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HON. CHARLES A. KENNEDY, who represented the First
Iowa District in Congress from 1907 to 1921, including the World war period, is
a resident of Montrose, Lee County and in that community has long enjoyed the
trust and confidence of the people in his relations as a business man and in
public affairs.
Mr. Kennedy was born at Montrose, March 24, 1869. His
father, William Kennedy, was born in Ireland, in 1833, attended the National
schools of Ireland, had several years of service in the British army and came to
America before the Civil war. He was a pioneer settler of Lee County, Iowa and
for many years followed the trade of shoemaker at Montrose. He had learned this
trade in Ireland. William Kennedy died in 1885. He married Myna Dunn, of Dublin,
Ireland, who survived him many years, passing away in 1915. Of their nine
children three daughters and five sons are living: Timothy, of Montrose; John
P., of Montrose; W. A., of South Bend, Washington; Mrs. Jennie Butzer, of Los
Angeles; C.A.; George W., of Montrose; Mrs. Anna Kerr, of Montrose; and Miss
Lilly, of Montrose.
Charles A. Kennedy acquired his education at Montrose,
graduating from high school in 1885. Soon after leaving high school he and his
brother, John P. Kennedy, became associated in the nursery business. The Kennedy
brothers developed a fine establishment, made a reputation for reliability and
service, and extended their trade over a wide territory. They were in the
nursery business over forty years. Mr. Kennedy has never married, and is one of
the few men who have sat in Congress as bachelors.
He has been a leader in the Republican party of Lee
County since early manhood. His first important public office was mayor of
Montrose, an office he filled from 1890 to 1894. In 1902 he was elected a member
of the Iowa House of Representatives, serving in the Thirtieth and Thirty-first
General Assemblies, 1903-07. It was in 1906 that he was nominated in the
district convention for Congress, and was elected that year. He was reelected
when William H. Taft was chosen president in 1908, serving all through the Taft
administration and the First Iowa District returned him in 1912, the year of the
great split in the Republican party. Altogether he spent fourteen years as
representative of the First Iowa District, his last election being in 1918. He
voluntarily retired after the conclusion of his seventh term. During his last
term in Congress he was chairman of the very important river and harbors
committee. His entire record in Congress is one of which the people of the First
District are proud.
Since his retirement from Washington, Mr. Kennedy has
been for eight years vice president of the Montrose Savings Bank. He is a member
of the Masonic fraternity and B. P. O. Elks.
~~~~***~~~~
HARRY F. KAACK, physician and surgeon at Clinton, is a native of Iowa,
and has been engaged in the routine of a practicing physician for twenty
years.
Doctor Kaack was born at Dewitt, Iowa, October 2, 1881, son of Herman and
Fredericks (Bolte) Kaack. His parents were natives of Germany, his
mother having been brought to this country by her parents when she was eight
years of age. Herman Kaack located at Davenport when he was nineteen,
and was a farmer in Dewitt Township, where he reared his family, comprising
Dr. Harry F. and John and Tillie Kaack.
Doctor Kaack was graduated from the Dewitt High School and pursued his medical
studies in the Hahnemann Medical College of Chicago, where he was graduated
in 1910. The first year he practiced with Dr. John Waggoner at Dewitt,
and for seven and a half years at Elvira. He has been located in the
larger City of Clinton since 1918. Here he has built up a large general
practice, and is looked upon as one of the very capable men of his profession.
He is a member of the Clinton County, Iowa State and American Medical
Associations and the American Institute of Homeopathy, the State Homeopathic
and Rock River Institute of Homeopathy. Doctor Kaack is a Republican
in politics, is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, a member of the
Woodmen of the World, and is a Methodist.
He married, June 25, 1913, Ellen E. Beall, daughter of Albert E. and Cora
(Worster) Beall. Her father, a native of Maryland, was a salesman.
Her mother was born at Adel, Iowa, and is now a widow, living with
Doctor and Mrs. Kaack. The latter have two children, Harry F., Jr., and
Margaret Elizabeth, both attending public schools at Clinton.
~~~~***~~~~
GEORGE J. KAISER is a native of Iowa, was born and grew up on a farm,
and from his early years was trained in the habits of industry. His
father was not only an industrious and capable farmer but a high minded man,
strictly honest and honorable in all his relations, and the influences of
the home in which he grew up have been important factors throughout the career
of George J. Kaiser.
Mr. Kaiser was born near the little town of National in Clayton County, Iowa,
February 22, 1882, son of Herman H. and Pauline (Wirkler) Kaiser. His
father was born in Hanover, Germany, and was brought to Iowa during his infancy.
Pauline Wirkler was born on an English vessel while on its way to America.
Both families settled in Clayton County. Herman H. Kaiser, who
died in 1920, was a generous supporter of community undertakings, served
on local boards, as a township officer, was active in the Lutheran Church
and a Republican, though frequently voting for the man rather than the party.
He died in 1920. His widow now lives in Monona. There were
eight children in the family, four sons and four daughters. The sons
are: Herman, in the nursery business at Cedar Falls; George J.; Harvey,
in the coal business at Minneapolis; and Elmer, who lives with his mother.
George J. Kaiser had his first school advantages in the pioneer district
school near the home farm. Later he attended the Epworth Seminary near
Dubuque and finished his education in Beloit College of Wisconsin. For
two terms he taught in the pioneer district where he had learned his first
lessons. Before he was twenty-one he was in business for himself at
Monona. Mr. Kaiser took the work of the U. S. School of Embalming at
Chicago. In 1914 he moved from Monona to Waverly, where he is proprietor
of a beautiful funeral home, and in addition to his profession as a general
funeral director is a furniture merchant. He has supplied Waverly with
a high class service, all of his equipment being of the most modern type.
Mr. Kaiser is president of the Credit Men's Association and was the
first president of the Waverly Rotary Club. He has given much of his
time to civic and welfare work. During the World war he acted as secretary
of the Lutheran Brotherhood of America, with headquarters in Des Moines.
Mr. Kaiser married Elizabeth Graening, daughter of Rev. J. Graening. She
was educated in the Breckenridge School at Decorah, Iowa, and before her
marriage was assistant cashier of the Monona Bank. Mr. and Mrs. Kaiser
have a daughter, Alida, who is an A. B. graduate of Carthage College of Illinois.
~~~~***~~~~
DONALD H. KAST, M. D. While his career has not been as extensive
as many of the others whose biographies appear in this work, Dr. Donald H.
Kast has already made remarkable progress in the profession of medicine,
and is gradually working himself to a leading place among the capable physicians
and surgeons of Des Moines. Since settling at Des Moines he has made
a decidedly favorable impressive on a large and representative clientele,
and it has been his fortune to have drawn to him the confidence and esteem
of his fellow practitioners.
Doctor Kast was born near West Point, Iowa, July 10, 1898, and is a son of
Fred W. and Clara (Judy) Kast. His paternal grandfather, Fred Kast,
was born in Germany, and was a young man when he immigrated to the United
States and made his way to Missouri. There he secured employment on
a Mississippi River boat running from Saint Louis to New Orleans, and through
fidelity, courage and ability rose rapidly until he was given his first mate's
papers. He continued in this capacity for several years longer, and
was making his last trip as first mate, being subject to promotion to captain
on his next voyage, when he was suddenly stricken by illness and died, when
still comparatively a young man. The maternal grandfather of Doctor
Kast, George Judy, was born in Pennsylvania, in 1815, and was only eighteen
years of age when he came to Iowa. Here he took up farming as a vocation,
and followed t all of his life. His property in Lee County was bequeathed
to his son, also named George Judy, and there have been but two deeds concerning
the land, the one to the grandfather and the other to his son.
Fred W. Kast, father of Doctor Kast, was born at Saint Louis, Missouri, in
1870, and received a public school education. For some years following
the death of his father he was engaged in agricultural operations, residing
in the vicinity of West Point, Iowa, and also Donnellson, this state, where
he served at one time as a member of the City Council. At present he
is the proprietor of a prosperous lunch room and sandwich shop at Indianola,
Iowa. He and Mrs. Kast, who was born in Lee County, Iowa, are active
members of the Presbyterian Church, and have had two children: Dr.
Donald H., of this review, and a daughter who died in infancy. Mr.
Kast is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and in his political
affiliation is a Republican.
