JOHN C. KELLY is a native of the State of New York, having been born in Cortland County on the 26th of February, 1852. His education was acquired through much effort but finally securing a position in the Government Printing Office at Washington, he acquired a thorough knowledge of printing and electrotyping. In 1873 he was delegated by Mills & Company, then State Printers at Des Moines, Iowa, to purchase their outfit and act as superintendent of their establishment. While in that position he divided and numbered the streets of Des Moines on the Philadelphia plan, and was the pioneer in organizing the first building association in Iowa. After a few years he purchased an interest in the Daily State Leader, of which he became one of the editors. After three years he disposed of his interest and purchased the Sioux City Tribune which in 1884 he converted into a daily. He was the founder of the Sioux City Printing Company which furnishes auxiliary sheets for country papers. In 1893 he was appointed by President Cleveland Collector of Internal Revenue and was also disbursing agent of the Treasury Department. He was for many years an active member of the Reform Club of New York, and has long been an advocate of tariff reform and civil service. He was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention which nominated Cleveland for President, and has written many of the platforms of the Democratic party of Iowa.
DANIEL KERR was born at Ayrshire, Scotland, June 18, 1836. He graduated at McKendree College in 1858, and came to America with his father's family in 1841, locating in Madison County, Illinois. In 1860 he was a teacher in a high school. He read law with Governor A. C. French and was admitted to the bar in 1862. When the War of the Rebellion began he enlisted as a private in Company G, of the One Hundred Seventeenth Illinois Volunteers, serving through the war and winning promotion to first lieutenant. He was in the battles of Pleasant Hill, Nashville and Fort Blakely. After the war he again taught in the schools of Alton. In 1868 he was elected to the Illinois Legislature, serving until 1870. At the close of his term he removed to Iowa, becoming a resident of Grundy Center where he engaged in farming and the practice of law. In 1883 he was elected Representative to the House of the Twentieth General Assembly. In 1886 he was elected a Representative in Congress from the Fifth District, serving two terms.
HARRIET A. KETCHAM was born in New Market, Ohio, July 12, 1846. Her parents removed to Mount Pleasant, Iowa, when she was but five years old where she graduated from the Wesleyan University of that place. While quite young she was married to William B. Ketcham, a manufacturer, of Mount Pleasant. It was eight years after her marriage that she turned her attention to the art in which she became known
