Oscar E. Kinkead
An example of the thrift and progressiveness that have combined to make Ironton one of the most thriving business communities of the Hanging Rock Region is the dry cleaning establishment of Oscar E. Kinkead, located at Third and Wyanoke streets. This enterprise was commenced in a modest manner, but has grown steadily since its inception, attracting a wide and representative trade by reason of the excellent business ability and good management of its proprietor. Mr. Kinkead was born at Ashland, Kentucky, February 24, 1860, and is a son of William and Susan E. (Haskill) Kinkead. On the maternal side he belongs to one of the oldest families of Lawrence County, being descended from one of the pioneers of the Hanging Rock Region, James Haskill, the founder of the town of Haskillville. William Kinkead was raised on the old Kinkead homestead place in Kentucky, and was reared to agricultural pursuits, but subsequently turned his attention to merchandising and was thus engaged at the time of his death in 1864. Mrs. Kinkead was born at Haskillville, Lawrence County, Ohio, and died in 1910, at the age of sixty-eight years. She was married a second time, to O. J. Chalmers, of Marietta, Ohio, and had one son: Dr. J. H. Chalmers, a practicing physician of Cincinnati, Ohio. Oscar E. Kinkead is the only child born to his parents' union.
Oscar F. Kinkead was afforded good educational advantages in his youth, attending the schools of Ashland, Kentucky, until reaching the age of twenty-one years. At that time he engaged in a general merchandising business at Forrestdale, Ohio, at which place he continued to operate for three years, and then went south to Tennessee, where he was in the stock and fruit business until 1900. In that year Mr. Kinkead disposed of his interests in the South and returned to his Ashland home, where he received his introduction to his present line of business, carrying on a dry cleaning establishment there for six years. Desiring a broader field for his activities, Mr. Kinkead next came to Ironton, where he purchased property and built his present plant, at Third and Wyanoke streets, which he has fitted up with the best and most modern machinery to be secured, and the property is now valued at $3,500. Mr. Kinkead's success may be said to be in large part due to the personal attention which he gives to every detail of his business and his policy of giving full value for every dollar. He bears an excellent reputation in business circles as a man who exercises fidelity in all of his engagements. Aside from his business, Mr. Kinkead takes great interest in apple and other fruit growing, and owns a farm on which he spends much of his spare time. He is also the owner of his residence at No. 1248 South Third street.
Mr. Kinkead was married to Miss Elizabeth Heiner, daughter of George Heiner, a gardener of Ironton, at her home in this city, December 24, 1885. One child has been born to this union: Eva Lina, who married John McQuaid, who is now engaged in business with his father-in-law. Mr. Kinkead is a member of the Jr. O. U. A. M., and of the First Methodist Episcopal Church. He is a republican in politics, and serves as a member of the school board. Mr. Kinkead also holds membership in the Chamber of Commerce.
From "A Standing History of the Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio" by Eugene B. Willard, Daniel W. Williams, George O. Newman and Charles B. Taylor. Published by Lewis Publishing Company, 1916