Fred Seibert and Kenmore, Ohio
The topic for the 47th Carnival of Genealogy, is called A Place Called Home. I was to pick out a town where one of my ancestors once lived and tell you about it. These questions were asked: When was it founded? What is it known for? Has is prospered or declined over the years? Have you ever visited it or lived there? How was your ancestor influenced by the area where they lived? This is my response to those questions, plus a little bit more:
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Fred Seibert’s first job was as a general contractor working for his father’s house painting business. Fred’s last job, in fact, the very last thing he did on this earth, was working on the construction of a house. But in between the times he worked as a house contractor, his life took quite a different path that, I believe, was all due to his settling in Kenmore, Summit County, Ohio in 1916.
Kenmore, Ohio was incorporated in 1908, but it was formed earlier, around 1900. The initial name of the town was going to be Hazeldale or Hazelhurst, after the daughter of Noah R. Steiner, one of the town’s “founding fathers.” However, Steiner eventually decided on the name Kenmore instead, for reasons now unknown. Before it was incorporated, the area was known as Halo, Ohio. On 31 December 1928, Kenmore was annexed by the city of Akron, Ohio, but many people who lived there continued to refer to it as it’s own town for about another decade.
Kenmore was known as a nice, mainly residential, community right in the middle of two growing cities, Akron and Barberton. It was the ideal place to live; a tight knit community with a great abundances of jobs to either side of it.
In 1916, my great great grandfather, Fred Seibert, was working as a contract painter in Louisville, Kentucky and jobs were scarce. However, in and around, Kenmore, manufacturing jobs were in excess. So he and his wife, with three young children in tow, made the move from Louisville, KY to Kenmore, OH in order to better their lives.
These next two photos (courtesy of Kenmore Historical Society) show a bit of Kenmore Blvd around the time when Fred moved there.
I think this is looking East, near 16th Street, but I could be wrong:
The intersection of Kenmore Blvd and Manchester Rd.:
Fred got a job in the rubber industry working for the B. F. Goodrich Company. However, he disliked the working conditions so much, he became active in organizing a rubber workers union. This angered Goodrich and he was fired and blacklisted by other companies in the area. As a result, Fred was forced to go back into business for himself. Instead of returning “back home” to Louisville, (Fred’s brother George went to Kenmore as well, but decided to return to Kentucky the next year) Fred Seibert stayed in Kenmore and decided to make the most of his new life there. Maybe he saw the opportunity to be a part of something larger than himself, because over the next two decades he remained continuously involved in the labor movement, fighting for the union cause. At one point he became a national official of the International Labor Defense organization.
In the mean time, along with a cousin, Ed Ellers, Fred started two second hand stores around 1919, both officially called “Seibert and Ellers,” but at least one was known as “Ed’s and Fred’s Place” (as the photo below shows). The stores were both located on Kenmore Blvd, the main road running through Kenmore, connecting Akron to Barberton. One store was near Akron, at 203 Kenmore Blvd, the other closer to Barberton, at 2902 Kenmore Blvd.
In the early 1920’s Fred helped found the Kenmore/Akron branch of the Communist party. Over the years he met many key figures in the Communist movement, including Jim Keller (Chicago District Organizer; Communist CIO organizer) and Earl Browder (General Secretary of the Communist party in 1930; Presidential candidate in 1936). Jim Keller was a close family friend for the rest of Fred’s life. Earl Browder, though not a close friend, did stay a few times at Fred’s house while in town for meetings.
A photo of the 1922 May Day (International Worker’s Day) Parade in Kenmore, Ohio. May Day was very special to the Seibert family, as it symbolized something about the Communist party as well as the progress of the labor movement:
Eventually, Fred got a job working for the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company, and again tried to help the men form a union. His granddaughter, Jacqueline Osborne, remembered him coming home one night all bloody from an incident involving a fight between police and the workers that were on strike.
Fred was also instrumental in trying to get better gas service in Kenmore. Sometime prior to 1924, Fred went so far as to travel to Columbus to speak with the State Utilities commission in regards to the situation that Kenmore was in regarding gas service. He reported to the Kenmore Civic League that the city council had the power to make legislation that would demand that the East Ohio gas company extend service on streets where main lines were already installed. As a result the Civil League presented a petition, drafted by Fred and signed by more than 400 residents, to the city council to ask for new legislation. Whether or not he and the Kenmore Civic League were successful in getting the new legislation is unknown.
