Kellner, Ernest Frederich.

Ernest Frederick Kellner, merchant and miner, was born on May 25th 1849, in New Braunfels, Texas. Kellner's mercantile career began in 1869 when he started a store in San Antonio, Texas. By 1874, Kellner was providing supplies to Fort Selden, the U.S. Army Fort near Silver City, New Mexico. In 1876, his business grew into a partnership with J.B. Morril in Silver City. Together, Kellner and Morril established stores in Silver City, N.M., and Globe, Arizona. This arrangement dissolved in 1878, at which time Kellner took over the Arizona half of the business and moved to central Arizona. He opened stores in McMillen and Richmond Basin, Arizona, and established a milling operation, lumber yard, and Miners' Bank in Globe. Kellner got sick in 1882 and, after a three month tour of Europe to recuperate, he returned to Globe to sell his stores in McMillen and Richmond Basin and to end his Miners' Bank. In their place, Kellner established a successful and well-known outfitting store called the New York Store in Globe. It became the exclusive outfitter to the Dominion Copper Mining and Smelting Company, a major Arizona copper company.