Biographical history of Cloud County, Kansas: biographies of representative citizens. Illustrated with portraits of prominent people, cuts of homes, stock, etc, Part 37

Author: Hollibaugh, E. F
Publication date: 1903]
Publisher: [n.p.
Number of Pages: 938

USA > Kansas > Cloud County > Biographical history of Cloud County, Kansas: biographies of representative citizens. Illustrated with portraits of prominent people, cuts of homes, stock, etc > Part 37

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Mr. Kenyon is a native of Canada. He is a son of Amos and Caroline Cordelia (Blanchard) Kenyon. Amos Kenyon, of Vermont birth and English origin, emigrated to Iowa in 1855, settled in Delaware county. where he died May 5. 1891. Mr. Kenyon's mother was of New York birth; she died in Iowa. July 22. 1889. Mr. Kenyon is one of nine children, seven of whom are living, all in lowa, excepting our subject and a sister in Denver. In 1868 Mr. Kenyon was married to Miss Cordelia Smith, who was born in the state of New York. Her father, Samuel Hastings Smith, removed to Concordia in 1872 and died there in 1900, at the age of eighty-five years. Her mother, who survives him, is also four score and five and lives with her daughter in Concordia. Mrs. Kenyon is a refined gentlewoman. The atmosphere of refinement is one of the fundamental elements often over- looked in the country home. but this is not lacking in the Kenyon residence. where everything bespeaks cultivated taste. Mrs. Kenyon taught the second term of school in Joint District No. 1, Cloud and Republic counties. She taught one term over the line in Republic county, which was the first school held in Norway township. Mr. and Mrs. Kenyon's family consists of four children, two sons and two daughters. The two sons, Orlin and Arthur, are prosperous farmers, and are both married. The daughters are educated young women. well qualified for the important positions they occupy. Helen, who is teaching on her second school year at Valley Falls, gradu- ated from the Emporia State Normal in 1001, receiving a life diploma. June is a graduate from the Wesleyan Business College of Salina and is employed as stenographer and bookkeeper at the Soldiers' Orphans' Home in Atchison.

Politically Mr. Kenyon votes with the Republican party. He has served as treasurer of his distriet for almost a quarter of a century. The teachers in this school have all been fortunate enough to find a home with the Ken- yons. Socially Mr. Kenyon has been an Odd Fellow for thirteen years and is identified with the Order of Elks in Concordia.

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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.

CHESTER DUTTON.

Almost concealed by the overhanging boughs of the surrounding park, picturesquely situated on a semi-circular curve of the Republican river, in the midst of a bower of foliage, where all nature seems bushel to a solemn stillness, except the sighings of the Kansas zephyrs or the music of the birds, that supply an orchestra each hour of the summer days, is the primitive dwelling, which the author will affectionately christen "The Cabin," of that distinguished citizen and pioneer, Chester Dutton.

There is no palatial residence, but the old-fashioned hewed log honse awakens a train of emotions beyond the power of some stately edifice to impart. Mr. Dutton chose this location because the high, perpendicular banks, cut by the cur- rent of the river, formed an insur- mountable barrier to a sudden at- tack of the murderous Indian bands that roamed along the frontier. The interior of the quaintly rustic home is wholly in harmony with its environments and eloquent in its simplicity. Potted plants adorn the broad window sills, and the profu- sjon of books, periodicals and papers reveal the assertion that its inmates are conversant with good literature. Tradition reveals the original Dutton was a Norman. A country- man from that kingdom once said, CHESTER DUTTON. the name Dutton was not Norwe- gian. but this is accounted for by the descriptive title having been given after cognomens were acquired. In 1630 Jolin Dutton wandered from the inclosure of the fold and became a Puritan. The greater part of the family are descended from him. Another branch came from Jolm Dutton, of England, who settled in Ches- ter county, Pennsylvania, and purchased six hundred acres of land from William Penn. The subject of this sketch originates from the Puritan divis- ion, seven generations remote in America. An individual, who was gather- ing names of Duttons, had found over two thousand, but among the Chris- tian names of the representatives he had secured there were no Chesters.

Joseph Dutton, of the second generation of Duttons, settled on the Connecticut river, in the state of Connecticut, where our subject's father, grandfather and great-grandfather, with their wives and children, all lived,

HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.

