H. C. KENNEDY, who is conspicuous as one of the successful farmers and honored war veterans of Union county, is a resident of his native county, since he was born in the vicinity of Milford Centre, July 9, 1840, son of Othias Kennedy, now deceased, a native of Pennsylvania, and of Irish extraction.  The maiden name of our subject’s mother was Sarah Lee, and she was born in the Old Dominion State.  She is still living, being well advanced in years, and resides at Collingwood, a suburb of the city of Cleveland.  She became the mother of five children, of whom we make mention as follows: H. C., the immediate subject of this sketch; Harry B., who was a soldier in the late war, a member of Company F, Thirteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and who met his death in the service, having received a mortal wound, September 20, 1863, at Chickamauga; Hester; Anna, and Ella.
     Henry C. Kennedy was reared to farm life on the parental homestead in this county, receiving his educational training in the public schools at Milford Centre.  In his early manhood he devoted his attention to work as an engineer for some little time.
     Young, ambitious and loyal, it was but natural that he should have been one of those brave boys who stood ready to take up arms in the nation’s behalf, and on the 1st of June, 1861, he enlisted as a member of Company F, Thirteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served faithfully and with distinction for a term of four years.  He participated in a number of the most notable bat ties of the Rebellion, among which were the following: Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Stone Mountain, Franklin, Nashville and the memorable siege of Atlanta.  While with his company in front of Atlanta he received a severe wound in the foot, from a fragment of flint rock upon which he jumped barefooted with sufficient force to penetrate and pass through the foot, between the instep and toes.  This wound continued to trouble him after he had returned home, and eventually it was found necessary to amputate the foot.  Mr. Kennedy was discharged from the service at San Antonio, Texas, and was one of a party of seven who made the long homeward journey from that State on horseback.  In 1879 he took up his residence on his present farm of fifty-five acres, in Union township, the place being under thorough cultivation and well improved, with a good dwelling and all essential outbuildings.  The care and discriminating attention which our subject has given to the cultivation of his prolific little farm has resulted in his securing goodly returns therefrom, and he is not one of the class who consider farming a failure.
     Mr. Kennedy’s marriage was celebrated in October, 1867, when he espoused Miss Caroline Stewart, a native of Union township, and the daughter of James and Elizabeth Stewart, the former being a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Virginia.  They had eight children, namely: Emily Johnson, who met her death as the result of an assassin’s hand; Armeda; Americus; Caroline, wife of our subject; Margaret, Ellen, Louisa and E. Taylor.
     Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy have had the following named children: William R., who is a member of Company D, Ohio National Guard, and who accompanied his company to the scene of the great strike in the Ohio coal mines in the present year (1894), taking part in a skirmish between the troops and the miners; Hattie A.; Edna; Norton Reed; James Oliver, who was drowned November 26, 1893, at the age of fourteen years; Orpheus, deceased, was the twin of James O.; Laura and Altina.
     In politics our subject is a stanch Democrat, and religiously he and members of his family are connected with the Methodist Episcopal Church.  Fraternally Mr. Kennedy retains a membership in Ransom Reed Post, No. 113, G. A. R., of Marysville, said post having been named in honor of the first comrade killed in the company of which our subject was a member. 
Source:  Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 273-274
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

SIMEON D. KILGORE. —The work of tilling the soil soon resolves itself into a somewhat monotonous routine and the honest husbandman, upon whose success depends to so large an extent that of all the lines of industry and enterprise, must needs be wide awake else he will lapse into distinctive ruts and thus bar the way to progress and to the mazimum [sic] of success possible. One of the farmers of this favored section who has kept himself emancipated from these set methods which become habits and are followed because they represent the custom of years, is he whose name initiates this review, —a man who has attained to a high order of success and who finds no reason to enter the all too common complaint that “farming does not pay.”
     The date of Mr. Kilgore’s nativity was May 10, 1836, and the place was Camden township, at a point about three miles distant from Plain City, Madison county, this State. His parents were Thomas and Jane (Patterson) Kilgore, both of whom are now deceased, the mother dying at the age of seventy-one and the father at eighty-one, in Madison county, where they were honored and prominent residents for many years.
