seven children: Martha Jane, Artemisia, Cyn- thiana, James R., William Franklin, Samuel F., and Mary Olive. The parents were members of the Methodist Church for over thirty-five years.
William Franklin, the second son, and subject of this sketch, was educated in the Public schools and at the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, Ohio. He graduated at the Nelson Business College at Cin- cinnati. He served as Township Trustee from 1893 to 1899; as School Trustee for twenty years, and as Voluntary Meteorological Observer, U. S. Weather Bureau, for seven years. His political views are Re- publican.
At the age of twenty, he became a member of the Methodist Episco- pal Church at Sandy Springs, and has served it as steward for twenty years, and also as a trustee. He was married April 5, 1864, to Miss Louise McCall, who was born in Scioto County, Ohio, December 7, 1845. Her parents were early settlers near Buena Vista, Ohio, and dealt in lumber and stone.
Our subject has reared a family of seven children, two sons and five daughters. Lena, Theresa, Peninah, Mary Olive, Rosa Blanche, Daniel Austin, and Earl Franklin. Lena married Dr. D. E. Sample, of Vance- burg, Ky., and is now residing at Huntington, West Virginia; Theresa, Peninah and Earl F., are at home with their parents; Mary O., married Mr. E. L. Fulkerson, of St. Clara, Missouri, and they now reside at Texarkana, Ark .; Rosa B. died December 1, 1890; Daniel A. married Miss Mary M. Lawill, of Manchester, Ohio. They reside on the home farm.
Soon after Mr. Kenyon's marriage, he purchased a part of his father's farm on the banks of the Ohio River at Sandy Springs. Since then he has added many acres, principally hill land which is used for orchards. After his education was finished, he engaged in the nursery business with his father under the style of "Daniel Kenyon & Son's Ohio River Nursery and Fruit Farm." He continued in the business for twenty years. His farm is neatly cultivated and tastefully adorned, and surrounded by all the comforts man can desire. Mr. Kenyon and wife are now quietly living on their beautiful fruit farm and enjoying the fruits of industrious and well spent lives.
Oscar Bennett Kirkpatrick
was born December 18, 1856, in Wayne Township. He went to school in the District schools and the North Liberty Academy. He began the study of medicine in 1883 under the instructions of Dr. Carboy, of Win- chester. He attended Miami Medical College from 1884 to 1886 and graduated in the latter year. He took a post-graduate course at New
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York in 1896 at the Polyclinic Hospital. He located to practice medi- cine at North Liberty in 1886 and has been there ever since. He was married November 13, 1886, to Miss Mary Bell Patton, daughter of the late George A. Patton, of Harshaville.
He is a man of high character and an excellent citizen and a very successful physician. He is very highly esteemed in the community in which he resides and wherever he is known.
Robert Stewart Kirkpatrick
was born December 31, 1851, and named after his maternal uncle, Rev. Robert Stewart. for nineteen years pastor of the U. P. Church at North Liberty. He attended the District schools and the North Liberty Academy, and finished his education at the latter place in 1871. He went to clerking in 1868 for George A. Patton, at Harshaville, and worked for him for about three months. Then he clerked at North Liberty for his brother, John P. Kirkpatrick, in 1870. He went to Illinois in March, 1871, and staid there a few months, and was engaged in farming. He returned to Wayne Township in the Fall of 1861, and then clerked for George A. Patton until February 26, 1873, when he was married to Sarah Agnes Laird, daughter of Captain Samuel Laird. After his marriage, he farmed his father's farm until August, 1873, and then removed to North Liberty, and engaged in the produce trade until March, 1875, and in that year and for about two months afterwards, he clerked for his brother, John P. Kirkpatrick. Then he removed to Mattoon, Ill., and lived there until 1876, but came back that Fall to North Liberty, and went to clerking again for George A. Patton, and staid there until March 3, 1882. Then he removed to North Liberty and ran a huckstering wagon until December, 1882, when he started the general store where he is now and has been ever since.
Mr. Kirkpatrick has always been a Republican, and in 1883, was a candidate for Clerk of the Courts of Adams County, but was defeated by George W. Pettit. He is a member of the U. P. Church at Cherry Fork. He has a son, Charles E., who conducts a store at Harshaville, under the name of Charles E. Kirkpatrick & Co., composed of his father and himself. That store was opened May 19, 1897. His daughter Mayme married P. K. Phillips, who works for her father. His second son, Earle, is at home and assists in running the store. His daughter, June Bell, is a student of Monmouth College, one of the brightest girls of her community, and bids fair to accomplish much in the school she attends.
John W. Kincaid.
John Williamson Kincaid was born March 29, 1837, in Sprigg Township, near the Col. Hugh Means residence. He received his first Christian name for his grandfather, Col. John Kincaid, Associate Judge and the second for the Reverend William Williamson, who died in the same year in which he was born. His father, John H. Kincaid, was at that time a staunch Presbyterian. When he was but three years of age, his father removed to the home in Liberty Township where he resided until his death.
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Our subject obtained such schooling as the District schools afforded and has been a farmer all his life. On the twenty-eighth of March, 1860, he was married to Esther J. McConnell, daughter of Alexander McCon- nell. The writer remembers the marriage. They began life together with great hopes and enthusiasm and with a world of love, and their happy relations continued until her death on April 24, 1891.