365

and were buried from this same homestead. The two former were born there. Four generations resided there at one time. The estate is still in the hands of relatives, but not a Dutton. Mr. Dutton's great-great-grandfather, whose name was Thomas ( as the two following were), when a very aged man came to live with his son on the farm. The venerable father longed to visit a son in Vermont, but in those days of horseback travel over mountain- ous roads, the journey proved too arduous for his failing strength and he

THE RUSTIC COTTAGE OF MR. AND MRS. CHESTER DUTTON.

did not live to return. Thomas is a family name; the Quaker of that title lived a century and two years. As the Duttons emigrated westward the two families became associated together. The Dutton ancestors were valiant patriots and served in the Revolution. Mr. Dutton's three great-grandfa- thers commanded companies-Thomas Dutton. John Woodworth and Ste- phen Mathews. The mothers of Mr. and Mrs. Dutton were cousins, hence John Woodworth, their grandfather, was the great-grandparent of each. The former led a company in the defense of New York city: his son, our subject's grandfather, shouldered a musket and went to war at the age of sixteen years, and was also in the resisting forces of the present great metropolis. The father of our subject was Daniel Punderson Dutton, a New England farmer, and a brother of the Honorable Henry Dutton, who was governor of Connecticut and judge of the supreme bench. Ex-Gov- ernor Dutton's son was killed while leading a charge on a battery in the bat- tle of Cedar Mountain in 1862.

Mr. Dutton's mother was Nancy Mathews. Thomas Mathews, her great-grandfather, was born in 1700. The inscription on the headstone that marks his grave in the ancient cemetery of Watertown, Connecticut, reads : "He was a magistrate for over fifty years," which would take his service partly under the crown. He died in 1798.

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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.

Chester Dutton was born March 24, 1814. He is the eldest chikl and only surviving member of eleven children. They all lived to maturity and all but two reared families. William Dutton, the fifth child, was a West Point graduate, but resigned and followed farming until 1861, when he valiantly led a regiment, commanding a brigade of five thousand New York raw recruits. The brigadier general was ill and the entire command was thrown on Colonel Dutton, the senior officer. The vigorous action involved consumed his strength and he died of fever brought on by overexertion. Ile chied in New York city, where he had been brought by his wife, on a boat that was sent up the Chickahominy river. One of Colonel Dutton's closest friends at West Point was "Stonewall" Jackson, who was one degree below him in scholarship. But when war was declared, the two gallant sokliers, who had been comrades and classmates, took up arms against each other, and the ranks of the New England officer were cut to pieces by General Jack- son's regiment. Chester Dutton is the oldlest of four surviving members who graduated from Yale College in 1838. His fellow collegiates are Rev- erend William Thomas Doubleday. a brother of General Doubleday, of Binghamton, New York, Theodore Sedgwick Gold, who was secretary of the Connecticut board of agriculture from the time of its organization until 1902, and the fourth member Henry Parsons Hedges, of Bridgehamp- ton, Long Island, who is an attorney, a judge, dispenser of the gospel and a farmer. These venerable collegians have all passed the milestone of four score years and all except Mr. Dutton attended the bi-centennial of Yale,

The principal ambition of Mr. Dutton's early life was to acquire a knowledge of the law. With this ardent desire interwoven and uppermost in his heart, and at the earnest solicitation of an uncle, who thought his kins- man particularly adapted to the profession, our subject entered Yale. But just as he had laid the foundation for the development of his career, the conditions were hopelessly changed, the result of a physical ailment that caused an incurable affection of the thront, rendered him unable to make use of the fine oratorical powers he possessed-one of the first requisites of the advocate in the practice of law. That Mr. Dutton was compelled to resign his chosen pursuit was a painful disappointment is apparent by the shadow that overspreads his kindly face when referring to his blighted hopes. Mr. Dutton was reared on a farm. He taught school both before and after his graduation from college. He was principal of the classical department of a proprietary school in Alexandria, District of Columbia.

Mr. Dutton was married in 1842 to Miss Mary Ann Mellen, who was born and reared at Wolcott. Wayne county, New York, where she was mar- ried and resided until coming to Kansas-the only removal they have made during their wedded life. Mrs. Dutton comes from Puritan stock. Richard Mellen was the emigrant ; he came over about ten years after the Mayflower, and settled in Vermont, where Mrs. Dutton's father was born. Her mother was of Connecticut birth. To Mr. and Mrs. Dutton ten children have been born, six of whom are living. Their eldest son is unmarried, and after an

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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.