     Thomas Kilgore was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and was of stanch old Irish stock, his paternal grandfather having been born in the Emerald Isle. The Patterson family were from Bottetourt county, Virginia, where representatives have been located from early Colonial days. The marriage of our subject’s parents occurred after they had taken up their residence in this State. The father first settled in Ross county, almost on the very ground where the city of Chillicothe now stands, buying land at $1.25 per acre. There he remained until he removed his family to Madison county, where he developed a fine farm and passed the remainder of his days.
     Thomas and Jane Kilgore became the parents of ten children, of whom four are now living. Concerning the family we offer the following record: John, born October 30, 1815, lives in Franklin county, and became the father of three children, one of whom is deceased: one of his sons, Thomas, was for three years in active service in the late war, having been a member of the First Ohio Cavalry; Sarah, born September 18, 1817, died July 13, 1842, having been the wife of Jeremiah Sherwood, by whom she had two children, one of whom is living, a resident of Franklin county; Elizabeth, born April 24, 1819, married Chauncey Beech, and lives in West Jefferson, Madison county; William, born January 26, 1823, was a prominent farmer of Madison county, where he died, in 1889, leaving four children; Harvey, born December 23, 1824, lives on the old homestead in Madison county and has two children; Rebecca, born February 6, 1827, married Jacob Taylor, by whom she had four children, her death occurring in 1890; Lucinda, born December 21, 1829, died in 1859; Eliza, born March 24, 1833, died January 5, 1836; and two other children died in infancy.
     Our subject was reared to farm work on the old homestead in Madison county, receiving his preliminary educational training in the district schools, the knowledge thus acquired serving as a most effectual groundwork for the comprehensive practical education which he has gained by his labor in and contact with the world and its affairs.
     July 3, 1864, he was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Cary, a native of Madison county, where her parents were honored pioneer residents. Soon after his marriage our subject settled in Mill Creek township, Union county, and here he has ever since retained a residence. His first purchase was a tract of 200 acres, lying about four miles distant from his present place of abode. He has resided in his present quarters since 1893, the place, familiarly known as the Luther Liggett farm, having been purchased by him at that time. He now has a landed estate in this county of 637 acres, with three dwelling houses and seven barns. With so extended a domain, all of which is under a most perfect system of cultivation, it is needless to say that our subject stands forth as one whose success has come as the direct result of his own well-ordered and consecutive endeavor.
     In politics Mr. Kilgore is firmly arrayed in the support of the Republican party and its principles, and religiously he lends his influence and support to the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which his wife and daughter, Cora, are devoted adherents.
      Mr. and Mrs. Kilgore have had three children, namely: Etta J., born, March 12, 1869, completed her education at Lebanon, Warren county, was possessed of a high order of musical ability and was for some time engaged in teaching in this line of art, being a young woman of pure and gracious refinement: her untimely death occurred July 12, 1891, and though those who knew and appreciated her beautiful character can but mourn their loss, yet there comes to them the consolation of the thought that such a life was most eminently fit to merge into the glories of the life eternal; Cora E., attended the Ohio Wesleyan University, at Delaware, for three years, stopping her work there in her junior year; Thomas H., born March 6, 1877, is attending the high school at Watkins.
Source: Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 187-189
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

DR. W. A. KING, who has by his own efforts attained a thorough education in the line of his profession, and who has been successfully engaged in the practice of dentistry in the thriving little city of Marysville, Ohio, since 1881, merits consideration in this connection. He is a native of the Buckeye State, having been born at New Lebanon, Huron county, in March, 1858. His parents, Leonard and Julia (Turney) King, were of English and Scotch extraction respectively and both are now deceased.
