WILLIAM R. KINNARD. Since he located on the old Thomas farm in Pendleton Township, securing the place on the status of a renter, the fortunes of William Rush Kinnard have kept pace with those of the most prosperous of the men of his community, and he is today the owner of the fine old place which had been the property of his wife’s family years ago. Success has attended his efforts and he is reckoned among the prosperous and substantial men of the town, and one whose influence and opinion are potent factors in the communal life of the place.
William R. Kinnard was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, on December 7, 1848, and is the son of John H. and Elizabeth Dunwoody) Kinnard, both of whom were born in the same County and state. They came to Madison County, Indiana, in 1858, locating here on the 8th of April, and settled in Fall Creek Township, where they passed the remainder of their quiet and industrious lives. The father died in November, 1891, and the mother in January, 1892. The latter was a member of the Friends’ church and a devout and saintly Christian woman. She reared her family of nine children in the purity and piety that were her strongest characteristics, and of the nine seven are today filling useful places in the world. They are: Joseph D., William R., Mary F., Owen B., of Indianapolis; George L., Elnora B. and Lewis D.
William R. Kinnard was nine years old when the family came to Madison County, Indiana, and settled in this vicinity. From his early boyhood until he reached the age of twenty years he spent three months each year in the district schools, the remainder of the time being devoted to the varied forms of farm work incident to the time and place. He was twenty-one years old when he went west on a trip with the intention of finding something in which to venture as a means of livelihood, but his stay there was short and when he returned to his native community he joined his brother in a renting enterprise, and for three years they managed a farm on shares. He married in 1873, choosing for his wife one Mary S. Thomas, and they took up their abode on the old Thomas homestead, which Mr. Kinnard rented and which he afterwards bought. He prospered with the passing years, each succeeding season finding him advancing in the scale of success, and today he owns two hundred acres of the best farm land in Madison County, located in Fall Creek Township.
Mr. Kinnard and his family are members of the Friends’ church in which he was reared, and he is a Republican in politics. He is a limn who is highly esteemed and respected in the Township and County, and he has a host of the best of friends in this district, where he has passed his life thus far, and where his entire family was long and most favorably known.
As mentioned above, Mr. Kinnard married Miss Mary S. Thomas on January 16, 1873. She was born and reared on the farm the family now occupies, and is one of the best known and most popular women of the community. Four children were born to them, three of whom are living at this time: Alice, a graduate of the high school and the state University, and for some time a teacher, is the wife of Oliver E. Glenn,’ professor of mathematics in the University of Pennsylvania; they have two children. Elizabeth K., a graduate of the high school and a teacher, is the wife of Edward Haines. Edith M., after her high school course, entered upon a course of study in Swarthmore College, and is now living at home with her parents.