In the years that followed, Fred Seibert ran for various political offices on the Communist party ticket, including Mayor of Kenmore, in 1930* and again for Mayor of Akron in 1932. I can only assume that he felt that if he couldn’t change things as a “mere citizen,” that he could change things if he were elected to office. Issues on his mayoral campaign platform included: advocating unemployment and social insurance, more relief for the unemployed, higher taxes on large incomes, and the proclaiming of a moratorium on mortgages, debts, and taxes of the unemployed. Unfortunately, he never did get elected to any office he campaigned for. (* Note: An FBI file on his daughter says that Fred ran for Mayor of Kenmore in 1930, but Kenmore would have already been annexed by Akron. Maybe it was 1928 instead.)
Photo of Kemore City Hall (courtesy of Kenmore Historical Society):
Fred died of a heart attack at age 59 on 18 January 1949 while building a house (located at 919 Indian Trail, Akron, OH) for his youngest son.
Jim Keller gave a eulogy at his funeral, parts of which included:
“In his very person, and by the example of his whole life, Fred was a true representative of his Party, refuting thereby the falsehoods circulated about Communists.”
“Fred was able to witness and take part in the greatest social changes the world has ever seen.”
“Many names which may sound loudly today, will become unknown. But the life, contributions, and aspirations of Fred Seibert will eventually resound in the school rooms of this community and become inscribed upon it’s memorials.”
It’s nice to know that Jim Keller had such high regard for him, unfortunately Keller was wrong and Fred’s story has not become part of the history books. However, I did just recently meet someone who lives in Kenmore who had at least heard of him. So (besides through family) maybe he will still be remembered in some way. Hopefully, this blog post will help too.
When contemplating the topic for this post, I wondered if Fred would have done the same type of things in Louisville, that he did in Kenmore, if he had never moved? I could be wrong, but I don’t think so. I think the small size of Kenmore allowed him more opportunities than “back home” in Louisville. I also think the booming rubber industry in the area prompted him to speak out against the injustices he saw and experienced. I’m sure he would have still been involved in his community, just because of the type of person he was, but I’m not sure it would have been to the same extent as what he was involved in in Kenmore.
How has Kenmore changed since Fred was around? Over the years, Kenmore has unfortunately declined. I feel comfortable walking around Kenmore, but a few of my friends joke that an outsider might pass through some sections of it with one eye over his shoulder wondering if at any moment he might get mugged. I think it’s really a sad thing because Kenmore was such a huge part of my family’s life. I hate to see what it has turned into. When I was going to Kenmore High School, I don’t think I knew one person who was planning on staying in Kenmore after graduation. Maybe that’s how most kids feel; that they have to get out of their home town once they are able. I on the other hand never felt that way. I never understood the desire to get out of Kenmore. Yes, I will agree that in some aspects it could be better, but it was home. It is home.
I’ve lived in Kenmore my whole life, and unless our circumstances change and we have to move, I will probably live here the rest of my life. And I’m not sad about that.
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A slightly different version of this blog post will be going into the book that I am currently writing. I needed to sit down and write it, but I just hadn’t done it yet. Thanks to the Carnival of Genealogy for getting my lazy butt off the couch and into the computer chair!
I came across your blog on Technorati. Nice site layout. I will stop by and read more soon.
Mike Harmon
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May 1st, 2008 at 4:27 pmLiving in Ohio from birth through high school, there are stories about the state that I was very unaware. Thanks so much for sharing your ancestor’s story and the history of Kenmore, Ohio. I wonder how Fred would feel about today’s working conditions and politics. (Came here from the CoG at http://creativegene.blogspot.com.
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May 4th, 2008 at 8:57 amFabulous pictures to vivify your description. I love how that barber chair has a wheel on front… no wait a second, that looks like a wheelchair. Wow. fabulous photo– took a closer look at it on flickr. Also the 2 pix from the historical society– do you think those were colorized photos? They’re so saturated.
I appreciate, too, your reflections on the size of the town and the degree of influence Fred was able to have. I wonder what the population was of the two locales? I remember reading from an architectural book that a population of 10,000 is the idea size for full civic engagement in an area. A person in a higher population feels like a cog in machinery. But larger cities are broken into neighborhoods/boroughs of ~10,000 can promote that sense of involvement. I assume that Louisville had a higher than 10K population at the time…
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May 4th, 2008 at 3:58 pmAmanda,
Your grandfather Fred obviously spent his entire life fighting for the underdog and the common man. Thank you for sharing his story.
Janice
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May 5th, 2008 at 8:46 amAmanda, I came across this post from my personal Google Alerts and I had to leave a comment. Your post is great, and obviously, Fred must have been an interesting and good man.
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