Donald H. Kast attended the graded school at Donnellson and the high school
at Fairfield, Iowa, following which he pursued a course at Parsons College,
Fairfield. He then entered upon his medical course at the University
of Iowa, from which he was graduated in 1924 with the degree of Doctor of
Medicine. He served his internship at the Iowa Methodist Hospital,
and then settled down to the general practice of medicine and surgery, in
which he has been engaged to the present, with commodious and well equipped
offices in the Bankers Trust Building. He has built up a professional
business of the most desirable kind, and, as before noted, has won the confidence
and esteem of all with whom he has been associated. Doctor Kast is
a member of the Polk County Medical Society, the Iowa State Medical Society
and the American Medical Association. He practices in all of the hospitals
of Des Moines and is on the staff of the Broadlawns County Hospital.
Always interested in civic affairs, he is an enthusiastic and constructive
member of the Des Moines Chamber of Commerce. With his family he belongs
to the Presbyterian Church.
In 1924 Doctor Kast was united in marriage with Miss Doris Giebrich, who
was born in Illinois, and educated in country schools, the high school at
Indianola, and Battle Creek College, Battle Creek, Michigan, from which she
was graduated in March, 1919. For ten years prior to her marriage she
was engaged as an educator, having taught in the public schools of Des Moines
during the last five years. Doctor and Mrs. Kast are the parents of
one daughter; Evelyn Marle, born November 12, 1927.
~~~~***~~~~
BENJAMIN F. KAUFFMAN. In the lexicon of business men there is
to be found no such word as luck, for experience has taught them most
convincingly that success is the result of persistent application of intelligent
methods that require time for their proper development. To executive
ability and organizing sense must be added public confidence and a thorough
knowledge of the field to be covered, which latter can be gained only by
gradual and steady approaches. In any event, none would intimate that
Benjamin F. Kauffman, president of the Bankers Trust Company of Des Moines,
owes his distinction to any adventitious aid. His present enviable
position is due to thrift, energy, sterling honesty and intimate acquaintance
with business methods.
Mr. Kauffman was born at Des Moines, in 1874, and is a son of Benjamin F.
and Anna O. (Le Bosquet) Kauffman. His paternal grandfather was Daniel
W. Kauffman, who was born in Pennsylvania, where he was engaged in farming
for some years in Lancaster County, but in later life came to Van Buren County,
Iowa, and eventually became a nurseryman at Keosauqua. On the maternal
side Mr. Kauffman's grandfather was Henry Le Bosquet, who was born in Virginia,
where he was engaged in the grocery business, and finally came to Iowa, where
he spent the remainder of his life in retirement.
Benjamin F. Kauffman, the elder, was born on a farm in Lancaster County,
Pennsylvania, in 1846, and was still a child when brought by his parents
to Iowa, where he secured his early education in public schools. Later
he attended the University of Iowa, from which he received the degree of
Bachelor of Laws, graduating with the first law class from that institution.
He then settled down to practice at Des Moines, where he had a large
and representative clientele up to the time of his death in 1893, when he
was one of the leaders of his calling in the city. He was a member
of the Polk County Bar Association, the Iowa State Bar Association and the
American Bar Association, was a Republican in his political allegiance, and
was an active member of the First Methodist Church. Mr. Kauffman married
Miss Anna O. Le Bosquet, who was born in Virginia, in 1847, and died in 1907.
They became the parents of four children: Benjamin F., of this
review; Alice, who became the wife of H. H. Polk; Mary, the wife of Harold
M. Bowman, son of Major Bowman, of the famous Des Moines pioneer family of
that name; and Ray B., whose death occurred in 1908.
Benjamin F. Kauffman, the younger, attended the public schools of Des Moines
and Amherst College, at the latter of which one of his fellow students was
ex-President Coolidge. Graduating with the degree of Bachelor of Arts
in 1896, he spent the next three years in the employ of the Des Moines Savings
Bank. He next embarked on his own account, and during the next eighteen
years built up a large and substantial business and established himself as
a shrewd, resourceful business man of high integrity and moral worth. In
1917 Mr. Kauffman became the founder of the Bankers Trust Company, of which
he has since been president, and which has also taken its place among Des
Moines' progressive and conservative institutions, located at the corner
of Sixth and Locust streets. Mr. Kauffman occupies a position of recognized
prominence in n the business and financial world, and is a member of the
directorates of the Des Moines Gas Company, the Northwest Bell Telephone
Company and the Equitable Life Insurance Company of Iowa. Politically
he is a Republican. Mr. Kauffman is affiliated with St. Paul's Episcopal
Church, is a Mason and Shriner, a member of the Des Moines Club and the Wakonda
Club, and has been a member of the Greater Des Moines Committee for twenty
years and its president twice. He also belongs to the Commercial Club,
of which he has been president. During the World war he served as chairman
of all the Liberty Loan drives except the first, was president of the first
Red Cross Chapter prior to the entrance of the United States in the war,
and chairman of all the Red Cross drives.
In 1900 Mr. Kauffman was united in marriage with Miss Mell Howell, of Des
Moines, Iowa, a daughter of J. W. Howell, a member of the firm of Warfield,
Pratt and Howell Grocery Company of Des Moines, and who is still active in
the business. To this union there have been born three children:
John H. was educated at Lake Forest Academy, Lake Forest, Illinois,
and the University of California, and is now a horticulturist of Florida,
where he is engaged in the raining of fruits and flowers. He married
Alice D. Shaw, and they have two sons, John Howell, Jr., and Franklin Darrow.
Ray Franklin, educated at Culver (Indiana) Military Academy and the
University of Iowa, is now connected with the firm of Warfield, Pratt and
Howell Grocery Company. Anna Malvina, a graduate of Vassar College,
class of 1928, was married in June, 1929, to Edwin T. Meredith, Jr., a son
of the late Hon. Edwin T. Meredith, one of Iowa's great leaders, and former
United States commissioner of agriculture.
~~~~***~~~~
JAMES I. KELLY. In the City of Perry, Dallas County, a loyal
and popular native son of the county and a representative of one of its sterling
pioneer families is giving a characteristically progressive administration
as mayor, and here he is engaged in business as a buyer and shipper of live
stock, besides being the owner of the old home farm on which he was born,
in Spring Valley Township, the date of his nativity having been December
18, 1864. He is a son of John and Eliza (Kirkland) Kelley, the former
of whom was born in Ireland and the latter in New Haven, Connecticut, where
their marriage was solemnized in the year 1851. They came to Iowa in
1856 and made settlement in Dallas County, where John Kelley reclaimed and
developed a productive farm, his death having here occurred June 23, 1878,
and his widow having survived him more than forty years and having been one
of the venerable and loved pioneer women of Dallas County at the time of
her death, in 1924. John Kelley and his young wife made the overland
journey to Iowa with team and covered wagon, and they did well their part
in the pioneer development of Dallas County. They became the parents
of seven sons and four daughters, and of the number only two are now living:
George W., who is one of the prosperous exponents of farm and dairy
enterprise in this county, and James I., who is the immediate subject of
this review. David J., who resided at Perry, was deputy sheriff of
Dallas County at the time of his death, in 1929.
Mayor Kelly was reared under the conditions and influences of the pioneer
farm, early began to aid in its work, and in the meanwhile profited by the
advantages of the local district school. During the long intervening
years he has never severed his association with the basic industries of
agriculture and stock growing, and, as before stated, he is now the owner
of the fine old homestead farm that was obtained by his father more than
seventy years ago. Since 1898 he has been successfully engaged in the
buying and shipping of live stock, and though he has in this connection
maintained his residence in the City of Perry he still gives a general
supervision to his farm.
A Republican in political adherency, Mr. Kelley has taken lively interest
in all things pertaining to the welfare and progress of his home city and
native county, and after serving four years as a member of the city council
of Perry he was elected mayor, in 1927, of which office he has since continued
the efficient and progressive incumbent. He is an active member of
the local Rotary Club, is affiliated with both Lodge and Encampment bodies
of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and he and his wife have membership
in the Presbyterian Church.
November 12, 1892, was marked by the marriage of Mr. Kelley to Miss Fannie
Camp, of Minburn, Dallas County, and her death occurred in 1897. In
1900 he wedded Mrs. Anna Monroe, of Minburn, and her death occurred in 1902.
His third marriage was solemnized December 31, 1903, when Miss De
Ette Kelsey, of Perry, became his third wife, and of the third marriage there
is one child, Paul M., who was born August 17, 1910, and who attended Purdue
University, Lafayette, Indiana. He married Beulah Barton, and they
have a child, James Frederick. Mr. and Mrs. Kelley likewise have an
adopted daughter, Josephine, who was taken into their home when she was a
child and who is now the wife of Stanley W. Ferguson, their marriage having
occurred in 1925 and their home being now established in Ames, Iowa.