      Up to the attainment of his fourteenth year our subject had passed his days in attendance at the district schools of his native county and in the pursuits and pastimes characteristic of the average boy. But to this life so free from care and responsibility came, all too soon, a loss which forced him out into the busy world to care for himself at a premature age. When our subject was but fourteen years old his father died, and upon the shoulders of the boy was placed the burden of self support. The mettle of the individual was shown in this critical period, for he did not quail or waver, but looked the situation bravely in the face and prepared for action. He secured a position as beekeeper in a quite extensive apiary and devoted his spare time to farm work, attending school during the winter months with the aim of preparing himself for a wider field of usefulness.
     When about nineteen years of age he began teaching, following this vocation, however, for but a short time. He was frugal and self-denying during these years, bending every effort toward the securing of a liberal education and preparing himself for the profession to which he had determined to devote his energies. He attended the Lebanon Normal School for one year and thereafter passed two years at the Granville, or Dennison University. In 188o he entered the dental office of his brother, C. T. King, at New London, Ohio, having, prior to this, officiated as his brother’s assistant at various intervals. Within the same year he matriculated in the dental department of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, where he took the prescribed course of lectures, locating at Marysville in the following year. Here he has since been continuously engaged in practice, having built up a representative business and having established an enviable reputation for professional ability and honorable methods. His finely equipped offices are located at the corner of Court and Fifth streets.
     September 6, 1883, at Marysville, Dr. King was united in marriage to Miss Kate, daughter of William Lee. Dr. and Mrs. King are the parents of three children: Florence, Ella and Kate. The family home is located on South Court street, one of the most attractive residence quarters of the city. In his political proclivities our subject is firmly arrayed in the support of the Republican party and its principles.
Source: Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 419-420
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

WILLIAM KING, who is prominently connected with the political interests of Magnetic Springs and occupies a leading position in commercial circles, being engaged in general merchandising, has the honor of being a native of the Buckeye State. He was born on a farm near Mount Sterling, Madison county, September 1, 1855, and is a son of John R. and Mary Ellen (Timmons) King. The King family is of Irish and Scotch descent. The great-grandfather of our subject was born in Ireland, and in his younger years came to the United States, locating in Vermont, where he was married and made his home until his death. His son William, the grandfather of our subject, was born and reared in the Green Mountain State, and when twenty-two years of age removed to Ohio. He was one of the pioneers of the State, and cut cord-wood on the present site of the State capitol. After living in Franklin county for a time, he located near Chillicothe, Ross county, and about 1830 went to Madison county, settling on a tract of wild land, which he transformed into a good farm and made his home until his death. He was the third settler in that section of the State. He started out in life a poor man, but by industry and well-directed efforts won a comfortable property. He served in the war of 1812, and in politics was first a Whig and then a Republican. Mr. King married Miss Mary Thomas, also a native of Vermont, and they became the parents of three children: Mrs. Margaret Stoddard; Ellen, who died in early life; and John R.
     The last named was educated in the common schools, was reared on a farm, and has followed agricultural pursuits throughout his life. He is recognized as one of the leading members of the Republican party in this locality, and is a faithful member of the Christian Church. His father was instrumental in the erection of the Antioch church near Mount Sterling. Six children have been burn to John R. and Mary Ellen King, namely: Mary C., wife of John W. Bricker, of Madison county; William; Milton A. and Winfield S., both deceased; Emma, who has also passed away, and Laura, wife of Lemuel Bricker, of Madison county.
     In the usual manner of farmer lads, Mr. King, of this sketch, spent the days of his boyhood and youth, and his school privileges were those afforded in the neighborhood. He remained with his parents until twenty-three years of age, at which time he was married, in London, Ohio, to Miss Letitia Watrous. Their union has been blessed with two sons, —John R. and Roy Milton.
