|
BIOGRAPHIES
Source:
A Standard History of Allen County, Ohio
Vol. II
by Wm. Rusler - Publ.
1921
< CLICK HERE to RETURN to
1921 BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX >
< CLICK HERE to RETURN to LIST
of BIOGRAPHICAL INDEXES >
| |
FRANK EDWARD KELLEY.
In all that constitutes true manhood and good citizenship
Frank E. Kelley, one of the enterprising business men of
Lima, is a notable example and none stands higher in the esteem
and confidence of the community honored by his citizenship.
His career has been characterized by industry, thrift and wisely
directed efforts, for he has worked hard for that which he now
possesses and he knows how to appreciate the true dignity of
labor and to place to a correct estimate upon the value of
money. He has played well his part in the affairs of the
community, ever standing ready to support with his influence and
means all measures for the public welfare.
Frank E. Kelley was born at Mowrystown, Highland
county, Ohio, and is the son of Lewis Henry and Louise Mary (Tissot)
Kelley. The family is of French origin, the name
having formerly been spelled "Quellete," the progenitors of the
family having come from Strassburg, Alsace-Lorraine, Frank E.
Kelley attended the public schools at Mowrystown until
eighteen years of age, his studies including one year in the
high school. In 1912 he came to Lima and entered the
employ of G. A. Herrett, who operated a grocery store
where Mr. Kelley is now located. His first work was
as a delivery boy, from which he advanced to salesman and
finally became manager of the store, retaining that position
until November, 1919, when he bought his employer's stock and
good will and has since conducted the business himself. By
close devotion to business and careful attention to the wants
and tastes of his customers he steadily increased the volume of
his business and is now enjoying one of the best grocery trades
in his section of the city.
In 1916 Mr. Kelley was married to Myrtle M.
King, the daughter of B. D. and Sarah Ann (Hole) King,
of Lima, and they are the parents of two sons, George King
and Harold Edward. Politically Mr. Kelley is
an independent Democrat. Fraternally he is a member of the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, while his religious faith is
that of the Presbyterian Church, to which he and his wife
belong. He is a member of the Merchants Association and
takes a commendable interest in the advancement of the
commercial interests of the city. A man of gentlemanly
demeanor and excellent personal qualities, he enjoys to a marked
degree the esteem and good will of all who know him.
Source: A Standard History of Allen County, Ohio
- Vol. II - Publ. Chicago: Warner i.e. Warner, Beers & Co., 1921
- Page 108 |
| |
JAMES CHRISTOPHER KELLEY,
sole proprietor of Kelley's grocery at Jackson and
McKibben streets, is one of the representative business men of
Lima, and one who has traveled far on the road to success.
He was born in White Oak, township, Highland county, Ohio, in
1863, a son of James Christopher and Adaline (Gaymon) Kelley.
The grandfather, Daniel Quellet, came from
Alsace-Lorraine, France, to the United States, bringing his wife
and six children with him, the elder James Christopher Kelley
then being about fourteen years of age. After the family
had located near Niagara Falls, New York, and begun farming the
name of Americanized to Kelley, and has since been
spelled that way. The grandfather with the help of his children
cleared the land which they had secured from the Government,
cutting and making shingles by hand and hauling them to Buffalo,
New York, for three years. These people were primarily
pioneers, and once they had made some improvements they were
ready to sell and move on further westward. Therefore they
packed their household possessions in a wagon and traveled in it
and by boat to Ripley, Brown county, Ohio, and thence to
Highland county, where settlement was made in White Oak
township, and there the grandfather died in 1850, the
grandmother having passed away some years previously. Of
their six children James Christopher Kelley, the elder
was the first born. He was a cooper and farmer, and
followed both callings all his life, which was terminated in
1888, although his widow lived until Jan. 18, 1920, when she
passed away at the age of eighty-five years.
Of the six children of his parents James Christopher
Kelley, the younger, was the fifth in order of birth, and he
was brought up to hard work. His educational opportunities
were limited and confined to those offered during the winter
months by the district school. He continued to be a farmer
until he was thirty-one years of age, and then for three years
was engaged in a furniture business at Marytown, Highland
county, Ohio. Selling that concern he came to Lima in 1897
and opened his grocery business at the corner of Vine and Saint
John streets, where he remained until 1918, when he moved to his
present location. A reliable man of affairs, he has built
up a very dependable trade, and is rightfully regarded as one of
the leading grocers of the city. He also owns stock in
F. J. Banta & Son Company.
In 1885 Mr. Kelley was married to Emily
Francis Fenwick, a daughter of Gideon and Luella (Kay)
Fenwick, of Highland county, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs.