~~~~***~~~~
MRS. ELIZABETH KENNEY has shown mature judgment and marked executive
ability in the directing of her notably successful insurance business in
the City of Waterloo, where she has the distinction of being district manager
for the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York. She has made a record
of splendid success in this field of business, even as she had previously
been successful in her service as a teacher in the public schools of her
native State of Iowa.
Mrs. Kenney, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Burdick, was born on the parental
home farm near the little Village of Rowley, Buchanan County, Iowa. Her
father died about three months prior to her birth. She is a daughter
of George and Sarah (Spece) Burdick, the former of whom was born near Traverse
City, Michigan, and the latter of whom was born in Ohio, her father having
been William Spece and the family name of her mother having been Youngblood.
William Spece was born in Pennsylvania, a representative of a sterling
German family early established in that state, his marriage was solemnized
in Ohio, and from that state he came to Iowa in the pioneer days, having
transported his family and belongings by means of team and wagon and having
crossed the Mississippi River by ferry boat. Most of the Iowa land
at that time was still in the possession of the Government and was offered
for sale at the rate of $1.25 an acre. He purchased land that was partly
timbered, erected a pioneer log cabin as the family habitation, and set himself
vigorously to reclaiming his land and developing a productive farm. He
cut off a portion of the timber and utilized several yokes of oxen in driving
the plow through the heavy prairie sod. In clearing his land from timber
he was assisted by other early settlers of the locality, such cooperation
in work being a friendly custom in that period. William Spece thus
reclaimed his farm from the wilds and he remained on the old home place until
his death, at the patriarchal age of ninety-three years. He thus did his
part in the development and progress of Buchanan County and was one of the
most venerable and honorable pioneer citizens of that county at the time
of his death, about 1912. Mrs. Kenney is the youngest in a family of
five children, the names of the others being as follows: Ava, Nellie,
Arthur and Thomas. After the death of the father the devoted mother
kept the family together until each of the children had been established
in a home of his or her own, and she died at Waterloo on April 20, 1929,
at the age of nearly eighty-five. She had her reward in the filial
love and devotion of her children and was one of the revered pioneer women
in the City of Waterloo, where she had her home with her daughter Elizabeth,
who is the immediate subject of this review. She had long been an earnest
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Mrs. Kenney is indebted to the public schools of her native county for her
early education, including the graded school at Quasqueton, and that she
profited well by such advantages is shown by the fact that at the age of
seventeen years she became a successful and popular teacher in one of the
rural district schools of her home county. She thus taught two terms,
and thereafter she was a student two terms at Cedar Falls, in the Iowa State
Teachers College. In 1907 Miss Elizabeth Burdick became the wife of
Oral V. Seely, who was born at Quasqueton, Buchanan County, a son of Frank
Seely, who had been a gallant soldier of the Union in the Civil war. After
their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Oral V. Seely established their home in Waterloo,
and here the death of Mr. Seely occurred in September, 1910, when he was
twenty-five years of age. After the death of her husband Mrs. Seely
continued her service as a popular teacher in the Waterloo public schools
until 1923, her infant son having died about three months after the death
of his father, Mr. Seely. In 1917, Mrs. Seely married Mr. J. Kenney.
In 1923 Mrs. Seely-Kenney initiated her service as an agent for the Mutual
Life Insurance Company of New York, and one year later she was advanced
to her present position, that of district manager for the company, with
headquarters in Waterloo, where she maintains her executive office at 408
Lafayette Building. Her success is attested by her membership in the
company's Big Field Club. To be eligible for this club a representative
must have at least a quarter of a million dollars in personal paid for business
during the year. Mrs. Kenney has qualified for this honor each of seven
successive years and one year did over a half million dollars of business.
Her ambition is to qualify for ten successive years. She also
has one other club member in her organization who is also a woman, Mrs. Jessie
Wallace, who gained all her knowledge about insurance from Mrs. Kenney.
Mrs. Kenney is a member of the Business and Professional Women's Club
of Waterloo, of which she has served as president. She has also served
as vice president and as treasurer and in the year 1928-29 was president
of the Iowa Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs. In
June, 1930, Mrs. Kenney was chosen as national honorary member of the Gamma
Epsilon Pi, national commercial sorority, at their convention held in Iowa
City. She is a woman of culture and gracious personality, and is popular
in social and church circles in her home city, where she is a member of the
First Baptist Church. Mrs. Kenney has traveled extensively in the United
States, and in addition to having visited nearly all of the various states
she has also made a trip to Alaska.
~~~~***~~~~
HON. JOHN W. KENT, member of the Iowa State Senate for the Fourth
District, is a resident of Chariton, and has brought to the Legislature a
successful experience as a farmer business man.
He was born in Cook County, Illinois, in 1867, and was tow years of age when
his parents, William and Hannah (Wherrett) Kent, moved to Iowa and settled
in Lucas County. The Kent family is of English ancestry. Both
William Kent and his wife were born in England. The grandfather, Daniel
Kent, was a British soldier who served under General Pakenham in the concluding
act of the War of 1812, the Battle of New Orleans, where General Jackson
repulsed the British after a bloody attack on the fortification made of cotton
bales. Daniel Kent while in this country as a soldier became so impressed
with the spirit of its citizens and the opportunities for making a fortune
that when the opportunity came he returned here with his family.
John W. Kent grew up on an Iowa farm, had the advantages of country schools,
and since early manhood has had his chief business interests in farming and
stock raising. For some years he specialized in blooded stock. He
owns about 370 acres of the fine soil of Lucas County, his farms being well
improved and with excellent equipment. Since 1920 he has occupied a
comfortable home at Chariton, but from that city supervises his farm and
livestock.
Mr. Kent has been honored with a number of positions of trust and responsibility.
He was treasurer of his school board, and for six years served a a
member of the County Board of Supervisors. From 1924 to 1928, for
two terms, he was in the House of Representatives and in 1929 entered the
Iowa State Senate, and the people of his home district point to his record
with a great deal of pride and satisfaction. Mr. Kent is a Republican.
He is a member of the various Masonic bodies, including the Eastern
Star, and belongs to the Community Club and during the World War was identified
with the drives for the sale of bonds and the raising of funds for the Red
Cross and other causes.
Mr. Kent married in 1888 Miss Addie Thomas, whose people came to Lucas County
at an early day. She left one daughter, Ethel, who is the wife of William
E. Wood, of Lucas County. Mr. and Mrs. Wood have five sons, William,
John, Fred, Earl and Verna. In 1891 Mr. Kent married Mrs. Dora (Carson)
McLaughlin, of Clark County, Iowa. The Carsons came to Iowa from Ohio
and Pennsylvania in the early '50s. Mrs. Kent by her former marriage
has a son, William McLaughlin, who lives at Chariton and is the father of
three children: Bertha, wife of Albert Nussbaum, Kermit and Margery.
~~~~***~~~~
HENRY HERBERT KILDEE. Among the men connected in an educational
way with the highly important industry of live stock breeding and production
in the Central West, few are better known or have a broader or more comprehensive
knowledge of the subject than Henry Herbert Kildee, head of the department
of animal husbandry at the Iowa State College, Ames, chief of animal husbandry
section, Iowa Experiment Station, and vice dean, division of agriculture.
Since the start of his career, more than twenty years ago, Professor
Kildee has applied himself assiduously to this branch of work, and through
his labors, teachings, lectures, writings, work on National live stock Committees
and judging in the show ring has been one of the most important factors in
raising the standard of live stock in this and adjoining states.
Henry Herbert Kildee was born at Osage, Iowa, March 1, 1884, and is a son
of Michael and Lucy A. (Stone) Kildee. His paternal grandfather was
born in Ireland, whence he came to Howard County, Iowa, at an early date,
and there engaged in farming until his death. Michael Kildee was born
in Ireland, and was but two years of age when brought to the United States
by his parents, his education being acquired in the rural schools of Howard
County. As a youth he was associated with his father in farming and
with the Brush family, prominent bankers and millers of Osage, near which
city he made his home. As a young man he became interested in the
development of a higher grade of live stock, and as the years passed
this subject took more and more of his attention. He was one of the
earliest breeders of pure-bred Short-horn cattle in his section of the state.
He took an active interest in all matters pertaining to pure-bred live
stock, and was prominent in the Farmers Institute and served as manager and
director of the Cooperative Creamery. In civic affairs he also took
a leading part and at one time was a member of the board of county supervisors.
