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BIOGRAPHIES
Source:
A Standard History of
THE HANGING ROCK IRON REGION OF
OHIO
An Authentic Narrative of the Past, with the Extended
Survey of the Industrial and Commercial Development
Vol. II
ILLUSTRATED
Publishers - The Lewis Publishing Company
1916
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THOMAS J. KENNEDY.
Ironton, the flourishing metropolis and judicial center of
Lawrence County, claims as one of its popular and representative
citizens and successful business men Thomas J. Kennedy,
who is here engaged in the insurance and real estate business,
as representative of fourteen different companies of stability
and high reputation, his attention being given specially to the
underwriting of fire insurance, in which department of his
business he has a large and important clientage.
Mr. Kennedy was born in the city that is now his
home, and the date of his nativity was Feb. 2, 1877. He is
a son of Thomas and Adelaide (Chamberlain) Kennedy, the
former of whom still resides in Ironton, where he is living,
after having long been identified with the rolling mill
industry, and the latter of whom died in 1889, at the age of
forty-three years, the six children of this union having been
James, William, John. Thomas J., Joseph and Edward.
The father was born in Ireland, in 1847, and was six years of
age at the time of his parents' immigration to America, the
family home being established in the City of St. Louis,
Missouri, where he was reared to maturity and afforded the
advantages of the local schools. He came to Ironton, Ohio,
about the year 1865, and during the years of his long and useful
business life he was identified almost consecutively with the
operation of the iron and steel rolling mills in this section of
the state.
Thomas J. Kennedy attended the parochial and
public schools of Ironton until he had completed the curriculum
of the high school, and at the age of seventeen years he assumed
the position of clerk in the establishment of the McJoynt
Hardware Company, by which he was employed two years. For
the ensuing eighteen months he was an agent for the Prudential
Insurance Company, of Newark, New Jersey, and in this connection
he acquired his initial experience in the line of business in
which he has since achieved marked success and precedence.
After he had thus served as solicitor for the Prudential company
there came distinctive recognition of his effective work and
special ability, since the company then advanced him to the
position of assistant superintendent of its agency at
Portsmouth, Scioto County, where he remained three yeas.
For the following three and one half years he remained three
years. For the following three and one-half years he was a
representative of the company in the Mansfield district of Ohio,
and after an effective service of eight years with the
Prudential he returned, in 1904, to Ironton, where he engaged
independently in the general insurance business, to which he has
since given his close attention and in which his success has
been of unequivocal order. His agency is one of the
largest in Lawrence County and its operations cover fire, life,
accident and other lines of insurance indemnity. Mr.
Kennedy is interested in several Ironton industries, and is
secretary of the Home Building & Loan Company of Ironton. He is
recognized as one of the alert and progressive business men and
loyal and public-spirited citizens of his native city, and the
secure place that he maintains in popular confidence and esteem
is indicated by the fact that he served from 1912 to 1914 as
mayor of Ironton, his administration being signally progressive
and efficient, so that he was importuned to become a candidate
for a second term, an overture which he felt compelled to
decline, by reason of the demands and exactions of his private
business. Mr. Kennedy is a republican in his
political allegiance. He is affiliated with the Masonic
fraternity, including the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of
the Mystic Shrine, and is also a valued and popular member of
the local lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
On the 14th of September, 1898, was solemnized the
marriage of Mr. Kennedy to Miss Emma Mettendorf,
daughter of A. H. Mettendorf, a prominent business man
and influential citizen of Ironton. The two children of
this union are Lowell and Adelaide.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging
Rock Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916 - Page 717 |
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EARL W. KETTER,
clerk of the water works at Ironton, Ohio, is still a young man,
but has had a varied and eventful career in which he has gained
success through his own efforts and abilities. Wearing the
uniform of his country when a mere lad, subsequently connected
with various business enterprises of his community, a victim of
the floods of 1913, and eventually a successful city official
and a prominent figure in the fraternal and athletic circles of
his community - surely thee has been enough of action in this
young man's life to satisfy the most strenuously inclined.
Mr. Ketter is a native son of Ironton,
born July 17, 1880, a son of Charles H. and Rosina (Duis)
Ketter. His father, born in Scioto County, Ohio, in
1849, grew there to manhood and was married, not long after
which he came to Lawrence County and, locating at Ironton,
engaged in the commission business, a line in which he is now
widely and prominently known. The mother was also born in
Scioto County, and met her death in 1893, in an accidental
manner, and Mr. Ketter subsequently married her sister,
Anna Duis. Nine children were born to the first
union: Lillian, George, Earl W., Harold, Otto, Helen, Mabel,
Ralph and Gladys, of whom Ralph is deceased.