     Upon his marriage, Mr. King began farming in Madison county in his own interest and successfully carried on agricultural pursuits until 1886, when, on account of the health of both himself and wife, he left the farm and came to Magnetic Springs, where he has since made his home. Opening a general merchandise store, he is now doing a prosperous business along that line. Both Mr. and Mrs. King are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he is now serving as Trustee, and he is also connected with Pharisburg Lodge, No. 664, I. O. O. F., and Magnetic Springs Lodge, No. 380, K. P. Like his father, he is much interested in the success and growth of the Republican party, and from March, 1892, until April, 1894, served as Postmaster of this place. He has filled the offices of Supervisor, School Director, Mayor of the city, and has been a member of the City Council. He was Assessor in both Union and Madison counties and is now serving as Treasurer of the School Board and as Justice of the Peace. Since the age of fifteen he has labored in the interests of the Republican party, has frequently been delegate to the State conventions, and has been a member of the Central Committee since his residence here. In all the relations of life Mr. King is ever found honorable and upright, and his public and private career are alike above reproach. His fellow citizens have for him high regard and his friends are many.
Source: Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 305-306
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

THE KINKADE FAMILY. —The Kinkades were originally a Scottish clan, whose motto was: “The Head and Front of Battle.” They went from Scotland to the north of Ireland, and from an estate in county Down, near Londonderry, one John Kinkade came to America about the year 1749, with his wife, Jane, and six children, and settled near Philadelphia.
     A family custom that is dated from its earliest history, was for the eldest son of one generation to be named James, and for his oldest son to be called John, and so on continually, James and John alternately. Thus, as John Kinkade was the first of the name in the United States, so also was he the oldest son and heir of the Ireland estate. True to the family tradition, he named his eldest son James and his second son John; he had also four daughters.
     This son James, who was fifteen years old when the family came from Ireland, was married near Philadelphia, about the year 1790, to Nancy Taylor, daughter of George and Eleanor (Thompson) Taylor. After some years they left Pennsylvania and located in Brook county, Virginia. They had a family of ten children. Their eldest son, John, was married, in Virginia, February 4, 1819, to Isabella Adams, daughter of William and Isabella (Scott) Adams. They had three children, —Isabella, James, and John Thompson, —and they died within a month of each other in 1826.
     The immediate subject of our sketch, their eldest son, was born May 13, 1822. After the death of his parents he lived with his grandmother Kinkade, in Virginia, until about 1835, when he came to Ohio, where he remained with his uncles in Delaware and Logan counties till he became of age and started in business for himself, in Marysville, Ohio, where he resided for the rest of his life. He was a merchant until failing health made it necessary for him to retire from active business and seek relief by life in the open air. He located on a farm a short distance from the town, but the change was of no avail.
     June 3, 1845, he was married to Hannah Cassil, daughter of John and Drusilla (Gladden) Cassil. They had a family of five children: Mary E., who died in infancy; Anna T., wife of Charles S. Chapman, of Marysville, concerning whom individual mention is made elsewhere in this volume; John H., a lawyer of Marysville, who married Clara Moxley, of Ironton, Ohio; James Frederic, a successful business man of New Mexico, married to Nettie Priscilla White; and Drusilla I., now Mrs. William Kelsey Liggett, of Columbus, Ohio. In character James Kinkade was one of nature’s noblemen, a devoted Presbyterian, and a gentleman in thought and word and deed, —an honest man, that “noblest work of God.” He left to the family, who were so dear to him and to whom he was so dear, the priceless inheritance of an unspotted name. He went away October 31, 1877.

“I can not say, and I will not say
That he is dead—He is just away.”

Source: Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, p. 394
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist..

ROBERT B. KLOTZ, M. D., one of the able and enterprising young physicians and surgeons of Marysville, Union county, Ohio, was born in Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, in the vicinity of the city of Allentown, on the 26th of October, 1871.
     The parents of our subject, Jeremiah and Coraline (Seip) Klotz, were both of German lineage, but were natives of the old Keystone State, where their respective parents had taken up their abode in an early day. The mother died in 1887, and the father is at the present time residing in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
     Jeremiah Klotz was the keeper of a small hotel in the village of Guthsville, Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, and here our subject was reared, attending the public schools and assisting his father in the hotel during the vacations. In 1883 the family moved to Allentown, where Robert was enabled to continue his educational work in the public schools. Manifesting a desire to secure still further discipline in this line of preparation for the duties of life, he finally matriculated at the Muhlenburg College, Allentown, Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, where he completed the work of the freshman year, after which he made ready to take up the special work of preparation for the profession to which he had determined to devote himself. He accordingly entered the office of Dr. W. H. Hartzell, at Allentown, and after studying for some time under this able preceptor, he entered the Jefferson Medical College, at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he completed the prescribed course, graduating with the degree of Doctor of Medicine in the class of 1893.
