William Franklin Kenyon
William Franklin Kenyon was born October 23, 1841, in Greene Township, Adams County. His maternal great-grandfather, Aaron Stratton, was a native of New Jersey, where he grew to manhood and married. About 1790, he removed to Lewis County, Kentucky, and settled near Vanceburg. He was a man of enterprise and engaged in the manufacture of salt, which he followed for a number of years, and by which he made a considerable fortune. He owned many slaves. He bought Steele's Survey, a body of some seven hundred acres of land on the Ohio side of the river, known then and now as Irish Bottoms. He reared a family of ten children, one son and nine daughters. He made it a rule, upon the marriage of each child, to present him or her, among other things, two negro slaves, a man and a woman. His second daughter, Sarah, married Jonathan Kenyon, a native of Vermont. This daughter declined any present of slaves, and her father gave her instead one hundred and thirty acres of Irish Bottom land, now known as Sandy Springs. She and her husband settled on it, cleared it, and lived and died there. Mr. Kenyon was a regularly admitted lawyer, though he did not practice his profession. He was able to properly draw instruments of writing and discouraged litigation. He reared a family of seven children, all sons, namely, Aaron, Samuel, Thompson, Daniel, James, William and Benjamin. These sons all grew to manhood, married and reared families. James and Benjamin went to California, where they engaged in farming, and now reside there. William lived and died near Ironton, Lawrence County, Ohio. Samuel and Thompson removed to Andrew County, Missouri, where they died. Daniel, the fourth son, was born October 11, 1811, and departed this life November 5, 1885. He became the owner of the old homestead in 1834, to which he added one hundred acres, part of the Carrington Survey adjoining.
In 1832, he married Miss Rebecca Zorns, born August 18, 1811, in Lewis County, Kentucky, and who departed this life January 4, 1895. They reared a familv of seven children: Martha Jane, Artemisia, Cynthiana, James R., William Franklin, Samuel F., and Mary Olive. The parents were members of the Methodist Church for over thirty-five years. William Franklin, the second son, and subject of this sketch, was educated in fhe Public schools and at the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, Ohio. He graduated at the Nelson Business College at Cincinnati. He served as Township Trustee from 1893 to 1899; as School Trustee for twenty years, and as Voluntary Meteorological Observer, U. S. Weather Bureau, for seven years. His political views are Republican.
At the age of twenty, he became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Sandy Springs, and has served it as steward for twenty years, and also as a trustee. He was married April 5, 1864, to Miss Louise McCall, who was born in Scioto County, Ohio, December 7, 1845. Her parents were early settlers near Buena Vista, Ohio, and dealt in lumber and stone.
Our subject has reared a family of seven children, two sons and five daughters. Lena, Theresa, Peninah, Mary Olive, Rosa Blanche, Daniel Austin, and Earl Franklin. Lena married Dr. D. E. Sample, of Vanceburg, Ky., and is now residing at Huntington, West Virginia; Theresa, Peninah and Earl F., are at home with their parents; Mary O., married Mr. E. L. Fulkerson, of St. Clara, Missouri, and . they now reside at Texarkana, Ark.; Rosa B. died December 1, 1890; Daniel A. married Miss Mary M. Lawill, of Manchester, Ohio. They reside on the home farm.
Soon after Mr. Kenyon"s marriage, he purchased a part of his father's farm on the banks of the Ohio River at Sandy Springs. Since then he has added many acres, principally hill land which is used for orchards. After his education was finished, he engaged in the nursery business with his father under the style of "Daniel Kenyon & Son's Ohio River Nursery and Fruit Farm." He continued in the business for twenty years. His farm is neatly cultivated and tastefully adorned, and surrounded by all the comforts man can desire. Mr. Kenyon and wife are now quietly living on their beautiful fruit farm and enjoying the fruits of industrious and well spent lives.
From "History of Adams County, Ohio from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time"- by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers - West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900