Our common ancester is Lieutenant Joseph Kellogg, he was the father of 20 children. There were 9 by his first wife although 2 "died young" and 11 by his second wife, 2 "died young." He is Will and John's 4th great grandfather and the author's 8th great grandfather.
Will Keith (W.K.) Kellogg was born April 7, 1860. W.K., along with his brother, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, was the co-inventor of flaked cereal. Although he lacked a formal education beyond the sixth grade, W.K. Kellogg forever changed the way we eat breakfast. When he died on October 6, 1951 at the age of 91, he had amassed a fortune and enriched the lives of people in his hometown of Battle Creek, Michigan, and millions of others around the world.
During his lifetime Dr. John Kellogg was the more famous. In doing a little more research I found that it is said John and Will fought all their lives and never reconciled. It is further said John bullied his brother Will. Of course someone has written a book, The Kelloggs:The Battling Brothers of Battle Creek The guy (above) that looks like a friendly Colonel Sanders seems to me to have been a pretty horrible person. More on Dr. John Harvey Kellogg at the end - we might want to disown him!
The future world-renowned benefactor and cereal industry pioneer became a traveling broom salesman at the age of 14. At age 20, he started as a clerk at the Battle Creek Sanitarium, also known as the San, where his older brother, John Harvey Kellogg, was physician-in-chief. It was there that he discovered the process for making cereal flakes. W.K. Kellogg would eventually become bookkeeper and manager of the world-famous hospital, which put virtually any task outside of medicine under his purview. For years, he assisted his brother in research aimed at improving the vegetarian diet of the San's patients, especially in the search for a wheat-based granola. Their many experiments with grains would lead them to stumble upon a major food innovation. In 1894, W.K. Kellogg accidentally left a pot of boiled wheat to stand and become tempered. When it was put through the usual rolling process, each grain of wheat emerged as a large, thin flake. W.K. persuaded his brother to serve the food in flake form, and it was an immediate favorite among the patients.
Soon the flaked wheat was being packaged to meet hundreds of mail order requests from guests after they left the San. Because John Harvey Kellogg had little interest in such matters, his brother added another task to his long list of responsibilities: that of managing the burgeoning packaged food enterprise. In 1906, W.K. Kellogg entered the cereal business, as American eating habits began shifting from heavy, fat-laden breakfasts to lighter, more grain-based meals.
W.K. discovered that a better flake was produced by using only the corn grit or "sweet heart of the corn." To help consumers distinguish Kellogg's Corn Flakes cereal from the products of the 42 other cereal companies in Battle Creek, Michigan, W.K. put his signature on each package, saying that these Corn Flakes were the "The Original." The company succeeded because it believed the entire populace, not just those on special diets, might be interested in wholesome cereal foods, and because it continually improved its product line and packaging techniques to meet the needs of an ever-changing and evolving consumer base.
Using his sense of economics, an understanding of marketing techniques and hard work, W.K. constantly increased production, advertising budgets and sales. He expanded his business to Australia in 1924, guided the cereal company through the Great Depression (he increased advertising while others cut back), and brought Kellogg's cereal into England in 1938.
While growing the business overseas, W.K. continued to expand Kellogg's facilities in Battle Creek. During this same period, Kellogg initiated the first food fortification efforts by a cereal manufacturer with the goal of improving overall health and preventing nutritional deficiencies. By 1940, glaucoma had robbed W.K. of his eyesight, but he was able to stay active with his correspondence and business affairs with the help of Elsie Hoatson, his nurse who also doubled as a personal secretary. He constantly telephoned company executives in Battle Creek to maintain his contact with day-to-day business activities.
W.K. Kellogg was 46 years old when he founded Kellogg Company. Despite the fortune he was to amass, he was never completely comfortable with his riches, and so continued to live a comparatively modest life. As his wealth grew, Kellogg gave generously to various charitable causes. He became convinced that the most good, however, could be accomplished by helping young people. So, in 1925, he established the Fellowship Corporation, which helped to build an agricultural school and a bird sanctuary, and established an experimental farm and reforestation project. Kellogg also donated nearly $3 million to hometown causes, such as the Ann J. Kellogg School for handicapped children, a civic auditorium, a junior high school and a youth recreation center.
In Michigan, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg was a leader of the eugenics movement, perceiving it as the only way to save society from disaster. To promote this, Kellogg organized the First National Conference on Race Betterment, held from January 8-12, 1913, at the Battle Creek Sanitarium, which included more than 400 eugenics experts from across the country. To further inspire the public to take action on preventing the reproduction of the "feeble - minded" Kellogg wrote a paper titled "Needed - A New Human Race" where he encouraged all people to become involved in eugenics. This included positive eugenics, where citizens deemed to have beneficial traits were encouraged to have large families.
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