Sites,Ranz,Stroup,Bergman Families of Ilinois:Information about Owen Kern

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Owen Kern (b. November 05, 1834, d. January 28, 1908)

Owen Kern (son of Henry Kern and Elizabeth Weir) was born November 05, 1834 in Lehigh County, Pa, and died January 28, 1908 in Per Tombstone. He married Catherine Peters, daughter of Daniel Peters and Mary (Anna Marie) Burkhalter.

Notes for Owen Kern:
"The Crescent City Horse Company was organized November 15, 1877, with James Parker as president; G.S. Petero, vice-president;A. J. Harwood, secretary; William Flesher, captain. Its organization is uniform with other such companies in this part of the state and in other states. Its objects are, by concert of action and a becoming secrecy in operations, to apprehend persons guilty of stealing horses and other stock, by following, or by turning out when called, and hunting such criminals. Their signs are so arranged as to be given at a great distance, and thus they are efficient in aiding members of other similar organizations whom they have never seen. This company numbers thirty-three. It meets the first Saturday of each alternate month. The present officers are: OWEN KERN, president; G. S. Petero, vice-president; C. E. Barber, secretary and treasurer; James Parker, captain; R. B. Craig, S. N. Calkin, William Flwsher, W. B. Davis and C. L. Hart, lieutenants. " source: History of Iroquois County, Illinois 1880 by H. W. Beckwith, H. H. Hill and Company, Publishers. 1880. Page 408

Owen Kern Biography Past and Present Iroquois County, IL 1907, page 320
Owen Kern, living on section 19, Crescent township, is numbered among the old settlers of the county. A life of toil in the Illinois prairie country, to which he came as a young man when it was a frontier district, has made him one of the substantial residents of the county, where he is still actively engaged in agricultural pursuits, owning and operating two hundred and forty acres of well improved land. He has lived in the county since 1855 and many events which are matters of history to others are known to him throught personal experience or as a witness.
Mr. Kern was born in Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, November 5, 1834. His father, Henry Kern was also a native of that county, where he followed athe occupation of farming. He was married there to Miss Elizabeth Weor, whose birthplace was likewise in Lehigh county, and in 1839 he removed westward to Indiana, settling with his familyh in Tippecanoe county, where he entered land from the government, eeveloping a good farm there. Both he and his wife spent their subsequent years in that couty and upon the farm reared their family of eight children.
Like the other sons of the household, Owen Kern early became familiar with the duties and labors that fall to the lot of the agriculturist and when seventeen years of age he took up carpentering, following the trade for four years. He then came to Illinois and bought sixty acres of land in Onarga township, Iroquois county, thus wisely investing his earnings in real estate. He did not remove to Illinois, however, until 1858.
In the meantime, on the 28th of September, 1856, he had married Miss Catherine Peters, a native of Tippecanoe county, Indiana, and a daughter of Daniel Peters, who was born in Pennsylvania. For two years after their marriaage they remained in the Hoosier state and then took up their abode permanently in Iroquois county. For a yearheir home was a typical log cabin on the frontier and at the end of that time Mr. Kern built a good dwelling in Onarga township and developed a productive farm upon which he lived for eight years. On selling that property he bought eighty acres where he now resides, adjoining one hundred and sixty acres which he had purchased in 1856 and which has been the Kern homestead since 1866. His is one of the best improved farms in the county and forms a most attractive feature of the landscape. His residence is a beautiful and commodious dwelling. There are many other buildings necessary for the shelter of grain, stock, and farm implements and he uses the lates improved machinery in carrying on the work of the fields. The land is well tilled and he also raises good graded stock. His life has been one of industry characterized by perseverance and stron purpose, and in all that he has undertaken he has shown an aptitude for successful management and a strict conformity to a high standard of business ethics.
In 1906 Mr. and Mr.s Kern celebrated their golden wedding on which oiccasion many friends and relatives gathered to express to this worthy and honored couple their congratulations and goood wishes. As the years passed their home was blessed with eleven children, nine of whom are yet living. The oldest surviving member of the family is Mary Elizabeth, the wife of Lester L. Stubbs, a resident farmer of Coldwater, Kansas, by whom she has one chiled, Flossie. Leah Malinda is the wife of D. F. Parcel, also a farmer of Coldwater, Kansas, and they have three children, Bessie Iona, Melvin (). and Raymond E. Maria Theresa , the third member of the familhy is at home. Dora Ann is the wife of James R. Brelsford, a farmer of Crescent City, and they have three children, Elmer E., Jessies A. and Gertrude M. Harriet F. is the wife of George H. Clark of Crescent City, who is mentioned elsewhere in this work; Melissa C. is the wife of J. Frank Jwelly, a carpenter of Crescent City. Ida May is the wife of Fred Ranz of Claytonville, also mentioned on another page of this volume. Henry S. died when only three weeks old. Calvin Eugene died at the age of twenty-one years. Effie Leona is the wife of U.S. Uumphreys, who assists Mr. Kern in the operation of the farm, an dthey have one child, Hazel Irene. Mabel C. is the wife of Francis Hartman, of MIami county, Indiana.
Mr. and Mrs. Kern are now old-time resdidnts of the county and have witnessed much of its growth and development. For a half century they have traveled life's journey together, sharing with each other its joys and sorrows, its adversity and its successes and now they are enjoying the fruit of their former labors surrounded by loving children and grandchildren. Mr. Kern has always stood for progress and improvement. He was among the first to recognize the value of tiling the land and to put that course in practice. Politically he is an earnest arepublican and he cast his first presidential ballot for John C. Fremon, since which time he has never failed to vote at a presidential election. He has been honored by his fellow townsmen with various local offices, serving as school director for eighteen years, as highway commissioner for eleven years, as school trustee six years, assessor one year and pathmaster for three years. He helped to construct the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw Railroad across the county in 1859 but, like thye others who assisted in the wor, received no compensation for that service. He was also one of the promoters and organizers of the First National BBank at Crescent City and was the first man nominated for president, but refused to accept that office. He was then chosen its vice president, serving two years, at the end of which time he sold his interest in the bank. He and his family atttend the Congregational church of which Mrs. Kern is a member. Few men are more widely known in ths part of the county than Owen Kern and none are held in higher esteem or more justly deserve mention in this volume among the representative citizens.

More About Owen Kern:
Burial: Unknown, Onarga, IL.
Census: 1880, Iroquois County, IL Crescent Twp.
Residence 1: 1839, Removed westward to Indiana, settling with his family in Tippecanoe county..⁵⁵
Residence 2: 1858, Moved to Iroquois County, IL.⁵⁶

Children of Owen Kern and Catherine Peters are:

+Ida Mae Kern, b. November 17, 1868, Crescent City, IL, d. 1965, Watseka, IL.