William Kesley Schoepf (1864-1927) - Find a Grave Memorial

William Kesley Schoepf

Birth

20 May 1864

Fort Delaware, New Castle County, Delaware, USA

Death

6 May 1927 (aged 62)

Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio, USA

Burial

Spring Grove Cemetery

Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio, USA Show Map

Plot

Garden LN, Section 18, Lot 67, Space 1

Memorial ID

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Beginning as a young man in a humble position within the electric interurban railway industry, Kesley, as he was known, ultimately became president of three interlocking companies: Cincinnati Traction Company, Cincinnati Car Company, and Ohio Traction Company. Fortuitously, Kesley began his career during the late 1800s when the street railway industry was in its infancy, and he retired in 1925, just as the industry experienced a marked decline and eventual replacement by the automobile.

One of twelve children of Brigadier General Albin Francisco Schoepf and Julia Bates Kesley Schoepf, Kesley was born at Fort Delaware Union Prison, where his father served as commandant during the later part of the Civil War. Kesley was educated in Washington D.C. and then began a career that was highlighted with numerous engineering and business accomplishments.

On 28 October 1891, Albertine Odell became Kesley's bride. She was the daughter of Washington D.C. patent attorney William Shildes Odell and Sarah Albertine Bell Odell. The Schoepfs were complimented with two children: (1) Alvin Kesley Schoepf Sr. who graduated with honors from Princeton University, had a highly successful career that culminated in serving as president of Sun Chemical Company, married Virginia Joy Goodbar, and became the father of four children. (2) Elizabeth Allison Schoepf, a concert soprano, who graduated from the National Cathedral School for Girls, studied at the Yale School of Music, married three times, and became the mother of three children.

Kesley and Albertine owned a farm in Hamilton County, Ohio, then on the outskirts of Cincinnati, where they raised championship breeding stock. The country home that they designed and built on the property later became the Cotswold Visitor Center of Glenwood Gardens, part of the Hamilton County Park District.

Less than two years after retirement, Kesley died of chronic myocarditis at his Cincinnati home.