Kelley became the parents of the following children:
Bert LeRoy, who lives at Oxford, Ohio; Harriet Luella,
who enlisted in the Salvation Army in 1919 to work for the
American soldiers at Coblentz, Germany, where she is still
stationed; Marie Margarite, who is the third; and
James Fenwick, who is the youngest. Miss Kelley
is very highly valued by her organization and is a lady of great
strength of character and kindness of disposition. She
tried to get to France during the great war, but failed of
attaining her object. She was affianced to Captain Bert
Peart, who was killed the day before the signing of the
armistice.
Mr. Kelley is a Republican in his political
faith. He belongs to Olivet Presbyterian Church, and
carried his religion into his everyday life. A man with an
intense love for his home and community, he is interested in
everything which looks toward the improvement of local
conditions, and is glad to do all that lies in his power to
bring about needed reforms.
Source: A Standard History of Allen County, Ohio
- Vol. II - Publ. Chicago: Warner i.e. Warner, Beers & Co., 1921
- Page 97 |
| |
ROSS C. KEPHART.
It is seldom that there is found in a community men as ambitious
to reach still higher success, whether in business or political
life as in Elida, and one there who has contented himself only
with bringing into a perfect system, the duties devolving upon
him so as to command the confidence of the people and the
respect of his associates is Ross C. Kephart, manager of
the Elida Farmers' Equity Exchange Company. Whatever work
he has undertaken he has done well; every duty cast upon him has
been efficiently discharged; no one who has resposed confidence
in him has been disappointed, and his accomplishments present an
example worthy of imitation by all who are destined to follow in
his footsteps.
Mr. Kephart was born in Amanda township, Allen
county, Ohio, in 1881, a son of O. P. and Minnie (Bailey)
Kephart, and grandson of Orman Kephart. The
Kepharts have been mainly interest in farming. O.
P. Kephart survives and is now living at Spencerville, Ohio,
having retired from his former pursuit of farming. He and
his wife had six children, of whom Ross C. Kephart was
the eldest.
Remaining at Spencerville, Ohio, until he attained to
his majority, Ross C. Kephart attended its public schools
and was graduated from its high-school course. For the
subsequent two yeas he was a thresher engineer, operating with
an outfit in Amanda township, and for a year was on a farm as a
hired man. For the subsequent four years he was employed
as stationary engineer in the Kephart Handle Company
factory at Ada, Ohio, owned by an uncle, and in 1911 came to
Elida, and buying a restaurant, operated it very successfully
for two years, at the expiration of which time he sold at a
profit. He then engaged with the Elida Elevator Company as
handy man, and was so occupied for two years. For the next
three yeas, he rented a farm in the vicinity of Spencerville,
and made a success of that venture, and all of this time was
gaining an experience which was to prove very valuable to him in
his present undertaking. In 1918 the Elida Farmers Equity
Exchange was organized by E. C. Humphreys, J. W. Cotner
and C. F. Baker, with Mr. Kekphart as manager, and
this venture was proved such as excellent one that the company
is now erecting a new mill at Elilda.
In 1903 Mr. Kephart was united in marriage with
Minnie Carr, a daughter of Abia and Curlila (Bowers)
Carr, of Amanda township, and they have two children,
Norine Doris and Lois Curlila. In politics Mr.
Kephart is a Republican. He belongs to the American
Insurance Union. Interested in good causes, he early
joined the Baptist Church, and is high in the councils of his
denomination.
Source: A Standard History of Allen County, Ohio
- Vol. II - Publ. Chicago: Warner i.e. Warner, Beers & Co., 1921
- Page 158 |
| |
JOSEPH
J. KILL. For a number of
years the name of Joseph J. Kill has been increasingly
identified with the best tenets of agricultural science in Allen
County, where he is the owner of a well-cultivated and
productive farm in section 22, Spencer Township, located five
miles north and one mile west of Spencerville. Mr. Kill
was born on this property Feb. 23, 1865, a son of Nicholas
and Elizabeth (Ruhrig) Kill.
Nicholas Kill was born in Luxembourg, Germany, in
1835, and when he was twelve years of age, and the eldest in the
family, his parents died and he was put out among strangers.
At the age of eighteen years he went to Paris, where he earned
enough money to pay his fare to the United States, to which
country he came in 1856, locating in Seneca County, Ohio.
There he secured employment at $8 per month for the first year,
and while thus employed met and married Miss Ruhrig, who
was employed at the same place. They continued to work out
for a time, but later came to Allen County, where the father
purchased forty acres of land, going heavily into debt.
This indebtedness was largely paid off through Mr. Kill
cutting wood on his property, which he sold to the canal
company. Later he bought eighty acres of land, located in
the woods, to which he moved in 1865, and this land he cleared
and cultivated. As the years passed he continued to add
from time to time to his holdings, and eventually became the
possessor of 266 acres, all earned through his own industry and
by honorable and straightforward methods. Mr. Kill
was a democrat in his political affiliation, and at one time
served as a member of the Board of Trustees of Spencer Township.
