In the great competitive struggle of life, when each must enter the field and fight his way to the front, or else be overtaken by disaster of time and place, there is ever particular interest attaching to the life of one who has turned the tide of success, has surmounted obstacles, and has shown his ability to cope with others in their rush for the coveted goal. Such Mr. Kinna has done, and to-day he stands among the representative business men of Tippecanoe City, although at the present time his business efforts are not directly connected with the commercial life of the town.

He was born in Middletown, Maryland, April 28, 1849, and is a son of Samson and Charlotte (Routzahn) Kinna. For many generations the Kinna family resided in Maryland. The father operated a mill in Middletown until 1867, When he removed with his family to Harbaugh Valley, where he remained until his death, in June, 1898. His wife also died at that place, April 18, 1868, and, with the exception of our subject, his children yet reside there. James H. Kinna, of this review, spent the first eighteen years of his life in his native town and then accompanied his parents on their removal to Harbaugh Valley, where he remained for two years. In 1870 he came to Ohio. He had started for Illinois, where his paternal grandmother was living, but on arriving in Ohio he stopped to visit an aunt, Mrs. John Clark, of Tippecanoe City, and was there offered a position in the mill. He had previously learned the milling business under the direction of his father, and thus equipped for the practical duties of life, he entered the employ of John K. Herr, with whom he remained for more than a year. He then spent a few days in Nebraska, and afterwards returned to Maryland. In 1873, however, he again came to Tippecanoe City and accepted the position of head miller with his former employer, having entire charge of the business. He served in that capacity from June, 1873, until October, 1875, when he returned to Maryland. In May, 1876, he secured a situation in the Patapsco Mills at Baltimore, Maryland, and continued there until October, 1879. They were then running at a capacity of six hundred barrels and were considered the largest mill in the country.

In January 1878, Mr. Kinna was united in marriage, in Tippecanoe City, to Miss Mary Herr, daughter of Benjamin Herr and a niece of John K. Herr. They began their domestic life at the mill, near Baltimore, but in October, 1879, returned to Ohio, and Mr. Kinna rented a mill a mile south of Troy. After operating it for two years with fair success, he returned to the employ of John Herr, in whose service he at first worked in Tippecanoe City. After a short time he purchased stock in the newspaper mill, became superintendent of construction and placed the mill in successful operation. It proved one of the leading industries of the place and was later sold to the American Straw-Board Company. For a time Mr. Kinna operated a mill at Sidney, and in August, 1888, he formed a partnership with U. J. Favorite and H. H. Bryant. This firm purchased the old mill at Tippecanoe, thus succeeding Mr. Herr, and remodeled the plant, putting in the new roller process at great expense. A prejudice existed against roller flour and some of the old men of the locality called for the burr flour, but after using it for a time they found that that manufactured by the roller process was superior. The firm of Kinna, Favorite & Bryant operated the mill at its fullest capacity and built up a very large business, which was attended with satisfactory financial results. The partnership proved a most pleasant one and close friendships were formed between the men. Throughout the existence of the firm Mr. Kinna remained as the miller, so that all of the details of the manufacture of the flour were under his immediate supervision. In April, 1897, the firm sold out and the same year Mr. Kinna purchased his present farm, comprising forty-five acres, just west of the village. The place is a delightful one, improved with a fine residence and all the accessories of the model farm. Mr. Kinna is now quite extensively engaged in tobacco growing, and the same determination and close application which characterized his industrial career is manifest in his agricultural pursuits.

Mrs. Kinna, wife of our subject, was born in Tippecanoe City, July 24, 1854, a daughter of Benjamin and Margaret (James) Herr. The father was born near Hagerstown, Maryland, and came to Ohio in company with his brother, John K. Herr. He learned the miller's trade at Dayton and afterwards rented a mill at Knightstown, Indiana. There he was united in marriage to Margaret James, who was born in the Hoosier state, and immediately afterward, in 1853, they came to Tippecanoe City, where Mr. Herr rented and operated the mill. He continued in business in connection with his brother until his death, which occurred in 1862, at the age of thirty-six years. Four children survived him, namely: Mrs. Kinna; Harvey, who engaged in milling with his uncle and died at the age of twenty- eight years; Fanny, widow of Harry Horton, proprietor of the Tippecanoe Herald, and Charles Benjamin, a grain dealer of Troy, residing in Tippecanoe City. The mother of this family is still living. After remaining a widow for seven years, she married John K. Herr, her first husband's brother, and they had one daughter, Nellie, now the wife of John Smith, with whom Mrs. Herr is still living. John K. Herr died in 1892. By his first marriage he had four children: Emma, wife of Everett Booher; John, of Dayton, Ohio; Jacob, who is living in Tippecanoe City; and Kate, wife of Richard Smith, of Miami county.

Mr. and Mrs. Kinna have two children, Guy Herr and Margaret M., the latter now a student in the high school. In his political affiliations Mr. Kinna is independent, but usually votes the Prohibition ticket. He and his family are members of the Baptist church, in which he is holding the office of trustee. He belongs to the Royal Arcanum and his wife was a member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. His path has ever been upward, both in a spiritual and temporal sense, and, as this review shows, he is distinctively a self-made man, one of nature's noblemen,--of excellent judgment, fair in his views, but strong in advancing ideas which he believes to be right. He is a generous friend and is highly honorable in all his relations with his fellow men.