Chapter 15 of Some Jasper County Pioneers Ira Kinyon Richard L. Kenyon

Chapter 15 of Some Jasper County Pioneers Ira Kinyon Richard L. Kenyon 1

This chapter is one of a series of 18 chapters, which cover the ancestors, and descendants of Jasper County pioneer settlers, all of who are related in various ways. Chapter Number Chapter name 1. Loren and Iris (Kenyon) Milligan 2. A Milligan Album 3. Josephine Josie (Scott) Schmidt/Chinn 4. William H. and Estella (Beals) Milligan/Gibson 5. John and Mary (Carey) Scott 6. Jacob and Maria (Hopton) Milligan 7. David and Chelley (Herring) Beals 8. David and Sophia (Torrance) Scott 9. William T. and Anne (Dawson) Carey 10. Jacob and Mary Herring 11. Benjamin Franklin Bleakney 12 A Bleakney Album 13. Madison S. Kinyon 14. Vallejo Kinyon 15. Ira Kinyon 16. Francis/Frank Vallejo Kinyon 17. Don and Jean Kenyon 18. Ruth (Kinyon) Deer 15 Ira Kinyon p 2

Chapter 15 Ira Kinyon Son of Vallejo Kinyon Richard L. Kenyon 32 Almond Tree Lane, Irvine CA, 92612-2230 rlkenyon@cox.net May 14, 2008 Childhood Ira N. Kinyon was the first of the five children of Vallejo and Addie (Borland) Kinyon. Ira was born April 19, 1882, in Webster City, Iowa. Some of Ira s siblings changed the spelling of Kinyon to Kenyon, but Ira always used Kinyon, the spelling used consistently by his parents and grandparents. Ira was 6' 6" tall, and had red hair, which turned white at a relatively early age. Ira Kinyon at about age 18 Detail from a portrait of the entire family of his parents, from the collection of Richard Kenyon, gift of Ray Pancoast. Signature from WW1 draft registration. 15 Ira Kinyon p 1

In 1886, Ira s father Vallejo took over the farm in Jasper County, Iowa, that was established in 1860 by Vallejo s father Madison S. Kinyon. Ira worked on the family farm prior to leaving home. Ira s daughter Ruth wrote that: As a boy, Ira hired on a team of drovers, who went to Texas and drove the cattle up to Iowa to be fed. One person volunteered to cook, as long as nobody complained about his cooking. Nobody complained, but he was tired of cooking, so he dumped the entire saltcellar in the fried potatoes. The first guy to taste them shouted "By Jeebers these taters is salty but that's just the way I like them. He later started driving cars to Kansas City from Detroit and brought back cattle from the Flint Hills near Wichita. This was before real roads, and in muddy times it was a terrible job. It was during this period that Ira had a child by Josephine Scott, whom he met at a barn raising near the farm of Ira s parents. The child, Iris Kenyon, married Loren Milligan. They have a large number of descendants many of whom still live in Jasper County, Iowa. This is another story, related in the chapter Iris (Kinyon) Milligan. Marriage Ira married Clementine Lillian Bleakney, known as Clem, on August 20, 1908, in Old Battlefield, Saskatchewan, Canada, near where her parents were temporarily living. They were homesteading land on behalf of Clementine s brother DeLon, as described in detail in the chapter on B. F. Bleakney. Clementine Bleakney and Hero (Collection of Richard Kenyon, gift of Ruth Deer) Clementine Clem Bleakney (Kellogg Museum, scanned by Lois J. Hinshaw) 15 Ira Kinyon p 2

Clem is the daughter of B. F. Bleakney and his second wife Cynthia Ellis. This family is the subject of the chapter A short biography of Benjamin Franklin Bleakney. They owned the Ash Grove Stock Farm in Kellogg Township, Jasper County, Iowa. Clem was born in Kellogg Township on January 13, 1886. Ira and Clementine at the homestead of Clementine s father in Saskatchewan, Canada, at the time of their marriage. The significance of the rifle that Clem is holding is not known, but this was a frontier area at the time. See the appendix for a discussion of this photo. Collection of Maryann Little 15 Ira Kinyon p 3