absence of twenty years in the far western country he returned to the old home and is living with his parents. Chester and Judson Mellen are twins, born July 4. 1852. The latter married Mary Elizabeth, the only daughter of James Taggart. Their farm is his old home-the original Van Natta homestead. They are the parents of four children, May, Effie, James Lee and an infant daughter. There are thirteen years between the ages of the third and fourth child. John, with his family, lives on an adjoining farm and has the management of the homestead. Henry Lambert Dutton lives just over the line in Republic county. His wife, before her marriage, was Lucy Dickerhoff, of Maryland. Their family consists of three sons and three daughters, among them a pair of twins, which is remarkable for having been born on July 4, 1882, on the anniversary of the birth of the twins in his father's family, just thirty years prior. Minnie, their eldest daughter, is the wife of William E. Brewer, and they are the parents of a little daughter, Mary Henrietta, aged four. Lucy is the wife of Frank Crosson, a descend- ant of one of the old Dutch families that settled near Philadelphia two hun- dred years ago. Mrs. Crosson has been given a musical education and is an accomplished young woman. Charles William, the youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. Dutton, is the present treasurer of Dewey county, Oklahoma, and also served two years as county clerk of Cloud county. They have been unfor- tunate in the death of their daughters. Mary Arnot. whose husband was a son of James Taggart, married and removed to near Knoxville, Tennessee, where she was deceased in 1896. Mrs. Taggart taught the first school in the Dutton district. Death had previously claimed another daughter, Julia, the wife of Stiles Platte. She died in Sibley township in 1887. Thomas, a son, died at the age of six years. In 1900 George Dutton was deceased, leaving a wife and four children. The Dutton family is among the most highly esteemed households in the county. The name carries with it a guar- antee of sterling qualities. The sons are all men of honor, industry and pub- lic spirit. always arrayed on the side of right and justice.

During the troublesome Indian uprisings Mr. Dutton's keen intuition rendered him a valuable citizen. When they came to Kansas in 1867 their home became a camping ground for the emigrant and the location had previously been headquarters for the Indian. The families were supplied with various kinds and calibers of guns and were prepared to fire two hundred rounds. Had the savages not been aware of their defense they would have been wiped out of existence. Mr. Dutton improvised a dugout to tide them over until they could prepare the logs for a home, but the Indian troubles came upon the settlers and retarded operations, hence they lived there until 1870. when they erected their present quarters. One would suppose the grove of trees, which almost conceals their home, was a natural forest, but Mr. and Mrs. Dutton planted them and under their personal supervision the tiny sprouts have grown to towering heights. Personally Mr. Dutton is a man of acute per- ceptive faculties and strong convictions; his opinions command respect from his friends and acquaintances and are sought in matters of public and pri-

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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.

vate import. He takes a keen interest in all the topics of the past and pres- ent and is a brilliant conversationalist His countenance glows with kind- ness, amiability and benevolence. He continues to be a close student. He is rather diminutive in stature, and as sprightly in his movements as a youth. Hle is a vigorous, polished, comely gentleman of the old school: his long beard and well crowned head of hair are snowy white, and he enjoys life at the venerable age of cighty-nine years. His personality impresses one with the thought that he might have swung into the present from another era.

Mrs. Dutton is a gentle, refined woman, whose eighty-six summers have set lightly on her brow, although she is practically blind. They are an interesting couple, and happy is the guest who whiles away a few hours beneath their hospitable roof. Although they have passed the milestone of four score years-almost four score and ten-they are not aged, for old age is associated with decrepitness. The relentless hand of time has not borne them down with a weary load of years, for they are as active as the average person at sixty. They will evidently continue in their cottage of the carly days until "gathered to their Fathers," in the little cabin so charmingly situ- ated, where the river, as it wanders on, seems murmuring of its peaceful quietude and good will toward men.

BYRON M. WIARD.

All the various hines of business considered, there is none dearer to the feminine heart than an elegant, well-selected stock of jewelry, all the latest fads and designs like those found in the elegant show cases of Byron M. Wiard's store, or the valuable and delicately chased patterns of silverware exhibited on the commodious plate glass encased wall shelves. It is one of Mr. Wiard's characteristics to recommend only such goods as merit an invest- ment, and this admirable trait has gained for him the confidence of his cus- tomers and its natural following-a wide patronage. In the watch repairing department he has secured the services of "Billie" Nyman, whose reputation as a jeweler is well established in Concordia.

