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I've been doing some research on one of the millionaires of old
Mauch Chunk (now named Jim Thorpe, Pa.) and was drawn to your
website. I was searching for info on his daughter and did a
search for "Gertrude Thorne" + Greenwich. That brought me to
the transcribed will for Mahlon S. "Kenner" you have online. I
wanted to inform you that his name is really "Mahlon S.
Kemmerer", not "Kenner". There is also a mention of the town of
"Kenner, Wyoming" and again, the name is Kemmerer and it is near
Yellowstone Park. I'm surprised to see Kemmerer's will on file
in Knott Co., Kentucky. It is a long will and I haven't waded
through it yet, but I'm guessing he owned land there and coal
mining was his interest in the area. The Kemmerer estate stood
on a hillside in the historic section of Mauch Chunk until
shortly after his death, when the home was torn down and the
property donated to the borough for use as a public park. And
so, Kemmerer Memorial Park was created. There is currently an
effort to preserve the last remaining building on the property,
the carriage house, which dates from 1878.
Mahlon was a native of Penna., and he married one of the Leisenring daughters. There mansion was built on the former Leisenring estate. Gertrude Kemmerer married a Thorne (whose first name I was trying to discover when I came to your site) and there also was a son. The Kemmerers had five children in all, but only two lived to maturity. So, as far as I know, the Kemmerers had no family connections to anyone in Knott, although no doubt there were business connections. Among the other wealthy land owners in Knott you might find the Leisenring name or maybe the name of Dr. John Wentz, who was married to another Leisenring daughter. There were a number of very wealthy families in old Mauch Chunk, it had the highest rate of millionaires, per capita, of any town in the US at the time. There was a lot of intermarriage between these families, it was a Victorian era aristocracy. Kemmerer built the mansion inherited through his wife while Dr. Wentz, married to Mahlon's sister in law, built his mansion nearby on another part of the old Leisenring estate. The wealthiest man in town was Asa Packer and his mansion was across the road and bordered by the mansion of his son, Harry Packer. To your knowledge, did Kemmerer have a home or spend any time in Knott Co.? After the death of his wife in 1888 (just 10 years after the mansion was built) I don't think he spent too much time in Mauch Chunk and he died in 1925 in Atlantic City, NJ.
I've attached two photos showing the Kemmerer mansion
and estate. The first is from an 1884 history book and
shows the entire estate. The mansion is gone since
about 1927 when the property was turned into a town park
and playground. The building on the right is the
carriage house and is still standing, though in terrible
condition due to neglect and vandalism. We are
attempting to save it now. The other picture is from an
old postcard so the resolution isn't so good. It dates
from the 1890s and the Kemmerer mansion is just visible
in the lower right hand corner (the carriage house is
off the edge of the picture). I include it just to give
an idea of the rest of the town and the other mansions
on the hillside. Mauch Chunk's population circa 1900
was around 3000 to 4000.
Thank you for the info you've put online.
Jack Sterling Click on thumbnails to view the photos
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