From "Biographical Memoirs of Wells County, Indiana," 1903, pp. 595-597.
B.F. Kain. To be twice honored by his party with a nomination for an important county office and to be twice elected, each time with a very pronounced majority, a man must be possessed of at least some of the virtues which commend him to his fellow men. Of course, some time, a wily politician may so pull the strings and manipulate affairs that he can boost himself into a lucrative office, but the “wily politician” who lives on a farm and earns his bread by the sweat of his brow is an unknown species of politician in this country. B.F. Kain, of Union township, Wells county, Indiana, the subject of this sketch, was, like Cincinnatus, taken from the plow to be installed into office. For two terms he took charge of the finances of Wells county and at the close of his administration turned over to his successor the funds, books and papers, accounting to the utmost penny for all the money that had passed through his hands.
B.F. Kain was born in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, October 5, 1845. He was the son of John and Polly Kain. His parents were natives of Pennsylvania, but his paternal grandparents had emigrated to this country from Ireland, while his maternal grandparents were natives of the Keystone state. John and Polly Kain were married in their native state and soon thereafter moved to Ohio, where he took up the occupation of farming and continued to prosper. With a view of bettering his condition and securing advantages not to be had in Ohio, he, about October 1, 1850, moved his family to Union township, Wells county, Indiana, taking up a piece of unimproved government land. Upon this land, which was situated in the woods, he immediately proceeded to create a home. The first house was of the rudest kind, built of fresh-cut logs and roofed with clapboards. Before half the roof was on the family moved in with their few effects and necessary furniture. Hard work, continued in during long hours and eternally persisted in, will almost work miracles in the way of improving and clearing land. But a few years sufficed to give the Kain homestead a far different aspect from that which it represented in its original condition. It had materially increased in value, while its owner thrived and prospered to such an extent that in 1861 better buildings and a more comfortable home was erected. Here the parents of B.F. Kain spent their days until the summons of the grim reaper called them from this to the better world.
John Kain was a man of much public spirit, whose influence was felt far beyond the limits of his immediate neighborhood. In those days the township assessor was an important official. He was elected to this position and held the office for some sixteen years. He was a believer in the principles of the Democratic party and was always sufficiently consistent to vote the way he believed. Democracy seems to have had a firm hold on the pioneers of that section and the complexion of the returns from Wells county after each successive election in present years would indicate that it has not lost much of its grip. John and Polly Kain were the parents of the following children: Daniel, Isabella, J.D., Mary A., Hugh, D.F., Alexander, B.F., J.W., Sarah, William H. and Eliza J. One, D.F., is a minister of the gospel.
B.F. Kain was five years old when his father moved into the woods of Union township. When he was old enough he assisted in the work of the clearing and of the farm, attending the district school when it was in session in the winter and through securing an education which has been ample to him for every purpose. When he grew to manhood he spent several years in the school room as a teacher, being quite successful. It was while he was engaged in this vocation that he met, wooed and won Miss Caroline Ellingham, daughter of Charles E. and Hannah (Scolton) Ellingham, she being also a teacher in the schools of Wells county. The Ellinghams were natives of England who emigrated to America and located in Rock Creek township in 1838. The young couple were married in 1869, when the groom was twenty-one years old. Soon after his marriage B.F. Kain rented the farm of his wife’s father and continued in the work of agriculture quite successfully for many years. In 1880 he bought a farm of eighty acres on which he made his home until 1890, when, for the purpose of educating his children, he removed temporarily to Bluffton.
Mr. and Mrs. Kain are the parents of five children: George F., the first born is dead; Esther A., the wife of C.P. Hannah, is a graduate of the Bluffton high school and has taught a number of terms in the county, also in the state of Nebraska, where she resided some time; Alonzo is a barber and doing a good business in Bluffton; Charles is a graduate of the Northern Indiana Normal School at Valparaiso and is now a telegraph operator on the Clover Leaf; Homer F. is still single and living at home. The Kains are members of the Christian church, Mr. Kain having served for a number of years as a trustee. He is a Democrat in politics and was nominated and elected by his party to the office of county treasurer and so acceptably did he discharge the duties of the position that in 1896 he was renominated and re-elected by an increased majority. On retiring from office he again took up his home on his farm, where he resided three years, when he sold out and removed to Bluffton, where he now resides. He is the owner of eighty acres, known as the John Johnson farm, the management of which is conducted under his own supervision. Personally he is a quiet, modest, unassuming man, well known and highly respected throughout the county.
Typed by Kathy Davis