Wayne County IN Archives Biographies.....Kepler, John January 24, 1808 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/copyright.htm http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/in/infiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Glapha Cox rcoxfam@earthlink.net January 16, 2006, 7:23 pm Author: History of Wayne County, Indiana;Volume II, (1884) Jackson Township p. 573 - 575 John Kepler, whose long and. successful career as a business man has made his name well known in Wayne County, was born in Frederick County, Md., Jan. 24, 1808, and is a son of Peter and Elizabeth (Shafer) Kepler. His father, a native of Maryland, removed with his family to Green County, Pa., in 1815, and thence, in the spring of 1820, to Wayne County, Ind. Here he rented a grist- mill, on Green's Fork, for one year, during which time he bought a farm about three miles south of Washington, where he resided until his death in 1847. His wife died in 1835. They had seven children---John, Peter, Andrew T., Margaret, who married Adam Rader and died in 1881; Catharine, wife of Philander Boyd, of Greenfield, Ind., and two who died in infancy. John Kepler, the subject of this notice, was reared on a farm and received his education in the common schools. He came to Indiana with his parents, and remained with them until 1828. On Dec. 25 of that year he married Anna, daughter of Valentine Foland, and engaged in business for himself by renting a farm for two years. Afterward he borrowed $500 from his father and purchased a small farm for $1,000. Working diligently, energetically and economically, at the end of fifteen years he had not only paid the debt on his farm but had been able to purchase two adjoining farms, thus becoming the possessor of 480 acres of land. He then moved to the farm on which his father had settled, and for several years was extensively engaged in farming and dealing in stock, at the same time running a mill for about four years and carrying on the business of pork-packing for one year. Though in the main successful, he met with some reverses; his gristmill little more than paid expenses during the first two years, and the pork business was unprofitable. He finally became one of the principal stockholders and a Director of the First National Bank of Cambridge City, which at that time had a capital of $300,000. Soon after some complications arose in the affairs of the bank and its officers resigned. Good management was necessary in order to adjust matters properly, and, at the earnest request of the stockholders, Mr. Kepler accepted the presidency of the institution. He served over two years in this position, beginning in 1874, and in the meantime brought about order and put the bank on a good basis. He then resigned, wishing to give his whole time to his large private business interests. For four or five years next succeeding he carried on the mercantile business. He has since devoted his time principally to the loan and collection business, having his office in Cambridge City. The panic of 1873 resulted in considerable losses to Mr. Kepler, who, to oblige his friends and neighbors, often became surety for them. From 1873 to 1876 he had upward of $23,000 to pay, simply through the financial unsoundness of those for whom he was bondsman. In spite of all reverses, many of which would have discouraged a less energetic man, Mr. Kepler, through wise management and marked business ability, has succeeded in gaining a competency ample for all the wants of his declining years. He is possessed of a sound, observing mind, good judgment, energy and force of character, and to these qualities his success in life is due. He has never aspired to public office nor been ambitious of distinction in any way, and remains to-day, as he always has been, a quiet, social, unostentatious citizen. With his family he has dealt liberally, having given an average of 300 acres of land, or land and money, to the value of $20,000, to each of five children. Mr. Kepler's first wife died in 1838. She was the mother of two children---one who died when fifteen months old, and Mary E., wife of William Black, of Washington, Ind. In 1841 he married Angeline Danner, a native of Frederick County, Md. She died in 1883. Of this union, seven children were born, four of whom survive---Caroline Z., widow of Henry A. Shroyer; Orestes Alcander; Manzella, wife of Miles Conaway, and Alonzo P. Those deceased are---Margaret E., who was married to George Crull and died in January, 1864; Vierling K., and one who died in infancy. April 3, 1884, Mr. Kepler married Ella Clark, a native of Warren County, Ohio, born March 21, 1851, and a daughter of R. and Harriet (McClellan) Clark, who moved to Wayne County in 1860 and located in Jacksonburg, where they still reside. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/in/wayne/bios/kepler142gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/infiles/ File size: 5.1 Kb