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- JOHN FREEMAN KEMMERER. A native of Rock County, Mr.
- KEMMERER has throughout life remained a resident thereof,
employing his earlier years in farming, then engaging in business
at Clinton, and since 1898 acting as traveling salesman for the
Deering Harvester Co., of Chicago. Successful in whatever he
had undertaken, he is a representative citizen of the State,
active in affairs of public interest and contributing by his
force of character and clear principles to the welfare of the
community in which he lives.
- Mr. KEMMERER was born in Rock township, Rock County, Sept.
- 17, 1854, son of Samuel (deceased) and Elizabeth (GISH) KEMMERER,
who were natives of Pennsylvania, both belonging to sturdy German
families of the Keystone State. The paternal grandfather was
a farmer and the maternal grandfather a miller; both died in
Pennsylvania, well advanced in years. Both reared large families.
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- Early in their married life the parents of our subject resolved
to found a home in the then distant
- West. In the fall of 1849 they came to Rock township, Rock
County, and here Samuel KEMMERER purchased a tract of forty-four
acres and began his successful business career in the Western
home. He steadily added to his modest acres until he possessed
and tilled a well-cultivated farm of 258 acres. In 1884 he retired
from active life, moving to Janesville, where he ever after continued
to reside. In politics he was a Republican, in religious faith
an earnest Methodist, and he was always active in church work,
in his younger days acting as steward, class-leader, etc. To
Samuel and Elizabeth KEMMERER were born six children, four sons
and two daughters, namely: Abram, of Redfield, S. Dak.; Charles
W., of Janesville, wither he recently removed from Shopiere,
Rock Co., Wis.; Blandena; John F., our subject; Lewis, of Janesville;
and Ida, wife of W. VAN VALEN.
- John F. KEMMERER was reared on the farm, receiving his education
in the district schools. He
- began active life for himself by renting a farm, which he
operated for four years, and then bought 183 acres of land in
the townships of Turtle and La Prairie, later adding fifty acres
to the tract. He lived there until 1891, when he removed with
his family to Clinton, and there engaged in the stock and machinery
business. In 1898 Mr. KEMMERER accepted a position as traveling
salesman for the Deering Harvester Co., which he still holds.
- On Sept. 12, 1877, Mr. KEMMERER married Miss Ella E. SMITH,
daughter of Artemus and
- Olivia P. (PIKE) SMITH, and to them have been born four children,
George I., Ethel B., Forrest G., and Walter F. In 1898 George
and Ethel graduated from the Clinton high school, and he is now
attending the State University; Miss Ethel is teaching at Manchester,
Ill. Mr. and Mrs. KEMMERER and family are members of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, of which he has been steward for a number of
years. Politically he is a Republican. Among the societies Mr.
KEMMERER is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. He is
held in high esteem, and his influence has ever been exerted
in advancing measures for the general welfare.
- Artemus Smith (deceased), father of Mrs. Ella E. KEMMERER,
was born in Chester, Vt., April
- 11, 1818, son of Artemus SMITH, Sr., a native of Massachusetts.
Artemus SMITH, Jr., was engaged in business in the East until
1854, when he came to Chicago and engaged in the manufacturing
of bonnets. He sold out there and moved to Shopiere, Wis., where
he was engaged in the coopering business. In 1863 he bought a
farm of 100 acres located a short distance from Shopiere, to
which he afterward moved. On Nov. 1, 1843, he was married to
Olivia P. PIKE (now deceased), daughter of Jonathan PIKE; her
grandfather on the mother's side was a brave soldier in the Revolution
and in the war of 1812, and her grandfather on her father's side
enlisted in the army of the Revolution when sixteen years old.
Mr. and Mrs. SMITH have had seven children, five of whom are
still living.
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-
- Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of
the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin"
(c) 1901, pp. 284-285; lithograph from same book.
-
- Courtesy of Carol
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