He died at Osage in 1896, one of his community's most highly-respected
citizens. Mr. Kildee married at Osage Miss Lucy A Stone, who was born
at North Brunswick, Maine, a daughter of Rev. Jesse A. Stone, a minister
of the Methodist Episcopal faith, who was presiding elder of his church until
his death, at the age of ninety-six years.
Henry Herbert Kildee was graduated from Cedar Valley Seminary in 1903, and
from the Iowa State College in 1908. In 1908-09 he was a Fellow of
the Iowa State College, and received the degree of Master of Science from
his alma mater in 1917. In 1909 he became instructor in animal husbandry
at the Iowa State College, and during that year and 1910 also served as
experimentalist. He was associate professor in charge of dairy production
from 1910 until 1915; professor of animal husbandry and chief in dairy husbandry
in 1915 and 1916; chief of the dairy husbandry division, Minnesota
University, from 1916 to 1918; and in 1918 became head of the department
of animal industry, Iowa State College, and chief of the animal industry
section, Iowa Experiment Station, both of which posts he still retains.
Since 1923 he has also been vice dean of the division of agriculture.
Professor Kildee is a member of the Acacia, Alpha Zeta, Delta Upsilon,
Gamma Sigma Delta, Phi Kappa Phi and Sigma Xi fraternities.
Mr. Kildee's connections are numerous and many honors have been bestowed
upon him. Among other activities he is a member of the editorial staff
of Dairy Science; a member of the board of directors of the National
Dairy Association; a director of the American Royal Live Stock Show and of
the Ak-Sar-Ben Live Stock Show; chairman of the national committee on
classification for dairy shows; vice president of the Clydesdale Association
of America; a member of the Dairy Science Association, American Association
for Advancement of Science and the American Society of Animal Production;
chairman of the committee on resident instruction; a member of the committee
on type, appointed by the Holstein-Fresian Association of American, and of
a similar committee appointed by the American Guernsey Cattle Club, and at
present a member of a similar committee for the American Jersey Cattle Club;
member of the committee on rules governing students' judging contest, National
Dairy Show; and served as chairman of the committee on rules an d regulations
for the international dairy cattle judging contest; also a member of the
national committee on Record of Performance for Swine.
Professor Kildee is the author of numerous articles which have appeared in
leading live stock and agricultural journals, and of Experiment Station Circular
12, "Soiling Crops," and Circular 16, "Care, Feed and Management of the Dairy
Herd." He is also co-author of Bulletin 109, "Value of Corn, Oilmeal,
Cottonseed Meal and Cluten Feed in Work Horse Rations;" Bulletin 110,
"Roots and Corn Silage for Fattening Lambs;" Bulletin 136, "Forage
Crops for Seine;" Bulletin 143, "Hogging-down Corn - A Successful
Practice;" Bulletin 165, "Influence of Environment and Breeding in
Increasing Dairy Production;" Bulletin 187, "Soiling Crops for Milk
Production;" Bulletin 188, "Influence of Environment and Breeding in
Increasing Dairy Production (II);" Bulletin 251, "Influence of
Environment and Breeding in Increasing Dairy Production," and Bulletin 277,
"Swine Performance Record Litter Comparisons."
Professor Kildee has judged some class of live stock at each of the last
ten International Live Stock Expositions; some breed of dairy cattle at each
of the last fourteen National Dairy Shows, and the last fourteen Dairy Cattle
Congresses, and all breeds of swine at the National Swine Show, in addition
to which he has been a judge at state fairs all the way from North Dakota
to Arizona and from Massachusetts to California. Professor Kildee is
an eighteenth degree Scottish Rite Mason. He is a member of the
Congregational Church, and is active in college Young Men's Christian Association
work.
At Osage, Iowa, in 1910, Professor Kildee was united in marriage with Miss
Ruth E. Sweeney, who was born at Osage, where she received a high school
education, then attending Cedar Valley Seminary and Carleton College, Northfield,
Minnesota. She is interested in her husband's work, in which she is
well informed, and is also a prominent member of the Congregational Church.
Professor and Mrs. Kildee have two children: Regina, born February
16, 1912, who graduated from the Ames High School and is now attending Iowa
State College; and Kathleen, born February 24, 1921, who is attending public
school.
~~~~***~~~~
FRANK O. KERSHNER, M. D., came to Clinton immediately after completing
his medical college course and training as an interne in Chicago, and in
twenty-odd years his name has become increasingly associated with the highest
standards and skill represented in general surgery.
Doctor Kershner was born at Paola, Kansas, May 28, 1879, son of John and
Hanna Jane (Gibson) Kershner, both now deceased. His father was born
in Illinois and his mother in Kansas. Doctor Kershner has one sister,
Mrs. Ida Hickman. of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Doctor Kershner grew up on a Kansas farm, attended school at Paola, and graduated
A. B. from the University of Kansas in 1902. He then entered Northwestern
University School of Medicine at Chicago, where he took his M. D. degree
in 1905. During 1906-07 he was an interne in the Wesley Hospital of
that city, and later spent portions of the years 1910-11 in postgraduate
study and research at Vienna, Austria. Doctor Kershner became a resident
of Clinton on October 7, 1907. For the first ten years he looked after
the routine of a general practitioner, but since 1917 his entire time and
abilities have been restricted to the field of general surgery. He
has a large private practice, and is one of the men who do a large share
of surgical work in local hospitals. he is a member and former president
of the staff of the Jane Lamb Memorial Hospital and is attending surgeon
at the Mercy Hospital of Clinton. he is a member of the Clinton, Iowa
State and American Medical Associations.
Doctor Kershner is a popular citizen of Clinton and has substantial business
connections there, being president of the Mac X Feed Milling Company, is
a director of the Clinton National Bank and Clinton Savings Bank, director
of the Lyons & Fulton Bridge Company. He is a member of the Clinton
Country Club, the Wapsipinicon Country Club, Morrison Country Club, Rotary
Club, is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner and a member
of the Presbyterian Church.
He married, February 19, 1912, Miss Helena Moeszinger, daughter of Louis
C. and Emily (Sheppard) Moeszinger. Her father is one of Clinton's
outstanding business men, being president of the Lyons & Fulton Bridge
Company, and vice president of the Iowa State Bank. Doctor and Mrs.
Kershner have two daughters, Elizabeth Jane and Frances Helena.
~~~~***~~~~
MRS. HARRY P. KEYHOE is a women of whom the City of Ottumwa is
particularly proud, reflecting her intellectual gifts and more than that
her splendid devotion to work and to organizations that reflect the enlightenment
and spiritual progress of the city.
Mrs. Keyhoe is the wife of Mr. Harry P. Keyhoe, who was born at Beverly,
Ohio, a son of Ephraim and Malvina (Gilmore) Keyhoe. he settled at
Ottumwa in 1876, and for many years has been a master mechanic and active
in the business life of the city. For eight years he served on the
City Council.
Mrs. Keyhoe's maiden name was Dora Smith. She was born in Des Moines
County, Iowa, and was married to Mr. Keyhoe in June, 1885. Her father,
John B. Smith, was born in 1835 and came to Iowa about 1855. he married
Margery Helfer, who was born in 1830. John B. Smith was a pioneer educator
and was the first instructor to bear the title of principal in Ottumwa's schools.
Mrs. Keyhoe graduated from the Ottumwa's High School in 1880. All through
the years she has been a student of literature and history and is recognized
as an authority on the history of Wapello County and of the state at large.
Frequently she has delivered addresses on Iowa history before organizations
in different cities. As a writer she has contributed to a number of
publications. Mrs. Keyhoe has been a busy homemaker, mother, and through
all these activities has maintained an intimate touch with literary and religious
and civic organizations. She is an active member of the Shakespeare
Club of Ottumwa, next to the oldest of Iowa's women's clubs. In 1928
she represented the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution
at its national congress in Washington and is a past regent of Elizabeth
Ross Chapter, and at the present time a member of the state committees of
the Daughters of the American Revolution. A service for which she is
particularly honored has been through the public library, working among children.
She was prominent in organizing and conducting the ever popular Story
Hour and is known to the children as "The Story Lady." The Republican
party has frequently honored her by appointment on various committees and
as delegate to county and stare conventions, and at the present time she
is one of the three members of the Wapello County Jury Commission. her
most consecutive interest over a long period of years has been her church.
For forty years or more she has been a teacher in its Sunday School,
and her class of women is one of the outstanding organizations in the church.
