- LUTHER WILLIAM KENDALL, a retired businessman of Beloit,
Rock county, now passing
- his last years in well-earned repose, has a handsome and
commodious residence at No. 540 Bluff street, in the college
city, where he entertains his friends and takes the comfort that
belongs to him after an earnest and active life.
- Mr. KENDALL was born in the town of Leon, Cattaraugus Co.,
N.Y., March 29, 1835, son of
- William and Dorothy (VAN AUKER) KENDALL, both natives of
the State of New York. The KENDALL family is of English origin,
and its history in this county begins with the arrival of three
brothers of that name from England, about 1710. They located
near Boston, married, and after a time separated, and their descendants
are to be found scattered throughout New England. John KENDALL,
a son of one of the three brothers, was born in 1725, in Connecticut,
and died about 1838, in the town of Leon, Cattaraugus Co., N.Y.
He served in the war of 1812, and had sons who served the Union
during the war of the Rebellion. By occupation he was a farmer,
and he was an upright and hard-working man. He married Sally
EUSTACE, and their family consisted of ten sons, the three eldest
born before their removal to New York - Samuel, Feb. 10, 1786;
James, Aug, 9, 1788; David, Jan. 22, 1791. On June 1, 1793, the
family started for what was then the West, and John was born
June 30, 1793, in New York. On Nov. 1, 1793, they set out for
Milford, Otsego Co., N.Y., where they arrived Nov. 6, and settled,
and where were born: Seth, Nov. 22, 1794; William, Oct. 8, 1796;
Amos, April 23, 1799; Stephen, Feb. 23, 1801; Lemuel, Feb. 28,
1803; Luther, Sept. 14, 1805. Samuel engaged in farming and preaching
in western New York; he died Feb. 24, 1859, in Avoca, Wis. James,
a cooper by trade, died May 4, 1845, in Michigan. David, who
was a soldier in the war of 1812, died March 26, 1865, at Avoca,
Wis. John, a physician in New York and Ohio, died in the latter
State June 2, 1873. Seth died March 11, 1833. Amos, a farmer
and wagonmaker, died about 1890, in Minnesota. Stephen, a blacksmith
and gunsmith, died May 5, 1858, in Ellicottville, N.Y., unmarried.
Lemuel died March 19, 1843, in Pennsylvania. Luther died in Springville,
Wis., about 1892.
- William KENDALL was a farmer and dairyman, removed to Pulaski,
Iowa Co., Wis., in 1854,
- and carried on his farming and dairy operations in this State
very successfully. After a number of years he gave up active
labor, and went to Michigan to live, and in 1873 came to Beloit
to make his home. Here he lived until his death, in 1885, at
the age of eighty-nine years. His wife's death occurred five
days prior to his, when she was eighty-one years old. They were
members of that branch of the Christian Church which is known
as the Christian Connection, and were highly spoken of by all
who knew them. William KENDALL enlisted in the war of 1812, but
saw no active service. While in new York he was postmaster for
fifteen years, and held the office of justice of the peace twenty
years; was one of five road commissioners, and assisted in laying
out some of the most important roads in Cattaraugus county. A
daughter, by his first marriage, Mary A., Mrs. BOYLE, died Jan.
3, 1894, at Beloit. To Mr. KENDALL's marriage with Dorathy VAN
AUKER were born five children, four sons and one daughter, Luther
William being the only one of the family now living. The VAN
AUKERs were natives of New York, of Holland ancestry. Grandfather
VAN AUKER was a farmer, and died in middle life. He married a
German woman, who could not understand his Dutch, nor could he
understand her German, so, perforce, they had to converse with
each other in English. They had at least four children.
- Luther William KENDALL grew to manhood in Cattaraugus county,
and the greater part of his
- boyhood and early manhood was spent on the paternal farm.
He attended the district school and the academy, and prepared
for an active business life. His father owned three farms at
one time, and had three sawmills in operation, and the young
man lived mostly at home until he married, and the time came
for him to set up another roof tree. When he was nineteen years
old Luther William accompanied his parents on their migration
into Wisconsin, and this State has been his home ever since,
with the exception of about a year and a half spent in Minnesota,
and about the same period in Michigan.
- Mr. KENDALL and Miss Nancy PRESTON, a daughter of William
and Margaret (BECKER)
- PRESTON, were married March 22, 1855, and they have had four
children, William H., Alelia, Albert and Flora. William H. (now
deceased) married Miss Mabel WALKER, and had two children, Edith
F. and George; the latter died when small. Alelia died in Michigan,
when two or three years old, and Albert died in Beloit, when
about seven years of age. Flora is the widow of Wesley LOVE,
and lives in Beloit; she has one living child, Mildred. Mr. KENDALL
belongs to Morning Star Lodge, No. 10, A.F. & A.M., and to
Myrtle Lodge, No. 10, I.O.O.F. He is a Republican, and takes
pride in the fact that he cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln,
and has voted a straight ticket ever since.
- After his marriage Mr. KENDALL came to Beloit and acted as
State agent for a fire insurance
- company. He was instrumental in organizing the Home Insurance
Co. of St. Paul, and spent a year and a half in Minnesota engaged
in working up a business for that concern. After a year and half
he sold out his interest in the company, and moved to Calhoun
county, Mich., opening a general store at Ceresco. He did not
feel entirely satisfied in that business, and, having a good
offer, sold out after eighteen months and returned to Beloit.,
and has lived here ever since. For some years Mr. KENDALL and
Thomas PURVES were associated in the cigar business, employing
between twenty-five and thirty hands. About 1878 the partnership
was dissolved by mutual consent, Mr. KENDALL and his son William
continuing the business together until the death of the son moved
our subject to give it up entirely. Mr. KENDALL was then insurance
adjuster for nearly three years, but, feeling the touch of advancing
age, concluded to give up active business and take his case for
such farther period of life as should be his. Mr. KENDALL has
filled many important local offices, and has been generally recognized
as one of the leading citizens of the place. He has been a member
of the city council nine years, for five years has been on the
county board, and for the past five years has been county supervisor
from the Fourth ward of Beloit. His home on Bluff street is thoroughly
modern, and a handsome residence. He owns a number of dwelling
houses in the city which he rents, and two summer cottages on
First Lake, near Stoughton, in Dane county, where he and his
friends are accustomed to spend delightful days in midsummer.
-
- Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of
the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin"
(c)1901, pp. 77-78.
-
- Courtesy of Carol
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