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� 2008, Mount Mora Burial Records |
| Record Last Updated On:
9/8/2021 |
| Name: FRANKLIN B KERCHEVAL |
| Death Date: MAR/9/1886 |
Interment Date:
MAR/10/1887 |
Birth Date: JUL/9/1817 |
| Age at Death: 69 |
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| Sex: M |
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| Brief Biography: FB Kercheval was a local riverboat captain in the 1850's. From 1857 - 1859 he was the captain of the Hesperian. Built in '57, it was a large side-wheel packet boat working St Joseph and below (south) One Sunday evening in 1859, it burned near Atchison Kansas.
After the Hannibal & St Joe railroad opened with a huge celebration on Feb 13, 1859, the Hesperian operated as a passenger steamer connecting trains from St Joseph to trains in KC.
In the Autumn of 1857 Captain Kercheval took a load of freight from St Louis and headed to Omaha with stops at intermediate points in between. The whole country was in the throes of a financial panic at the time due to the issuance of "wild-cat" currency that had been issued by irresponsible banks. When the Hesperian got beyond St Joseph, it was found that the merchants had nothing with which to pay the freight charges on their good except the wild-cat paper money. At some of the steamboat landings, speculators were found who had come out from the East with a bale of "wild-cat" money and, going into camp, had opened a "bank".
Captain Kercheval refused to accept the worthless stuff, and as a consequence the Hesperian returned to St Louis with her cargo nearly intact.
The Kercheval family was of French origin but came to America in 1699. They settled on the James River in Virginia where one member of the family married Miss Ball, a sister of George Washington's mother.
John Kercheval and his sons moved to Missouri where they entered a land claim in Buchanan County, Missouri in the early "forties". Captain Franklin B. Kercheval was one of these sons.
Born in Pulaski County, Tennessee, on July 9, 1817, he and his wife preceded his parents to St Joseph. He located on a farm four miles east of the city, where he conducted a hardware store for five years.
In partnership with some other gentlemen, he went to Louisville, Kentucky, where the steamer "Omaha" was built. He was made captain of that boat which ran between St Louis and Sioux City. He afterward build the packet boat "Heperion" until it was destroyed by fire.
Returning to St Joseph, he engaged in the wholesale grocery business for a time before purchasing the "Omaha", which he conducted until 1864.
His next commercial venture was in fitting out 50 wagons, four oxen to a wagon, to go to Virginia City, Idaho. In that city he also engaged in the wholesale grocery business for four years, and in 1868 he returned once again to St Joseph. This time he bought the Eagle Mills at 8th and Felix. (Interestingly, this mill, later owned by Robert Faucett, began producing a pancake flour called "Aunt Sally's" before the mill became associated with RT Davis.) In his later years, FB Kercheval invested heavily in real estate in St Joseph (and Montana) and became a very wealthy man. At one time he was said to have paid more in taxes than any other man in the county.
He is also the founder of a city in Montana called, Kercheval City.
JB Kercheval died in March, 1886. Captain Kercheval is buried at Mount Mora.
Gary Westcott |
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Burial Number: 2062 |
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| Lot Owner: FRANKLIN BKERCHEVAL |
| Lot Location: 4 |
| Block Location: 18 |
| Section/Range Location: 5 |
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| Cost of Interment: $0.00 |
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