William August Kehnast was an immigrant from Germany who bettered himself through education and hard work. He had a patriotic spirit and a zest for travel and adventure and entrepreneurship.
He served his country as a private in Company E of the 9th Ohio Cavalry, in which he enlisted on August 5, 1863 - his second try at enlisting as he was deemed too small and young (16) the first time. William served until the end of the war, a total of 2 years and 3 months.
The Commemorative Biographical Record of Northwestern Ohio, including the counties of Defiance, Henry, Williams and Fulton, published by J. H. Beers & Co in 1899, gave an outstanding summary of William's life:
William August Kehnast
"Mr. Kehnast was born March 17, 1847, in the village of Mohrenbach, Thuriengen, Germany, near the city of Erfurt, Germany. Christian Kehnast, his father, was a prosperous business man and a manufacturer of cloths, while his mother, Henrietta (Haueisen) Kehnast, was a member of a wealthy and prominent family of that place. They were highly respected in the community, were members of the Lutheran church, and carefully reared their children that they might grow up honest and useful citizens. They both died in Germany, the parents of five children.
Amid such surroundings, our subject was reared until the age of thirteen, from the age of six attending school. The lad, however, was of an ambitious, aspiring nature, and when very young, had conceived a strong desire to travel and visit faraway lands, so much so that when a brother, August Kehnast, who had been a resident of near Tonawanda, Erie county, New York for some six years, worte to his home in Germany, requesting that young William A. should come to him in America, the latter gladly availed himself of the chance. His mother was then a widow, her husband having died two years previously; so our subject, with his mother's consent and blessing, embarked at Bremen on a steamship bound for New York, where, then a lad of thirteen summers, he arrived in June, 1860, and at once proceeded to the home of his brother in Erie county, New York, at which time he could speak no English. Determined to learn, however, the following winter, he attended an English school.
In the spring of 1861, he, with his brother and brother's family, migrated west to Henry county, arriving at Florida in that county, March 17, 1861, his brother locating on a farm near that town. But in May of that same year, our subject, still being desirous of learning and laying the foundation for possible success, went to Florida, Ohio, and accepted employment in a grocery store, for six months, working for little or nothing, learning rapidly, however, not only the English language, but the business methods of the country which at that time was worth more to him than high wages.
He was subsequently employed a short time in a grocery store at Napoleon, Ohio, and in the summer of 1862, he came to Defiance, Ohio, becoming a clerk in the grocery store of J. B. Weisenberger, during the winter attending school.
This was the second year of the Great Rebellion, and the German lad had become so strongly inbued in the patriotic spirit of the times, that he was anxious to become a soldier in the Union cause. Consequently, on an occasion in 1862, when a party of volunteer soldiers were leaving Defiance for the front, without notifying his employer,he boarded the railroad train with them. On arriving at Camp Dennison, near Cincinnati, he wanted to be sworn in as a soldier, but on account of his size and youth, the officers refused to accept him.
He was then 'in a fix' with no money to take him back home. He had been there about a week when one morning, he was pleased to receive a letter from Mr. Weisenberger, requesting him to return to Defiance, also promising him increased wages. He, at once, returned and returned work in the grocery.
With Mr. Weisenberger, he continued until the summer of 1863, but he had war fever being still strong in his heart, he one day informed Mr. Weisenberger that he was going to enlist, and with a fellow clerk and comrade, Maurice Welsh, proceeded to Toledo, Ohio, and there enlisted August 5, 1863 in Company E, 9th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, which company was soon sent to Camp Dennison.
The regiment was organized and mustered in, and soon was sent to Louisville, Kentucky, whence it marched through Tennessee to Athens, Alabama. At that point, Mr. Kehnast was detailed as orderly on the staff of Gen. Dodge, then Commander of the Left Wing of the Sixteenth Army Corps, in which position,he (William) served until disabled, when he was sent to the hospital at Nashville, Tennessee, thence to Cleveland, Ohio.
Having recovered sufficiently, he made a visit to Defiance on a short furlough, and was then ordered to report at Louisville, Kentucky. He was anxious to rejoin his old company and regiment, but on reaching Louisville, he was ordered on detached duty, to act as train guard on the railroad train running back and forth on the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, between those two cities. In this position he was kept until the close of the war, during which time all his wages were sent to Mr. Weisengerber.