Mr. and Mrs. Keyhoe had a family of four children. Their daughter Winifred
is an artist and language teacher. Katherine is the wife of Baxter
Smith, of Ottumwa, and their children, the four grandchildren of Mr. and
Mrs. Keyhoe, are Baxter, Jr., Annette, Barbara and John. The other
daughter is Miss Constance. The only son, John, is deceased.
~~~~***~~~~
ABEL KIMBALL was one of the pioneer railroad men of Iowa. It
is important to remember that the men who manned and directed the first railroad
and who through summer flood and winter blizzard fought long days and nights
that these roads might carry on, deserve a high place on the honor roll of
Iowa's pioneers. Some account of the life and work of Abel Kimball
in Iowa is of particular importance because of his arrival in the state in
1856, and for nearly fifty years thereafter he was closely and actively
associated with the operation and development of what is now the Chicago,
Rock Island & Pacific Railway.
When, in 1920, this road commemorated its seventieth anniversary there was
placed on the grounds of the railway company in Davenport a bronze tablet
in memory of Abel Kimball.
Abel Kimball was born in Sanbornton, New Hampshire, December 15, 1822. He
was compelled to go to work at the age of thirteen, and by the time he was
eighteen he had developed a decided taste for mechanical work. Securing
employment in the Locomotive Works at Lowell, Massachusetts, he learned the
trade of machinist. About 1854 he went to the shops of the Western
Railroad at Springfield, Massachusetts, becoming foreman of the work on Baldwin
locomotives. Locomotive building was not merely a routine of precise
working and fitting of metals, as Kipling has reminded us in one of his stories
- "A locomotive, next to a marine engine, is the most sensitive thing man
ever made."
From building locomotives Abel Kimball was attracted into the field of railroad
operation. Later he was employed by the Connecticut River Railroad,
Cacheco Railroad, and the Newburyport & Georgetown Railroad in Massachusetts,
where he was superintendent. In addition to his mechanical skill he
evinced a marked ability to handle men.
It was 1856 that he was offered the position of master mechanic of the
Mississippi & Missouri Railroad at Davenport, Iowa. This road, the first to
bridge the Mississippi and the first to extend its rails across that historic
stream toward the great western plains, was at that time the last link between
the terminus of the Rock Island Railroad at Rock Island, Illinois, and the Iowa
prairies. Mr. Kimball reached Davenport on November
20, 1856, and immediately assumed his new duties. Afterwards he was
in the habit of saying that in all his life he had only been out of work
during his trip from Massachusetts to Iowa.
Pioneer days and pioneer railroads called for qualities of leadership found
only in industrious, farseeing men; men with a fixed and steady purpose,
whose faith in the future and in their own resourcefulness could not be shaken.
Such men were those who tamed the western country, and such men were
those who envisioned, built and operated Iowa's early railroads.
On these men, of all nationalities, but with a high and common purpose, Iowa
too left her mark, and none of them privileged to spend years of life on
Iowa soil but grew to love the state of their adoption.
This was true of Abel Kimball. As he advanced from rank to rank, from
the Mississippi& Missouri Railroad to the Chicago, Rock Island &
Pacific Railway, and from general superintendent of that road to vice president
and finally assistant to the president, his appreciation of Iowa grew. He
was a man of few words, reserved, calm and equable, but he spike always in
terms of affection and admiration for the State of Iowa.
Abel Kimball married Emma Prettyman, of a family that also came to Davenport
in the early '50s. Their son, William H.. Kimball, is a civil engineer
and a native son of Davenport, where he has earned a reputation in his profession
and where he was born February 22, 1873.
William H. Kimball was educated at Davenport, attended the University of
Iowa and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After taking his
degree he was employed as a civil engineer with the Rock Island Railroad
Company until 1901. For the past twenty-five years he has carried on
a widely diversified practice as a consulting engineer. Much of his
work has been done in Davenport. He was engineer for and also a member
of the Davenport Levee Commission. He served on the special sewerage
commission. Early in 1918 he was called to Washington to serve under
the direction of the United States housing board and did municipal engineering
for the Government until January, 1919. During 1920 and for several
years after he was consulting engineer for several large drainage and development
projects in Florida.
He married, in 1900, Miss Nellie Hayward. She was born at Davenport,
daughter of Major E. B. and Ellen (Phelps) Hayward. Her father was
born in Essex County, New York, where the Hayward family were prominent from
early Colonial times. He enlisted in the Fifth New York Cavalry as
a private in 1861, was promoted to captain and finally to brevet rank as
major in the Army of the Potomac. Mr. Hayward moved to Davenport in
1869, and was one of a group of Davenport men who became conspicuous in the
lumber business in the West. At first he was associated with the well
known Lindsay & Phelps Company and later organized a number of companies
of his own, operating in the lumber districts of the South, West and Northwest.
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Kimball have two children. A son, Herbert H.,
born in 1901, graduated from Princeton University and the law department
of the University of Iowa, and is now practicing law in New York. The
second son, William P., born in 1905, graduated with the degree of Civil
Engineer from the Thayer School of Dartmouth College and has since taught
engineering at Dartmouth.
~~~~***~~~~
CHARLES M. KING is the efficient and popular agent for the American
Railway Express in the City of Mount Ayr, judicial center of Ringgold County,
and is a native son of Iowa, as well as a representative of one of the sterling
pioneer families of this state. He was born on a farm near Dixon, Scott
County, in the year 1866, and was reared to the sturdy discipline of the
pioneer farm, he having been a lad of ten years when his parents moved to
Ringgold County, in 1876, and here established the family home on a farm
in Grant Township.
Mr. King, whose early education was obtained in the public schools of Scott
and Ringgold counties, is a son of the late Benjamin B. and Elizabeth (Jacobs)
King. Benjamin B. King was born in Pennsylvania and came to Iowa in
the early '50s, he having here become a pioneer in farm development and
enterprise and the closing period of his life having been passed in Ringgold
County, where he died in 1898, his wife who was a native of the State of
New York and who was a birthright member of the Society of Friends, having
died in 1884.
The boyhood and early youth of Charles M. King were marked by his close
association with the work and management of the home farm, and he continued
his alliance with farm enterprise in Ringgold County until 1888, when he
entered Saint Paul Railroad. he became skilled as a telegraph operator,
and served as station agent and telegraph operator at various points in Iowa
and South Dakota. He was thus engaged fifteen years, and his incidental
residence in South Dakota represents his only period of absence from his
native State of Iowa.
Mr. King has ever retained secure place in popular esteem in Ringgold County,
he having served several years as county sheriff and the year 1930 finding
him in service as clerk of the city council of Mount Ayr. His political
allegiance is given to the Republican party and he and his wife are zealous
members of the Methodist Episcopal Church in their home community.
In 1885 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. King to Miss Mary J. Stahl, who
likewise was born and reared in this state, she being a daughter of Michael
and Mary (Talley) Stahl, who gained much of pioneer prestige in Iowa, Mr.
Stahl having been born and reared in Indiana and having thence come to Iowa,
in 1854, the greater part of his active life having been given to farm
industry, of which he was a pioneer exponent in Ringgold County. Mrs.
King still owns a part of the farm estate of 600 acres that was purchased
by her father from the Government in 1854, at the rate of $1.25 an acre,
and she retains also the historic deed to this property, the same bearing
the signature of President Buchanan. Mr. and Mrs. King have four children.
Nellie is the wife of Dr. C. J. Swan, a leading physician and surgeon
at Clearfield, Iowa, and they have six children: Mary, Margaret, Lois,
Charles, Susan and George. Helen M. is the wife of R. S. Clough, of
Lenox, this state, and they have four children: Evelyn, Merrill, Mary
Birdice and Maurice. Merrill S., only son of the subject of this review,
was in overseas service in the World war, with rank of sergeant with the
Three Hundred Thirteenth Engineers, Eighty-eighth Division of the American
Expeditionary Forces, and he is now in the employ of the American Railway
Express, with headquarters in Mount Ayr. Birdice B., youngest of the
children, is the wife of John E. Horn, of Mount Ayr.
~~~~***~~~~
JAY A. KING. Among the old and honored business citizens of
Des Moines few are better known or more greatly respected than Jay A. King,
president of the Western Grain Dealers Fire Insurance Company. Mr.
King is a descendant of one of the oldest American families, which, however,
originated in Scotland, and the environment of his forbears was calculated
to bring out and develop all that was sturdy and vigorous in both mind and
body, and their descendants continue to manifest the traits of character
which enabled them to survive the hardships they were compelled to endure,
and which rendered prosperity possible in the face of the most forbidding
conditions.