He and his wife belonged to St. John's Catholic Church, in the
faith of which he died in 1908. There were nine children
in the family, as follows: Vincent, who is a
resident of Oklahoma; Mary, deceased, who was married to
D. M. Banifas; Joseph J., of this review;
Theresa, the wife of J. J. Falter; Sylvester, a
farmer and the owner of 160 acres of land in Oklahoma; Lewis,
who resides at Toledo; Lucy, the wife William Holz,
a farmer of Spencer Township; Elizabeth, the wife of
Adolphus Davis; and Julia, the widow of Frank J.
Pohlman.
Joseph J. Kill was reared on the farm which he now
owns, and secured his education in the public schools, also
spending two years at Ada. Returning to Allen County, he
began working in the oil fields, first as a roustabout, later as
a pumper, and finally as a foreman for the Ohio Oil Company,
with which he continued to be identified for a period of eleven
years. At the time of his father's retirement from active
affairs Mr. Kill returned to the home place, and when the
elder man died purchased the interest of the other heirs to the
property, thereby becoming its owner. He has since devoted
himself energetically to the development and continued
improvement of this land, which now comprises one of the fertile
and modernly-improved estates of this part of Allen County.
Mr. Kill is one of the directors of the Spencer Stone
Company, Incorporated, and has other interests. He is a
democrat in his political views, and he and the members of his
family belong to the Catholic Church.
In 1891 Mr. Kill was united in marriage with
Miss Mary Vondram, who was born in Spencer Township,
daughter of Michael Vondram. To this union there
have been born seven sons: Albert, single and at
home, who was in training for service in the World war at Camp
Taylor when the armistice was signed; Richard, who is now
married and engaged in farming; and Harold, William, Eugene,
Linus and Luke, at home.
Source: A Standard History of Allen County, Ohio
- Vol. II - Publ. Chicago: Warner i.e. Warner, Beers & Co., 1921
- Page 336 |
| |
WILLIAM THOMAS KIMES.
The late William Thomas Kimes was one of the substantial
agriculturists of Allen county for a number of years, and owned
and improved the farm in Shawnee township now owned by his
widow. He was a man of kindly intent, hard-working and
thrifty, and when he died his neighborhood lost one of its best
citizens. He was born in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania,
Nov. 16, 1841, a son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Spear) Kimes,
natives of Adams and Franklin counties, Pennsylvania,
respectively. She was a daughter of Robert Spear,
of Ireland.
After the death of his mother, in 1847, William
Thomas Kimes lived with her father, and was reared by him.
When the war broke out between the North and the South Mr.
Kimes was one of the loyal young men of the country, and he
enlisted in the Union army in August, 1862, in Company K, One
Hundred and Twenty-sixth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and
served for nine months, participating in some of the hardest
fought engagements of the war, including those of
Shepherdsville, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, and had a
good fortune to escape injury. In April, 1867, he came to
Allen county and bought sixty-four acres of land in Shawnee
township, and thoroughly improved the place, living on it until
his death, which took place on Feb 20, 1911. Mr. Kimes
belonged to Mart Armstrong Post, G. A. R., of Lima, and
was active in it. For one term he served as township
trustee, and while in office safeguarded the interests of the
taxpayers. For several years he was also a member of the
Board of education. Saint Paul's Lutheran Church held his
membership, and his widow and children still belong to it.
On Oct. 21, 1869, Mr. Kimes was united in
marriage with Maria Mechling, who was born in Perry
township Mar. 16, 1846, a daughter of Joshua and Sophia
(Weimer) Mechling, natives of Pennsylvania, and
granddaughter of William and Esther (Mechling) Mechling,
natives of Pennsylvania, who in 1812 moved to Hopewell township,
Perry county, Ohio. He was twice married, first to
Esther Mechling, by whom he had five children,
namely: Joshua, William, Louisa, Jacob and Daniel;
and, secondly, to Catherine Rice, whose maiden name was
Saum, and they also had five children. Mr. and
Mrs. Kimes became the parents of the following children:
Jennie R., married Albert E. Wolf, of Perry township;
Sophia E., who lives with her mother; Frances Edna,
who is Mrs. Thomas H. Graham, of Union township, Auglaize
county, Ohio, and has six children, George, John, Esther,
Mildred, Elizabeth and Earl; Walter A., who
conducts the home farm for his mother; and Esther L.,
also at home with her mother; and William R., who was
born Oct. 1, 1890, died Dec. 25, 1890. The Kimes family
is one of the most highly respected in Allen county, and Mrs.
Kimes has every reason to be proud of her children, who are
all doing exceptionally well and are a credit to her and her
husband and the watchful care they exercised over their
upbringing.
Source: A Standard History of Allen County, Ohio
- Vol. II - Publ. Chicago: Warner i.e. Warner, Beers & Co., 1921
- Page 69 |
NOTES:
|
