Bios: Henry L. Kiner: from Tyrone Twp, Perry County, PA

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History of Henry County Illinois, Henry L. Kiner, Volume II, Chicago:
The Pioneer Publishing Company, 1910

HENRY L. KINER [Note: This is the Henry Kiner who prepared the above history.]

Geneseo and Henry County know Henry L. Kiner as a representative citizen
who, through forty years of his connection with the city, has displayed
marked devotion to the general welfare as a public-spirited citizen.
Throughout the county he is known as a journalist and writer who has won
more than passing notice as a contributor to leading magazines.  Mr.
Kiner has reached the fifty-eighth milestone on lifeıs journey, his
birth having occurred on the 1st of February, 1851, at the foot of Mount
Nemo in Schaferıs Valley, Perry County, Pennsylvania.  His parents,
William and Margaret (Calhoun) Kiner, were also natives of the Keystone
state.

The founder of the Kiner family in America settled on the James River in
Virginia in 1625 and a large monument was there erected to his memory
which may be seen to this day.  He came to the new world from Germany
and in later generations branches of the family took root in other
states.  Jacob Kiner, the grandfather of Henry L. Kiner, was a native of
Pennsylvania where, in early manhood, he followed the occupation of
farming.  He married Jane Dill, and they moved westward to Illinois in
1854, but the broad prairies, then comparatively uninhabited, brought to
this mountain-bred couple a feeling of loneliness and they returned to
Pennsylvania, spending their last days in Perry County, near Harrisburg,
where both died at an advanced age.  Jacob Kiner was a famous rifle shot
and served in the War of 1812 with the rank of captain.

William Kiner, was one of a large family of children, who was reared in
Pennsylvania, where he learned and followed the blacksmithıs trade.
After attaining his majority he married Margaret Calhoun, a daughter of
John Calhoun, who was born in Pennsylvania and was of Irish descent, his
ancestors coming to this country from County Tyrone, Ireland, at which
time settlement was made in Perry County, Pennsylvania.  John Calhoun
was a carpenter by trade, being closely associated with building
interests in the community in which he lived.  He wedded Peggy Ann Dill,
and they reared a good-sized family at their home in Schaferıs Valley,
where they passed away when well advanced in years.

Some time subsequent to their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. William Kiner
removed westward with their family, taking up their abode in Ottawa,
Lasalle County, Illinois, on the present site of the Clifton Hotel, on
the bank of the Fox River in 1854.  Subsequently they took up their
abode in Otter Creek Township in that county, where Mr. Kiner engaged in
farming and continued to work at his trade.  In 1864, he removed to
Grundy County, Illinois, where died in 1865 at the age of thirty-eight
years.  His widow long survived him, passing away in Geneseo in 1900 at
the advanced age of eighty-nine years.  Both were members of the
Methodist Church, and were consistent Christian people who enjoyed the
respect of all with whom they came in contact.  They were parents of two
sons, the younger being Samuel R. Kiner, who died in Washington, D. C.,
where he had been in the employ of the government for a quarter of a
century.

Henry L. Kiner, the older brother, was but three years of age when his
parents removed to Lasalle County, where he was reared until 1864, after
which he resided in Grundy County for five years, or until 1869, when he
came to Geneseo, where he has since made his home.  While spending his
youthful days on his fatherıs farm he attended the district school and
later benefited by academical instruction in Farm Ridge Seminary in
Lasalle County, Illinois.  He made his initial step in the business
world as an apprentice in the drug store of J. B. Moderwell in Geneseo
in 1869, and continued in the drug trade until 1874.  In January of that
year he formed a partnership with John Christian and established the
Henry County News, the business association continuing for four years,
when Mr. Kiner purchased Mr. Christianıs interest in the plant and
changed the name of the paper to the Geneseo News, which he continued to
edit and publish for twenty-four years longer.  Mr. Kiner established an
enviable reputation by his editorial pen, his writings being widely
quoted throughout the United States.  They are characterized by a
whimsical and humorous style which, nevertheless, enforces the truth of
fact which he intends to convey.  For a number of years he has also been
a contributor to several of the popular and leading magazines of the
country, and is today one of the best known men in Henry County, his
mental activity constituting a far-reaching influence.

Aside from the field of journalism, Mr. Kiner has done effective work in
the City of Geneseo, his last term expiring in April 1909, when he
retired from office as he had entered it‹with the confidence and good
will of the great majority, having given to the city during four terms a
businesslike administration characterized by needed reform and
substantial progress.

On the 7th of June 1881, Mr. Kiner was married in St. Louis to Miss June
Howard, a daughter of Abel and Mary Ella (Hopple) Howard.  They have two
children:  Henry Clyde, a student in the civil engineering department of
the University of Illinois, and Howard Dickens, attending the Geneseo
High School.  Mrs. Kiner holds membership in the Congregational Church,
and his political allegiance has been given to the Republican Party.
Because of his business activity, his official service, his social
qualities and his unfaltering devotion to the general good, he has
become widely known, while in Geneseo and Henry County those who do not
call him friend would scarcely figure in the census.

>From State of Illinois Combined Town County State National and General
Atlas, Warner & Beers Publishers, Chicago, 1875, ³Atlas of Henry
County², there are two entries listing:

H. L. Kiner, Editor, Perry Co., PA, 1869
S. R. Kiner, Editor, Perry Co, PA, 1869

The dates indicate when they first came to Henry County.