Mr. King was born May 28, 1845, at Akron, Ohio, and is a son of Dr. John
E. and Ann (Jackson) King. Dr. John E. King was born in Pennsylvania,
in 1825, and because his family were in humble financial circumstances he
received little schooling. This did not prevent him from acquiring
a medical education, however, for he was ambitious and enterprising and possessed
a good memory, so that he was able to take his place in his profession and
to build up a good country practice. In 1855 he went to Wisconsin,
where he resided for six years, and in 1861 moved to Eldora, Iowa, where
he passed the remainder of his life in the practice of medicine and surgery,
his death occurring in 1923, when he had reached the remarkable age of
ninety-seven years. He was a devout member of the Presbyterian Church,
a Mason fraternally and a Republican in his political views. At Akron,
Ohio, he married Ann Jackson, who was born in England and was brought to
the United States by her parents when a child, and she died in 1863, having
been the mother of six children, of whom three are living: Jay A.,
of this review; George H., who is retired and living in California; and O.
J., who is living in retirement at Eldora, Iowa.
Jay A. King attended the public schools of Akron, Ohio, from the time he
was eight until he reached the age of ten years, and then spent two school
terms in Wisconsin and one term in Iowa. As his father had been, he
was a close student and great reader, and thereby built up the foundation
of a good practical education. In 1863 he enlisted in Company H, Ninth
Iowa Cavalry, and served with that regiment until the close of the war between
the states, seeing active service in Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana and Indian
Territory. At the close of the War There were many of the soldiers
whose lives had been so disturbed by the adventures and excitement of warfare
that they could not readily settle down again to the pursuits of peace.
Not so with Mr. King. He had come to the realization while in
the army that if he were to make a success of his life he must be fully prepared
to enter into stern competition, and accordingly, upon receiving his honorable
discharge after a year of special service in the South, went to Chicago,
Illinois, where he took a course in Bryant and Stratton's Business College,
which already had gained a reputation and standing. In April, 1866
Mr. King, who had taken the course in the shortest time any one had taken
it up to that date, took a position with Crane Brothers as an accountant,
and in 1868 entered the employ of Baldwin & Maxwell, proprietors of a
large establishment for that day, and during the seven years he was connected
with this concern worked his way, through ability and loyalty, into the position
of cashier treasurer of Story County, of which Nevada was the county seat.
After serving six years he entered the Farmers Bank of Nevada as cashier,
a position which he held for eight years, but his health became impaired
through overwork, and he was compelled to sell out his interest. During
the nine years that followed Mr. King was compelled to rest, but in 1899
he again entered the business arena, establishing a lumber and grain enterprise
at Nevada under the firm name of Dunkelburg & King. This was a
successful enterprise which continued for seventeen years. In 1907
Mr. King conceived the idea of the Western Grain Dealers Fire Insurance Company,
which he organized at Des Moines, and of which he has since been president.
Under his able management this has become one of the important companies
of the state and has enlarged its scope considerably, now writing a full
line of fire, tornado, and automobile insurance. Mr. King is greatly
respected in business circles, and although he has passed the four score
year mark still attends to his daily routine of duties with the energy and
alert mind of a man many years his junior. He is a regular attendant
of the Presbyterian Church, and is a York Rite Mason and Shriner. He
likewise belongs to the Grand Army of the Republic, of which he was at one
time commander, of Jason D. Furgeson Post, and belongs also to the Grant
Club. A Republican in politics, he cast his first presidential vote,
while in the army for Abraham Lincoln when he was but nineteen years of age,
and has voted for every Republican presidential candidate since that time.
at one time he was chairman of the Story County Republican Committee
and also served as a member of the State Committee. while living at
Nevada he served as a member of the city counsel several terms, as a member
of the school board for three years and as president of the board of education
two years, and was likewise a member of the library board.
In 1880 Mr. King was united in marriage with Miss Lilly Day, who was born
at Nevada, Iowa, and died in 1881, leaving one son: Day E., who is
now an electrical engineer residing in San Francisco. In 1889 Mr. King
married Mrs. Elizabeth Coggshall, who was born and educated in Ohio, and
died in Nevada, Iowa, in 1913. They had no children.
~~~~***~~~~
ORAN W. KING, M. D. Among the leading practitioners of medicine
who have advanced the prestige of Des Moines in various fields of professional
science. Dr. Oran W. King occupies a prominent place. During
the earlier years of his practice he carried on a general business in medicine
and surgery, but eventually took up urology, to which special line he now
devotes himself exclusively. He has won success and reputation, and
has the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens and practitioners.
Doctor King was born in Benton County, Iowa, October 1, 1875, and is a son
of John and Mandana (Johnson) King. His paternal grandfather was Aaron
King, a native of Ohio, who moved to Iowa some time during the war between
the states, and here rounded out his long and honorable career as an
agriculturist. The maternal grandfather of Doctor King, Albert Johnson,
was born in Indiana and came to Iowa as a pioneer of 1847, here experiencing
all of the hardships and privations of the early days and eventually becoming
a substantial and progressive farmer and a man of influence in his community.
His death occurred in Benton County.
John King, the father of Doctor King, was born at Youngstown, Ohio, December
2, 1843, and was only eighteen years o age when he enlisted in an Indiana
volunteer infantry regiment for service during the war between the states.
At the close of that struggle he came to Iowa, where he settled on
a farm in Benton County, and here passed the remainder of his life, dying
December 29, 1922. Mandana (Johnson) King died August 26, 1893, the
mother of two children: Dr. Oran W., of this review and a daughter,
Edith, who married Benjamin Corbett July 16, 1891, and became the mother
of four children, of whom Glenn and J. Luverne, still survive. Mr.
Corbett died in 1916, and in 1923 his widow married Dick Wykoff. She
died August 5, 1928.
In October, 1894, John King married Electra C. Mooseman, who bore him two
children: Forrest M., born January 16, 1897, and Merle, born May 5,
1899, and now the wife of Earl Dexter, of La Porte City, Iowa.
The early education of Oran W. King was acquired at Tilford Academy, Vinton,
Iowa. In the meantime he had farmed for four years, and had prosecuted
his medical studies at the University of Iowa and at Northwestern University,
from which latter institution he was graduated with the degree of Doctor
of Medicine as a member of the class of 1903. He located at Keystone,
Iowa, where he engaged in general practice for six years. When he left
Keystone Doctor King went to Montezuma, the county seat of Poweshiek County,
where he remained for almost eight years, or until he entered the United
States Medical Corps for service during the World war, being commissioned
a first lieutenant. He first went to Camp Reilly, where he was in training
for three weeks, and subsequently was transferred to Camp Travis, where he
remained for a like period. The remainder of his service, about sixteen
months, was spent at Camp Dodge, where he received his honorable discharge
January 17, 1919, having been commissioned Major in June, 1918. Upon
being relieved of his military duties Doctor King settled at Des Moines,
where he now has offices in the Equitable Building. He has been a close
and constant student and has taken post-graduate work at Chicago, principally
in urology, to which he now devotes his entire attention. He is known
as one of the most capable men in his special field in the city and has built
up a large and representative practice. Doctor King is a member of
the Polk County Medical Society, the Iowa State Medical Society, the American
Medical Association and the American Urological Association. He is
a member of the Christian Church and the Conopus and Country Clubs, is a
Scottish Rite Mason and member of the Mystic Shrine. He is also identified
with several civic bodies and is a generous supporter of all enterprises
that promise to be of benefit to his adopted city. On October 17, 1900,
Doctor King was united in marriage with Miss Oral Wolfe, who was born and
educated at Vinton, Iowa, and to this union there have been born two children:
Margaret, born February 15, 1904, educated at West High School and
Drake University, who is teaching school at Lima Grove, Iowa, and Kathryn,
born April 1, 1910, who is attending Ames College. Mrs. King is an
active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
~~~~***~~~~
PROF. HARVEY A. KINNEY was both an educator and a business man, and
displayed rare talent in both fields. However, the work which will
doubtless be longest associated with his name was his active connection with
an institution of learning which supplied a vital link in the educational
program of a large section of Iowa before the system of education comprised
a genuine scheme for normal training. This institution was the Woodbine
Normal at Woodbine, of which Professor Kinney was one of the founders and
with which institution he was actively associated for a quarter of a century.
He was born at Cortland in Cortland County, New York, December 10, 1854.
His parents were substantial New York farming people, John and Samantha
(Copeland) Kinney. His father was born in 1812 and his mother in 1829.