John W. Kincaid volunteered in the service of his country on the eleventh day of August, 1862, in Company E, 91st O. V. I. He was inade a Corporal of his company August 12, 1862. He is proud of his record as a soldier and has every reason to be. The regiment was in fifteen battles and engagements with the enemy and he was in every one of them. The first was October 26, 1862, and the last November 18, 1864. Men were wounded and killed by his side but he escaped un- scathed, and was able at all times to keep right along with his command. This is a remarkable record for a service which continued almost three years. He was honorably discharged June 24, 1865. The children of his marriage are Oscar B., a farmer living in Greene County, Ohio; Sarah H., married to John Beheimer, and residing in Bethel, Clermont County, Ohio; Hattie M., married to Franklin Robe, and residing near Hills Fork in Liberty Township, and Minnie Bell, who married Walter Riffle, and keeps the home for her father and her own family.
Our subject has always been a Republican. He has held the office of Assessor and Trustee of his Township, and in 1891 was elected In- firmary Director for three years. In 1894, he was re-elected and served the full term. Of all the votes he ever cast (and he never failed to vote), he is proudest of that cast in 1864 for Abraham Lincoln for President, which was cast in front of Gen. Jubal Early's arm. Mr. Kincaid is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Of a long line of ancestry noted for their interest in public affairs and in the welfare of the country, he has aimed, in all his life, to act well his part, and it is the vedict of all who know him that he has succeeded. He is respected by all as a model citizen and an honorable and upright man.
Winfield Scott Kincaid,
son of John H. Kincaid and Barbara Lawrence, his wife, was born in Liberty Township, Adams County, on the ninth of July, 1861. He was the youngest of his father's family. He had the opportunity to become a physician, but preferred to be a farmer. He was married August 12, 1882, to Miss Mary L. Robe, daughter of David L. Robe, Jr., of Liberty Township. The Robes were among the first settlers in Liberty Town- ship. The first election in Liberty Township was held at the house of David Robe, Sr., his wife's grandfather, in April, 1818. He resides on the old homestead, which has been in the same family over one hundred years. Mr. Kincaid was elected Clerk of Liberty Township in April, 1884, and served one year. He was appointed a Trustee of the Wilson Children's Home, March 7, 1898, for a term of four years, and was re- appointed for a like term March 7, 1898. For three years past, he has been President of the Board. He is a member of the West Union Lodge, No. 43, Free and Accepted Masons, and was Master of that lodge in 1
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MILLER & BUNN'S DRUG STORE, WEST UNION
HOTEL
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1894. His grandfather, Col. John Kincaid, was Master of the same lodge from 1818 to 1822.
Mr. Kincaid is an enthusiastic Mason and is much attached to the order. He is one of the founders of the Adams County Argicultural Society and has been one of its twelve directors since its organization. He is now President of the Board of Directors of the Society. He is a Republican and has been active in politics since his sixteenth year. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Liberty Chapel and a class leader. Mr. Kincaid is an honorable and useful citizen. He possesses the confidence and esteem of all his neighbors. He is active, energetic, and enthusiastic in anything he undertakes to do and is re- garded as a model farmer and citizen.
Henry Kress,
farmer, residing near Manchester, was born March 24, 1831, near Russellville, Brown County, Ohio. His father, George Adam Kress, was born in Bamasants, Rhine, Bavaria. His mother, Katherine Miller, was born in the same place. There they were married, and five of their children were born in Germany. In 1828, they came to the United States and located near Russellville, Brown County. They had seven more children in this country, four of whom died in infancy.
Our subject was the sixth child of his parents and the first born in this country. When he was of an age to attend school, the nearest school was so very far away and held such a short time, and the need of the boy's work was so strong that he was not sent to school, and he ob- tained no education. He worked on his father's land until he was twenty- one years of age; and from the age of twenty-one to twenty-seven, he worked out as a farmer. From 1854 to 1858, he worked for Luther Pierce on his farm; and on February 17, 1858, he was married to Miss Mary Jane Colbert, at Manchester. He went to housekeeping in Sprigg Township, where he still resides.
He remained working on the farm until the seventeenth of October, 1861, when he enlisted in Company G of the 70th Ohio Regiment. At the battle of Shiloh, he was the first one of his regiment wounded. He was shot through the left shoulder, and was so disabled that he was dis- charged on the twenty-sixth of September, 1862. He was unable to work any for two years after his wound; and for seven years after his return from the army, he kept toll-gate near Manchester.
He and his wife have had sixteen children born to them; five of whom died in infancy or early childhood, and eleven of whom are still living. His eldest daughter, Kate Kress, was born March 15, 1859, and is the wife of N. B. Francis, at Mt. Sterling, Nebraska. They have one child. His daughter, Margaret A., was born December 30, 1863, and is the wife of E. M. Burnett, a watchman at Manchester. They have three children. Linnie J., his third daughter, was born November 30, 1865, and is married to Mack Pence, a farmer near Manchester. His fourth daugh- ter, Sarah B., born March 28, 1867, was married to Thomas Dawley in 1890. They live near Seaman, Ohio, and have one child. His fifth daughter, Lida F .. , was born September 21, 1868, and was married to C. A. Leedom. She resides with her parents. Josephine Irene Kress was
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