      Being thus thoroughly equipped in a theoretical way for the practice of his profession, Dr. Klotz established himself at Allentown, where he opened an office and remained until September, 1893, when he came to Columbus, Ohio, and took a special post-graduate course of lectures at Starling Medical College, incidentally assisting in the work at Mt. Carmel hospital, and acquiring most valuable experience in clinical and surgical work.
     In the latter part of November, 1893, he came to Marysville, opened an office and began the practice of his profession. Recognition of his professional ability has not been denied, and he has already secured a representative patronage and is building up a very fine practice. The Doctor has marked ability, is enthusiastic in his work, a close and avidious student, and one destined to fill an important position, with the attainment of a high degree of incidental success. His office is located over Garrard’s variety store, on the Square.
     The Doctor is a member of the German Lutheran Church in Marysville. In his political adherency, he is identified with the Democratic party.
Source: Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 152-153
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

A. H. KOLLEFRATH, an honored and representative citizen of Marysville, Union county, Ohio, and one who, at the present time, holds the marked preferment as Mayor of the city, must consistently come forward for specific attention and recognition in a work which purports to take up the life history of the leading residents of the county.
     A native of the “Old Dominion,” our subject was born at Charleston, now West Virginia, August 11, 1850, the son of August and Magdaline (Neun) Kollefrath, the former of whom was a native of Baden, Germany; the latter of Bavaria. At the age of thirteen years the father was apprenticed to learn the shoemaker’s trade, and with this line of industry he continued to be identified for the extended period of sixty-three years. He did not confine his field of operations to the fatherland, but became cosmopolitan in his methods, working at his trade through Spain, Switzerland, France and England. He emigrated to America, having determined to try his fortunes in the United States. He landed at New Orleans, where he remained but a short time, after which he proceeded up the Mississippi river to St. Louis, thence on to Cincinnati, and finally to Charleston, West Virginia. Here was consummated his marriage, and here he remained until 1851, when, with his family, he removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, where they continued to reside for some four years. Then, the migratory spirit carried them to Dubuque, Iowa, where they remained one year, after which they returned to Ohio, locating at Springfield, Clarke [sic] county, where the death of the honored father occurred August 1, 1893, at which time he had attained the advanced age of seventy-six years. His widow is still a resident of Springfield.
     They were the parents of eight children, touching whose individuality we are permitted to offer the following data: August H., the eldest, is the immediate subject of this review; Amelia is the wife of Julius Grahs, of Springfield; Louisa, who resides at Springfield, Ohio; Mary, wife of Henry Deitrich, of Springfield; Albert, who is engaged in the butcher business at Springfield; Alice, wife of Richard Lodenhortz, of the same city; Anna, of Springfield; and Edward, who occupies a clerical position at Cleveland, Ohio.
     August H. Kollefrath passed his boyhood days in Springfield, Ohio, receiving his education in the public schools of that city, and completing the course of study in the Gundry & Hollingsworth Commercial College. Following in the footsteps of his father, and under the direction of the latter, who was a skilled workman, he learned the shoemaker’s trade, thus doubly equipping himself for meeting the exigencies of life, and giving evidence of his practical belief in the old and true business axiom, that it is the duty of every young man to learn some trade. He worked with his father for some time, and while thus devoting himself to honest manual labor he showed the innate democracy of his principles by other and mental labor, undertaken with a view to fitting himself for a wider sphere of usefulness in life. He simultaneously read law with Judge F. M. Hagen, of Springfield, and secured admission to the bar August 13, 1876, —the Centennial year. The same year he was a candidate for Prosecuting Attorney on the Democratic ticket in Clarke [sic] county. Soon after this he engaged in practice at Springfield for one year, and there celebrated an important event in his life, April 26, 1877, when he was united in marriage to Miss Anna B. Noelp, of Union county, Ohio.
