William Stewart Kent

Obituary from: http://www.ohiomemory.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16007coll57/id/2676

William S. Kent

William S. Kent was born in Ravenna August 24, 1847, the son of Marvin and Maria (Stewart) Kent. He came to Kent with his family when a child and attended the public schools. Later he went to Western Reserve Academy at Hudson and the Polytechnic Institute in Philadelphia. In early manhood he became engaged in various business enterprises in Kent, selling groceries, hardware and dry goods.

In 1892 he sold out his business and took over the Kent Courier which had been founded in 1886 by Marvin Kent and others . He continued as the active head of the newspaper for many years. Upon the death of his father on December 10, 1908, he became president of the Kent National Bank. He held that position until he died January 21, 1923.

Politically, Mr. Kent was a staunch Republican and was elected repeatedly as delegate from this district to the national conventions of the party. He also served as member of the Republican State Committee and, at one time, served with Senator W. G. Harding.

During 1910, Mr. Kent served as a member of the Chamber of Commerce committee which succeeded in having the city of Kent selected as the site for the Kent State Normal School. It was his gift of a 52-acre tract of land on East Main which influenced the state normal commission in recommending that Kent should be favored. In appreciation of his gift, the board of trustees of the normal school named the school after him in 1911.

On October 9, 1875, Mr. Kent married Miss Kittie North of Cleveland. His wife was killed by an explosion at her home in 1886. In 1905, he married Mary Logan Pearson of Chicago.

Bibliographic information:

• The History of Kent
• Historical and Biographical
• by Karl H. Grismer
• Author of “The History of St. Petersburg”
• Revised Edition The Kent Historical Society, Kent, Ohio 2001
• The History of Kent © Copyright 1932
• by Karl H. Grismer
• Publishing history:
• First Edition Record Publishing Co., Copyright 1932
• Second edition printed with permission of Record Publishing Co., December 1992 by the Kent Historical Society
• Revised edition printed with permission of Record Publishing Co., 2001 by the Kent Historical Society
• Printed in the United States by Copy Print, Kent, Ohio.
• Page 256
• http://www.kentohiohistory.org/resources/Grismer2.pdf

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

116. iii. Marvin, was born September 21, 1816. He married, December 24, 1840, Maria Stewart. He resides at Kent, Ohio, where he is interested in large business enterprises. He was one of the original projectors of the Atlantic and Great Western railroad (now the New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio railroad), and it was largely owing to his boldness, and his indomitable energy, that the road was built. He now enjoys a large fortune as the result of his life of active labor. His children are as follows:

1. Henry L., was born February 14, 1843. He married, October 12, 1864, Josephine A. Collins. Henry L. Kent has two daughters:

1. Grace Emily, who was born October 28, 1865, and married, October 9, 1889, Charles E. Curtis. They have one child, a great-grandson of Marvin Kent, named Marvin Kent Curtis, who was born October 10, 1890.

2. Ella Southwick, who was born September 7, 1867, and is unmarried.

2. William Stewart, was born August 24, 1847. He married, October 19, 1875, Kittie M. North, who died May 28, 1886, leaving no children.

Bibliographic information:

• Title Book VXIII. of the Genealogy of the Lewis Family
• Author Simeon Dunham Lewis
• Publisher C.W. Moulton, 1891
• Original from the University of Wisconsin - Madison
• Digitized Apr 16, 2007
• Length 66 pages
• Page 41
• https://books.google.com/books?id=KOswAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA13&lpg=PA13&dq=...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MARVIN 8 son of Zenas,7 Zenas,6 Daniel,5 mar. Dec. 24, 1840, Maria (b. Franklin, now Kent, O., Aug. 25, 1821), dau. of Col. Wm. Stewart. Marvin Kent was brought up in the mercantile business in his father's store, and continued in that business for many years on his own account. Subsequently he became extensively engaged in the tanning and currying business and in the manufacture of window glass, also in the manufacture of flour. At one time he was manager of a tannery in a building erected by his father and Capt. John Brown of Harper's Ferry notoriety. His chief undertaking and the crowning effort of bis life was the inception, projection, and inauguration of the Atlantic & Great Western R.R., of which organization he was President from July 8, 1851, to Sept. 30, 1864, excepting about three years. After being changed to the New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio Railroad it was leased to and finally purchased by the Erie Railroad Company. In 1865 he became President of the Kent National Bank, which position he still occupies (1897). In 1875 he was elected State Senator; and served two years, declining a renomination.

Marvin and Maria Stewart Kent had two sons, viz. :

I. Henry Lewis,9 b. at Kent Feb. 14, 1843 ; d. N.Y. City Apl. 21, 1873. Before reaching legal age he served as Assistant Paymaster of the Atlantic & Great Western R.R. He was afterwards engaged in the mercantile business and became Vice-President of the Kent National Bank. He mar. Josephine A. Collins of Akron, O., Oct. 12, 1864, who d. Springfield, Mass., Oct. 9, 1896, and by whom he had two dau. :

• 1. Grace Emily, who mar. Charles E. Curtiss, and has 2 chil. : Marvin Kent, b. Oct. 10, 1890, and Josephine Collins, b. June, 1892.
• 2. Ella Southwick, who mar. John Reed, and has one child, Eleanor S., b. June, 1895.

II. William Stewart,9 b. Ravenna Aug. 24, 1847 ; mar. Oct. 19, 1865, Kittie M. North, who d. May 28, 1886. He was a merchant, and for many years Vice-Pres. Kent Nat. Bank. No living children.

Bibliographic information:

• Genealogies of the Different Families Bearing the Name of Kent in the United States Together ...
• by Lloyd Vernon Briggs
• Published 1898
• Publisher Rockwell & Churchill press
• Year 1898
• Pages 387
• Possible copyright status NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT
• Language English
• Digitizing sponsor Google
• Book from the collections of Harvard University
• Collection americana
• Page 218
• Identifier-access http://www.archive.org/details/genealogiesdiff00briggoog

Links:

https://books.google.com/books?id=UYMUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA614&lpg=PA614&d...

http://www.library.kent.edu/kent-family-papers

Obituary: http://www.ohiomemory.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16007coll57/id/2676