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Albert Fenner Kercheval (March 16, 1829 in Preble County, Ohio – January 24, 1893) was a fruit grower and poet in Los Angeles County, California, and a member of the Los Angeles Common Council during the 19th Century.

Biography

Kercheval was born on 16 March 1829 in Preble County, Ohio; the family moved to Joliet in Will County, Illinois shortly after his birth. Kercheval, who was referred to as a "Will County boy" by one newspaper, crossed the continent with a group of American pioneers from Peoria, Illinois, leaving from St. Joseph, Missouri, on April 20, 1849. He settled in Los Angeles by 1870.

His wife, Sarah Adelaide Wilson Kercheval, died in the family residence on Lemon Street on April 13, 1892. They had three children, Rosalie Wilson Kercheval, Leland Nelson Kercheval and Venia Alice Kercheval.

Kercheval was a miner in the Mother Lode and in Arizona. He later became one of the leading horticulturalists in the Los Angeles area. He sold his orchard at Santa Fe and Ninth streets for subdividing in 1887.

Kercheval's poetry was published in the Los Angeles Times and was read at meetings of local organizations. His 532-page book, Dolores and Other Poems, was published in 1883 by A. L. Bancroft & Company of San Francisco. The book included poems by his daughter Rosalie.

Public service

Kercheval was elected on December 3, 1877, to represent the 3rd Ward on the Los Angeles Common Council, the governing body of the city, for a one-year term, ending December 6, 1878.

In 1890, he was a member of the Los Angeles County Agricultural Commission and served as its president. Historian Ralph E. Shaffer wrote that: "To some growers he would come to represent a bureaucratic establishment that did not know what to do about the problem facing the industry yet dictated unreasonable solutions to which the growers must conform."

References

1. "Albert Fenner Kercheval (1829-1893)". Find a Grave. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
2. Joliet (Illinois) Daily News, reprinted in "The Poet Kercheval," Los Angeles Times, February 5, 1885, page 3
3. "List of a portion of those Pioneers who crossed the continent for California in 1849".
4. 1870 United States Federal Census
5. ^ "Ralph E. Shaffer, Letters From the People: Los Angeles Times, 1881–1889". Archived from the original on 2012-12-12.
6. Location of Lemon Street on Mapping L.A.
7. "Died," Los Angeles Herald, April 17, 1892, image 5
8. ^ "A Sun-Land Poet", with an excerpt from "Dolores". Los Angeles Times, November 25, 1883, page 2.
9. Text of Dolores and Other Poems from the University of California, Berkeley, Library
10. Chronological Record of Los Angeles City Officials,1850-1938, compiled under direction of Municipal Reference Library, City Hall, Los Angeles (March 1938, reprinted 1966). "Prepared ... as a report on Project No. SA 3123-5703-6077-8121-9900 conducted under the auspices of the Works Progress Administration."
11. " 'The Cass Bug,' " Los Angeles Times, February 16, 1890, page 2

• Farmers from California
• Poets from California
• Writers from Los Angeles
• 1829 births
• 1893 deaths
• American miners
• Los Angeles Common Council (1850–1889) members
• People from Will County, Illinois
• Poets from Illinois
• 19th-century American poets
• American male poets
• 19th-century American male writers