Mr. Wiard originally hails from central Illinois, where he was born in 1856. His parents were Rolland and Mary ( Wright ) Wiard, both of New York birth. Norman Wiard. manufacturer of the Wiard gun, is a relative. The Wiards settled at Elgin, Illinois, in an early day. Mr. Wiard's father, died in 1875. and his mother was deceased in 188t. Mr. Wiard is a twin, and one of a family of seven children. His twin brother, Myron, is a jew- eler of San Diego. California. At the age of seventeen years Mr. Wiard began his career and after three years in a cigar store with a brother in Wall- kegan. he decided the jewelry business would be more to his tastes, and con- sequently joined another brother in Breckenridge. Colorado, in 1880. Four years subsequently he came to Kansas, when the state was booming and its many virtues being heralded abroad, and after looking over several probable points he favored Concordia. Of the jewelers who were here at that time

HANDSOME INTERIOR OF WIARD'S JEWELRY STORE.

THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY

ASTOR, LENCX TILBEN FOUNDATIONS

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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.

he is the only one remaining. Mr. Wiard has prospered. He erected the building he now occupies, in 1887. a two-story brick, twenty-two by one hun- dred feet in dimensions, but he expects to occupy the spacious rooms where the Kelly stock of goods is being closed out, on Main street, first door east of Layton & Neilson's drug store.

Mr. Wiard was married to Miss Ida Wones. a Concordia young woman, who was educated in the convent of the Sisters of St. Joseph. After having spent two years of study in optics Mrs. Wiard entered the McCormick Optical School of Chicago in 1901. and. graduating from that institution in ophthalmol- ogy, she returned to Concordia and established a complete line of optics. in connection with the jewelry store. and has had the entire management of that department ever since. Dr. Wiard has given a very able series of "Eye Talks" through the columns of the Kansan, describing various defects of that organ, followed by DR. IDA WIARD. the mode of treatment required to rectify the deficiency. In former years a woman was seldom known prominently in the professional world, but among instances where they have succeeded Dr. Wiard is distinctively one of that number, pursuing optics with the greatest efficiency. She is a woman of charming personality, as well as skill and ability, and assuming the responsibilities of a profession have not detracted from her refined womanhood. Dr. Wiard is a member of the American Asso- ciation of Graduates in Ophthalmology. Mr. and Mrs. Wiard are the par- ents of one child, a bright and winsome little daughter, aged nine.

ROBERT MCLEAN.

When the homestead law was enacted and rumors of the wonderful resources of this great western country were carried north, south and east- ward. Robert McLean determined to emigrate to Kansas, and since 1868 this original and interesting character has been making history in Cloud county. He got his first glimpse of frontier life in Meredith township, where he joined his brother, the late Thomas McLean, and later homesteaded a quarter section of land, one mile northwest of the hamlet of Meredith. Instead of leaving the country during the Indian uprising, as most of the settlers did. Mr. Mclean sought safer quarters with his brother,

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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.

the late Alex Mclean, who had located just over the line in Ottawa county. He was undoubtedly a welcome visitor, for while his brother plowed corn our subject, with a gun in hand ready for action, stood as sentinel keep- ing a close vigilance on the developments of savage warfare.

Mr. McLean is of Scotch Irish origin, born in the Dominion of Canada in 1848. In 1872 he returned to his former home and was married to Miss Mary Smith, who was also a native of Canada, born in 1852. After having equipped himself with a helpmate, they repaired to their new western home and in 1874 bought the Morgan Grant stock of general merchandise and prospered as everybody did in those days, who had wares to sell. In 1884 he returned to Canada and secured a farm. but two years later came to Kansas, and bought the same store in Meredith; but again became restless and thought there must be a country more to his liking, consequently sold his store and sent his family to Canada, while he prospected for fairer fields, and. although he spent four years in various parts of the country, including California, so great was his "hankering" to again be a merchant on the broad prairies of the Sunflower state, that a few months later he, for the third time resumed business in the old place. About twelve months later, however, he sold and left the village of Meredith for the fourth and last .time. lle bought the store of James Clithero, of Concordia, and a year later sold his interest to James Ilubert Hodge, bought the Murphy home- stend in Meredith township and engaged in the stock business very success- fnily. Retaining the farm, he bought the Jake Fetters store located at Hollis, and one year subsequently conducted a general merchandise business in Cuba. Republic county. In 1901 be bought one hundred and sixty acres of land in Sibley township, his present home. . A great deal of real estate has passed through Mr. McLean's hands, having bought and sold almost a score of farms. He is now interested in stock and says he is raising "yellow corn and black hogs." He has at present thirty-four brood sows, and buys and sells constantly. In January, 1897. "The Sample Case," a paper devoted to the interests of the United Commercial Travelers, appears the fol- Jowing comprehensive "take off" on Mr. McLean, which was evidently written by "A Brother" who saw him as others see him.

