20th Century History of New Castle and
Lawrence County Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens

WILLIAM A. KERN,

[p. 839] superintendent of the Steel Car Forge Works, at Ellwood City, is numbered with her best and most substantial citizens. He was born December 12, 1863, in Shenandoah County, Virginia, and is a son of Henry and Catherine (Bowman) Kern.

Both parents of Mr. Kern were born and reared near Woodstock, Virginia. The father was a cabinetmaker by trade and he also owned a farm in Shenandoah County. The father died in 1891 and was survived by the mother until 1894. They had the following children: Isaac, who resides in Virginia; Milton, who died at Washington, D. C., in June, 1907; James, who still lives on the old home farm; Albert, who is a master mechanic in the Studebaker Wagon Works at South Bend, Indiana; George, who is foreman of the drop forge department of the Oil Well Supply Company, at Oil City, Pennsylvania; Mary C., deceased, is survived by her husband, George W. Wick; Jane, who is the wife of John Sweeney, of Woodstock, Virginia; Rachel, who is the wife of Silas Beohm, of Woodstock; and Ella, who is the wife of John W. Copp, of Fisher's Hill, Virginia.

William A. Kern attended the common schools of his native county until he was about seventeen years of age and for two more years worked on the home farm. His natural inclinations, however were in a different direction and he finally left home and went to Westville, Ohio, and with J. H. Baker, then of that place, learned the blacksmith trade. In 1894, Mr. Baker established the business which is now conducted as the Steel Car Forge Works. Mr. Kern accompanied Mr. Baker to Ellwood City and worked in his forge as hammerman for four years and later became foreman. In 1897, when the Baker Forge Company was bought out by the Steel Car Forge people, Mr. Kern continued with the firm and ever since the change has been superintendent, and for six years has been general superintendent, efficiently bearing all the responsibilities attached to this position. This immense industry gives employment to 700 men and is one of Ellwood City's most important enterprises.

In 1887, Mr. Kern was married to Miss Mary E. Modesitt, who is a daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Modesitt, of Page County, Virginia. They have one daughter, Edna, who is a student in Beaver College, at Beaver, Pennsylvania. Mr. Kern has been a resident of this city for the past fourteen years and for three years has occupied his handsome residence at No. 221 Spring Avenue. In politics he is a Republican. He is a member of the order of the Golden Eagles.


20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens Hon. Aaron L. Hazen Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company, Chicago, Ill., 1908

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Updated: 12 Jan 2002