Henry Leyde Kail

BRANT, EVANS, JACKSON, JEWETT, JUNKIN, KAIL, LEYDE

Posted By: Judy Wight Branson (email)
Date: 8/13/2004 at 00:09:11

Henry L. Kail, who has lived retired in Earlham since December, 1897, was for a long period an active factor in agricultural circles of this county and won a measure of success that has enabled him to spend his declining years in well earned ease. His birth occurred in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, in June, 1832, his parents being Hiram and Mary (Leyde) Kail, who were natives of Virginia and Pennsylvania respectively. The father removed to Indiana in 1850 and seven years later to Illinois, where he followed farming until 1868, when he came to Iowa, purchasing a tract of land in Wayne county, which he cultivated for six years. On the expiration of that period he retired and took up his abode in Jackson township, Madison county, there continuing to reside until he passed away on the 10th of June, 1880. His wife had been called to her final rest on the 30th of May, 1871.

Henry L. Kail acquired his education in a log schoolhouse of his native county and remained with his parents until twenty-seven years of age. Subsequently he cultivated rented land in Illinois until 1862 and then enlisted for service with the Union army as a member of Company B, Seventh Illinois Cavalry, with which command he remained for three years, making a most creditable military record. When the country no longer needed his aid on the battlefield he returned to Illinois and purchased a farm in Shelby county, which he improved and operated for four years. On the expiration of that period he disposed of the property and came to Iowa, buying a farm in Wayne county, which he operated for five years and then sold. In 1875 he came to Madison county and purchased and improved a farm of eighty acres in Penn township, which he operated until December, 1897, the careful conduct of his agricultural interests resulting in a gratifying annual income. Eighteen years ago he retired and has since made his home in Earlham, owning an attractive and comfortable residence in the town.

On the 25th of December, 1858, Mr. Kail was united in marriage to Miss Nancy E. Brant, a daughter of Edward and Margaret (Jackson) Brant, both of whom were natives of Ohio. The father removed to Indiana in 1850 and followed farming in that state until 1864, when he went to Illinois, there carrying on agricultural pursuits during the remainder of his life. His demise occurred in Shelby county on the 8th of August, 1871, while his wife passed away on the 24th of May, 1882. To Mr. and Mrs. Kail have been born nine children, as follows: Mary O., who is the wife of A. J. Evans and resides in Montana; Grant, who was formerly an agriculturist of this county and is now engaged in the automobile business at Lohrville, Calhoun county, Iowa; Margaret, who is the wife of J. H. Junkin, a retired, agriculturist residing in Earlham; Rezin I., who passed away on the 13th of October, 1893; Emmett E., living at Twin Falls, Idaho; Henry L., who died on the 22d of May, 1899; Robert R., whose demise occurred in September, 1880; Myrtle Blanche, who gave her hand in marriage to B. N. Jewett, of Des Moines, Iowa; and Laura B., formerly a teacher in penmanship and art, who is now recorder in an insurance office of Des Moines.

Mr. Kail is a stanch republican in politics and has served as justice of the peace in Penn township for three years, while he has also been assessor of Earlham. For four years he acted as mayor of Earlham, giving the town a most beneficial administration characterized by many measures of reform and improvement. He still maintains pleasant relations with his soldier comrades as a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and in religious faith is a Presbyterian, exemplifying the teachings of that church in his daily life. The period of his residence in Madison county now covers four decades, and his record is that of one of its prosperous, esteemed and valued citizens.

Taken from the book, “The History of Madison County, Iowa, 1915”