WILLARD KELLS, Meadville, Pennsylvania. Master Mechanic.
A quiet and unassuming man who possesses the happy faculty of making friends of all is Willard Kells, Master Mechanic at Meadville. He was born in the railroad city of Dennison, Ohio, February 4, 1868, and received his education in the public and high schools of Cleveland, Ohio. His father, Ross Kells, who was Superintendent of Motive Power of the Erie, lived in New York City at the time of his death in March, 1892. The young man began his railroad career as an apprentice in the drawing room of the New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio at Cleveland in March, 1888, and after spending ten months there went to Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, where he completed his apprenticeship as a mechanical draughtsman. He then started in the machine shop as an apprentice to acquire a practical knowledge of machinery, and in May, 1892, was transferred to Meadville as gang foreman in the machine shops. A year and a half later his ability won him promotion to the position of general foreman, which he held until January, 1896, when he was further promoted to Master Mechanic at Cleveland, Ohio. In August, 1898, he was transferred to Huntington, Indiana, as Master Mechanic of the Chicago & Erie Railroad and in February, 1899, he was sent to Meadville, and placed in charge of the large shops of the Erie at that place.

Mr. Kells is a young man but his entire fitness for the high position he holds is unquestioned, he having made his own way up from an apprentice by his ability to handle the work the company entrusted to him, and his popularity with the officials and employes can be but a source of gratification to all. He is a member of Iris Lodge No. 229, F. &. A.M., of Cleveland; Cleveland Chapter No. 148; Holyrood Commandery No. 32; Cleveland Council No. 36; Lake Erie Consistory of Scottish Rite and Al Koran Temple of the Mystic Shrine.

Excerpted from: "American Locomotive Engineers, Erie Railway Edition," H.R. Romans Editor; Crawford-Adsit Company Publishers, Chicago, IL 1899.