My Genealogy Hound

MAHLON KERSHNER. The subject of this notice has long been a familiar figure among the business interests of Springfield, and has been a life-long resident of Ohio, which is his native State. He was born February 20, 1832, three miles west of Yellow Springs, in Greene County, and is the son of Thomas Kershner, who was born in Cincinnati in 1806. His paternal grandfather, Solomon Kershner, a native of Maryland, was born near Hagarstown, and spent his last years in Ohio. The latter was the son of a farmer of modest means, and who is supposed to have spent his entire life in Maryland.

The paternal grandfather of our subject was reared in his native State, whence he emigrated about 1805, and located at Ft. Washington, now Cincinnati, and which was then a hamlet of a few log houses. He was a weaver by trade, and followed this, in addition to various other pursuits, about one year in that vicinity, then removed to Greene County, and located on a tract of land four miles west of Yellow Springs, and which his father-in-law had taken up from the Government. The whole State of Ohio was then a wilderness, peopled mostly by Indians and wild animals. Deer, turkeys and other wild game were plentiful, while the wolves howled around the settler’s door at night. No railroads were built in this locality for many years, all the surplus farm products being transported to Cincinnati overland by teams. Grandfather Kershner was very prosperous, and became the owner of large tracts of land, and spent the remainder of his days at the homestead which he had built up in the wilderness, being called hence in 1850, at the advanced age of seventy-six.

The father of our subject was an infant when his parents settled in Greene County, wherein he was reared and married. His father gave him one hundred and sixty acres of land in Bath Township, and upon this he followed farming many years. In October, 1859, be sold out, and removing to Noble County, Ind., purchased a farm, and resided there until his death, which occurred in September, 1878. His wife bore the maiden name of Magdalene Kershner; she was born in Maryland, and was the daughter of Daniel Kershner; she died at the old farm, October 12, 1877, preceding her husband a little over one year. They reared three children: Margaret, who married Jeremiah Clark; Mahlon, our subject; and Maria, the wife of Nary Fry.

The subject of this sketch was reared at the home farm in Ohio, and resided there with his parents until after his marriage. After the celebration of this event he operated on his father’s land two years, and then rented land near Enon for eighteen months. In 1859 he removed to Michigan, and located on his father-in-law’s farm in Kalamazoo County, where he resided three years. At the expiration of this time he returned to Greene County, where he farmed about four years. His next removal was to Noble County, Ind., where he engaged in farming six years. Returning then to Springfield, this State, he engaged in teaming until 1884, and then on account of ill health was obliged to abandon this business; he is now living quietly at his home in the city.

In January, 1854, our subject was wedded to Miss Anna Eppley. Mrs. Kershner was born November 22, 1825, in Rockingham County, Va., and is a daughter of Adam and Rebecca (Durr) Eppley, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. She became the mother of two children — Mary and William G., and died at her home in Springfield, April 7, 1882. Mr. Kershner’s daughter Mary is the wife of A. L. Cutting, an engineer on the Missouri Pacific Railroad. William married Miss Ella Taylor, and resides in Cincinnati, being in the employ of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company.