Clem wrote a brief biography of her youth: Born on the old homestead north of Kellogg, Iowa, Clem spent the early part of her life in that vicinity attending the rural school until about 15 years of age, then taking up High School work in Kellogg. Attended for two years but was forced to quit school on account of sickness. She began teaching in 1904 and continued teaching and attending teachers college at Cedar Falls [Iowa] until 1907, when she went home to help with the housework after the marriage of her sister Edna [to Roy Rhodes]. In 1907, she attended the Jamestown Exposition with her brother DeLon and sister Winona and family. She returned to Cedar Falls for the winter term of 1907-1908. In the spring of 1908, she accompanied her mother to Canada [where her father had homesteaded land on behalf of her brother DeLon] staying there until August when she was married. Returned to Kellogg living on a farm N. of Kellogg. Married life Ira and Clem moved frequently. After their marriage they lived on a farm north of Kellogg in Jasper County, Iowa. From there they moved on March 1, 1909 to a farm they had purchased near Malcom, Iowa. Two sons were born there: Francis in 1909 and Don in 1911. After four years they sold and bought near Deep River, Iowa, where they lived nearly three years. Ira and Clem s farm near Deep River, Iowa. Ira is on the left, and father-in-law B.F. Bleakney is in the middle. Author s collection, gift of Ruth Deer. 15 Ira Kinyon p 4

Ira and Clem next moved to Montezuma, Iowa, where there were better schools for their children. Ira ran a feed store and egg and cream buying station in Montezuma. By 1925, they had moved to Winfield, Kansas. That year, their daughter Ruth was born. Ira s daughter Ruth was a rich source of accurate recollections of the family history. She wrote about her father's violin playing: Dad was a self-taught violinist and actually had his own band. They played for square dances and he "called". In those days most of the dances were in people's homes or barns and very big occasions. I had heard him talk about playing and he entertained me occasionally with "Pop Goes the Weasel," my favorite, and things like "Turkey in the Straw". After he was gone, I was in Iowa and Aunt Edna introduced me to an "old fella" and he remembered "Sliver Kinyon" and his band and told about going to dances that he played. Ruth wrote that in Winfield Ira farmed the Walnut River bottomland. She related several stories from this period: [Ira s son] Don, 14, had the job of milking the cow. The milk was for baby Ruth. Don came in one night and told his mother that she would have to strain the milk a little because the old cow put her foot in the bucket. One of Ira's favorite comments on food was "It s like a skinned cat better than it looks". The most often heard story about the Walnut River farm was how sick her Ira got from finishing corn picking while he had the mumps. The boys both had the mumps and gave them to their father. He had to pick the corn no matter how sick he was, because the river was threatening to overflow its banks and flood the fields. The family next moved to Kellogg, Iowa. Ira s son Don graduated from Kellogg High School in 1931. On March 18, 1931, Ira purchased the Kellogg Roller Mills, a steampowered flourmill. He immediately installed electric machines, one being an oat huller that cost $1,500. When the mill s improvement program was almost complete and it was ready for operation, a fire of unknown origin destroyed the building and brought an end to the milling industry in Kellogg. Times were tough during the depression, and Ira was lured into moving to Los Angeles, where real estate speculation was rampant. Ruth wrote: The family left Kellogg, Iowa, in the spring of 1931 to go to California [where all of Ira s siblings then lived]. Dad [Ira] was going into a partnership (ill-fated) with Aunt Lou's husband Wilbur Campton who was into Real Estate. Dad put money he had from a farm and a mill that he sold into California houses. The venture failed and Ira lost a great deal of money. 15 Ira Kinyon p 5

Ira standing between his parents Vallejo and Addie Kinyon, on an outing to the Mojave Desert about 1932. This picture was taken during the short time that Ira and Clem lived in Los Angeles. It is an enlargement from a 1-inch wide section of the original snapshot. See the discussion of this photo on page 10. Ruth continues: In 1932 or thereabouts the depression was so serious that Dad and Mom bought a farm (sight unseen) in Kansas "to last out the depression." The boys left California driving a truck, as I recall, and the Folks and I didn't go till my school was out in spring. The boys lived in the house and worked on the barns etc. It must have been an unbearable experience (They never did get along and Slim was supposed to be in charge). After they got the house fixed and we all moved in the boys farmed. It was drought years and prices were low. In the late 1930 s Ira and Clem lived in Cherokee, Oklahoma, while Ira was fixing up a rental property owned by Clem. Their last residence was Thayer, Kansas. One of Ira's sisters, Lyda Crawford, was a widow living in Atchison, Kansas. She had a retarded son, and was living off the income from property that she owned. Ruth wrote: Dad [Ira Kinyon] as eldest son and residing in the Midwest was charged with the responsibility of looking after her. So wherever we lived, periodically there came a message that he was needed urgently to come to Atchison to rebuild, repair, or clean up some piece of property. She had a child that was not right, so Dad always went no matter how inconvenient it was for him. 15 Ira Kinyon p 6