     August 29th of the same year he came to Marysville, and here opened an office for the practice of his profession, associating himself with Andrew Stevenson, which alliance continued for one year, since which time our subject has maintained his practice alone. He has established a reputation for marked professional ability, a thorough and discriminating knowledge of legal matters, and a capacity for successfully handling all cases and other business in which his efforts are enlisted. Logical in his deductions, dignified in his methods, and not lacking in forensic ability, it has come in natural sequence that he has retained a large and representative clientele, the respect and high estimation in which he is held in the community having been shown in divers ways, as will be duly noted farther on in this connection. In addition to his legal practice, Mr. Kollefrath has for some years been associated with Mr. J. M. Kennedy in the successful conduct of a pension agency.
     After having been for many years an uncompromising Democrat, he finally became convinced that the policies and principles advocated by the Republican party were best intended to conserve the interests of the people, and, true to such convictions, he arrayed himself with the latter organization, with whose local interests he has been closely identified since 1889. In the spring of 1894 he was elected Justice of the Peace on the Republican ticket, and also won a marked victory at the polls in his election to the Mayoralty of the city of Marysville. He has made important changes in the administration of the municipal government, his inaugural address being a clear-cut, incisive and fearless document, in which his policies were ably defined, and in accordance with which he has administered the affairs of the city with sound and judicious methods. In the hours when there has come severe criticism from various sources, the Mayor has not flinched, nor lacked the courage of his convictions, and his decisive, fearless, and straightforward maintenance of a position once assumed as expedient, and justified by the facts and circumstances involved, has gained to him both confidence and respect, which will not be lost him by reason of certain fanatical protests.
     Mr. Kollefrat [sic] his the ex-officio president of the Board of Health, and in the duties of this office his interest is something more than nominal. A stalwart Republican, bright and daring when principles are at stake, opposed to all rings and cliques in a political way and zealous in fostering whatever tends to the public good, the Mayor holds a winning card in the matter of official preferments.
     In his fraternal relations, Mr. Kollefrath is identified with the Knights of Pythias, Marysville Lodge, No. 100. While a resident of Springfield he was a member of the Ohio National Guards. Our subject is essentially a self-made man, is full of pluck, enterprise and determination, honest in his convictions, loyal to his friends and unflinching in the face of ill-advised opposition. In religious belief he is a Lutheran of the liberal order.
     Mr. and Mrs. Kollefrath are the parents of five children: Alice, Frank, Leonard, Julius and Howard. The family home is located in the south part of the city.
Source: Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 222-224
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

JOHN P. KRITLINE. A well-known and an honored resident of Unionville, Union county, Ohio; one who has passed the major portion of his life in said county, and one who has long held conspicuous official preferment in a local sense, it is most fitting- that a review of the life of Mr. Kritline be included in this work. He was born November 12, 1831, near Baden-Baden, Germany, coming to America with his parents in 1836 and landing in New York just three months to a day subsequent to the date of embarkation. Shortly afterward they started for Ohio, traveling by canal to Buffalo, thence by Lake Erie to Cleveland, from which city they proceeded by canal to the capital city of the State. From Columbus they came to Union county, where the father purchased land in the “Dutch settlement,” in Paris township. About a year after their arrival “milk sickness,” a disease familiar to the pioneers of the section, broke out among the settlers and became fatally epidemic. Our subject’s father, mother and two brothers were attacked with the malady, and all of them succumbed to its ravages within sixty days.