By the second union there were six children.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock
Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The
Lewis Publishing Company, 1916 - Page 697
A FEW NOTES:
In 1860 Census - Harrison Twp., Scioto Co., OH - P.O.
Portsmouth on Aug. 3, 1860
There is a CUTTER Family which may be same as Ketter as follows:
Dwelling 1406 Family 1430 - Henry Cutter, ae 43 and wife
Mary, ae 32 with children: William, ae 15, Mary, ae 13, John ae
11, Henry, ae 9, CHARLES, ae 7, Catharine, ae 5 and Emma,
ae 1.
In 1870 Census - Harrison, Scioto Co., OH on Sep. 1, 1870
There is a CUTTER Family which may be same as Ketter as
follows:
Dwelling 97 Family98 - Cutter, Henry ae 52 and Mary, ae 42 with
children: Henry, ae 18, CHARLES ae 17, and Catharine, ae
15. Childen born in Ohio and parents born in Hanover.
In 1880 Census - City of Ironton,
Lawrence Co., OH on June 9, 1880:
Dwelling 225 - Family 262 - Charles H. Ketter, ae 27 and
Rosana, wife, ae 25, Lillie, daughter ae. 8, and
George, son , ae. 1, all born in Ohio.
On June 25, 1897, Duis Ketter was
born in Ironton, Lawrence Co., OH to parents Charles Ketter &
Anna Duis.Earl W. Ketter aged 19, birth date: ca. 1888
married 4 Jun. 1907 at Lawrence Co., Ohio to Anna J. Nauert.
His father was Chas. H. Ketter and mother was Rosena
Duis.
In 1900 Census, Charles H. Ketter, ae. 47 and
wife, Ana Ketter, ae. 33, with children, Lillian Ketter,
ae 23, George Ketter, ae 21, Earl Ketter, ae. 19, Harold
Ketter, ae. 17, Otto Ketter, ae 14, Helen Ketter, ae. 12, Mabel
Ketter, ae. 19, Gladis Ketter, ae 7, Duis Ketter, ae 2, and
Bernard Ketter, ae 10/12 lived at Upper Township, Ironton Ward
4, District 84, Lawrence Co., OH on June 8, 1900.
On Nov. 28, 1900 Lillian M. Ketter, daughter of Charles
H. Ketter and Rosina Duis, married Harry S. Rea in Larence Co.,
OH.
In 1910 Census, Earl W. Ketter, ae 30, and wife,
Anna J. Ketter, ae. 21, and Brother-in-law, Frederick
W. Naurt, ae. 11 years, lived in Ironton Ward 2, Dist. 0101,
Lawrence Co., OH.
In 1920 Census, Earl W. Ketter, ae. 38, and wife,
Anna J. Ketter, ae. 31 with children, Earl W. Ketter,
Jr., ae 7 and Marie I. Ketter, ae. 3, lived at
Ridgway borough, Elk Co., PA on 5th day of January, 1920.
In 1930 Census, Earl W. Ketter, ae 49, and wife,
Anna Ketter, ae 42 and children, Earl Ketter, ae
17, and Marie Ketter, ae 13 lived at Ridgeway
Borough, Elk Co., PA.
In 1950 Census, Earl W. Ketter, ae 69, and
wife, Anna J. Ketter, ae. 61. lived at Ridgway, Elk Co.,
PA at 422 Allenhurst Avenue.
MANY MORE RECORDS at Ancestry.com |
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JOHN F. KETTER.
This publication exercises one of its important functions when
it enters specific record concerning those sterling and
progressive citizens who are representative figures in
connection with the various liens of industrial and commercial
enterprise in the Hanging Rock Iron Region, and such a one is
Mr. Ketter, who is president and manager of the Ketter
Buggy Company, which marks one of the important and
substantial business enterprises in the city of Ironton.
Mr. Ketter was born at Jackson Furnace, Scioto
County, Ohio, on the 26th of April, 1849, a date that indicates
that his is the distinction of being a scion of a pioneer family
of this favored section of the Buckeye State. He is a son
of Henry E. and Mary (Marting) Ketter, both natives of
the great Empire of Germany, where the former was born in 1828,
and the latter in 1824. Henry E. Ketter was reared
and educated in his native land, where he learned the trades of
brick and stone mason, and he immigrated to America in 1854,
when a young man of about twenty-six years. He became
actively identified with the iron industry in the Hanging Rock
Region of Ohio in the pioneer days, assisted in the installing
of many furnaces and was otherwise prominent as a skilled
workman at his trade and in other mechanical lines. He
continued to reside in Scioto County until his death, in 1881,
and survived by thirty years the wife of his youth, she having
passed away in 1851. Of their four children, the eldest is
William who is a resident of Columbus, Ohio; Mary
is the wife of Frederick Graham, of Ironton; John F.,
of this review, was the next in order of birth; and Henry,
who married Miss Maria Shumway, is employed as an expert
blacksmith in the plant of the Ironton Portland Cement Company.
