 In 1909 during one of his stays in England, Kern took a boat trip on the River Thames with some friends, and when the boat stopped at Walton-on-Thames, they went to an inn called the Swan for a drink.Kern was much taken with the proprietor's daughter, Eva Leale (1891–1959), who was working behind the bar.He wooed her, and they were married at the Anglican church of St. Mary's in Walton on October 25, 1910.