     Mr. Kritline was one of eight children, of whom five besides himself survived the epidemic which carried off his parents and brothers. The other five survivors were Margaret, Catherine, Andrew, Mary and Maria. Margaret was married, in Germany, to a man named Hingdefer, and they came to America and to Union county at the same time as did the former’s parents; she died more than twenty years ago, at the age of forty-eight years, her husband having died five years prior to this, leaving her with a large family. Catherine married Gottleib Rupright, a farmer residing four miles east of Marysville, in Paris township, Union county, and she died in February, 1891, at the advanced age of seventy-five years, her husband surviving until February, 1893, when he passed away at the age of seventy-nine years. They left a large family, all of whom have attained to mature years. Mary, who is unmarried, resides in Columbus, where she conducts a dressmaking establishment, and where she has lived continuously since 1848. As the result of lifelong industry, she has accumulated a little property, owning a valuable home on Warren street, in that city. Maria, the youngest, was bound out to Mr. Gibson, of Union township, later on married John Wideman, and died several years ago, leaving four children; Mr. Wideman subsequently remarried.
     At the time of the death of his parents our subject was six years of age, and his sister Mary was two years his senior. The three orphans were placed under the guardianship of Philip Snider, who is a prominent resident of Marysville, and by him they were bound out, according to the prevalent custom in such cases. Our subject thus entered the home and service of Thomas Robinson, a farmer residing near Unionville, and there remained until he had attained his majority. During the time he was with Mr. Robinson his muscles received better training than his mind. The conditions of his apprenticeship required that he be sent to school three months in the year, but some years he was permitted to attend school scarcely that many weeks. When he became of age, therefore, he had to face the future with the bare rudiments of an English education. It has been demonstrated over and over again, however, in the history of men that education is by no means confined to books or schools. The practical experiences of every-day life more fully equip a man for meeting the duties that each day brings forth than do the mere theories of teachers and of books. What, therefore, Mr. Kritline lacked in the way of education he made up in patient and persevering industry. As a boy he had learned to work, and the result of this healthful discipline had been a rugged constitution and a sturdy independence of character. His active and receptive mind began to assert itself, and he determined to improve every opportunity for bettering himself. At the close of his apprenticeship he hired out by the month. He next entered the employ of a son (also Thomas by name) of Mr. Robinson, and with him remained for a period of seven years, devoting his time to the shipping of cattle, hogs and sheep. In 1859 Mr. Kritline, who has never married, took up his residence in Unionville, and began boarding with Mrs. Sarah Holycross, with whom he has continued ever since, with the exception of five months during the late war. In the summer of 1862 he enlisted in Company I, One Hundred and Twenty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was made a Corporal. Through the fault of the officer commanding the regiment, he and a number of others were not mustered in, and he was sick in the hospital at Delaware, Ohio, overtaking the regiment at Louisville, Kentucky, and participated in the battle of Perryville, Kentucky. After this battle, when the payroll of the regiment was being made out, the officers decided that those who had not been duly mustered in were not entitled to pay, and that for the service they had given the government they would receive nothing. In other words, it was decided that they were not enlisted soldiers. Upon being informed of this dictum, Mr. Kritline, who regarded it as an injustice to himself and the others similarly placed, left the regiment and returned to his home in Unionville. Shortly after this, at the instance of persons ignorant of the facts, he was arrested as a deserter, and was taken to Cincinnati, where after his case had been investigated, it was decided that as he had not been mustered in he was never in the army, and his release was ordered forthwith. It was brought out in the investigation that he had requested to be mustered in, but that the officer of whom the request was made had told him the matter could be attended to at any time. No blame, therefore, could possibly be attached to him for his action in the premises.
     After this brief but rather unsatisfactory military experience, our subject resumed his residence in Unionville, devoting his attention to bee-keeping and gardening. For the past nineteen years he has held the preferment as Treasurer of Darby township, and has also been the Treasurer of the corporation of Unionville since the time of its organization in 1880. The fact that he has filled these two offices acceptably for so many years is evidence of the trust and confidence reposed in him by his fellow-citizens. It may be safely said of him that no other man in the township is better known or more highly respected.
     While Mr. Kritline has acted with the Republican party, he has never been regarded as an extreme party man, —while believing in the principles of his party, he has, when it came to a choice of candidates for county and township offices, been guided by a desire to see the offices filled by men best qualified for the position sought.
Source: Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 127-129
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.