When Lyda died she left her entire estate to "a young lawyer living across the street," even though Ira was the closest living relative. Ruth wrote: Dad always said he helped her never expecting anything anyway, and that's just what he got, so he was happy to have helped her. She did have an unhappy life. Pop probably could have broken the will, but in those days we didn't contest our fate a lot. Ira, as Midwest agent for the family, also had to look after the pasturelands in El Dorado County, Kansas, owned by his parents Addie and Vallejo Kinyon of Los Angeles. This land was sold in 1945 as related in the chapter on Vallejo Kinyon. Clem and her half-sister Winona preserved a great deal of the family history. Clem s daughter Ruth wrote: Mother (Clem) and her sister Winona were the genealogists in the family. There was a constant stream of letters concerning genealogy from other people all over the country. The time frame starts before I was born [1925]. It was a great day for mother when she got a letter about some family member. Clem prepared a large fan chart of her family s Bleakney and Kinyon ancestors which was of great value to me in beginning my research on Ira s Kinyon ancestors. Death Ira died May 23, 1945 in Chanute, Kansas. His obituary reads: I. N. KINYON I. N. Kinyon, 602 N. Highland, retired farmer from Thayer, fell dead in the bedroom of his home this morning. He had been in poor health for sometime. The body was taken to Thayer today and will lie in state at the funeral home. Funeral arrangements are incomplete. Survivors are his wife; a daughter, Ruth, Wichita; two sons, Frank, a technical sergeant in the air force serving in France, and Don, of Los Angeles; a brother Lee, of Los Angeles, and three sisters, Mrs. W. W. Campton, Mrs. Eathel Pancoast and Virgie Kenyon, of Los Angeles. Chanute Tribune, May 23, 1945 After Ira s death, Clem moved to Arcadia, California to live with her son Don and his wife Jean. Clem died May 23, 1951 in a hospital in Los Angeles. Both Ira and Clem are buried in the old part of Chanute Cemetery, which is called Elmwood. Their daughter Ruth decorated the graves periodically. After Ruth passed away, the tradition has been continued by Ruth s daughter-in-law Pattie Bailey. 15 Ira Kinyon p 7

Children Ira and Clem had three children. Frank retained the original spelling, but Don changed to Kinyon. Each of these persons is covered by a separate chapter. Francis Frank Vallejo Kinyon, 1909 1985 Don Iral Kenyon, 1911 1973 Ruth Bleakney (Kinyon) Deer, 1925 1998 Acknowledgements The debt that I owe to my Cousin, the late Ruth Deer, will be apparent by reading the list of sources. Ruth had a strong interest in family history, a keen memory, and a large collection of family history items. She wrote me many letters over a decade or more, and gave me her family history collection shortly before her death. Beyond this biography, she provided critical assistance to me during the beginning of my research on Madison S. Kinyon and his descendants. Special thanks to Lois J. Hinshaw for finding previously unknown information at the Kellogg Museum. Others who helped me find information and photos include Ruth s daughter-in-law Pattie Bailey, Maryann Little, Ray Pancoast, and the late Jean Kenyon. This chapter was made possible by the help of these people. 15 Ira Kinyon p 8

About the photographs of Ira Kinyon There was a major problem in locating a portrait of Ira as an adult. As a youth of about 18, he can be positively identified in a photo of his parents and siblings posed in front of their farmhouse in Malaka Township, Jasper County, Iowa. The photo of Ira and page 1 was extracted from this family group photo. But no one has a photo of Ira as an adult with a caption by which he can be identified, nor was any living person capable of recognizing him in an uncaptioned photo. Not even his daughter Ruth had such a photo. I was very fortunate to find two uncaptioned photos in which there is sufficient evidence that Ira can be identified with near certainty. Detail from the photo on page 3 Portrait of Clementine Bleakney (Kellogg Museum, scanned by Lois J. Hinshaw) The first is the photo reproduced on page 3. The original photo has seriously faded. I was able to digitally restore it, except for some details of the woman s face which are completely lost. We conclude that this photo shows Ira and Clem in Saskatchewan, Canada at about the time of their marriage, for the following reasons: The man is so much taller than the woman. Ira was 6 6. Deterioration of the photo has altered the appearance of the woman s face, but a photo of Clem was found in which the attitude of the head is similar (above right). Note that the shape of the jaw and the nose are very similar to the known portrait of Clem, above right. In addition, the woman s upswept hairstyle is similar to that in all known pictures of Clem from this era. The photo was found in the collection of Maryann Little of Canada, a descendant of DeLon Bleakney. At the time of Clem s marriage, her father was homesteading land in Saskatchewan Canada with his son DeLon. The biographical sketch that Clem wrote shows that this is where she was married. The rural location and rifle shown in the photo are consistent with the fact it was a frontier area. The man has short hair similar to the 18 year-old Ira in the photo on page 1. There are no other couples among the Bleakney family who look anywhere near like this. 15 Ira Kinyon p 9

