Edward Kern

Edward Meyer Kern (October 26, 1822 or 1823 – November 25, 1863) was an American artist, topographer, and explorer of California, the Southwestern United States, and East Asia. He is the namesake of the Kern River and Kern County, California.

Early life

Kern was born in Philadelphia, the son of John Kern III and Mary Elizabeth Bignell. He was trained as an artist. His brother Richard Kern (1821–1853) was also an accomplished artist, and his brother Benjamin Kern (1818–1849) was a doctor. They joined him on several expeditions.

Expeditions

California

In 1845–46, Kern accompanied explorer Captain John C. Frémont on his Third Expedition into Mexican Alta California. Kern received a daily salary of $3.00. He served as a cartographer as well as a documentation artist, collecting botanical and animal specimens on the journey. A brutal counterattack by Frémont and his group upon a native village resulted in the deaths of many Klamath people. That left John Sutter the assignment as lieutenant of the dragoons, and second-in-command of his own fort, until 1847. Kern vaguely promised the federal government would do something for a rescue party across the Sierra, but had no authority to pay anyone.

In February 1847, Kern's forces were requested by several settlers who wished to intimidate Indians who had been involved in raids. Kern brought in 20 men, joined by 30 more led by John Sutter, and then proceeded with a series of attacks that killed 20 California Indians in what became known as the Kern and Sutter massacres.

Southwest In 1848−1849, Edward Kern and his brothers Richard and Benjamin joined Frémont's Fourth Expedition, to the Rocky Mountains in present-day southern Colorado and northern New Mexico. By the time surviving members of the expedition reached Taos on February 12, 1849, 10 of the party had died.

Edward and Richard stayed in New Mexico for two years, working for the Corps of Topographical Engineers.

In 1853, Edward joined Lieutenant John Pope, who was seeking a better route between Santa Fe and Fort Leavenworth.

Legacy

Kern's diaries were discovered under the floorboards in an old hotel in Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania, and provided source material for David Weber's book on his brother, Richard Kern. The diary and papers are now in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University.

The Boston Museum of Fine Arts holds more than eighty of Kern's works. The Kern River and Kern County, both in California, were named for him.

California Historical Landmark

At the Entrance to Old IsabelIa Rd Recreation Area, at Lake Isabella, is a marker, Edward Kern Campsite, referring to Captain John C. Frémont's third expedition with Edward M. Kern. Old IsabelIa Road Recreation Area is on California State Route 178 on the south side of the lake.

California Historical Landmark reads: NO. 742 CAMPSITE OF EDWARD M. KERN - Near this spot at the confluence of the north and south forks of the Kern River, the Theodore Talbot party of Captain John C. Frémont's third expedition to the West camped for several weeks during December 1845 and January 1846. Frémont named the river in honor of Edward M. Kern, topographer for the expedition - Kern County was established in 1866.