On July 26, 1865, he was honorably discharged and mustered out at Columbus, Ohio, whence he immediately left for Defiance, arriving there during the night, and the very next morning, resumed the work for Mr. Weisenberger.
In that occupation, he remained until the spring of 1867, by which time he had accumulated sufficient capital to buy a half interest in a grocery store at Defiance, the firm becoming Wolfrum & Kehnast. This was a successful venture and was continued until 1870 when he sold his part of the business, and purchased a half interest in a hardware business of J. H. Vevington. Mr. Kehnast associating himself with C. F. Switzer under the firm name of Switzer & Kehnast. This enterprise developed into a very extensive, successful business, becoming the leading store in its line and carrying a larger stock than any other store of its kind in Defiance.
In 1875, having acquired a prosperous large business and earned a vacation, Mr. Kehnast made a visit to the native place, and again met his aged mother and renewed old and loved associations. This proved to be the last time parent and son met as the mother was laid to rest four years afterward. During the trip to the Fatherland, Mr. Kehnast visited many places of historic interest, including Wartburg,where Luther was so long imprisoned and where he finished the translation of the Bible; the city of Berlin, at which place he visited his brother, Richard, then a soldier in the German army; thence went to Magdeburg and Cassel and saw the place Wilhelmhoehe where Napoleon III was imprisoned after his capture at Sedan in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870; to the historic cities of Darmstadt, Heidelberg and Frankfurt, then to Basel in Switzerland; from there to the famous city of Strassburg, into Carlsruhe, and later to the old and famous city of Worms, where he crossed the Rhine and returned to his native place.
He afterward tarried awhile at the city of Hanover, from there proceeding to Bremen at which port, he embarked on a steamer for Southampton, England, where he spent a short time in viewing that city. He then continued on his journey homeward by way of New York and arrived at Defiance after a most enjoyable three months' trip, invigorated and possessed of renewed energy to take up the cares of business. The hardware store was continued under the firm name until the death of C. F. Switzer, January 21, 1886, when Mr. Kehnast bought the interest of his deceased partner and he has since carried on the business alone...
The family resides at 646 Jefferson street in a handsome and cozy home built by Mr. Kehnast in 1871."
Mr Kehnast was a man much written of, so we continue his story in a piece from the History of Ohio by Charles B. Galbraith, Volume V, The American Historical Society, Chicago and New York, 1925.
"Thus he engaged in the hardware business and was a hardware merchant until 1915. He was president of the Defiance Wholesale Grocery Company, but to a large extent is retired from the heavy responsibilities he once served. He is former president and director in the Defiance Box Company and has various financial interests and investments. Mr. Kehnast served as president of the Defiance Board of Education, and at the time of the world war was president of the Draft and Exemption board in Defiance County.
Mr. Kehnast married Miss Jennie Kniss who was born in Defiance and died in 1878. In 1887, he married Lizzie Sauer. Mr. Kehnast has two children by his first marriage: Nellie, a graduate of high school and widow of Godfrey Watkins of Defiance; and Minnie, a graduate of high school and the wife of Isaac savage of Detroit, Michigan.
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| Part of the passport of William and Lizzie Kehnast, used on their 1922 trip to Germany to visit his brother and sister. |
He is a member of the Lutheran church, Mrs. Kehnast being a member of the Reformed church. He is affiliated with all the bodies of York Rite Masonry in Defiance and is a past eminent commander of Defiance Commandery, No. 30, Knights Templar. He is a thirty second degree Mason and Shriner. He is a member of the Golf Club, the Defiance Club, and as a democrat, has represented Defiance county in the State Legislature, was president of City Council and is a former city treasurer. He is a member of the Rotary Club of Defiance and a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and is a past commander of Bishop Post, No. 22, Department of Ohio. Mr. Kehnast has been an extensive traveler, both in the United States and Europe. He has crossed the Atlantic Ocean nineteen times and visited the battlefields of Belgium and France in 1920, and he also spent six weeks on a cruise through the West Indies and four weeks on a trip in Old Mexico."
William Kehnast died on April 7, 1923 and is buried in Riverside Cemetery, Defiance. His obituary appeared in the Crescent-News on April 8, 1927:
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