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OHIO GENEALOGY EXPRESS
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Welcome to
Greene County, Ohio
History & Genealogy |
BIOGRAPHIES
Source:
History of Greene County, Ohio,
its people, industries & institutions
by Hon. M. A. Broadstone, Editor in Chief -
Vol. I. & II.
Publ. B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc.,
Indianapolis, Ind.
1918
Robert F. Kerr |
ROBERT FINLEY KERR.
The late Robert Finley Kerr, who for years was head
of the firm of Kerr & Hastings Brothers, merchants at
Cedarville, and whose widow is still living at Cedarville,
was a native son of Ohio, born in the vicinity of Ripley, in
Brown county, Dec. 10, 1852, son of Paul and Eliza
(Pierce) Kerr, the latter of whom was born in Madison
county, this state, who became residents of Green county in
the spring of 1869 and later moved to Rushville, Indiana,
where their last days were spent.
Upon coming to this county with his family, Paul
Kerr located on a farm in Cedarville township, but
presently disposed of that holding and moved to Cedarville,
where he became engaged in the grocery business. Some
years later he sold his store there and moved to Rushville,
Indiana, where he became engaged in the furniture and where
he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives.
Paul Kerr was a Republican and during his residence at
Cedarville served for some time as justice of the peace.
He and his wife were members of the United Presbyterian
church and their children were reared in that faith.
There were five of these children, the subject of this
memorial sketch having had one brother and three sisters,
and died there on Apr. 15, 1886; Mary, who died
unmarried at the age of fifty-two, and Harriet and
Isabel, both unmarried, who for years have been teachers
in the college at Knoxville, Tennessee.
Reared on a farm, Robert F. Kerr completed the
Cedarville high school course, supplementing the same by a
two-years course in Monmouth College at Monmouth, Illinois,
and then began to teach school, a profession he followed for
twelve years, teaching in the district schools and in the
Cedarville village schools. After his marriage he
lived on the farm for six years. Then deciding to
engage in the mercantile business he conducted a grocery for
two years and then formed a partnership with the Andrews
brothers, the firm being known as Andrews
Brothers & Company, and thus became engaged
in the general hardware and farm-implement business at
Cedarville, the firm also owning and operating a grain
elevator there. In 1900 the interest of the Andrews
brothers in this business was sold to the Hastings
brothers and the firm thereafter was known as Kerr
& Hastings Brothers, which name it still
retains. Mrs. Kerr now holding the
interest that so long was held by her late husband.
This concern is engaged not only in the general hardware and
implement business, but in the sale of building supplies and
owns and operates two grain elevators and coal yards and
buys wool. Mr. Kerr continued actively
engaged in business up to the time of his death on June 24,
1911. He had years ago bought and remodeled a good
house on South Main street and there his widow continues to
make her home. Mr. Kerr was a member of
the United Presbyterian church, as is his widow, for years
was a ruling elder of the congregation with which he was
affiliated and was also for some time superintendent of the
Sabbath school. Politically, he was a Republican, as
was his father before him.
On Mar. 29, 1882, Robert Finley Kerr
was united in marriage to Frances Ladora
(better known among her friends as "Dora") Jackson,
who was born in Cedarville township, this county, Mar. 12,
1856, daughter of George and Minerva (Townsley) Jackson,
both of whom also were born in this county, members,
respectively, of two of the oldest and most influential
families in the county, both the Jacksons and the
Townsleys having been represented in the Cedarville
neighborhood ever since the very "beginning of things"
hereabout. George Jackson, who was a
brother of the Rev. Hugh Parks
Jackson, a biographical sketch of whom, appearing
elsewhere in this volume, sets out in detail the history of
the Jackson family in this county, was born on
Mar. 19, 1823, and was for many years one of the most
conspicuous figures in the citizenship of Greene county, a
man six feet and three inches in height and of weight
proportionate to his stature. He was the owner of a
quarter-section farm on the Yellow Springs road two miles
out of Cedarville, for years had been a ruling elder in the
United Presbyterian church at Cedarville, as well as
chorister for the congregation, and at the time of his death
on Mar. 26, 1880, there were many and sincere expressions of
regret thereabout.
George Jackson was twice married.
On Oct. 26, 1848, the Rev. J. H. Buchanan
officiating, he was united in marriage to Minerva
Townsley, who also was born in this county, daughter of
Alexander and Margaret (Ewing) Townsley, and to this
union two daughters were born, Mrs. Kerr
having a sister, Martha Joanna, wife of
Judge James P. Rogers, of Wheeling, West Virginia.