Harvey A. Kinney grew up in New York State, and after attending the
common schools had the advantage of instruction in the New York State Normal
at Cortland, from which he graduated.
In August, 1878, he came to Harrison County, Iowa. He was then a young
man of twenty-four, aflame with enthusiasm for his work as an educator. On
the first Monday in September after arriving he took charge of the magnolia
High School as principal, remaining there four years. The following
year he was principal of the schools of Missouri Valley and was then elected
and served four years as superintendent of those schools. In the fall
of 1885 additional responsibilities were given him when he was elected county
superintendent of schools.
In the spring of 1887 Mr. Kinney moved to Woodbine and in the fall of that
year he and Professors Matter and Riddell organized the Woodbine Normal.
Professor Kinney was the product of a very fine normal school of New
York State and appreciated the distinctive value of normal training as a
part of the equipment of young teachers, who for the most part at that time
went directly from their studies into the responsibilities of teaching. He
later received an M. A. degree from Belleview College in Nebraska. As
county superintendent of Harrison County he had made it a business to call
on all the country schools, and that gave him a first hand knowledge of the
deficiencies resulting from lack of proper training. Woodbine had a
very good system of public schools and that of course was an important auxiliary
to the proposed normal training school. Woodbine Normal continued its
functions for over thirty years, until normal training had been fully
incorporated in all the larger state institutions, even through many of the
high schools, and normal school training was practically an indispensable
requirement in the equipment of teachers. For this reason there was
no longer the vital necessity of conducting a private normal school, and
in 1914 the Woodbine Normal did not cease to exist, but became incorporated
in and merged with the local system of public schools.
In the meantime Professor Kinney had become a factor in the business of his
community. In 1895 he had recognized the feasibility of establishing
a telephone system, there being at that time no actual telephones in use
anywhere in this section of the United States, telephones really being in
an experimental stage. The Bell patents were about to expire and he
knew that this was the time for an independent effort. In company with
Prof. M. A. Reed and others the Boyer Telephone Company was organized, and
Professor Kinney was one of the officials of the company until the day of
his death on July 12, 1916. Professor Kinney was a Republican in politics,
was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, Modern Woodmen of America and
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and he and his family were Methodist.
He married, May 26, 1886, Minnie S. Smith. Mrs. Kinney, who survives
him and continues to make her home at Woodbine, was born in Van Buren County,
Michigan, daughter of Rev. Cyrus and Amanda C. (Bessey) Smith. Her
father was born December 27, 1839, and her mother on October 1, 1842.
Amanda C. Bessey was a sister of Charles Edwin Bessey, famous botanist
and naturalist. Rev. Cyrus Smith moved his home to Mills County, Iowa,
in 1885, and there Mrs. Kinney lived until her marriage. She was educated
in grade and high schools and attended Simpson College at Indianola, Iowa.
Mrs. Kinney has two children: Harvey S., born January 10, 1891,
an electrical engineer at Denver, Colorado, married Gladys Warman; and Mary
Amanda, born in 1907, now supervisor of music in the Woodbine public schools.
~~~~***~~~~
ADDISON G. KISTLE is a native of Iowa, was graduated from law
school in 1912, and since that year has made a successful place for himself
in the legal profession at Council Bluffs.
Mr. Kistle was born in Plymouth County, Iowa, October 13, 1888, son of Josiah
C. and Emma (Ford) Kistle. His grandparents were natives of Cornwall,
England. His grandfather, Josiah Kistle, on coming to America settled
in Illinois and in 1849 crossed the plains to California, returning by way
of the Isthmus of Panama. While in California he made considerable
capital by gold mining and as a cattle buyer. When he returned to the
Middle West he brought with him a plant from California, which he planted,
and some of its offshoots are still growing at Le Mars, Iowa. Josiah
Kistle's wife was Philippa Ford. Both of them died in Illinois.
Josiah C. Kistle was born in Jo Daviess County, Illinois, followed
farming in Northwestern Iowa until 1893 and then engaged in the mercantile
business at Le Mars. he served as county auditor of Plymouth County
from January 1, 1899, to January 1, 1909, and after retiring from office
moved to Wisconsin and is now a resident of Amery in that state. He
has always been a strong Republican, and served for a number of years in
the office of justice of the peace. He is a Mason and a member of the
Congregational Church and for years was a deacon. His wife died in 1929.
Her father, Richard Ford, was born in Cornwall, England, and settled
in Northwestern Illinois in the 1830's, his daughter being also a native
of Jo Daviess County.
Addison G. Kistle attended school at Le Mars, Iowa, the Western Union College
at Le Mars and was graduated from the law department of Drake University
at Des Moines in 1912. He began practice at Council Bluffs, alone,
and later became associated with George S. Wright. His offices are
in the Wickham Building. Mr. Kistle has been admitted to practice in
the United States Supreme Court and also the Eighth and Sixth Circuit Court
of Appeals. In his professional work he has exemplified the value of
thorough training, a sound education and a resourceful mind.
He married, June 3, 1913, Miss Louise Unger, who was born in Tama County,
Iowa, and was educated in the storm Lake High School and Buena Vista College
at Storm Lake. they have six children, Elizabeth Louise, Addison Charles,
Estelle, Julia, Ethel and Eleanor. Elizabeth is in high school. The
family are members of the Presbyterian Church and Mr. Kistle is affiliated
with Council Bluffs Lodge No. 531, B. P. O. Elks, and is a member of the
Iowa Bar Association and a Republican in politics.
~~~~***~~~~
ERMA L. KROUT. One of Mahaska County's able educators and most
acceptable public officials is found in Miss Erma L. Krout, county superintendent
of schools, a lady of social charm and many accomplishments. She was
reared carefully in a home of intellectual environment and encouraged in
her pursuit of knowledge, for which an aptitude was early shown. While
still in girlhood she bore off degrees from one after another educational
institution. There was a time when her sex might have interfered with
her holding her present responsible position, but we now enjoy the liberty
of a broader-minded day, and women of her intellectual qualifications are
now both sought and appreciated. In 1919 she was elected county
superintendent of the schools of Mahaska County, in which office she has
continued, giving efficient service, and exerting a marked influence by her
sound conceptions of educational progress.
Erma L. Krout was born at Fremont, Iowa, May 30, 1881, the daughter and only
child of Dr. J. b. and Mary A. (Dinsmore) Krout, residents of Fremont. The
family is of German extraction, but has been established in this county for
many years. Doctor Krout became actively engaged in the practice of
medicine in 1884, and was at Fremont from 1891, becoming one of the best
known physicians of his county. He was injured in an automobile accident
while hurrying to the bedside of a dying patient. After a month of
intense suffering, he passed to his reward on January 11, 1929, leaving a
heritage of blessed memories.
Miss Krout attended the local schools of Fremont, and later the Iowa State
Teachers' College, Cedar Falls, Iowa, and was graduated from the latter
with the degree of B. Di. In 1918 she was graduated from the University
of Des Moines with the degree of A. B. During the years she has been
teaching she has covered all grade work, high school and business college,
and was therefore qualified for her present office. Outside of her
educational work she finds opportunity for membership in the Eastern Star,
the White Shrine, the Watanye Club, and the Iowa State Teachers Association,
and was chairman of the Executive Committee of the latter. She was
also a member of the Iowa State Board of Educational Examiners, to which
she was appointed by Governor Hammill. For many years she has been
an active member of the Baptist Church.
~~~~***~~~~
LOUIS C. KURTZ. The name of Kurtz is at once associated in the
minds of residents of Des Moines with participation in large and important
affairs. Three generations of the family have been prominent in mercantile
affairs, banking, real estate and public life, and the family has to its
credit a record of splendid achievement. Among those who have worthily
held up the traditions of this family is Louis C. Kurtz, chairman of the
board of directors of the Iowa-Des Moines National Bank & Trust Company,
who also has other large and important interests, and who has borne his full
share of the burdens of good citizenship.
Mr. Kurtz was born at Des Moines, November 28, 1867, and is a son of Louis
H. Kurtz. Louis H. Kurtz was born at Voelkingen, Prussia, Germany,
December 14, 1840, a son of Peter and Katherine E. (Munger) Kurtz. He
was of French descent on both sides of the house, the district where he was
born having belonged to France until 1812, when it was acquired by Prussia.
He was one of a family of eleven children. In 1854 the family
came to the United States, landing at New York City and stopping for a short
time at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, whence they resumed their western journey.
They had reached Iowa when attacked by the dread malady, cholera, and
the parents both died at Keokuk, Iowa, within twenty-four hours of each other.
