Of the older residents of Noble County few have made themselves more prominently a part of the community and have enjoyed more of the well ordered prosperity that comes with long years and hard work than Orlando Kimmell, whose name is perpetuated in the Village of Kimmell, and whose home is in York Township on the Lincoln Highway, two miles southeast of the village of that name.
Mr. Kimmell was born at Canton in Stark County, Ohio, March 25, 1830, and has now attained that venerable age where he can survey in retrospect more than fourscore years. His father, Joseph Kimmell, was a native of Pennsylvania, son of Joseph Kimmell, Sr., a native of the same state; who became an early settler in Stark County, Ohio, and lived and died there. Joseph Kimmell, Jr., married in Stark County Catherine Amich, a native of that county. They lived there until 1851, when they removed to Noble County, Indiana, and in this county Joseph Kimmell acquired a farm of 195 acres and was one of the well known and substantial residents the rest of his days. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church and was quite active in republican politics, serving as trustee an as a justice of the peace in Ohio. He was the father of five children: Cyrus, who spent his life in York and Sparta townships in Noble County; Harriet, who married John Arnold; Orlando, the only living member of his father’s family; Maria, who married Nathan White; and Emeline, who became the wife of George Casper.
Orlando Kimmell was twenty-one years of age when he came to Noble County. He had attended the log school houses of Ohio, and in that way acquired a practical education. On January 24, 1856, Mr. Kimmell married Jane White. She was born in Marion County, Ohio, and was brought to Noble County, Indiana, when a girl. She attended some of the old log school houses of this county. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Kimmell settled on his father’s farm, and rented for thirteen years. His energy as a farmer and as a general business man enabled him to accumulate at one time 1,20 acres of land, and he still owns 1,120 acres. The town of Kimmell was built on land which he owned, and it was through his instrumentality that the railroad right of way was located as it was and the station established bearing his name. Mr. Kimmell made most of his money raising livestock, and has been a buyer and seller of livestock for many years. He is now practically retired from all the heavier responsibilities of business.
Mr. and Mrs. Kimmell had ten children, two of whom died in infancy. Mr. and Ms. Kimmell were happily married over sixty years. She passé away in June, 1918, and was a devout and loyal member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Of the children to grow up the following record is made: May, wife of Willis Kinnison, of Garden City, Kansas; Lillian, unmarried and living with her father; Jennie, wife of Doctor Shoab, of Ligonier; Maude, wife of Ed Eagles, of Albion; Thela, wife of Martin Beck, of Albion; Morton, unmarried and living at home; and Claudius, who is married and lives on his father’s farm.
Mr. Kimmell is a member of the Masonic Lodge and was formerly an Odd Fellow. In politics he has always been a republican since the formation of the party. He served four years as trustee of his township and for two terms was county commissioner. He was elected and serve as a member of the Indiana Legislature in the session of 1877, and though renominate for that office declined to make the campaign. He was also nominated in 1890 as candidate for Congress from the Twelfth District, but declined the nomination. Mr. Kimmell is a stockholder and is president of the Cromwell State Bank, the other officers of which are A. Meyer, vice president, and Bert Tucker, cashier. He is also a stockholder in the Wolf Lake Bank. Mr. Kimmell, though not a member of that denomination, contributed $3,000 to the building of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Kimmell, and has always exercised a similarly liberal spirit in behalf of all community undertakings. He was one of the organizers of the Ligonier Livestock Association, serving as president of the organization during two years of its early existence. He was for thirteen years president of the Noble County Agricultural Society, and these and other positions indicate the high esteem in which he is held by his fellow citizens of that county.
Orlando Kimmell, History of Northeast Indiana, © 1884, Vol. 2, pgs. 11-12.