The photo of Ira and his parents is a detail from a small snapshot taken on a family outing. It is reproduced below. The original photo is remarkably sharp and well preserved. The location is clearly the Mohave Desert near Los Angeles based on the distinctive Joshua Trees that appear in the photo.. A Kinyon family outing to the Mojave desert about 1932. The picture of Ira with his parents on page 6 is a detail from this photo. Author s collection, gift of Ray Pancoast. There is no caption, but the following persons can be conclusively identified. From left to right: E. Lee Kenyon, the writer s father Vallejo Kinyon, Ira s father and the writer s grandfather The person to be identified Addie Kinyon, Ira s mother and the writer s grandmother Virginia Kenyon, daughter of Vallejo and Addie Kinyon Richard Kenyon, the writer, age about 1, which dates the photo as ca. 1932. Naomi Kenyon, the writer s mother Probably Don Kenyon, Ira s son The man standing between and behind Vallejo and Addie is believed to be Ira Kinyon, based on the fact that: Ira and Clem lived in Los Angeles California for part of 1931-1932, so that Ira could have been present in a 1932 photo taken in the desert on an outing from Los 15 Ira Kinyon p 10

Angeles. Lee Kenyon took his parents on Sunday drives during this period. There is no other member of Vallejo s family who looked anything like the man standing between Vallejo and Addie. The man is similar in appearance to Ira in the wedding photo, but 24 years older. Sources Birth of Ira: WW I draft registration card of Ira N. Kenyon. Letter from Ira s daughter Ruth Deer to Beth Kenyon, Jan 19, 1988. Questionnaire returned by Ruth in June 1990. It is shown in the biography of Vallejo Kinyon that the family lived near Webster City at the time of the birth of Ira. Ruth also gives this as the birthplace. Appearance of Ira: Letter, Ruth to Beth Kenyon, Jan 19, 1988, author s collection. Ira s WW I draft registration card gives tall, slender build, red hair. Photo of Ira at 18: Author s collection, gift of Ray Pancoast. Signature from Ira s WW I draft registration card. Cattle drive story: Ruth to Richard Kenyon, August 29, 1989. Birth of Clementine: See the Benjamin F. Bleakney chapter. Moved to Winfield: Letter Addie Kinyon to Clem, 1924, author s collection, gift of Ruth Deer. Marriage: Quotation from Clem's biography, cited below. Deep River Farm: Captioned photo from the author s collection, gift of Ruth Deer. Clem's biography: Ruth to Richard Kenyon, Aug 29, 1989, plus three handwritten manuscripts in the hand of Clementine and her sister Winona, fully described in the chapter on Clem s father B. F. Bleakney. Violin playing: Ruth to Richard and Beth Kenyon, May 21, 1991. Miscellaneous family stories: Ruth to Richard Kenyon, Aug 29, 1989. Kellogg Roller Mills Undated clipping from the Newton Daily News, Newton, IA, probably the Newton 100 th anniversary edition, in the notebook Kellogg Business K-Z in the Kellogg Museum, Kellogg, IA. Found by Lois J. Hinshaw. Graduation of Don Framed photo of the 1931 Kellogg High School graduating class, Kellogg Museum, gift of Mary Jane Lenz. Found by Lois J. Hinshaw. California story: Ruth to Richard Kenyon, Jun 3, 1991. Residence in Cherokee. Ruth to Richard Kenyon Jan 19, 1990, and June 6, 1992. The death notice of Vallejo Kinyon in the L. A. Times (1937) gives Ira s residence as Cherokee. Last residence: Obituary of Ira. Lyda Crawford: Ruth to Richard Kenyon, Dec 14, 1987. Pedigree chart: Author s collection, gift of Ruth Deer. Clem prepared the chart in the 1920 s and 30 s. Death of Ira: Questionnaire filled out by Ruth, June 1990. Obituary of Ira Kenyon, Chanute Tribune, May 23, 1945, p. 5. Burial location: Pattie Bailey to Richard Kenyon, Aug 21, 2003. The data is now online at the city website. Last days of Clementine: Interview with daughter in-law Jean Kenyon, May 10, 1991. Death of Clem: Social Security Death Index. CA State Death Index. 15 Ira Kinyon p 11