My Genealogy Hound

John Wenom, a grain dealer and insurance agent at Kimmswick, was born in Alsace, France, in 1837, and is the son of L. and F. Wenom, also natives of Alsace, France. They came to the United States in 1852, and after about two months in the State of New York, came to Jefferson County, settled near Kimmswick, where the father died, in 1856, at the age of seventy-five. He was a carpenter by trade. The mother died about 1871 or 1872, and both she and her husband were members of the Catholic Church. John received a fair education, and came with his father to Jefferson County, where he was married, in 1859, to Miss Catherine, daughter of Matthias and Lizzie Miller, natives of Prussia, where Mr. Miller died. The rest of the Miller family came to the United States, and settled in Jefferson County, where the mother died soon after. The following seven children were born to Mr. Wenom’s marriage: William (blacksmith of Fenton), Ida (wife of John G. Koch), Katie, Oscar, Otto, Gustav and John. Mr. Wenom continued farming in the vicinity of Kimmswick until 1866, when he removed to that city, and there followed the butcher’s trade until 1881. He then engaged in the grain trade, which he has since continued, and for three years has been agent for the Home Insurance Company at New York. He was for sixteen years road superintendent, and was in Company A of Col. Rankin’s regiment of the Enrolled Missouri Militia during the war. He is a member of the A. O. U. W., is a Republican in his political views, and cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln, in 1860. Although Mr. Wenom had a hard struggle with poverty the first part of his life, he now owns considerable property in and about Kimmswick, after giving his married children each a good home.