Louis H. Kurtz was only thirteen years of age when left an orphan, but was
a strong, willing and able lad, and for several years found employment on
a farm. he was not contented however, to work for others, and eventually
he and three older brothers formed a partnership, rented land and began the
cultivation of a farm of their own. Subsequently Louis H. Kurtz disposed
of his interest in this land and went to Van Buren County, Iowa, where he
applied himself to learning the trade of tinner and in 1861 settled at Des
Moines, where he followed his trade until 1866, He then embarked in
business on his own account, with a cash capital of less than $350 and from
this small beginning developed the great firm of L. H. Kurtz Company, the
largest wholesale plumbing and heating establishment and wholesale and retail
hardware business in the city. Mr. Kurtz also became interested in
other lines of business, and was a member of the Board of Directors of the
German Savings Bank. he was recognized as one of the highly efficient
and progressive citizens of Des Moines, a man who by useful and upright life
reflected honor upon himself and his adopted city. On June 5, 1864,
he was united in marriage with Miss Annie M. Kula, a native of Bohemia, Austria,
who came to the United States about the same time as himself, and to this
union there were born three children: Emma, the widow of Walter L.
Seeburger, of Des Moines; Louis C., of this review; and Mary A. Schuster,
deceased, wife of Joseph R. Schuster, of Des Moines. Louis H. Kurtz,
whose death occurred January 28, 1923, was profoundly mourned throughout
the city. Mr. Kurtz was independent in politics, a devout member of
the Catholic Church, and was active in the Knights of Columbus.
Louis C. Kurtz grew to manhood under favorable conditions and in an environment
that encouraged industry and honesty. After receiving his preliminary
educational training in the parochial schools of Des Moines he took a business
course at Iowa Business College, Des Moines, and St. Benedict's College,
Atchison, Kansas, and immediately became identified with his father in the
hardware and sheet metal business. At the end of three years he was
admitted to partnership, and the Kurtz firm from that time forward has continued
to be prominent in the hardware, plumbing and heating line, having equipped
many of Iowa's finest public and business structures. The firm later
entered the wholesale plumbing and heating line and became the pioneer jobber
of plumbing supplies in the city. In 1902 the business was incorporated
as the L. H. Kurtz Company, Louis C. Kurtz becoming the first secretary and
manager of the business, which under his management has grown to be one of
the most important business enterprises of Des Moines.
On June 23, 1896, Mr. Kurtz was united in marriage with Miss Alice E. McDonnell,
daughter of the late N. S. McDonnell, who was the head of the McDonnell Boiler
and Iron Works of Des Moines until his death in 1929, when the company went
out of business. Mrs. Kurtz is a devout member of the Catholic Church.
She has been an active worker in the Des Moines Woman's Club, having
been president of this organization at one time, and in the Literary
Club. She is diocesan president of the National Council of Catholic
Women, vice president and a director of the Public Welfare Bureau and president
of the South Side Community House. She and Mr. Kurtz have had three
children: Louis C., Jr., born May 11, 1897; Louis Henry, born November
8, 1903; and Bernard B., born August 21, 1905.
Louis C. Kurtz, Jr., received good educational advantages, attending the
public schools of Des Moines, St. Mary's College and the Iowa State College,
Ames. he is one of the capable and progressive young business men of
Des Moines, and now holds the office of vice president of the L. H. Kurtz
Company. He married Miss Helen Miley, and they have five children:
Louis, Jr., Bobby, Mary Alice, Nancy and Helen Clare.
Louis Henry Kurtz, the second son of Louis C. Kurtz, died August 28, 1904.
Bernard D. Kurtz, the youngest son of Louis C. Kurtz, is a graduate of Des
Moines Catholic College and St. Mary's College, Kansas, and is secretary
of the L. H. Kurtz Company.
Louis C. Kurtz in addition to being president of the L. H. Kurtz Company
is chairman of the Board of Directors of the Iowa-Des Moines National Bank
& Trust Company. He was formerly vice president of the German Savings
Bank, and when that bank merged with the Des Moines National Bank he became
a member of the Board of Directors of the latter institution. He was
elected chairman of the board and later president of the Des Moines National
Bank, which position he held until the consolidation of the Des Moines National
Bank, Iowa National Bank and Des Moines Savings Bank & Trust Company,
at which time he was elected chairman of the Board of Directors of the
consolidated institution. he is also president of the Kurtz Realty
Company, a position in which he handles property of his own, although he
devotes the greater part of his time to the bank. He is a director
of the Northwest Bank Corporation and a director of the Chicago Joint Stock
Land Bank.
Always a staunch and loyal Republican on May 1, 1911, Mr. Kurtz was appointed
postmaster of Des Moines upon the recommendation of Sen. Albert B. Cummins,
and assumed charge of that office June 1st of that year. He managed
two of the campaigns of U. S. Senator Albert Cummins, and was a delegate
to the national convention that nominated Warren G. Harding for the Presidency.
He was given liberally of his time and energies to public service and every
movement looking to the civic betterment of his native city has had his hearty
cooperation. He served eight years as a member of the school board
and was three times selected as president of that body. he was a member
thereof during the consolidation of the various school districts, and to
his labours is due in no small degree the present high efficiency of the
public school system. He was one of the pioneers in the agitation for
the river front improvements, was one of the early members of the Greater
Des Moines Committee, and served for four years as chairman of the Executive
Committee of the Auditorium Board.
He is a member of the Des Moines Club, the Wakonda Club, the Knights of Columbus,
and holds a life membership in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
he has always been active in the work of the Catholic Church.
~~~~***~~~~
LOUIS A. KUYPER. Bringing with them their thrifty and industrious
habits, their sturdy social customs, and their church relationships, the
early members of the Kuyper family in America came from the Netherlands,
and in 1849 became a part of the Holland colony of Pella, Iowa. In
this organization of substantial farmers and upright citizens Peter Kuyper,
the first, was a leader, and the grandfather of Louis A. Kuyper, who is part
owner and manager of of the extensive lumber yards at Pella, the most important
in Marion County.
Louis A. Kuyper was born at Pella, August 8, 1898, a son of Arnuldus N. and
Marie (Neyenesch) Kuyper. The grandfather, Peter Kuyper, married Janetje
Doedijns. Their son, Arnuldus N. Kuyper, was also born at Pella, August
7, 1864, and his life was spent in this town, and here he died December 6,
1910. In 1893 he established a lumber yard in partnership with D. W.
Wilkes, but two years later he bought out his partner, and continued the
sole owner of the business until his death, at which time it was taken over
by his sons. The father was a prominent man at Pella, serving for a
long period as a member of the City Council and for many years as a member
of the Board of Trustees of Central College. On November 27, 1890,
he was married, and Mrs. Kuyper is a native of Pella, and a daughter of Herman
and Anna M. (Nieuwenhuijzen) Neyenesch. Three sons were born to Mr.
and Mrs. Arnuldus N. Kuyper, namely: Peter H., who lives at Pella,
was formerly at the head of the concern succeeding his father, but in 1924
he resigned to go into the manufacture of roller screens, is married and
has two children, Joan and Stuart; Louis A., whose name heads this review;
and Julian A., who resides at Pella, and is married.
In 1916 Louis A. Kuyper was graduated from the Pella High School, after which
he entered Central College, where he took three years of work, and completed
his education at the University of Iowa, from which he was graduated in 1920
with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In the meanwhile, in the fall
of 1917 while a sophomore at Central College, Mr. Kuyper enlisted in the
Student Army Training Corps, but peace was declared before their unit was
detailed to overseas service. Returning to Pella after the completion
of his university course, Mr. Kuyper entered his father's lumber business,
and with his brothers assumed its management when the founder died. At
the resignation of the older brother the active management of the lumber
yard fell upon his shoulders, and he and the youngest brother have a large
and flourishing business.
On January 16, 1924, Louis A. Kuyper married, at Ottumwa, Iowa, Miss Stella Mae
Blunk, a daughter of J. C. and Stella (Lewis) Blunk, a prominent family of
Ottumwas. Mrs. Kuyper is a college-bred woman, having been a student at the
State College of Iowa and the University of Nebraska. Mr. and Mrs. Kuyper have
one daughter, Cleo Joy. The family is of the Second Reformed Church of Pella,
of which Arnuldus N. Kuyper was a deacon for a number of years. The example he
set as a public-spirited man, interested alike in the progress of the home
community and the upbuilding of the churches and schools, is being followed by
his sons, all of whom are young men of high character, successful in business,
and a decided asset to Pella and Marion County. |