A WESTERN GENIUS.

Away out west in Kansas, two hundred miles or more- Some twenty miles from no place. stood a little country store, And the man who ran the shanty (a Canadian by birth) Just worked the store and people for all that they were worth.

A regular museum, where was kept for sale or trade, A general stocl: of every earthly thing that e'er was made; Dry goods, bacon, jewelry, molasses. pins and soap, Sulky plows and parasols, tobacco, silk and rope.

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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.

Feathers, flour and saner kraut, and calico, and nails, Buggies, beans and baling twine, and needles, knives and pails. He dealt in hogs and cattle, and the various kinds of grain. And he made every edge to cut, did this same Bob McLean.

Now Robert was a genius of the most emphatic kind, Just as plain and blunt in manner as any man you'd find ; Was brave and broad and honest, and had within his breast As big and warm and soft a heart as could be found out West.

He wore a pair of pantaloons made out of cottonade, A pair of cowhide boots outside, a hickory shirt, home-made, And one well greased suspender held his pantaloons in place. An old wool hat, turned up behind, projected o'er his face.

But Bob got tired of keeping store, he hankered for a farm- A "quarter" of rich prairie dirt would fit him like a charm, And so lie struck a granger who was asking for a trade, And hayseed took the yardstick, while Bob shouldered the spade.

If any of Bob's hosts of friends should stray out into Cloud county, they will find him husking pumpkins, and as proud of raising hogs and cab- bages and cockle-burs and corn, as any man that's farmed it every day since he was born.

A. BROTHER.

Though a genial, kind-hearted man, Mr. McLean is a little high strung. and viewed from a duelist standpoint, he is rather fierce, as the incident related here implies : The seeds of rebellion had been planted by a preacher of tlie Free Methodist faith, who had farmed our subject's land and who, it is claimed, was hauling to market more than his share of the corn. Mr. McLean remonstrated with the divine, but his continued efforts were unavail- ing; he remained obdurate, and hot and hotter words ensued until Mr. McLean supplemented his persuasions by letting loose the flood gates of his wrath and transfixing the expounder of the gospel with a slap beside the head with a shovel. But there was an unpleasant sequel to his pugilistic tendencies, for his opponent was in a vindictive frame of mind and did not hesitate to institute legal proceedings against his assailant, and on account of the prominence of the individuals, considerable notoriety was given the affair. Mr. McLean was arraigned for assault and battery, found guilty and fined one hundred dollars and costs, which amounted to more than seven hundred dollars-rather an expensive slap.

Mr. McLean talks interestingly of the early days in Kansas. He was a true pioneer and enjoyed the wild freedom of the plains. While on a buf- falo hunt his party found the skeleton of a man, and the bones of his ox team, with the wagon which had drawn the luckless frontiersman to his

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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.

death on the lonely prairie, at the hands of some murderous Indian band. They carried away with them the skull and an arrow that held together two joints of the backbone.

The family of Mr. and Mrs. McLean consists of seven children. Mark, the eldest son is one of the proprietors of "The Oxford," a popular restaurant in El Reno, Oklahoma. He is prosperous and an adept in the business, having been connected with prominent places in Denver and San Diego. Mary, the eklest daughter, is the wife of A. Richards, a farmer of Sibley township. Frank, the second son, is of an agricultural turn of mind and the prime mover in farm and stock interests. James, a young man of seventeen years, exhibits special talent for music. Anna, aged fifteen, grad- uated from District No. 16, in 1902, with the highest grades and won three scholarships, namely: Baker, Ottawa and Great Bend Universities. Thomas, their youngest son, was named for his uncle, Thomas McLean, the founder of Meredith and well known to all old settlers of that locality, where his widow, who survives him. still lives. Their youngest child, who bears the good old Quaker name of Prudence, is aged ten.

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Biographical history of Cloud County, Kansas: biographies of representative citizens. Illustrated with portraits of prominent people, cuts of homes, stock, etc, Part 37

Author: Hollibaugh, E. F Publication date: 1903] Publisher: [n.p. Number of Pages: 938

Author: Hollibaugh, E. F
Publication date: 1903]
Publisher: [n.p.
Number of Pages: 938