The mother of these daughters died on Mar. 18, 1876, and is
buried in the Massiescreek cemetery. On June 18, 1879,
Mr. Jackson married Mrs. Sarah Margaret
(Hammond) McCall, who survives as Mrs. H. H. McMillan.
Mr. Jackson also is buried in the Massiescreek
cemetery.
Source: History of Greene County, Ohio, Vol. II - publ. by
B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc., Indianapolis, Ind.,
1918 - Page 280 |
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COATES
KINNEY. Among the leading men of letters who
have been identified with the state of Ohio, there are none
who have written more musical verse than the late Coats
Kinney. Although not a native of Greene county,
yet most of his active life was spent within its limits, and
the county has always been proud to number him among its
distinguished men. Not only as a literary man did he
rise to fame, but as a newspaper editor, as a member of the
General Assembly of the state of Ohio, as lieutenant-colonel
in the Civil War and as a man prominent in the affairs of
the every-day life about him was he equally well known.
When his famous poem. "The Rain on the Roof."
was first given to the public, it was acclaimed as one of
the most musical poems of the country, and there were few
papers in the United States or England that did not reprint
it.
Colonel Kinney was born in Jerusalem township,
Yates county, New York, Nov. 24, 1826. His parents
were Giles and Myra (Cornell) Kinney, the former a
native of New London, Connecticut, and the latter of
Delaware county, New York. The great-grandfather of
Giles Kinney came over to this country in the
"Mayflower" in 1620. Myra Cornell was a
daughter of Samuel and Polly Cornell. Colonel
Kinney was the third of a family of twelve children born
to his parents. In 1840 the Kinney family
removed from New York to Springboro, Ohio, a small village
in the northwestern part of Warren county. He was a
leader in his class, read everything he could find and
before he reached his majority was considered one of the
best educated men of his county. Before reaching the
age of twenty-one he was in charge of a school room and
continued to teach each winter for five or six years,
meantime for a while studying law in the office of Thomas
Corwin, of Lebanon. He completed his law studies
under the tutelage of Donn Piatt at Cincinnati and
after being admitted to the bar practiced in that city for a
year, and then returned to his old county, Warren, and
practiced for a year. The next chapter of his life
opens in Xenia, where he appeared in the latter part of the
'50s. He came to Xenia to become editor of the
Xenia News, and he continued in this capacity until the
opening of the Civil War. He enlisted on June 1, 1861,
and served until November 14, 1865. He was mustered in
with a commission of major and detailed as a paymaster in
the regular army and was mustered out with the commission of
lieutenant - colonel by brevet, "for long and faithful
services." As soon as he was released from service in
the regular army he returned to Xenia and the issue of the
Xenia Torchlight, dated December 6, 1865, carries his
name at its head as one of the owners of the paper. He
remained with the paper until December 1, 1869, when he sold
his interest in it to a stock company. The remainder
of his life was largely devoted to literary work. His
poem, "The Rain on the Roof," had appeared in 1849 and
established his reputation as a poet. In 1876 when the
state wanted to have its best poet produce a centennial ode,
there was a universal demand that there was only one man in
the state to write it - and that man was Coates Kinney.
His poem created a profound impression, being delivered by
the author in person before a vast concourse of people in
the Coliseum at Columbus. In the '80s he issued a
volume of his poems under the title of "Lyrics of the Ideal
and the Real." The last forty years of his life were
devoted to newspaper work. He was for a time editor of
the Cincinnati Daily Time; chief editorial writer on
the Ohio State Journal for a year; the owner
and editor of the Springfield Republic: part owner
and in full editorial charge of The Genius of the West,
a literary magazine of Cincinnati. In the midst of his
editorial duties he found time to serve his community in the
state of Senate as a member from the fifth senatorial
district. The year 1881 saw him the leading Republican
speaker in the Senate, and he has the honor of being the
author of the temperance amendment to the constitution
adopted the following year. The newspapers of that day
credit him with being the most forceful speaker in either
branch of the General Assembly.
Colonel Kinney was twice married. His
first wife was Hanna Kelley, of Waynesville, Ohio,
and one son, Abbott, was born to this union.
The son died between the ages of five and six. He was
married a second time, in December, 1862, to Mary
Catherine Allen, of Xenia. He died in December,
1902.
Source: History of Greene County, Ohio, its
people, industries & institutions by Hon. M. A. Broadstone,
Editor in Chief - Vol. I.- Publ. 1918 by B. F. Bowen &
Company, Inc., Indianapolis, Ind. |
NOTES:
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