The subject of the following biographical sketch is a native of Cumberland county, Pennsylvania. He was born June 29th, 1816. His great-grandfather, John KENOWER, emigrated to America prior to the Revolutionary war. Jacob the grandfather, was born and raised in Cumberland county, Pa. His son, Jacob, father of George, was born in the same county. In 1834 he moved his family to New Carlisle, in Clark county, Ohio, and remained there eight years, then went to Huntington, Indiana, where a son had located, and remained there until his death, in 1867. He followed farming. He married Sarah WISE, of Cumberland county, Pa. She died in 1854. There were eight children by that marriage, four sons and the same number of daughters. Seven of the children are still living. The subject of this sketch is the eldest of the family. When he was eighteen years old he went to Dayton, Ohio, and served an apprenticeship to the carpenter's trade, then came west, reaching Carlyle, Clinton county, December 8th, 1837. There he worked at the carpenter trade until 1856. In 1855 and 1856 he was in the furniture trade. In the spring of 1858 he sold out and removed to Xenia, in Clay county, Ills., where he continued the furniture business, and also worked at his trade. He stayed there five years, then came back to Clinton county, and purchased a farm near Clement, and farmed for ten years. In 1873 he bought property in the village of Clement, moved there, and opened up a small furniture store, doing a repairing and undertaking business, and there he still continues to reside. On the 2d of December, 1849, he married Miss Ann SHELLEY, a native of Lancaster county, Penna. Her parents, David and Barbara SHELLY, came to Clinton county, Illinois, in 1834. Mr. Kenower, by his marriage, was the father of four children, two of whom are living, named George F. and John T. Kenower. The first is a graduate of the Illinois Industrial University, at Urbana, Illinois, and adopted the profession of teaching as the business of his life, and at present is engaged in the vocation in Belleville, Illinois. John T. is a student in the same University now in his junior year.

Politically, Mr. Kenower was originally a whig, until the organization of the Republican party, with which he has affiliated since. In 1877 he was elected to represent his township in the Board of Supervisors, and was returned each year for four years. He was chairman of the Board for three and a half years. He has been one of the Board of Trustees of the village of Clement for the past three years. Both he and his wife are members of the M. E. Church. He is an active member of the I. O. O. F., has passed through the chairs several times, and represented his Lodge in the grand body of the state.

Source: History of Marion and Clinton Counties, Illinois, 1881, Brink, McDonough & Co., Philadelphia

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