OHIO GENEALOGY EXPRESS

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Scioto County, Ohio
History & Genealogy

GEORGE P. KAPS.     The second of the sons of Peter and Elizabeth (Evans) Kaps, George P. Kaps, was born at Portsmouth, Sept. 12, 1875, grew up in that town, and received his education from the public schools.  At the age of fifteen he began learning the trade of bricklayer, and has made that trade the basis of his business career.  At the present time he is foreman in the bricklaying department for the firm of Kap Brothers.
     George P. Kaps was married in 1900 to Martha Barbee.  She was born in Portsmouth, a daughter of William A. and Mary (Gable) Barbee, and is a sister of Mrs. Albert Turner, under whose name a sketch of the family will be found on other pages.  Mr. and Mrs. Kaps are the parents of six children, named Carl, Ruth, Edith, Helen, George P., Jr., and Margaret.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916 - Page 948

HENRY H. KAPS.     The junior member of the firm of Kaps Brothers, contractors and builders, at Portsmouth, is one of the younger business men of that city, and has found the opportunities for success in the same line of activities which have engaged his father and his brothers. In November, 1915, he was elected mayor by the largest vote ever cast for that office
     Henry H. Kaps was born at Portsmouth, Feb. 4, 1878, a son of Peter and Elizabeth (Evans) Kaps.  Reared in Portsmouth, educated in the city schools, he learned the trade of bricklayer under his father's direction and continued under the elder Kaps in the practical details of contracting and building until the latter's retirement.  At that time he and his brother James succeeded to the business.  They have developed a thorough organization and all the mechanical facilities for carrying out successful contracts in general building work, and particularly in the construction of brick and reinforced concrete buildings.  A large part of their business is also in the construction of roads, bridges, sewers, sidewalks and other public work.
     Henry H. Kaps was first married in 1906 to Frances Merrill.  She was born in Wheelersburg, a daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth (Pixley) Merrill.  Mrs. Kaps died in 1910, leaving a daughter named Elizabeth.  The present Mrs. Kaps was, before her marriage, Mrs. Carrie (Beatty) Belmart, the widow of Simeon Belmart.  Her parents were Alexander and Mary (Skelton) Beatty.  Mr. Kaps is a member of the Episcopal Church.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916 - Page 948

JAMES E. KAPS.     The contracting and building business which engaged the attention of Peter Kaps for so many years at Portsmouth is now continued through his sons under the name of Kaps Brothers.  James E. Kaps, of this firm, is a practical man in the construction trades, and one of Portsmouth's leading business men.
     He was born at Portsmouth, Sept. 12, 1872, a son of Peter and Elizabeth (Evans) Kaps, and grew up in his native city, with an education in the public schools.  As a boy he began learning the trade of bricklayer, and in 1900 became associated with his brother, Henry H. Kaps, and their firm has since had a large share of the contracting and building business in Portsmouth and vicinity.
     Mr. Kaps was married Jan. 22, 1905, to Cora Blanche Bussey, who was born in Vernon Township of Scioto County.  Her father, Aaron Bussey, who was born in the same township and of parents who were among the pioneers of Scioto County, was reared on a farm, and farming has been his chief line of activity.  For nearly twenty-five years, however, he has been engaged in public construction work as foreman for Samuel Monroe and Samuel Monroe & Sons.  Aaron Bussey married Flora Call, who was born in Vernon Township, which was also the birthplace of her parents.  Mr. and Mrs. Kaps are the parents of two sons: Russel and Howard.  Mr. Kaps was reared in the Episcopal Church, while his wife is a Baptist.  Fraternally, he is affiliated with the Massie Lodge, No. 115, Knights of Pythias.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916 - Page 947