John F. Ketter attended the common schools of
Scioto County until he was sixteen years of age, and he then
entered upon a virtual apprenticeship to learn the carriage and
buggy business, by entering the employ of Henry Lively,
of South Webster, Scioto County. The contract made between
them provided that the young employe should provide for his own
clothing and should receive for his services forty dollars and
board for the first year, fifty for the second, and sixty for
the third. At the expiration of his contract agreement
Mr. Ketter went to the city of Portsmouth, where he worked
as a journeyman at the carriage-maker's trade, until he had
attained to his legal majority. Upon reaching the
dignified position thus granting him the right of franchise he
gave evidence of his independence, ambition and self-reliance by
initiating business on his own responsibility. He
established a modest shop and through the efficiency of his work
and the fairness of his methods his trade grew space, with
incidental augmenting of his prosperity in financial lines.
The major part of his independent business career has had
Ironton as its sage, and there, in 1902, he expanded the scope
and importance of his business by organizing the Ketter
Buggy Company, which is incorporated with a capital stock of
$25,000, and of which he has been president and manager from its
inception, his technical ability and careful administrative
policies having been the prime forces in making the enterprise a
substantial success. Dr. Clark Lowry is
vice-president of the company, and John W. Ketter, son of
the founder, is secretary and treasurer. Mr. Ketter
has shown himself most loyal and public-spirited as a citizen
and business man, is a stalwart supporter of the cause of the
republican party, served one term as a member of the city
council of Ironton, is a member of the Ironton Chamber of
Commerce, and both he and his wife are zealous members of the
First Methodist Episcopal Church in their home city. In
addition to other realty in Ironton, Mr. Ketter is the
owner of the fine residence property at 431 South Sixth Street.
On the 27th of February, 1870, was solemnized the
marriage of Mr. Ketter to Miss Emma Frouein,
daughter of the late Frederick Frouein, a prosperous
farmer of Scioto County. Of the five children of this
ideal union the eldest is John W., who is secretary and
treasurer of the Ketter Buggy Company; Frederick M.,
who is superintendent in the factory of the same company,
married Flora Crum, and they have one child; Henry,
who is a carriage trimmer by trade and vocation, and who now
resides in the City of San Francisco, California, married
Miss Blanche Rowe; Miss Nora holds the position
of stenographer in the office of the Ketter Buggy
Company; and Minnie is a student in the Ironton public
schools.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of
Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing
Company, 1916 - Page 648 |
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OSCAR E. KINKEAD.
An example of the thrift and progressiveness that have combined
to make Ironton one of the most thriving business communities of
the Hanging Rock Region is the dry cleaning establishment of
Oscar E. Kinkead, located at Third and Wyanoke streets.
This enterprise was commenced in a modest manner, but has grown
steadily since its inception, attracting a wide and
representative trade by reason of the excellent business ability
and good management of its proprietor. Mr. Kinkead
was born at Ashland, Kentucky, Feb. 24, 1860, and is a son of
William and Susan E. (Haskill) Kinkead. On the
maternal side he belongs to one of the oldest families of
Lawrence County, being descended from one of the pioneers of the
Hanging Rock Region, James Haskill, the founder of the
town of Haskillville. William Kinkead was raised on
the old Kinkead homestead place in Kentucky, and was
reared to agricultural pursuits, but subsequently turned his
attention to merchandising and was thus engaged at the time of
his death in 1864. Mrs. Kinkead was born at
Haskillville, Lawrence County, Ohio, and died in 1910, at the
age of sixty-eight years. She was married a second time,
to O. J. Chalmers, of Marietta, Ohio, and had one son:
Dr. J. H. Chalmers, a practicing, of Marietta, Ohio, and had
one son: Dr. J. H. Chalmers, a practicing physician of
Cincinnati, Ohio. Oscar E. Kinkead is the only
child born to his parents' union.
Oscar F. Kinkead was afforded good educational
advantages in his youth, attending the schools of Ashland,
Kentucky, until reaching the age of twenty-one years. At
that time he engaged in a general merchandising business at
Forrestdale, Ohio, at which place he continued to operate for
three years, and then went south to Tennessee, where he was in
the stock and fruit business until 1900. In that year
Mr. Kinkead disposed of his interests in the South and
returned to his Ashland home, where he received his introduction
to his present line of business, carrying on a dry cleaning
establishment there for six years. Desiring a
broader field for his activities, Mr. Kinkead next came
to Ironton, where he purchased property and built his present
plant, at Third and Wyanoke streets, which he has fitted up with
the best and most modern machinery to be secured, and the
property is now valued at $3,500. Mr. Kinkead's
success may be said to be in large part due to the personal
attention which he gives to every detail of his business and his
policy of giving full value for every dollar. He bears an
excellent reputation in business circles as a man who exercises
fidelity in all of his engagements. Aside from his
business, Mr. Kinkead takes great interest in apple and
other fruit growing, and owns a farm on which he spends much of
his spare time. He is also the owner of his residence at
No. 1248 South Third street.
