HISTORY OF THE KUYKENDALL FAMILY
Since it Settlement in Dutch New York in 1646
By George Benson Kuykendall, M.D.
Kilham Stationary & Printing CO
Portland, Oregon
1919
(Library of Congress # C571.K98)
CHAPTER XX
(Page 207)
SOUTHEASTERN KUYKENDALL CORRESPONDENCE. 2ND SERIES
William Kendrick Kuykendall's wife, Eugenia EllenEly, daughter of George g. Ely, was born in Erath county, Texas, December 9, 1863, they located at Clyde, Texas, in 1887, where they still live. They have two son Robert Ewell and Carroll Kendrick. They had six daughters, Josie Ellen, Letta Evaline, Augusta Olive, Edessia Etta, Dolah Kreth and Ita. Letta Evaline and Ira are dead. Josie Ellen married W. Homer Shanks, December 22, 1909; they have two sons, Homer Kuykendall Shanks, born October 25 1910 and one younger. When the Civil war came on William Kendrick Kuykendall’s brothers went into the Confederate Army, and it fell to his lot to care for his father and the “war widows” of the neighborhood. Notwithstanding his lack of educational advantages, his quick perception and clear intelligence enabled him to secure an education and stock of general information superior to many who had much better opportunities, which he turned to good use in the business of life. Writing of his early life he says: "The woods of Van Zandt and, Smith counties were full of wild game, and most of my spare time was spent in hunting, which I enjoyed very much. My father always farmed some and raised cattle and hogs, which ran at large on the range, and a good deal of my time was spent looking after the stock, which employment suited my tastes very well. There were lots of wild hogs and wild cattle on the range, and if we did not watch ours very closely some of them would get in with the wild herd, and what a time we would have getting them home.
We would sometimes kill our hogs and frequently would snake them by our ponie’s tails, and when a beef steer got too wild to be driven up and penned, we would run him down and shoot him to death with our guns, which we nearly always carried with us in the woods. We killed lots of deer, wild turkeys and wild game. I was a good shot. When I was first married, my wife was a telegraph operator. I practiced telegraphy under her instructions and two years later assisted her in her work in the office and looked after the farming interests. Later we moved to Clyde, and part of the time while living there was postmaster and was in mercantile business.”
By diligence and good management, Mr. Kuykendall has been able to do well by his children in way of giving them good educational advantages and otherwise. Gussie attended Britton’s Training School at Cisco, Texas, where Robert also went to school. Josie married Mr. W.H. Shanks, and they have two boys. Robert and Dessie have been teaching in the public schools. Mr. Wm. K. Kuykendall has retired from active business and is looking after and managing his farms and farming interests, from which he derives a comfortable income. (He has since died).