PETER KAPS.     An honored veteran of the Civil war, and for many years one of the useful and active citizens of Portsmouth, but now living retired in Florida, Peter Kaps has now passed the age of four score years, and from early childhood until the close of his mature activities was identified with this section of Ohio.
     Peter Kaps was born in the village of Landen, Bavaria, Germany, May 19, 1833.  His father, Kasper Kaps, was born Dec. 10, 1797, in the same locality of Bavaria, and was reared and educated there.  For seven years he served in the army of the King of Bavaria, and later became a dealer in live stock.  This occupation developed into an extensive business, and he made a number of trips to Paris on business missions, and often told his children about the fireside at home of his experiences.  He usually went to Paris either through Metz or Strassburg.  In 1836 Kasper Kaps emigrated to America, accompanied by his wife and two children.  The journey was made in a sailing vessel, which was six weeks after leaving the old country before it landed them in New York.  After a brief stay in Albany, the family took passage on an Erie canal boat, and by way of that canal and Lake Erie reached the State of Ohio.  They first visited in Southern Ohio at Piketown, where a cousin, Michael Nessler, lived.  This cousin advised Kasper Kaps to locate in Portsmouth, which he did.  Here he was employed at various occupations, and had a pleasant home near the corner of what is now Court, Ninth and Chillicothe streets in Portsmouth.  He had land for a garden, and kept a cow, pigs and poultry, and while paying twelve and a half cents a bushel for corn, often sold the surplus eggs at four cents a dozen, and pork at two and a half cents a pound.  Kasper Kaps frequently told his children of the sacrifices involved in leaving his native country, where he had a prosperous business, and the reason for coming to America was that his son might avoid the burdensome army service.  In spite of that fact, two of his sons joined the army during the war between the states and saw active service.
     Peter Kaps was three years old when the family located in Portsmouth, and while growing up on the homestead above mentioned, attended school whenever opportunity offered.  It is recalled that he sat in the same seat at school with Jim Ashley, who afterwards rose to prominence as governor of Ohio.  Miss Elizabeth Waller was their teacher.   Besides school attendance Peter Kaps worked for Daniel Parshley at farming and bricklaying, and served a full apprentice ship at bricklaying with Hon. William Newman, a brother of George Newman.  The bricklayer's trade was his vocation until the breaking out of the war.
     On Nov. 9, 1861, Peter Kaps enlisted in Company K of the Fifteenth Regiment of Kentucky Infantry.  He went south with the regiment, and was in all its movements and campaigns until the close of the war.  Among the more important engagements in which he participated were those at Perryville, Stone River, Chickamauga, Dallas, Resaca and Jonesboro, all of them critical and historic points in the great conflict between the armies of the North and South during the struggle for Tennessee and Georgia.  At Chattanooga by appointment from General J. B. Steadman, Mr. Kaps served as Barracks' Commander from March 16 to May 2, 1864.  Enlisting as a private, he was promoted until he held the rank of first lieutenant.  He was honorably discharged and mustered out of the service Jan. 14, 1865, at Louisville.
     After returning home Mr. Kaps formed a partnership with his brother in the contracting and building business, and that was the line of work in which he did his chief service while a resident of Portsmouth.  During that time he had the contract for the building of many of the best residences and business blocks in the city.  Mr. Kaps was actively engaged in business until 1904.  In 1897 he had removed with his family to a farm, and lived there for several years.  In October, 1910, having disposed of his various business interests, he removed to Florida, and purchased property at Zephyr Hill and St. Cloud, and now makes his home there, and as a pastime cultivates tropical fruits.
     On Jan. 1, 1871, Mr. Kaps married Elizabeth Evans.  She was born at Tipton, Staffordshire, England, a daughter of James Evans.  Her father was a native of England, and on coming to America first located in St. Louis, was in business there a time, until an epidemic of cholera drove him away, when he removed to Newport, Kentucky, and was for a time employed at Swift's rolling mills.  From there he came to Portsmouth, and for a number of years was head sheet roller at the Gaylord plant.  His later years were spent in Portsmouth, but he died at Atwater, Ohio, at the age of eighty-seven.  James Evans married Lydia Taylor, who was born in 1812 at Dudley, Staffordshire, England.  Mr. and Mrs. Kaps are the parents of three sons: James E., George P., and Henry H.  Mr. Kaps has been a republican since casting his first vote for Abraham Lincoln, and among other things which illustrate his public spirit he served for five years as a member of the city council of Portsmouth.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916 - Page 946

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 lines 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, adn 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 provie 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 apace, with incidental augmenting of his prosperity in financial lines.  The major part of his independent business career has had Ironton as its stage, 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, in 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 his 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

Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916 - Page 973

HENRY RICHIE KINNEY.     A life-long resident of Portsmouth, Scioto County, and for many years actively identified with its mercantile and horticultural interests, Henry Richie Kinney was born July 21, 1815,,,, and died Nov. 8, 1904, in the ninetieth year of his age.  His parents, Aaron and Mary (Clingman) Kinney, were among the earlier settlers of Portsmouth, as is told in a brief sketch of their lives on another page of this volume.
     Obtaining the rudiments of his education in the pioneer schools of his native district, Henry Richie Kinney completed his studies at the Woodward High School, in Cincinnati.  As a young man he assisted his father on the home farm, and made several trips on flat boats to New Orleans, where he sold both produce and boats, making the return trip on a steamer.  With the restless spirit characteristic of the true American even in those early days, he started in early manhood on horseback for Chicago, Illinois, which was then on the frontier.  Before reaching his point, of destination he met a man just returning from there who told him that Chicago was located in a swamp, and assured him that it would never become a city.  Changing his plans, therefore, Mr. Kinney went to St. Louis, Missouri, where for two years he was employed in the hardware business.  Returning then to Portsmouth, he was here similarly engaged until 1856, by earnest effort and good management building up a substantial trade in hardware.  From that time until 1870 he was not connected with any mercantile trade, but for a few years there after he was again engaged in the hardware business, being in company with his sons.
     Upon the division of his father's estate, in 1856, the parental homestead fell to his share, and for many years he was successfully engaged in the culture of fruit and vegetables.  Mr. Kinney was strong and active, both physically and mentally to the end of his long life, and enjoyed himself to the fullest extent.  His first recollections of Portsmouth was as a wilderness, with a few houses scattered here and there.  Communication with the outside world was by way of the rivers, or overland with teams, until the completion of the canal.  He witnessed wonderful changes in the face of the country, and lived to see Portsmouth develop into a flourishing city, equipped with all modern conveniences.
     Mr. Kinney married, Nov. 7, 1843, Mary MacNairn.  She was born at Newton Stewart, Wigtonshire, Scotland, May 11, 1824, a daughter of Joseph and Jane (McKean) MacNairn.  Her mother spent her entire life in Scotland, but her father, in 1839, immigrated to America, and after living for a while in Indiana came to Portsmouth, Ohio, where he was engaged in the hardware business until his death.  Mrs. Kinney died Aug. 30, 1886.  Ten children were born of their union: Wellington, Harry Elwell, Janet, Josephine, Isabelle and five who died when young.
     Wellington Kinney, the oldest child, was for some years engaged in the hardware busines business with his father.  In 1905 he took up his residence in the State of Washington, where for a time he was engaged in the lumber busines business at Newport, but is now a real estate dealer in Spokane.  He married Louise Epworth Briggs, and they have one son, Briggs Richie Kinney, Harry Elwell Kinney began life for himself as a hard ware merchant, being in company with his father and brother, and was afterwards engaged in the tan bark business until his death, at the early age of twenty-nine years.
     Janet Kinney was brought up and educated in Portsmouth.  In 1875 she married Samuel T. Williams, who was born in Cleveland, Ohio, a son of William Williams, who was a native of Wales.  On coming with his family to the United States William Williams lived first in Cleveland, Ohio, and later in Sharon, Pennsylvania.  His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Fair, was born in England.  Samuel T. Williams found employment when quite young in the iron works, and while yet a resident of Pennsylvania learned the details of the business.  He came to Portsmouth in early manhood, and later became general manager of a steel mill located near Steubenville, and there lived until his death, in March, 1900, at the age of forty-seven years.  After the death of her husband Mrs. Janet (Kinney) Williams returned to the parental homestead in Portsmouth, where she and her sisters, Josephine Kinney and Isabelle Kinney, are living, being owners of the property.  Mrs. Williams has one son, Howard Kinney Williams.  He was educated in the high school of Portsmouth, and is now living in Steubenville, where he is superintendent of a steel mill.  Mrs. Williams and her sisters are members, and active workers, of All Saints Church, while Mr. Williams was reared in the Presbyterian faith.  Mrs. Williams and Miss Isabelle Kinney are members of the Joseph Spencer Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, and of the New Century Club.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916 - Page 978

Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916 - Page 974

Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916 - Page 920

HENRY KNORE.     One of the best improved farms in Scioto County is the Knore estate in Harrison Township.  It is the home of progressive German-American citizenship, where Henry Knore has lived and given his energies to its development and improvement during the forty or fifty years of his active life.  For what he has accomplished as a farmer, and also for his influence in citizenship and as a helpful factor in community affairs, Henry Knore has the respect and esteem of the entire community.  His estate is known as the Maple Grove Farm, comprising 330 acres of land situate five miles north of Sciotoville on the Harrisonville Pike.
     Henry Knore, though most of his life has been spent in America, was born in Germany, Feb. 22, 1851, son of Christian and Anna M. (Miller) Knore.  The parents were born, reared, educated and married in Germany, and not long after the birth of Henry Knore set out for the United States, arriving in Scioto County and locating on the farm now owned by Henry on May 2, 1853.  That continued to be their place of residence until both parents passed away, after long and worthy lives.  Only two of their children are still living, and Mr. Knore's sister is Caroline, wife of William Turner, whose home is near Wait Station in Scioto County.
     Henry Knore was about two years of age when he came to the United States with his parents, grew up on the old homestead, and while attending district school in the winter months, was trained to all the emergencies and responsibilities of farm life.  He knows farming both in its practical and theoretical phases, and is one of the men who have made-more than an ordinary success of that industry in Scioto County.
     Mr. Knore first married Nevada B. Wait, who died eight months after their marriage.  He then married Anna A. Henneman, who was born in Pennsylvania and came to Jackson County, Ohio.  Her father was a Lutheran minister.  Mr. and Mrs. Knore have nine children still living: Charles, a farmer in Harrison Township; Sarah, wife of Clarence Schomberg; Frank, who married Stella Schomberg; Anna, wife of Charles Snodgrass; Willie, who married Ida Frowine; Lena, wife of George Schope; Lewis, who married Abbie Bennett; Ella, who is married to William Wicks; Henry, unmarried and a resident of Athens, Ohio.  The family are members of the Lutheran Church, and Mr. Knore is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias lodge at Harrisonville, and is a member and treasurer of both the Sunshine and Pomona Granges.  In politics a democrat, he has been honored by his Township of Harrison with election to the office of township treasurer.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916 - Page 958