Mr. Kinkead was married to Miss Elizabeth
Heiner, daughter of George Heiner, a gardener of
Ironton, at her home in this city, Dec. 24, 1885. One
child has been born to this union: Eva Lina, who married
John McQuaid, who is now engaged in business with
his father-in-law. Mr. Kinkead is a member
of the Jr. O. U. A. M., and of the First Methodist Episcopal
Church. He is a republican in politics, and serves as a
member of the school board. Mr. Kinkead also
holds membership in the Chamber of Commerce.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging
Rock Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916 - Page 738 |
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VICTOR E. KRELL.
There can be no measure of inconsistency in referring to the
line of enterprise of which Mr. Krell is an able and
popular representative as one of the "public utilities" in the
City of Ironton, where he is a member of the firm of Klein &
Krell, engaged in the bakery business, with an establishment
that is essentially modern in all equipments and facilities and
that caters to a large and appreciative patronage in the Iron
City, the thriving metropolis of the Hanging Rock Iron Region.
Mr. Krell has proved himself an enterprising and
substantial business man of Ironton and his success is the more
gratifying to note by reason of the fact that he has achieved
the same entirely through his own efforts, the while he has so
guided and governed his course as to merit and receive the
unequivocal confidence and good will of those with whom he has
come in contact in the various relations of life.
Born in Germany, on the 22d of June, 1870, Victor E.
Krell was the fourteenth in order of birth in a family of
fifteen children, and he was but five years old when both of his
parents died, in 1875, their entire lives having been passed in
their native land, where the father was a teacher. Mr.
Krell is a son of Jacob and Amelia (Helfrich) Krell,
and of the family he is one of the children who have established
homes in the United States. After the death of his parents
Mr. Krell was reared by his elder brothers and sisters and
afforded the advantages of the schools of the Fatherland until
he had attained to the age of fourteen years, his studies having
included a course in the gymnasium, the practical German
equivalent of the American high school. Not a little
courage, self-reliance and youthful enthusiasm must have been
manifested by Mr. Krell when, as a lad of fourteen
years, he severed the ties that bound him to home and native
land and came valiantly to the shores of America, with the
determination to win for himself success worthy of the name -
the success of independence and usefulness. He established
his residence in the City of Cincinnati, Ohio, soon after his
arrival in the United States, and there he served a thorough
apprenticeship to the baker's trade, in all phases and details
of which he is now a recognized authority. He was employed
as a journeyman at his trade, principally in Cincinnati, until
1911, when he formed a partnership with Frederick J. Klein,
under the firm name of Klein & Krell, and founded the
present bakery business conducted by them with marked success.
The firm have augmented their facilities with the increasing
expansion of their business and the products of their well
appointed establishment constitute its best advertising medium,
the while both of the interested principals have a secure place
in the confidence and esteem of their many patrons. Mr.
Krell has been an assiduous worker, believes in work and
knows the value of work. Such are the men to whom success
is a natural prerogative, and such are the citizens who foster
general progress and prosperity in any community.
While essentially loyal and appreciative as a citizen
of the United States, Mr. Krell has been satisfied to
maintain himself virtually independent of strict partisan
dictates in politics and has supported the men and measures
approved by his judgment. Both he and his wife are devout
communicants of the Catholic Church and in Ironton they are
members of the parish of St. Joseph's Church. Mr. Krell
has identified himself fully and without reservation with the
spirit of American customs and institutions, but he naturally
has an abiding affection for and appreciation of the land of his
nativity, and he has indulged himself in five different visits
to the old home in Germany since he established his residence in
the United States.
In his advancing march toward the goal of success and
prosperity Mr. Krell has not been self-centered or
selfish, as shown by the fact that he has shared his lot with
one who has proved a devoted companion and helpmeet. On
the 15th of June, 1904, was solemnized his marriage to Miss
Katie Margaret Klein, daughter of Conrad and Margaret
Klein, who were then residents of Portsmouth, Scioto County,
but who now maintain their home in Ironton, their son
Frederick J. being senior member of the firm of Klein &
Krell. Mr. and Mrs. Krell have five children -
George Wilford, Klein Charles,
Martha Amelia, May Zita, and Victor
Joseph.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging
Rock Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916 - Page 678 |
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