Wednesday, February 18, 2009

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Ira Mandeville Kirkendall was born in Dallas Town­ship, Luzerne County, November 3, 1835, the son of William Wheeler and Maria (Dreamer) Kirkendall.

When old enough he was put to work and upon the death of his father, which occurred when the he was but ten years of age, he began to make his own way in the world. At the time, he was carrying mails on horseback, three days each week, and grasped whatever opportunity offered in the way of education in the country school.

At fourteen years, he went to Pittston, there worked in a store, and in 1856, aged twenty, went to Nebraska, where he worked at farming and stage driving. Two years later he returned to Pennsylvania, and, again in Pittston, worked there for a year, afterward proceeding to Bear Creek, where he engaged in lumbering until 1865.

In 1865 he came to Wilkes-Barre once more, to con­tinue in the lumber business. Under his brother, William Penn Kirkendall, then sheriff of Luzerne County, he was named deputy, retaining the post from 1875 until 1878. Subsequently, he engaged in the grocery business, becoming chief member of the firm of Kirkendall and Whiteman, wholesale grocery house, 1880-83, and still later became senior member of the firm of Kirkendall Brothers, wholesale flour and feed dealers, 1883-94. In the last-named year the business was dissolved, immedi­ately being reorganized under the name of Kirkendall and Son. His success was entirely due to his own application.

Kirkendal was closely identified with the political history of the city, its improvement, and its progress. Under the old system of local government, he was elected burgess of the Borough of Wilkes-Barre, in 1870, and first mayor of the city, in 1871, under the new system of government. He served as mayor three years. Although he was a Democrat, he was elected councilman of the Fourth Ward in 1883—this being the strongest Republican ward in the city—and for sixteen consecutive years was re­elected to represent that ward on the council, the longest term of councilman ever given to a citizen of Wilkes-Barre

To the public, regardless of his private interests, he afforded his best service, frequently neglecting his personal and commercial affairs to do so. The pride that his family may feel in his unselfish devotion to the civic welfare is shared by others of the citizens, for he never received compensation for his work during all the years of his office.

When he entered the council, only a few of the city’s streets were paved. When he retired from it, the paving extended twenty-five miles, a work in which he had a large share, through personal effort. He was called, indeed, the father of paving improvements in Wilkes-Barre and his retirement as councilman after sixteen years was regarded as a disaster by the elec­torate of all parties.