John Jacob Kern (1828 - 1908)

Born 25 Dec 1828 in Lawrence, Indiana, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Margaret Ellen (Feeley) Kern — married 15 Aug 1847 in Lawrence, Indiana, United States

Died 30 Aug 1908 at age 79 in Lebanon, Center Township, Boone, Indiana, United States

Biography

When John Jacob Kern was born on 25 December 1828, in Lawrence, Indiana, United States, his father, William Kern, was 37 and his mother, Susanah Sears, was 33. He married Margaret Ellen Feeley on 15 August 1847, in Lawrence, Indiana, United States. They were the parents of at least 1 son and 3 daughters. He lived in Indiana, United States in 1870 and Center Township, Boone, Indiana, United States in 1900. He died on 30 August 1908, in Lebanon, Center Township, Boone, Indiana, United States, at the age of 79, and was buried in Lebanon, Center Township, Boone, Indiana, United States.

A Portrait and Biographical Record of Boone, Clinton and Hendricks Counties, Ind., A.W. Bowen, Chicago, 1895, page 343:

JOHNJ. KERN, one of the most prosperous farmers of Center township, Boone county, Ind., and also a redoubtable hunter of large game, descends from an old Pennsylvania-Dutch family, but was born in Lawrence county, Ind., December 25, 1828.

His grandfather, Adam Kern, was the progenitor of the American family, having come from Holland in the colonial days and settled in Pennsylvania. He there reared a family and then went to Nicholas county, Ky., of which he was a pioneer, but finally settled in Monroe county, Ind. , where he died at an advanced age. His son, William Kern, the father of John J., whose name opens this sketch, was born in Pennsylvania, and was twenty-one years of age when he went with his father to Kentucky. He there married Susan Sears, of that state but of Pennsylvania descent. To their union were born ten children, who lived to be grown and were named as follows : Ezra, Noah, Benjamin, Peter, John J., Adam C, Catherine, Louisa, Susan J. and Mary S. ; of these Ezra was born in Kentucky, but early in the century removed to Lawrence county, Ind., with his father, William, who became one of the foremost farmers of that county, and was owner of one the best farms, 160 acres of which he left his children at the time of his death at the age of fifty-six years.

John J. Kern, whose nativity is given above, was born on his father's farm and received a common school education. As a young man he took great delight in hunting and fishing, and, as game was abundant, killed many a deer and wild turkey, as well as bear, catamounts, wild cats and numerous coons, ' possoms, pheasants and squirrels, keeping the family well supplied with provisions, as well as ridding the country of vicious beasts of prey.

August 15, 1847, he married Margaret E. Feely, daughter of William and Sarah (Alexander) Feely, which union was blessed with five children : Eliza J., Lois A., Marion, Susan R. and Mary E.

In December, 1852, Mr. Kern came to Boone county and settled on his present farm of 160 acres, to which he added by industry and thrift until he owned 535 acres, and of this handsome estate he has given his children all but 295 acres. Mr. Kern has always been a thrifty and hard-working man, and is entirely self-made. His course through life has been upright, winning the respect of his neighbors wherever he has resided. He and wife have long been members of the Christian church, in which he has been a deacon for many years, and of which he is a trustee; he is also quite liberal in his contributions to its support. In politics he is an earnest republican, and, fraternally, a nonaffiliating Odd Fellow. Mr. Kern is among the best known hunters of large game in the state of Indiana, as intimated in the opening of this biography. He has in his possession a magnificent head and antlers of a brown elk, which he shot in the Rocky Mountains in Wyoming in 1889, on the Columbia line, and these have been mounted by Beasley, of Lebanon, and are considered the finest in America. He has also many splendid specimens of skulls and antlers of deer which he has killed. His farm is well stocked with choice animals, and his is one of the best pasture farms of Center township.

Mr. Kern's daughter, Eliza J., is married to James H. Kersey, a thriving farmer of the township, and is the mother of two children — Stella M. and John J. ; his daughter, Lois A., is the wife of Solon M. Atkinson, also a prosperous farmer of the township, and has one daughter, Lillian L. None occupy a higher social position in Boone county than the family of Mr. Kern.[[1]]

Sources

• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/62765279/john-jacob-kern: accessed 11 January 2023), memorial page for John Jacob Kern (25 Dec 1828–30 Aug 1908), Find a Grave Memorial ID 62765279, citing Browns Wonder Cemetery, Lebanon, Boone County, Indiana, USA; Maintained by Marc Doty (contributor 46843703).
• "Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VKJH-4VV : 3 August 2022), John J Kern and Margaret Ellen Files, 14 Aug 1847; citing Lawrence, Indiana, United States, Marriage License, Indiana Commission on Public Records, Indianapolis; FHL microfilm 004839003.

See Also:

• FamilySearch Tree