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A Narrative History
of
The People of Iowa
with
SPECIAL TREATMENT OF THEIR CHIEF ENTERPRISES IN
EDUCATION, RELIGION, VALOR, INDUSTRY,
BUSINESS, ETC.
by
EDGAR RUBEY HARLAN, LL. B., A. M.
Curator of the
Historical, Memorial and Art Department of Iowa
Volume IV
THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Inc.
Chicago and New York
1931
MRS. ELIZABETH KENNEY has shown mature judgment and marked executive ability
in the directing of her notably successful insurance business in the City of
Waterloo, where she has the distinction of being district manager for the
Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York. She has made a record of splendid
success in this field of business, even as she had previously been successful
in her service as a teacher in the public schools of her native State of Iowa.
Mrs. Kenney, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Burdick, was born on the
parental home farm near the little Village of Rowley, Buchanan County, Iowa. Her
father died about three months prior to her birth. She is a daughter of George
and Sarah (Spece) Burdick, the former of whom was born near Traverse City,
Michigan, and the latter of whom was born in Ohio, her father having been
William Spece and the family name of her mother having been Youngblood. William
Spece was born in Pennsylvania, a representative of a sterling German family
early established in that state, his marriage was solemnized in Ohio, and
from that state he came to Iowa in the pioneer days, having transported his
family and belongings by means of team and wagon and having crossed the
Mississippi River by ferry boat. Most of the Iowa land at that time was still in the
possession of the Government and was offered for sale at the rate of $1.25 an
acre. He purchased land that was partly timbered, erected a pioneer log
cabin as the family habitation, and set himself vigorously to reclaiming his
land and developing a productive farm. He cut off a portion of the timber and
utilized several yokes of oxen in driving the plow through the heavy prairie
sod. In clearing his land from timber he was assisted by other early settlers
of the locality, such cooperation in work being a friendly custom in that
period. William Spece thus reclaimed his farm from the wilds and he remained
on the old home place until his death, at the patriarchal age of ninety-three
years. He thus did his part in the development and progress of Buchanan
County and was one of the most venerable and honorable pioneer citizens of that
county at the time of his death, about 1912. Mrs. Kenney is the youngest in a
family of five children, the names of the others being as follows: Ava,
Nellie, Arthur and Thomas. After the death of the father the devoted mother kept
the family together until each of the children had been established in a home
of his or her own, and she died at Waterloo on April 20, 1929, at the age of
nearly eighty-five. She had her reward in the filial love and devotion of
her children and was one of the revered pioneer women in the City of Waterloo,
where she had her home with her daughter Elizabeth, who is the immediate
subject of this review. She had long been an earnest member of the Methodist
Episcopal Church.
Mrs. Kenney is indebted to the public schools of her native county for her
early education, including the graded school at Quasqueton, and that she
profited well by such advantages is shown by the fact that at the age of seventeen
years she became a successful and popular teacher in one of the rural
district schools of her home county. She thus taught two terms, and thereafter she
was a student two terms at Cedar Falls, in the Iowa State Teachers College.
In 1907 Miss Elizabeth Burdick became the wife of Oral V. Seely, who was
born at Quasqueton, Buchanan County, a son of Frank Seely, who had been a
gallant soldier of the Union in the Civil war. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs.
Oral V. Seely established their home in Waterloo, and here the death of Mr.
Seely occurred in September, 1910, when he was twenty-five years of age. After
the death of her husband Mrs. Seely continued her service as a popular
teacher in the Waterloo public schools until 1923, her infant son having died
about three months after the death of his father, Mr. Seely. In 1917, Mrs. Seely
married Mr. J. Kenney.
In 1923 Mrs. Seely-Kenney initiated her service as an agent for the Mutual
Life Insurance Company of New York, and one year later she was advanced to
her present position, that of district manager for the company, with
headquarters in Waterloo, where she maintains her executive office at 408 Lafayette
Building. Her success is attested by her membership in the company's Big Field
Club. To be eligible for this club a representative must have at least a
quarter of a million dollars in personal paid for business during the year.
Mrs. Kenney has qualified for this honor each of seven successive years and one
year did over a half million dollars of business. Her ambition is to qualify
for ten successive years. She also has one other club member in her
organization who is also a woman, Mrs. Jessie Wallace, who gained all her knowledge
about insurance from Mrs. Kenney. Mrs. Kenney is a member of the Business and
Professional Women's Club of Waterloo, of which she has served as president.
She has also served as vice president and as treasurer and in the year
1928-29 was president of the Iowa Federation of Business and Professional Women's
Clubs. In June, 1930, Mrs. Kenney was chosen as national honorary member of
the Gamma Epsilon Pi, national commercial sorority, at their convention held
in Iowa City. She is a woman of culture and gracious personality, and is
popular in social and church circles in her home city, where she is a member of
the First Baptist Church. Mrs. Kenney has traveled extensively in the United
States, and in addition to having visited nearly all of the various states
she has also made a trip to Alaska.
Posted at this site with Debbie's permission
http://iagenweb.org/history/index.htm
*Check your facts, do not know how accurate.
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